The Hope of Serenity

I woke this morning from a dream where I am handing out empty small and mid-size boxes of various sizes and depths to people I know.  The boxes all have lids and would come in very handy at gift giving time. I then was asked to collect them and pass them out one more time just to make certain I am giving the right empty box to the right person. Then, to other people I know, I begin to pass out sheets of colored paper, like construction paper but with a lighter feel, maybe like wrapping paper. Each sheet is of a single color, but the color varies from sheet to sheet. I pause when I come to a white sheet with a piece of smooth blue turquoise attached in the upper right hand corner, like a postage stamp. I think of my friend Kim who recently died, and I feel a sense of peace. I do not know if in her life she was drawn to the actual stone, but I know she loved the bright blue hue of some turquoise. I woke with both my friend and the word serenity on my mind.  

 

I am not a particularly serene person. However, as I ponder love, serenity, and my friend, I return to a poem I fell in love with in seminary.  Today, as it did then, it brings me the hope of living and sharing in peace. 

 

Cut brambles long enough, 

Sprout after sprout, 

And the lotus will bloom 

of its own accord: 

Already waiting in the clearing, 

The single image of light. 

The day you see this, 

That day you will become it. 

Sun Bu-er 

  

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid. 

Jesus, as revealed in John 14:27   

 

Holy Presence, help me to give in your way, not in the world's way.  Amen.     

 

Sun-Buer was a Toaist sage born in 1124. It is not known when she died.