Autumn Gold

It was dazzling!  I looked out in the early morning sunrise hours and everything — literally everything — was awash in autumn gold.  I paused and simply soaked in this moment blurred by golden light.  As the seconds melted into minutes, the sun’s unfolding ascent began to fade forward specific colors and details:  big morning stretches of lingering green, pressing fuchsia, harvest yellows, meandering rusts, lumbering browns.  There they were, vibrantly seeping from the gold.  Granted it’s what we see most of the day, yet underneath all the emergent variety I know there’s autumn gold.  The collective tone persists, waiting for the particular morning light that unlocks the dazzle.

I couldn’t help but think about Selah’s community.  Consistent with variety — innate hues of dazzling similarity along with other-lighted distinctions.  This year marked nine years that Selah has been together.  Nine years….with much unfolding and stretching….and yet whenever I sit and sip tea with one of our Companions, I sense the autumn gold we share.  Whenever I hear stories of soulcare groups holding one another with care and sharing a contemplative stretch together, I sense the autumn gold we share.  Whenever I read email questions or struggles or longings for contemplative companionship I sense the autumn gold that we share.  Do you see it?

One of the striking features of our Selah community is that as dispersed and diverse as we all are, our mutual desire for contemplative living in the way of Jesus colors everything — sometimes front and center yet always the undertone, the base layer upon which all other distinct and describing colors are added.  Indeed as a community we invest time and energy and resources into these program pieces we believe God has gifted us to hold and share.  Yet, not to be missed, these expressions rest solidly rooted in our very community.  That is why soulcare groups matter.  That is why regular Companion and friends gatherings matter.  That is why encouraging meaning-filled connections and communications matter.  These, and other opportunities for us to be community, realign us in such a way that we catch the golden glow accented by our Morning Light.

Pause.  Linger.  Savor.  Golden.

In this posture, I invite us to two things:

One, pause and become aware again of the golden glow of contemplative longing within your heart and life.

Two, become intentional in some way to reach out and connect with and express yourself within our Selah community.

Along this contemplative road, we need each other to catch the golden movements of the Great Artist of our living colors.

So be it.