On a hot muggy day in Charlottesville, Michael’s brother said, “We’ve decided to remove life support and let him go. Could you make something to transport his ashes so we can scatter them near his crab-pots?”
“I’ve got clay in the car, but I don’t have any way of firing a pot,” I replied.
“Wouldn’t that be perfect?” he said – and I realized it would be perfect. The clay would dissolve back into mud, be ephemeral art, a fleeting form, just like we are in life. Perfect. Always changing. So I sat in the parking lot and pinched an urn for his ashes.
The call to listen with the ears of my heart rather than the habits of our culture opened a pathway to be with dying — and living — in a new way. I now see that incident as an unexpected doorway to the inner journey, where the voice of God comes with questions, hunches and insights, calling us to new life, new ways.
It’s so easy to let old assumptions rule the day. Rituals become rules. Patterns become permanent beliefs. Call becomes creed and dreams become doctrine. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees questioned why his disciples didn’t practice ritual hand-washing.* To those legalists, it was an outward sign of negligence and disobedience.
To Jesus, it was an outward sign of inner freedom, of attention to the things that really matter, measured by what comes out of us: character, compassion, humility, justice and mercy. That’s the voice I can hear when I take the time to listen for the unexpected whisper of new life written on my heart.
--Marjory Zoet Bankson, IO Editor
For More...
- How do you tend your inner life?
- What practices and rituals actually feed your soul?
- Are there certain rules or expectations that need to soften or change?
