Betty shares her lovely meditation about being asleep to temporal things and awake to the beauty and wonder of creation.
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Transcript
“Temporal Sleep” was written because I was fortunate enough not only to have beautiful surroundings all the time where I lived and to take advantage of that by merging with creation. We had a place up in North Carolina and when we started going up there in 1980-again, I am making deliberate choices to be alone with God, to walk in the mountains, to get connected with creation. So, I had two or three little special spots, and I am sitting in this place writing this, very, very present in the moment. What I would do, I would take one book for the whole summer and I usually would just jot the notes in the back of the little book I was reading and then go home and write this. So, I’ll read Temporal Sleep and share some of the waking up process if you will, of the senses. What are the senses? Sight, sound, scent, taste and touch. I’m on the edge of a beautiful overlook, if you will, a mountain edge, rock face about four thousand feet up, looking out into this valley. It looks almost like the bottom of the ocean with the water drained out. So, I’m looking at that gorgeous view and I’m very, very present in the moment.
Present in the moment, At one with Thee, In a mountain meadow Created just for me. Backed against a rough barked tree
Get the feeling here?….Backed against a rough barked tree
Resting…….just resting. A rest so deep, so sweet, As to be asleep to temporal things.
Now, this is what I am seeing. I’m already centered. I’m already focused. I’ve already made the connection with the Beloved. Now, this is what the Beloved is going to teach me as I…as we, in a sense, connect in the quiet and the stillness and the resting.
To see the clouds as hinged to heaven, And opened now and then, To let Your voice, The echo of the wind, pass through. It’s You, my Beloved, Calling me to life. To feel the movement Of the branches that dance,
I literally put my hand on the branch of this old tree and felt the movement as the wind passed through. The branch was dancing and I am being drawn into that dance, submitting, falling into the arms of God and allowing God to dance me.
To feel the movement Of the branches that dance, Caught in the currents of Your breath, Unseen, yes, but there. It’s You, my Beloved, Touching me to life. To see the shadows as Your hand, Covering the valley far below, The sunlight glistening between Your gentle fingers. It’s You, my Beloved, Warming cold hearts to life. To know You, my Beloved, As Creation speaks, Is to know that life eternal Comes from temporal sleep.