Shooting Stars

Look up or you'll miss it

As I drove home around 10pm last night a shooting star crossed the night sky in front of me. I was on a rural country road and there was no-one else there on this frosty night. House lights glowed from inside warm houses with closed curtains. The sky was bright with an almost full-moon lighting up the road.

A movement of light suddenly pulled my attention upwards. I blinked and leaned forward in my seat. The star shot ahead of me into the distance before exploding in silence in a flash of gold and then disappearing. I found myself catching my breath, and feeling quite lucky to have witnessed such a feat. How tiny we are in the grand scheme of things!

NASA post an Astronomy Picture of the Day each day of the year should you need a little reminder of the magic of Space and the size of our Universe. Downloadable Apps are now also available which point to the night sky and name the different constellations across the sky-scape.

As for the driver of a car on her journey home, I'm left feeling quite blessed that all the necessary conditions were present for me to see this shooting star. If you ask NASA, they will tell you that a shooting star is not in fact a star at all, but a meteor, caused by dust and rock burning up on entering the Earth's atmosphere. The Earth orbits the Sun once every 365 and a quarter days. Each year it passes through dust and rock clouds left in the wake of orbiting comets, and last night, a little speck of that debris burned up on my way home. Perhaps the most important condition of all was that I noticed the shooting star, and better again, my heart received it. In our busy lives, how many daily miracles occur unnoticed by us? 

The contemplative life asks us to surrender to each moment, one after another, again and again, and to develop a practice of noticing sacredness everywhere. The external world may not look any different, but a gentleness of Spirit wells up inside, together with a sense of wellbeing. The cultivation of this practice in itself fosters wellbeing in our Spirit. When the practice of every-moment-noticing eludes you, just surrender it all, even the practice itself. The act of surrendering will bring you home.

A gentle reminder to us all to stay here, stay mindful, stay present and notice the shooting stars.

Image courtesy of seamepost.com

Reflection - The Velveteen Rabbit

                    From "The Velveteen Rabbit"                                                                           by Marjory Williams


"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but Really loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked," or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get all loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." (Velveteen Rabbit)


The Boy showered so much love on the Velveteen Rabbit that he had become shabby and was losing his beauty. He had even felt so much love in his sawdust heart that it almost burst. Seasons passed. A look of wisdom and beauty had come into his eyes, that even the Nanny noticed it: "I declare if that old bunny hasn't got quite a knowing expression." As The Boy lay sick with Scarlet Fever, the Velveteen Rabbit had whispered all sorts of wonderful planned adventures in his ear, for he knew he was needed.

He had to endure the rejection of being thrown out with the rubbish, and he had cried a tear, a Real tear. This activated the heart of the Nursery magic fairy, who takes care of all the playthings that the children have loved. "When they are old and worn out and the children don't need them anymore, then I come and take them away with me and turn them into Real." She gathered him up in her arms and kissed him on his velveteen nose that was all damp from crying. He was changed, changed altogether. He had received Real hind legs, and long whiskers. He had become a Real Rabbit. What's more, The Boy recognised him.

Can we like the Rabbit, patiently allow the changes of Life to come about? He had endured his owner's sickness, anxiety, ridicule from other Rabbits, excitement, fun, laughter, deep love and friendship, danger, loneliness, rejection, and heart-break. He had shown kindness, love and humility.

Can we let Life happen to us, knowing those wrinkles and scars are all excellent signs that we are becoming our true nature? How can we allow ourselves to be transformed and made Real by the seasons of Life? Can we celebrate the joys, the fun, the summer? Can we cry our tears in winter? Contemplation asks us to sit with how we are through the seasons of Life, to allow the rhythm of Life to play out, to experience the moments knowing that they too will pass. It asks us to anchor ourselves in the reality of Life itself, to summon the patience and courage to endure Life's trials, and to humbly surrender to divine providence.

In time, internal recognition of our true nature builds and solidifies. We know it and recognise it like we've always known it. Contemplation builds certainty that this nature is inherently good, natural and how Nature intended. We also recognise the hand of God intervening in our circumstances. We develop discipline, self-knowledge. We notice patterns, we endeavour to improve. These are all good-intentioned actions. Contemplation, however, requires only a surrendering heart.

As the Rabbit's friend, the Skin Horse assured him:
"Once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

 

A much loved and twice-sewn bunny

 

May you have many toothless years ahead of you. May your hair go astray, and your concerns leave you. May you celebrate your fun and successes. May you receive Love's touch. Mostly though, may you always receive a visit from the Nursery magic fairy when you need it, and may you fall into the certainty of divinity's hand holding it all together.