Feeling the Weather and a Guided Mind

Here’s a risk: I’m about to describe something I think I’m good at. The risk is that it just doesn’t sound good to do that kind of thing. Maybe the reason it’s worth taking will make itself clear.

Two summers working as a professional canoe guide have left me with a ‘sensitivity’ to changes in the weather. It’s what living outside for prolonged periods of time will do. You gain this sensitivity not just because of the more pronounced consequences (thunder and rain aren’t just ‘atmospheric factoids’ – they are the difference between comfort and danger, and that distance is often travelled in a few minutes or less). You also gain this sensitivity because you just have more opportunity to experience the subtle cues (like a shift in the wind direction or a change in cloud patterns).

The reason all of this came to mind this morning has to do with guidance. It’s something we’re all interested in, whether we’re looking for it in our conversations with trusted friends and mentors, or if we’re looking for it ‘from above’. It’s something we all want to position ourselves ‘to receive’; and we focus almost exclusively on how guidance is sent to us. So when we pray for that kind of thing, we are almost always expressing some version of ‘turn the volume up’. But what about building up our own ability to receive it? Just like you can build a sensitivity to what’s going on in the atmosphere – and learn to read a bunch of subtle cues that are lost on everyone else – could we build an ‘easily guided mind’?

Sailboats lift a great, white ‘wing’ that give them a sensitivity to the wind and the ability to be moved by it. An antenna gives sensitivity to radio waves that can’t be seen. This is all about a ‘triggered awareness’ – we make choices that make changes and those changes allow us to be moved in some new way. I have a couple of friends that ‘triggered’ my awareness to the world of visual and graphic art (something I’m deeply grateful for). How could you and I build an easily guided mind?

I would suspect it has something to do with learning to be more physically present, outward and open. My own ‘weather sensitivity’ came from being immersed in the outside world for extended periods of time. I had to ‘be there’ long enough to experience the subtle shifts over and over again. What sensitivities could be gained by immersing ourselves in other kinds of life-environments like prayer and study, or great conversation, or reflection and introspection? Our Director of Spiritual Formation, Bob Osborne, has created just such an atmosphere on Wednesday nights at 7:07 pm dubbed ‘Suburban Monastery’. If something like that isn’t an option for you, why not look at how you can build some of your personal space to do the same kind of thing?

Join us on Sunday if you can or tune into the podcast through the week. If you’re a part of our digital congregation and are looking for ways to turn this into a more active connection – then let us know who you are (info@wkc.org). Perhaps you have a skill you could volunteer from time to time, or you just want to be connected in some way.

Have a great weekend,

Chris