Does the sight of lilacs call their scent to mind? Usually it works the other way, and scent pulls us back into memory, delivering us in an instant to a time and place that we didn’t even know we could recall.
When has a scent brought back a powerful memory?
It’s so terribly frustrating to see that there is an amazing world out there that we cannot explore, simply because we lack the ability to open the door. Sometimes others have locked the door to keep us confined. Other times we just haven’t figured out how to open the door, or even that there is a door to go through.
What do you wish you could explore, if only you were able to?
Objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear. Or farther. In spite of the saying that hindsight is 20/20, our view of the past is rarely undistorted by our dreams or disappointments. It’s important to check behind yourself, but that view only makes sense in the context of what’s ahead.
How has your view of your past changed because of what you’ve seen down the road?
The Christian celebration of Pentecost marks the end of the Easter season, when the apostles were visited by the Holy Spirit, which appeared to them as tongues of fire. But perhaps the Holy Spirit shows up for all of us, in much more subtle forms: a line of poetry that flashes into your mind, a rose flaming on the bush, stars blazing in the clear night sky.
How does the Holy Spirit visit you?
Sand sculptors put hours of work and a lifetime of craft into building elaborate structures that will soon be obliterated by wind and water. It seems foolish, but then many castles built of stone have been ruined by wind and water across the ages.
What do you put your whole self into creating, even though you know it won’t last?
