Divine Partnership: Dancing with Life Instead of Waiting to Be Rescued
On personal power, spiritual growth, and co-creating with nature
“…grace is the very architecture of support behind the visible surface of life.” —Toko-Pa Turner
Humanity is being pushed to grow up. Uncomfortably pushed and challenged. We are being asked to shift, among other things, from a long-standing parent/child relationship with the Life to one of partnership.
In the old paradigm, we want to be rescued, fixed, so that everything can be magically sorted out and taken care of, instead of playing an active part in our own salvation.
I confess: I do want to be rescued. I want to be magically all healed NOW. I want my problems to be swept away and beauty, grace, and abundance to take their place.
So I get frustrated, discouraged, and impatient when it doesn’t go that way. I get angry at the Divine. I feel let down by my angels and guides.
I’m beginning to learn that’s not how it works. That’s the old paradigm. A paradigm that denies the fact that I am/you are Divine. We are the power that knows the way. Not our small ego selves, of course. But the Divine lives in each of us. The power lives in each of us. The wisdom, the magic, the grace.
And we have to activate it through our desires, declarations, and actions. We have to participate in our lives.
It’s not going to be as easy as I’d hoped. I have to get in there and muck about and make mistakes and do stuff that may be hard for me to do. I have to face my fears and insecurities and deal with my feelings. I have to risk and dare.
You can substitute “Nature” for “Divine” here. It works the same. Let’s say I’m calling on Nature to help me with my vegetable garden—(see this excellent series on the Perelandra website for how to do this.) When we partner with Nature, it doesn’t mean Nature will magically solve everything for us. It doesn’t mean there will be no bad bugs in the garden or that no plants will die. We are truly partners. It’s going to be a dance. In a dance, one partner doesn’t just stand there. You both have to move your bodies, express yourselves, and muddle through how you do this thing together.
You can see this same parent/child dynamic play out in our hero worship of politicians or celebrities. We want a leader who will save us, figure it all out, do all the hard work for us. And we’re disappointed when they let us down. We forget our ongoing role in what happens.
I definitely do not have this all figured out. The delicate role of our desires, visions, and dreams in shaping reality. Without trying to control all of it. How do we truly dance with the Divine and not step on her toes or give up and sit down? How do we activate our heart’s desires and soul’s destinies without the ego getting in there and making a giant mess of things?
I’ve been thinking about these things and feeling into them and living them for many months, as you know, if you’ve been reading my posts here. I was also inspired and helped to articulate this today by reading this beautiful post of Toko-Pa Turner’s, called “Ordinary Magic.”
Weekly Wonders
Wonderful Books: I shared last week about the kinds of books I’m yearning to read now, the revelation of what moves me most in literature. And lo and behold, I started reading a wonderful book that meets just what I was seeking.
The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl is a collection of 52 short essays, one for each week of the year, tracking the seasonal changes in nature around her and musing upon them. It is a beautiful love letter to a fading world, at once celebratory and grieving, full of delightful moments and language. Big thanks to my friend Jen for dropping it off in a gift basket for me.
Wonderful Movies: I took myself on an Artist Date last Sunday to see the documentary Wilding at the Mystic Theater in Nevada City. What an uplifting, inspiring film! It follows a couple who own a huge tract of farmland in England. After 200 years of farming has utterly depleted the soil, they decide to let it go wild with some very conscious help (partnership!) from them. What happens next is an ongoing miracle. So hopeful. If you can find a way to see it, please do!
By the way, if you live in the Nevada City area and don’t already know, the Mystic shows hands-down the best films locally and an incredible variety of them. You have to go by or call to get on their email list. If you love great films, do it!
Update from the Wonder Factory
I continue to be obsessed with drawing (and a little painting). This week, thanks to a wonderful online class I’m taking with Denise Wey, I became fascinated with making abstracted botanical designs or patterns.
I’ve also been doing this in another form with Amy at Mindful Art Studio, who teaches what she calls “slow drawing” with patterns often inspired by nature. After doing many of them with her, I’ve started to invent my own.
I’m not writing much—except for here, which I’m loving, and in my journal daily, which is a balm and support I wouldn’t know how to live without. When it comes to creative time, I’m still preferring to be out of my thoughts in the lovely world of drawing, but I did work on a re-write of the poem I shared with you recently. Working toward a more satisfying ending. I’ll share it here below for paid subscribers. I’ll also share this week’s Wonder Sparks to help you cultivate more magic, joy, creativity, and wonder in your life.
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