04/11/2017
I have had the pleasure and honor of hearing this amazing woman speak, Joyce Rupp. Her books were required texts in my spiritual direction studies.
After a death of loved one, we can often feel that we have no map without our loved one. Maps are a beautiful symbol of where our inner life is leading us. Are we listening?
In the past, I’ve read this poem as a hopeful reflection on those times when I've felt personally "mapless," lost in the wilds of my own life.
Re-reading it yesterday, I saw that it also speaks to my sense of feeling lost as a citizen in the dystopian madhouse that American politics has become.
Even experienced political hands whom I respect—folks on both the left and the right—have concluded that "Old Maps No Longer Work" when it comes to our current situation. And they don't mean that in a good way!
But as the poet says, "There was a time before maps / when pilgrims traveled by the stars."
So "It is time for the pilgrim in me / to travel in the dark, / to learn to read the stars / that shine in my soul."
Note to Self: Draw deep on your values and visions for a better world, and follow them even when doing so gets you crosswise with others...
