Grace and Gratitude
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Blog Post #98
The Egg symbolizes the Soul, the blissful image and likeness of God, and it is a reminder that an unconditionally loving, peaceful, miraculous Presence resides within each one of us.
Part 2: Continuation of Shift in Perspective
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WHITE
Symbolizes Purity, Sincerity, Clarity, Intuition.
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SMALL DOTs
These small prayer-symbols ask God for His Grace and for Understanding.
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The Path
Symbolizes the Way a destination or a goal is approached or reached.
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Never before has the start of waxing a pysanka been so painfully challenging for me.
And I had no idea why. Writing pysanky, after all, is my happy place.
O Dear Lord! What is going on?
It was considerably frustrating not being able to connect the dots, to write them smoothly, consistently. I reminded myself that black wax on a white egg exaggerates imperfections that may not be noticeable in the end. But just like the recent, unexpected delay in an important, ongoing 3-year project, there was not much I could do about it.
An invitation to be with my niece's young children halted progress on this pysanka. Her delightful six-year-old was exhibiting what appeared to be sudden bursts of energy. As she was hurrying to the kitchen, her feet seemed to rapidly propel her horizontally into the air. Luckily, she had a soft landing on plush carpet. A short time later, as we were at a table preparing to play the card game Old Maid,* she stood up and went over to an area behind me that had cat toys and a small scratching tower. Suddenly, a loud noise occurred as if something had hit the wall. Within seconds, she was back at the table. It didn’t even occur to me to give the noise, the situation or her, a glance or a second thought. When her mom came into the room to join the game, she held up the scratch tower which looked like it had been karate-chopped in half, and asked incredulously, “What happened?” With totally shocked looks upon both of our faces, neither replied.
Still have no idea what happened but maybe I now know why. That night as I was reflecting on the day, the thought of that not-funny-at-all incident suddenly created a prolong bout of deep-belly, eye-tearing laughter. (Even now, whenever I think of that incident, I feel that joy.)
When the laughter finally subsided, it was clear to me that I was unaware of how deeply discouraged I felt over another delay in that important project; that being in that negative state of discouragement was interfering with my overall ability to do anything including writing those dots; and that the laughter had completely evaporated that discouraging mood. For this shift in perspective, I am very grateful.
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“Negative states are not natural to the soul.”
— Sri Daya Mata
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*Old Maid — Since nobody likes the negative connotation of being a loser, we shifted the rules of this game giving it a new, positive perspective: Instead of losing the game if you end up with the Old Maid card, you win! More enjoyable for everyone!
When I continued writing this pysanka, my prayer became one of gratitude, symbolized by the inclusion of small dots anchored around the triangles (symbols for consciousness, thought, awareness). In terms of prayer-writing, this means that as I was writing those dots my thoughts were centered on expressing gratitude to God for this blessing.
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Beloved God,
My heart is full of gratitude that even though those dot-symbols were written inconsistently and shaky, with no thought of Thee, their prayer was none-the-less received. Thy wake-up response was a blessing beyond measure.
With love and gratitude,
Amen
To be continued in Blog Post #99
(A familiar prayer which also shifts perspective.)
Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
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Ukrainian folklore characterizes pysanky as a symbolic, talismanic writing that invokes a higher Universal Power for help, while believing with faithful certainty that It will. The contemporary version of this characterization is a paper-and-pen journaling practice called prayer writing that develops a personal relationship with God.
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