Contemplation from Life: The Patio Door

I go to leave our little Boston Terrier out this morning.
To inform us when she is ready to go out, she rings the little bell hanging from our patio door.
It is a sliding door and go to slide it to the right.  It does not budge.  I try harder. No movement.  One more time, come on, try harder.

Then, I realize that it is first thing in the morning and it is locked. So I unlock it and it slides freely.
I had to smile to myself, because it made me realize how often I experience resistance in life and rather than find a way to unlock it (or even assess the problem), I simply push harder.

Resistance is a necessary part of life, but the invitation is not always "push harder!"

To fly we have to have resistance.
Maya Lin 

At the Watering Hole

Ok, so it has been quite a while since I posted a blog here.  But, it has been coming to mind more and more, which I am learning to pay attention to the Holy Spirit with nudges like that...

Anyway, today, while companioning another in spiritual direction, I kept receiving the images of floating on a river or stream.  This is not an unusual image for the journey of the spiritual life, but in the image this time was the realization of the importance of the place where people pull over to the side and congregate for refreshment.  

We are all at different points on the journey, floating, trusting in the Spirit.... sometimes with others, sometimes in solitude... but every now and then, needing to come to the side, pull up, make camp perhaps, at least get something for nourishment and refreshment... and we meet others who are also on this journey.  

I was struck that for me (and for many), Oasis is that point for pulling off and connecting with others.  It is why I love this community so much.  

Like the sheep gathered at the stream bank in the picture above, Oasis BECOMES the watering hole.  

~ Cindy
{Has it been that experience for you too?}