Dear Friends,

Today the snow looked firm on the edges of the dirt lane from our house.  It wasn’t. A person was coming toward us on the one lane road, so I tried to give him enough room to get by safely. He did. Our car slid right down into the ditch sideways, and the other car just drove away. Joe and I sat very still, as the car was sitting at a 15-degree angle and any sudden movement could have rolled the car onto its side.  Joe managed to call the tow company, and the nice man showed up in record time.  He attached his hoists to the free side of the car, and up the hill we were dragged to a normal, upright position.  He did it like he did this ten times a day, and I thought about it, and he might literally get six of us out of ditches on snowy days. It was a normal thing for the tow truck driver, and he had good humor about it, while we sat there still as two startled mice in the light.

I keep telling myself that I have been here two years, and soon I will get used to Oregon. And maybe Oregon will finally get used to me.  But I thought back on the incident to try and see what I could learn, a spiritual lesson, because I definitely learned not to give in when a car is coming toward  me on a one lane road, at least to take the side next to the mountain and not the ledge next time.  But when do we think life is going along nicely, and suddenly we slide off into the spiritual ditch?  I know that there were a lot of prayers lifted this morning while we waited on the tow truck driver. And we knew we were among friends.  The driver would be nice and professional, and I trusted him to do his job when he got there.

But what if I had been distrustful of the situation, if I worried about the competency of the tow truck driver?  What if I had decided to climb out of the window and the car rolled over?  Or what if I was too scared to get Joe to make a call to the towing company?  Instead, I trusted, and for the most part, relaxed.  There was a day when I wouldn’t have waited.  I would not have believed the tow truck driver would be courteous and knowledgeable.  I had to see it first.  But with spiritual maturity comes a sense that it is going to be okay.  It is going to work out if we just keep a level head and breathe. 

Have you had a situation to teach you spiritually?  Because of my experience today, I am more likely to trust my prayers, to let go and let the Universe do what it needs to do.  I didn’t give up.  I waited, something not easy for me to do.  There were lots of deep breaths and times when I assured myself it was going to be okay.  When else in life can I do this, because we all have our in-the-ditch moments in life if we use them for growth?  What are you learning?  What can you learn?

On Sunday I will pray that the congregation will be spiritually alive, that we can feel the Presence.  And if I relax, no matter what, it will turn out okay.  Some of you don’t know me but I am an out-the-window-of-the-car person. Relaxing and for maybe forty minutes when I had to be perfectly still does not describe me, so for me this is a big learning.

But we are all going through something.  There is no one that the Universe doesn’t show up to teach if we just listen.  I’ll pray for you, and you can pray for me.  But I hope whatever lesson we are learning we are learning to make us stronger and more mature spiritually.

We also learn from each other in community and would like you to be in that community.  We have several things we can learn from in these coming few weeks.

·       March 16 – 9:00 Peace and Social Concerns

·       March 16 – 11:00 Book Group on Quaker Ecology

·       March 19 — 5:30 – Ministry and Care

·       March 23, –11:00 Potluck lunch

·       March 24, —  5:30 – Admin

·       March 28 – 8:30 Clean downstairs of church

·       March 30 –11:00 — Meeting for Business

A big chance to learn both mentally and spiritually is coming up on April 5.  We will be having a Peace Luncheon that will start at 11:30.   We are blessed to have a guest speaker, Mary Ann Percy who will help us together as a group look at the Web of Life on Earth, as it is in crisis at this time, our own healing and the joy of doing the work of reconnecting people (ourselves) to nature.  Her writing history, speaking history and work life experience has informed her deeply on this subject.  She has been a Joanna Macy facilitator and a student of Thomas Berry and Robin Wall Kimmerer.  Her traveling minute is attached to give you even more information and the standing of her meeting behind her as she does this work.  Please come at 11:30, April 5, Saturday.  A light lunch will be provided.  Please tell your friends and groups of which you are a part who might be interested in this  event.

Still learning,

Leigh