On Halloween we scare ourselves with skeletons, and as the trees lose their leaves we may think the bare branches ominous or dull. But there is also beauty in the bones of things, in the spare shape of the structures at the center.
In times of loss, have you found beauty in the essentials that remained?
“Cast a cold eye on life, on death. Horseman, pass by,” read the words on the tombstone of Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Most of us would cast a cold eye on death, but on life? Does a passionate love of life make it harder to let go at life’s end, or does it make it easier, knowing that you have fully embraced what was given to you, for however long it was given?
How do you live so that you can meet your eventual end with grace?
Have you ever picked up a fallen chestnut or walnut, and peeled back the husk to find the nut beneath? Without experience you would never know that a glossy chestnut would hide under that prickly green skin, or that a walnut was lurking under the unattractive green and black husk.
What experience that seemed off-putting has yielded a pleasant surprise?
In a tiny village, each person is very visible to their neighbors, while the town is invisible to the larger world. In a great city no one knows all the people who surround them, but the city is recognized everywhere. And yet, each human soul, known and unknown, is of equal worth.
Where do you feel known? Where do you feel invisible?
Eid Al-Adha, the Muslim “Feast of Sacrifice” is celebrated today. It marks the end of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, and commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his beloved son Ishmael in obedience to God. The name “Islam” itself means “submission.”
Is there any principle or value that you are willing to offer yourself to completely, whatever sacrifice might be involved?
