Sisters Singing

It was just one of those days. Someone's negativity was beginning to build up to a toxic level and I was feeling trampled down by it. My escape for these situations is to hit the bookstore. Meandering around I was hoping for a good antidote to what was ailing me - and I found it! A delightful book called, Sisters Singing, Blessings, Prayers, Art, Songs, Poetry & Sacred Stories by Women edted by Carolyn Brigit Flynn. Here is an excerpt from its introduction:

" A few years ago I learned a term from the world of carpentry that delighted me. A piece of wood attached alongside an existing beam for extra support is called a sister joist. And the verb describing the particular and specific action of providing essential, side-by-side support is known as sistering. Thus we see from an ancient handcraft of brothers a truth so old, so necessary, so obvious, that it comes unbidden outside the world of women. To sister is to provide an extra bit of vital support, to stand beside, right next to, to support invisibly - to hold someone up.
And of course, in truth, we all know what a sister is.
Most of us have one, a true one, if we are lucky. Some of us are gifted with sisters through blood and family lines. But beyond that, we find that our sisters simply emerge along the journey of our lives. Here, at this moment, this woman came forth at just the right time. She brought me tea, or good whiskey. She let me put my head in her lap. She held me to her breast and let me cry. She listened. She did not need me to be more, or different, less broken-hearted, more wise. She knew I needed simple reinforcement, help where I felt weak. She provided that help. She held me steady. She sistered me."

How can you not love a book like this? I am richly blessed with a biological sister who has been all of the above to me time and time again. I am also blessed with sisters of the heart who journey with me through this life as the invisible support to my sometimes shaky beams! Go get this book - it is a treasure!

Divine Encounters

Somewhere in the synapses of memory there can be this sense of having been in contact with the divine, even before having the ability to attach any verbiage to the feeling. Maybe it happens when one is very small and there is that faint memory of lying in bed between two parents feeling wrapped in love and at once having a pre-cognitive thought - magical wish - of wanting to keep things just like this forever! Isn’t that the thought that lingers throughout a lifetime even as the magical wish fades in the face of reality. But never let it fade even when reality becomes a naysayer to the divine. The possibilities of divine encounters within a single day are endless. Look at any given moment in a day and the divine is present. Ah, the sacrament of the present moment. Sacrament offers grace. Take in the divine grace that life has to offer. Be open to the experience of the divine - let it refill those memory synapses with the joy of being wrapped in love. Hold on to the magical wish for it to stay like this forever! The encounter with the divine awaits.