… Shake. Everything outside of you moves. And everything inside of you feels it’s either laying low, tumbling, or rolling off. Everything you thought was settled starts jumping or leaning. Ideas, loves, conclusions. They ripple with the earth underneath.
Sh is for quiet – when everything goes slow-mo while the eyes watch and time stretches to make space for massive change and resulting newness. Sometimes we’re forced to take refuge in inner places that are dark and unfamiliar. We grope for a flashlight because we’re stranger to our own interior caverns and caves, and sounds like slow drips and echos, … and our own breathing.
Sh is for shift. As structures fall, they create a new landscape. One that reminds us for a long time that shaking happened. Inside of us is all rubble, unknowns, exposure of treasure and trash.
Sh… Shutter-snaps – rapid millions of them, with notes attached, becoming inner albums. Later come the replays, and the calculation efforts, seeking to understand.
And Sh is for vishion. (Wink) Over the wasted landscape, our natural eye perceives destruction. And our spirit eye, if it is capable of seeing, drops a tear of thankfulness for life, surveys necessary clean-up, imagines the beauty of fresh newness, and calculates investments and resources needed for building.
The heart moves, engaged through it all. The slow-mo falling … , the empty exhale of loss … , the living inhale of rebirth …
All this I feel this year. Like dust plumes are still in the air. Like I’m not sure what to expect from possible after-shocks and future quakes. Like I’m actually glad the unreliables are being tested. Looking for exposed and hidden treasure that remains. Breathing in, welcoming the hope of newness.
Pause.
Sh …
Selah…