But then there’s the ocean. That mighty and massive body of water, never failing to communicate to me just how small I am and how large the Presence that is ‘in’ and yet ‘beyond’ me (and all things!) is. And to think that I can know such a Presence and even be a part of this One’s nature – there’s such power in owning this thought.

Being at the ocean also reminds me of something else – a spiritual teaching from a source within Eastern wisdom literature: the principle states that, “It is the surface of the sea that makes waves and roaring breakers; the depth is silent.”

Think about this for a moment.

I love this. I love to recall it in times of upheaval when I know I should affirmatively respond to that numinous nudge to sit down, rediscover stillness, and enter into a place of quiet meditation. Again and again it reminds me that the turmoil of life occurs at the shallow shore of my egoic fears and incessant desire to be in control. Over and again this teaching affirms my need to go deep with God and there find the calm and rest for which I seek.

I think Jesus had this in mind when he spoke of those tossed back and forth by the wind – carried on the waves as if they had no choice or power over their destiny. For Jesus, these were people who did not know (or did not desire) to go into the deeper things of life; to descend to the greater depths of knowing and meaning and therein finding peace.

Think about it: When the surface things of life are breaking hard, there is a place of stillness to which you may always go. It’s the place that is perpetually calm because it is the deep place of real Presence, of real Spirit, of real Selfhood where nothing can hurt you or take away the eternal life that you are.

It’s a new week and the world is tentative because the winds and the waves abound – but you, YOU are an infinite soul with the infinite power of Presence guiding you to the depths of what is real. And with that, the words ‘have a great week’ should more easily and believably be received!

     I have a thousand brilliant lies

                For the question:

                  How are you?

      I have a thousand brilliant lies

                For the question:

                  What is God?

If you think that the Truth can be known

                    From words,

  If you think that the Sun and the Ocean

     Can pass through that tiny opening

                Called the mouth,

     O someone should start laughing!

Someone should start wildly laughing –

                        Now!

I love this poem because it is something I have lived – something I believe all of us have lived. In contrast to assemblies and seminars and meetings and spiritual gatherings of all sorts where mounts of information is heaped upon us and all sorts of admonishment is coming fast and furious, it only takes one trip to the ocean to hear the voice of creation and know it is here that our Beloved sings.

I do my best to make it to the Caribbean at least once a year just to unwind, release and embrace that primal energy resonating at the waters’ edge. Even as I type these words, with little reflection I can feel the breeze – part air, part vapor – much heavier than the mountain air I’m accustomed to breathing. As I close my eyes and enter into stillness even now I can hear the waves lapping the shoreline, I can picture the rising or setting sun and hear the sounds of the gulls singing that all is well. And it is. All is very well. In the midst of ‘what is,’ all is perfect.

Mine is often a world filled with conversation; struggling for words to bridge transformative concepts between disparate nations, people-groups and sometimes the greatest of adversaries. It is a world of endless dialogue and attempts to mine beneath the surface of the ego and false self. It is here that the true self might be invited out to play.

And while all this talking is going on, all around creation sings. If we would just be ‘still,’ maybe we would discover that the answer to peace and abundance for all humankind is whistling in the wind or found tapping us on the shoulder in the drip, drip, dripping of the falling rain. Maybe we could all just use a dose of lying in the sun, allowing it to warm us in its embrace.

There are days I just want to say ‘enough with words and meetings and memories over past grievances!’ Would it not be more productive and appropriate to stop and look around; to feel our smallness and to regain our life’s rhythm by sensing the flow of nature? Could we not gain from sitting in anticipatory stillness and allowing our meditation to flood our souls with ecstatic realizations rising from the deepest parts of who we are as we’re immersed with the realization that Presence is both within and beyond all things?

Sometimes it is laughable that we, humanity, believe there is such power in our words. It is laughable how often we gather to praise and speak and plan and plot the good things of tomorrow while not taking time to notice that everything within and round-about-us is singing the song of the One, the One who said “Let there be…” and everything changed.

Whatever you do this weekend, be sure you make time for stillness… for there, creation sings.