FOI Spring Equinox Letter 2023
From: Cressida Pryor
Dear Friends,
Oh, how I relish now these lighter mornings! As we move into the Equinox and are reunited with nature’s force pushing the daffodils into bloom, the trees into bud and small birds lighting the hedges with song.
We have had strange times and weather here; to cap it all I have my second bout of Covid so am confined to barracks...it gives me time to reflect a little; that’s between dog walks, dodging the showers and my need to snooze...
Back to the Equinox...
I am thinking now of the really hard balance we all weigh up in our every day relationships...that delicate tipping point between immediate reaction and a thoughtful response to the challenges and irritations we all face...
How satisfying to react immediately to a sarcastic comment or undermining remark that comes our way...that succinct put down that I usually only think of afterwards...and in my childhood’s ‘wished for world’ it would be delivered with a withering and witty retort...
Would the world be a better place for such retaliation? Of course, there is no right or wrong answer...discernment, meditation and prayer can be useful allies here perhaps...rather than the tempting moan behind the ‘wrong doer’s’ back, the gathering of ammunition to shore up our self righteousness...fill up our stamp book of ‘isn’t she/he awful...’
It is hard living in community!
Despite having lived in a ‘faith’ world for many decades it is only recently that I take these dilemmas to my prayers...to ask for spiritual guidance, clarity and discernment from the Universal Source of higher wisdom...the loving presence of the Divine Mother.
‘Hearing’ and following the possible path to take is of course, another matter!
That is perhaps something for the May Beltane letter... In the meantime:
Divine Presence
In these days to come may we tread the path of balance;
And recognise the quick slide into the binary.
The simple solution to complex problems that
Creates an easy enemy and builds barriers against reconciliation and peace.
May we find quiet times to hear your voice in the bird song,
Your touch in the wind and your love in the smile of strangers.
So may it be. Amen.
Cressida, FOI Steward.
