Where do you find your Lean to?

A few weeks ago at a prayer breakfast one of the participants shared part of a reading from the book  May I Have this Dance? by Joyce Rupp.  The writing that she shared piqued  my interest so I took the information about the book along with the author's name and found a lovely second hand copy at the Amazon book store.  It arrived last week just in time for my meditation group meeting.  I shared the March reflection with the members present.

The imagery for March is all about the lean to.  Depending on your understanding and use of a lean to then you can appreciate that it is attached to another building or trees.  It can provide cover for wood piles or shelter for people and animals out of doors.  A lean to is dependable. If you search for a definition of the leanto  it is described as a shack or shed with a slanted roof.  It is also described as a most popular dwelling for survival.  It is not a permanent haven.  The reflection went on to ask us to consider the lean tos in our lives and how God has been a lean to for us.


As with much of this kind of imagery I had to let it live in my thoughts and imagination for some time. Despite the fact that I am not a camper and most unlikely ever to avail of such an outdoor dwelling for the purposes of finding shelter I find this imagery quite beautiful.  I can imagine the rustic image, the excitement of coming upon such a dwelling while in the great outdoors and it forces me to reflect on how the lean to has been availed of, when it has been used, the frequency of use and the resultant changes.   The beauty is in the simplicity of the structure.  Dependable, enables survival, has a definite purpose.  When we apply that same imagery and description to our lives we realize that we all avail of the lean to.  We find it in relationships with people and in relationship with God.  We find it in areas that we like to go such as a park, beach or shady tree.  We all have a lean to and suddenly with the beautiful description that Rupp gave you can see the lean to all around and in various forms, it all depends on what or where you need to lean.  We all need that lean to, whether it is a person or creator or place to go in our lives for comfort and safety.   Where do you find your lean to?

Trinkets, Momemtos, Memories

This weekend some time was spent in an effort to catch up on  recorded TV programs.  One of the programs NCIS ( I have no idea which episode) did the story line of a young officer dying from cancer who needed closure to an unanswered question.  The story plays out and some characters are okay being in the presence of one who is dying, others struggle.  Towards the end of the program the NCIS agent who struggled being with this dying officer comes to see her and they have a wonderful conversation.  It is during this conversation that the young officer gives the NCIS agent a momento.  "This" she says "is not to remember me by when I am dead, this is so I will remember you."

This line has remained lodged in my mind since watching this program and while I mull it over and over I can't help but think of the beauty of that statement and sentiment.  It means that those momentos that once seemed so cumbersome to have to keep (but that I can't give away because so and so gave it to me) have a new meaning.  Each of the items that have been gifted by people, some living and some dead, have a significance attached to them already but to look at them in a whole new light seems to make the item even more of a treasure.

This reference as also made me a bit melancholy as I think about one of the last conversations I had with my Dad before he died.  We were sitting together in the ICU unit and talking about his immiment death.  I told him that the worst part was that I would miss him so very much,  He reached out and patted my hand and then tapped my hand so I would look to read his lips as he mouthed the words that he would always be with me, I will be no further away than your heart.  Yes, we also cried together and has difficult as that conversation was it still gives me great comfort nearly twenty years later.  Are there momentos?  Yes of course there are! and until this weekend I lived under the impression that it was a token to remember him by (and others) but now maybe, just maybe it might be so that he will also remember me!