Did you see the Winter Olympics opening ceremonies last night? Here at the monastery we gathered to watch and enjoy the show – a wonderful medley of history, people, geography, and technology that unfolded on a scale both grand and intimate. Mountains and prairies… Nova Scotian fiddlers and First Nation dancers… Individual seekers and joyful expressions of community… music and dance… earth and fire… water and sky…
Viewing the event felt like an invitation to awaken early and watch the ultimate opening ceremony – the sunrise. I didn’t go outside this morning, but I did watch from a third floor monastery window as the sun rose over the tree line to our east, rising over prairie, mountain, ocean, plateau, skier, skater, monk, mother, river, valley, you and me… and over this small spot of earth along the the southern edge of the Cumberland Plateau.
Let the day begin, and let us begin the day…poised like a skier on the mountain top, an ice dancer awaiting the first note, a bobsledder at the starting line…poised like the sun on the horizon.
“God has pitched a tent there for the sun…and like an athlete it joyfully runs its course…” (Psalm 19)