Joy in the Journey

This Monday we went on our last Old Testament field trip to the City of David. The small hill of the ancient city lies just below the grand Temple Mount on Mt. Moriah. The highlight of this field trip was Hezekiah's Tunnel. An engineering marvel, the great tunnel spans over 1/3 of a mile through solid rock with the purpose of providing water for the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the Assyrian siege thousands of years ago. Armed with headlamps and water-resistant shoes, my class excitedly descended into the heart of the hill. At first the water was freezing cold as it lapped against our ankles and then against our mid thighs. Nothing could be heard but the bubbling rush of water and our giddy voices in the headlamp-speckled darkness. As we walked through these deep tunnels, I thought about the common and comforting saying “there is always a light at the end of the tunnel”. Typically, the darkness terrifies us; the unknown blackness and the icy temperature of the water would frighten many into desperately hoping for a glimpse of the redeeming light that would signal the end of a treacherous journey.

Interestingly enough, I found myself experiencing very different emotions. Despite the cold, confining spaces, and unknown path, I found myself loving every moment of my time a hundred feet beneath the surface of the ground.

When I finally emerged from the tunnel laughing with exhilaration and soaked to my waist, I realized the profound lesson that Hezekiah had taught me with his 3,000 year- old tunnel.

I have experienced times in my life where I felt like I was in the middle of a dark and freezing passage, unable to see comforting light ahead. All of us will encounter moments of such doubt and uncertainty. However, there is something beautiful and striking in the idea of finding joy in the journey. The phrase “if you miss the joy, you miss it all” comes from my grandmother Ellie Jones, one of my ultimate heroes. Intelligent, strong, beautiful, and deeply loyal to God, my grandmother understood the sharp pains of heartbreak and suffering. However, she made the continual decision to find joy, to find beauty in the rushing of the water no matter how freezing, to be excited by every shadowed bend instead of fearful.

The depths of Hezekiah’s Tunnel are like the depths of the human heart. Sometimes we are asked to descend to dark places, to be uncomfortable and uncertain about the future. My challenge to you is to NOT be afraid. Find joy, because there is always joy to be found no matter how scarce it seems to be. Understand that by searching every shaft and canyon of your heart, you will come to know your spirit in new and enlightening ways.

Search for the light, but find joy even in the darkest of places. Go spelunking within your own soul.

Grab a flashlight, there are adventures to be had!

“With Your One Wild and Precious Life”

 The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean -
the one who has flung herself
out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out
of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and
forth instead of up and down -
who is gazing around with her
enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and
thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open,
and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention,
how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down
in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how
to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

 

The other day, I was reading portraits of exceptional people who have sought to accomplish great things in their life. They desire to change the world, to be their best self, and to represent ideas and suffering peoples.

 

Sometimes, we all just need to catch a spark of inspiration.

 

I adored soaking in the rich and bubbling energy, passion, and eagerness of these individuals like a bone-dry sponge, absorbing with admiration the efficacy of their accomplishments.

 

Sometimes, we underestimate ourselves.

 

I LOVE the final line of this poem… “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” The future is uncertain and can seem so black and intimidating that it’s hard to go forward with confidence. We can feel inadequate, or lack direction in which to place our energies and goals.

 

I want to promise you that you can change the world. I’ve seen it. I want to tell you that you have limitless potential. I want to dedicate as many encouraging words, organize as many late night study sessions, facilitate as many valuable opportunities, and help you recover from as many constructive failures as I possibly can. I believe in people.

 

When I look into the beautiful hazel eyes of the Palestinian children, or exchange a heart-felt smile with too-young Israeli soldiers, I don’t see a simple or prompt solution to the chaos in this land. However, what I see in these young faces is a hope.

 

Sometimes, the only force driving fighters for justice is a hope.

 

One does not need to have their bios on the internet to have facilitated great change in the world. Reform can begin in each household, each neighborhood, within each human heart. What one DOES need is the fire and purpose to drive them.

 

Find a spark, and let its ignition turn into a fire inside of you. Remember “our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure” and that no one who changes the world is absolutely sure they have the ability to do it until after change has been accomplished.

 

Let yourself be inspired.

Let yourself believe that you can leave a lasting mark upon this world.

Let yourself dare to work as hard as you can, pray as meaningfully as you can, and never give up.

 

Decide what will be your “one wild and precious life” and go after it.

 

For your inspirational pleasure, here are a few random lines from these bios that gave me such a thrill today.

 

World, here we come!



-Now, I plan to spend my life helping to create these moments for others. I want to enable artists and athletes, pastors and poets to awaken souls.

 

-I plan to make sure that no more wild and precious lives are lost in our inner-city schools, from senseless shootings or simply falling behind and dropping out, because whether it is your child, or someone else's, the loss will reverberate just as loudly.

 

-The cries and smiles of the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa pulse through my veins and cause my heart to beat.

 

-But my grandfather’s scars are a constant reminder not only of his sacrifice, but also of my duty. A duty that his life embodied: ensuring my sweetest victories come from finding opportunities to enable those other than myself.

 

-How fulfilling, then, to fight that impossibility — fists clenched — to live with the childlike belief that the most perilous limits are the ones we set for ourselves.

 

-I seek neither poverty nor obscurity. Like many others, I hope for success in career, pride in accomplishment, impact on my world, opportunities to lead, grace under pressure, and triumph over failure. But above all this, and as inspiration for it all, I plan to love.

Jon Schmidt: Just listen

This Sabbath we were graced by the presence of the legendary pianist Jon Schmidt. After hearing that he would hold a FREE concert that evening at the Augustus-Victoria Church down the street, all 79 of us made the short trek to hear the musical icon's live performance.

The concert was small, the last half of the rows of seats empty. The rickety, aged, brown standup piano was out of place beside the ornate carvings and dramatic religious statues caking the interior of the chapel.

He sat, a charming smile lighting up his red-hair framed features, and gently touched his fingers to the worn keyboard.

Then.... the magic began.

Emotions began ricocheting inside of me as harmoniously as the echoes that filled the massive hollow of the church. Each note was rich, eerie, chilling, thrilling, and igniting all at the same time. I was reminded of our innate and intense desire to create, to achieve, to perfectly channel each rare and precious emotion in a perfect explosion of clean and pure art.

This is what music does to us. It prods to life some of our deepest fears and joys, reminding us of who we are, of what we want to achieve, of the beauty of the human spirit because of its ability to create.

My remarkable experience with music has shown me that it is a universal language. There is something deeply spiritual about a sweet and striking melody, about haunting tones and an unexpected trill. It is electrifying and empassioning. It takes us through emotions ranging from blistering fire to the chill of ice between the opening measure and the closing chord.

Sometimes... Jerusalem just feels surreal.

Any of the experiences I have recently been given, regardless of WHERE they occurred, would have had a remarkable effect on me.

To have these experiences in JERUSALEM gives them an entirely new level of wonder.

The Jon Schmidt concert atop the sacred Mount of Olives made me feel alive. I felt energized, inspired, and bursting with a flood of energy and gratitude at the raw beauty of what I was experiencing.

It's not everyday one gets to see such a rare and precious gift, earned through the tireless effort of 10,000 hours (Malcolm Gladwell "Outliers" reference) :) .

I will never forget that night, just as I can never forget this place.

Find the beauty all around you. Stop once in a while and just listen. Remember that even an aged, cobweb-covered, and worn stand up piano can produce music exquisite enough to alter a group of young people for a lifetime.

Happy listening!

PS- having trouble getting the event photos from my iphone. This is a picture from our field trip to Augustus-Victoria a few weeks ago.