Journal of Sacred Work

There’s not much news in poems. But men die everyday for lack of what is found there.                -William Carlos Williams.

It was July 4,1950. I was six years old when dad told me to stand back as he put a little tube with a string sprouting from it under an empty Campbell’s soup can. He lit the wick and shouted: "Cover your ears."

The firecracker exploded. The soup can rocketed above my head. As soon as gravity returned the can to earth, I begged, "Lemme light one, lemme light one, huh, Dad?" But, no, I wasn’t old enough yet…

I’m more than old enough now, but I haven’t lit a firecracker since I was eleven or twelve. The explosions that interest me now are the epiphanies of spring when yellow explodes along the arms of forsythia and an eternal purple shines through time amid once gray- brown woods.

And there are those dazzling bursts of light that happen each day and night when caregivers reach out to ease pain, help mothers in labor, or hold the hands of people on the edge of death.   

I am enchanted by the quiet epiphanies that occur in the hearts of those who suddenly discover a kind of beauty and truth to which they had previously been blind.

One of my favorite phrases is: Where attention goes, energy flows. Exploding firecrackers release energy into the air with blasts of light and ear-perforationg sound. They catch our attention for a moment, then vanish. Unless, of course, we are traumatized by the event, lose a finger or an eye, and spend the rest of our lives focusing our energy on the day of our loss rather than any gains that happened in the meantime.

History’s eye focuses on the firecracker events that explode inside epochs. The attention-getting eras of the twentieth century are its two world wars. Peace is so much less interesting to the mostly male authors of our history books.

The same is true of the local news. Fights and controversy command attention. The weather person seems thrilled to report impending storms and vaguely disappointed if the skies are clear and calm.

What events have exploded within your life – creating earthquake shifts in your world view? What amount of your life has been spent mourning losses compared with aiming your attention toward celebrating joy?

The head of a local charity told me her father was murdered when she was nine. How do you recover from that kind of explosion? In her case, more explosions followed – her mother remarried – to a man that was a drug dealer and abusive. He ended up in prison. She and her mother struggled to live in the jaws of poverty but there was little help available for the innocent families of people in prison.

One day, this woman experienced a different kind of explosion – a true epiphany that changed her life. She decided to move her attention away from her losses and to celebrate what she could do to help others. Who would help the families of prisoners? She decided to take on this challenge herself, choosing to foucus her attention on leading a charity that would support the other silent victims of crime – the children of prisoners.

Once she gave her life to loving others, she became flooded with love herself.  As a young girl, she was shattered by a series of explosions herself. She could have used her life tragedies as a justification to drown in alcohol and drugs – to turn her back on life. Instead, she found the wisdom and courage to be present to her life and to the needs of others. She learned to convert the destructive power of her tragedies into a constructive ministry to the innocent families of imprisoned men and women. She lives in love and gratitude instead of bitterness and hate.

The news doesn’t report such energy shifts from negative to postive. There’s not much news in the poetry of epiphany. But there is meaning that can inform our lives with each day & night – enabling us to notice the light within us and turn toward it. Tonight, beyond the fireworks bursting above the heads of crowds, many individual caregivers will be lending the strength of their hearts and hands to the many who have been weakened by illness and who would otherwise be alone. Bless these caregivers with your prayers, for their work is solitary and exhausting.

And as you journey through your time on this earth, think of ways you can redirect your energy so that your presence enriches the lives of others. Where attention goes, energy flows. Change your attention and you change your life.

Reflection:

Behind the fireworks of this day hides your personal

epiphany. The purple/red/yellow gleam flashing

against black is a mirror reflecting back to your

heart its own rainbow of colors. Your beauty & grace

have always been within. You are a child of God. Celebrate

your inner light & it will shine through your eyes illuminating

the lives of others as they wonder at how much better they feel

in the glow of your presence.