Searching

The Mystery within...

What I write about is not so much the things I know, but is more about searching for what I can learn from my week.  It keeps me alert and noticing more carefully the people, places and things in my life.  It also keeps me wondering about the Divine Mystery within each one of us and all Creation.   

This past week I’ve been drawn to what we all have in common, which paradoxically is our differences.  My three-month-old Yellow Lab, Oliver, put me on this train of thought with his uniquely own personality.  The breeder who brought us Oliver knew her puppies and wanted what was best for them.  When I told her I hoped our dog would eventually become a Paw Pal volunteer, and accompany me on Hospice visits, she called the family who had already previously selected him, but had not yet taken him in.  She knew the other prospective family had agility training plans and suggested we switch these last remaining puppies from a litter of nine.  When we went to get Oliver he was the puppy content with being held while his brother trotted along the fence line until he found a spot where he could sneak under.  Oliver, however, presents his own challenges like resisting his leash, and lying down on the sidewalk with a devilish look in his eyes that says, “Carry me.”  At a little over 24 pounds now, that is not happening.  And so Oliver is proving that on the flip side of our unique strength, also lays our weakness.

For the past few weeks Richard Rohr’s daily meditations have been offering a brief general overview of the Enneagram as a transformational tool with its nine different energy types (“the reading of souls”).  Knowing our respective gifts, and corresponding shadow, helps us acknowledge and then address our individual darkness.  And it has me thinking, what if we all embraced the fact that what we all have in common is our differences?  For starters, wouldn't it make life a whole lot easier for us and everyone else?