I am still reflecting on the silent retreat day at Dayspring this week. An unseasonably warm late-winter day, our time began with an overcast sky, a soft, warm breeze and bright birdsong. The cloudy sky was like a vast blanket of cotton balls scudding west across meadow and forest. Hildegard’s poem about the ever-creating Source of all things green, awakening and resurrecting, led us into the Great Silence.
This soft wilderness day seemed to stand in contrast to Jesus’ wilderness experience* of struggling with temptations after his baptism. Filled with the power of the Spirit, the story says that the devil led him into the wilderness where he was faced with questions of his allegiance. Use his power to feed himself? Worship Evil or Good? Prove he was special by defying the laws of Nature?
Somehow Jesus was strengthened to remain firmly rooted in life-giving Life. He emerged “powerful in the Spirit” and began his public ministry in Galilee. Reading the prophet Isaiah, he proclaimed it as good news – freedom and recovery for others. At first the people were awed, then rejection came.
Walking the paths of Dayspring, the same Spirit stirred my desire to join the movement of bearing good news in as-yet-unknown ways. In this broken world. The greening power of God awakened me to a fresh hope for my leadership in this major transition season of my life. The wintering branches of the oaks and maples, barely budding, seemed to whisper words of encouragement: you, too, are rooted in the love of the Creator and the power of the Spirit.
At noon, the sun broke through and the clouds dispersed. A true, blue dream of a sky quietly transformed the landscape, stretching over the lake and pouring dazzling light on the land. I felt the impact of sudden change penetrating within — familiar, yet fresh power. It seemed that the saturating heat of the sun opened me to a new level of comfort and energy. This sudden intimacy offered assurance that I will never be alone.
Now I am wondering about Jesus’ experience of creation in the wilderness. The Greening Power was surely ever-present, awakening and resurrecting him in his trials. Did the heat of the sun help him, too, discover new intimacy with the One? The sky, the wind, the birds…? How did the living Presence strengthen his power on that landscape?
–Ann Dean, Dayspring Church
- What experience of the living Presence in creation has strengthened you?
- What transition in your life do you want to open more fully to the power of the Spirit?
- Is silent listening part of your practice?
