Perseverance: Walking through times of trouble

I drove into Altrincham on Wednesday morning. I set off a little earlier than usual, just as the sun was beginning to rise. I had been awake for a couple of ours, for whatever reason. The sun was just coming up and a warm rain was falling. I was feeling good, despite the many worries and troubles that we are all living with. As I drove towards Altrincham I noticed a beautiful red sky, I remembered the old saying “Red sky at night shepherd’s delight, red sky in morning seaman’s warning” and thought sign of the times. That said it was compellingly beautiful. Then it happened, the sun had risen and I saw it, the most beautiful sunrise rainbow spreading all across the sky. It stretched a broad beaming smile across my face, almost as wide as the arc of the rainbow. What a sight to behold. As I arrived at the chapel I shared about it on social media. What was lovely is that other people witnessed it too. A friend in Stockport posted a picture of it from his tower block in Stockport and another, a friend in Wythenshawe posted a picture of it from his house window. Helen a member at Altrincham, who is on a few days break in Northumberland, said she’s seen one too. Others shared about too. It was a beautiful moment of rainbow connection, lifting our hearts and spirits in these challenging days. I then got on with my day, there is much work to be done.

Summer is over and Autumn is here. The virus and pandemic is not going away and we are having to learn to live with it. This is not easy, having to live with the many restrictions and of course fears for our own health and our loved ones. It is going to be a long winter as we wait for a vaccine and or community immunity. The troubles are not going away, we cannot wish them away and we can’t just wait for arrival at some safe place, somewhere over the rainbow. We have to live and not just grit our teeth and bare this. We have to maintain and sustain our lives and the lives of one another, to endure this difficult time and find new ways perhaps to live. We need to do so as individuals, but individuals who live in community. The idea of looking at the next six months perhaps seems too much and it probably is. We will all struggle at times, we will all feel like we will fall at times, so we need to find ways to help one another through this autumn and no doubt long winter.

No we cannot dream of some imagined place where all our troubles will be over, some heaven, some Nirvana, or Ithaka, some Oz, somewhere over the rainbow. We cannot dream of a Promised Land where all our troubles will be gone. In fact the truth is that even if the virus were to go tomorrow it does not mean that all our troubles in life will be go with it.

So, we are in for a long journey, one that will not be swiftly over. We will need endurance, stready endurance; we will need to persevere, we will need to persevere; we will need to stick to it and stick too it together, if from a social distance. We will need “stick-too-ativeness”. We must not merely grin and bear it though, that would be unsustainable, we need to find ways to live, to find joy in life, we need to find new ways perhaps or to adapt the ways that we already have. By the way have been doing so these last six months. We have stuck at, not merely with grit and determination but also through finding ways to rest and find spiritual renewal. We have asked for help when struggling too, please do not be afraid to cry out, “I am struggling, I’m finding this really hard”, because we have all done so at times, we have all struggled, perhaps particularly these last couple of weeks. None of us have to carry our burdens alone, ok we can’t just hold one another, but we can support one another and we can all help one another to find the practical, emotional, mental and spiritual support that we all need at times.

It is important to remember that we have all been through difficult times, in all of our lives, and we have found ways to stick with it, to persevere and to do so with love and grace and through the journey to be changed for the better and not only for ourselves, but the whole world. So, let’s live in and through and by hope and perseverance through these challenging weeks and months ahead.

Hazrat Inayat Khan said

"All the great persons of the world, whatever had been their mission in life, proved their greatness by this one quality: endurance. The enduring personality is like a ship that can stand storms and winds under all conditions, the ship that saves itself and others. Such blessed personalities, showing the strength of God have been called the saviors of humanity."

We are all the savours of humanity, for we have within each and everyone one of us that same light, let it shine.

How do we endure though, how do we stick too it; how do we persevere? I think it begins by looking around us, looking at our lives and the people we have known. I am sure that we have all known people who have shown an intense commitment to the things that they have done and the lives they have lived. They have been able to do so by sustaining steadfastness even in the face of incredible obstacles and setbacks. I am sure that we can all think of examples in our lives and the lives of others of perseverance.

The word persevere comes from the French word “perseverer and from the Latin “perseverare meaning one who continues steadfastly to the end "one who sees through to the end" and "one who doesn’t yield." These are qualities that all of us need, not just now, but in building a world of love and compassion for all. As Sri Chinmoy has observed: "Patience and perseverance are of supreme importance on any spiritual path."

The problem is of course that fear can blocks in our attempts to stick at it, to persevere. Fear depletes our energy so that we give up on ourselves and perhaps each other. Stress and tiredness, weariness, exhaustion can also bring on these feelings of fear, which is why we need to take good care of our bodily needs in the coming weeks and months as well as our emotional, mental and spiritual ones.

We do not need to persevere alone. We can not only survive but even thrive together, through community, even if we are socially distant. It has been shown that such feelings of endurance can be aided by spiritual practices, religious faith, remaining open to humour beauty, joy, grief, embracing gratitude and forgiveness and practicing self-compassion. Sometimes you just have to stay open, if you do you see incredible beauty, like that sunrise rainbow. We also need community. We need love and support to fully develop our perseverance. This is not easy to do in these times of physical separation, but we are finding new ways to do this. We can’t hold one another and this is hard but we can support one another, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It is important to remember that we find greater strength, power and sustenance communally, if from an appropriate social distance. This is our first purpose as a free religious community, we must never forget this. This community is here to help us maintain our spiritual perseverance.

We need each other and folk out there need us if we are to persevere against the struggles in life and that we are witnessing in the world at this time. We also need to be able to be vulnerable enough to admit that we need help as we will all struggle at times. When this happens we need to be willing to ask for that help. There will be times when we will need to let others help us to carry our loads or support us through our struggles. We will need to take time of rest, even ministers. We need this rest, it is necessary, nay vital for us to build the resilience required for the journey ahead.

For all of us there are at times when to simply take the next step, to persevere with whatever our burden is seems to take all the courage we can muster. Past experiences can often stop us dead in our tracks. Fear can block our attempts to step out into the world and back into the adventure of life with all its many challenges. Sometimes it seems too much, sometimes it is. So we surrender, ask for help and then through faith, hope and love we find the strength to persevere, but to not do so alone. Remember we never sail this ship alone. We are in this one together all the way.

As I come to a conclusion I would like to share this blessing by John O’Donohue. It is specifically for the traveller, but I believe it applies to all us as we persevere on the daily adventures of our lives.

..A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.

No one knows what the future holds it truly is unwritten, but we not fear it. All we need is the faith, hope and love to persevere, to keep on going and encourage one another top do the same. We need to do so in courage, to journey on with open hearts, minds spirits and souls.

And if you get to witness a sunrise rainbow, don’t forget to share it with others, because they might just need it too.

How The Rainbow Works

This blogspot was originally published on 17th November 2013... 

Please watch the clip above before reading on...

Last Saturday I was driving down the road that links the two congregations I serve. I was in a hurry, I had an urgent appointment to make. Someone needed to speak to me over a very important matter, something was seriously troubling him. I remember I was growing increasingly frustrated at the slow moving traffic. I have lost count of number of times I’ve got stuck on that road. By now the weather was beginning to turn quite ugly. The song “Storm Clouds” by New Model Army was blaring out of my stereo, it is an aggressive and intense number. I could feel a bit of a storm brewing inside of me, so I began to connect to my breath and relaxed. As I did I began to look up above the line of traffic, probably in desperation, asking that ludicrous question, why does this always happen to me? As I did I was confronted by an incredible sight, the most intense skyline I have seen in some time. The blackest clouds I can ever recall and just in front of them was a beautiful vision, just the most luminous double rainbow.

I continued onward the traffic was clearing by now and then the heavens opened. Not just bouncing intense rain, but hailstones too. Weather of Biblical proportions I thought. I arrived at my destination and had the privilege of engaging in the most beautiful and open conversation I have had for some time.

I left a few hours later and by now all was once again calm outside. As I walked to my car I recalled the image I had seen in the middle of my frustrations. That double rainbow which shone ever more brightly against those dark thundering storm clouds. This got me thinking once again, more about that song that I had been listening to than the dramatic sky. I was particularly thinking of the chorus and the following lyrics.

“There's a line of shadows on the far horizon. It could be stormclouds and it could be mountains. All my life I've been gazing to the far horizon. It could be stormclouds and it could be mountains.”

It got me thinking about what I see when I look out onto the world. Do I see stormclouds and the terror they can bring or do I see mountains? What do any of us see see when you look out of our windows and gaze at the far horizon?

We are very fortunate in this country that we do not have face the extreme weather conditions that many other people in far off lands have to. We have witnessed once again the horrors that the people in the Philippines have had to face these last few days. Typhoon Hayian has reaped utter destruction and taken thousands of lives. It has caused damage that will take many years to recover from. We can do our bit to offer support, but really there is not much we can do for them. We do what we can; we pray and we send what aid we can, that said we cannot take away their suffering. If only we could! A grim reminder that we are all at the mercy of the elements.

Where do these souls turn in time of trouble? Where do any of us turn in times of trouble?

I was deeply moved by the following words by Crisante E Igama.

"The Typhoon"

In the darkness of the night,
roaring flow of waters,
not a single scream was heard,
outpouring rains and howling winds,
baldness of the mountains uncovered,
giant logs came rushing,
angry rivers eating away the lands,
floating haven,hogs and bodies,
wildly running with the debris,
not a single scream was heard,
only the mad voices of the angry waters,
pulling away the happy memories,
into the rivers, into the sea,
blinded by the thick mud and too much garbage,
in the middle of the night,
hope flickers with a single rope,
cling on, cling on, sing with the rivers,
even the roof detached the dream of yesterday,
sleep and gone with the rivers,
heard a simple and powerful prayer,
help us, help us, please…

"Help us please..." Three of the most humbling words we will ever hear...

Over the last few weeks Psalm 121 has been floating in and out of my consciousness. Several people have quoted the opening verse to me as they have struggled with grief and other distress too. A member of the Altrincham congregation Ann Molyneux who recently moved to the Lake District and whose husband Bill died within weeks of them moving there told me that every morning after Bill died she would look out of her window in Keswick, stare up at the hills that surrounded her and would ask this very question that the Psalm begins with “I lift up my eyes to the hills-from where will my help come?” It’s a good question. Now of course the Psalm answers it in the very next line by stating that God is the help on offer and not the hills themselves.

Now while the hills themselves cannot offer help directly I still suspect that they can point to it, they certainly do for Ann as they have for countless generations. They are symbolic of something larger, something greater something that can hold us in our times of need. The hills that Ann stares at each morning are the very same hills that Wordsworth described in his poetry. His memories of walking them created “spots of time” that held him through darker days later in his life. Hills that generation after generation have come to know through the beauty of his words. Now those hills are not the same hills as those referred to in Psalm, but perhaps they lead to the same summit.

Sometimes by just asking the question we make a beginning, we open a channel, maybe a bridge to something more than self...

The Psalms to me are prayers. They often begin with a question that is cried out and then followed by an answer. How often in life do we all do this? How often do we cry out a prayer? Are these ever answered? Some say no, of course not do not be so naive, but I’m not so sure. I suspect that they are always answered it’s just that we rarely hear the voice of transcendence. We need to learn to listen with the ears of hearts in order for the language of the heart to break through. To listen we need to make the time and space in our lives. This I believe is what those hills point to. They may not quiet the external storms of life but they will give us the courage to walk through them.

When we look out on the far horizon what do we see? Do we see storm clouds or do you see mountains?

And what of the rainbow? What does the rainbow point to? What does the rainbow mean? I don’t mean how is the optical effect created, which is of course fascinating in and of itself. Please do not get me wrong I am not being literal here. No what I mean is what can the rainbow teach us? What does the rainbow symbolise?

The rainbow is central to many of the great religious traditions. In Greek and Roman mythology they were considered a path between Heaven and Earth. There was a similar understanding in ancient Norse Mythology, where they were known as the Bifrost Bridge which connects the homes of the God’s and humans. In Hinduism and other ancient traditions they were considered the bow of various deities.

In the Epic of Gigamesh the rainbow symbolises the jewelled necklace of the Great Mother Ishtar that she lifts into the sky as a promise that she “will never forget these days of the great flood” that destroyed her beloved children. This myth is almost identical to story of Noah’s Ark found in Genesis (Ch 9 vv 13-17) and the great flood. Here the rainbow appeared as a resealing of God’s covenant with his people.

Many people see the rainbow as a symbol of hope for the future, but I think it is more than that. It is also one of connection and not just with the future but all time. This is message that is found in some of those ancient traditions. It seems to be a bridge to the eternal a link between past, present and future. When I look at a rainbow it reminds me of that connection and it is this that sustains me no matter what is going on around me. It’s carried me through many a storm.

At the beginning of this blogspot is a video clip reading of the poem “How the Rainbow Works” by Al Young (If you have not watched it please do so before continuing). He wrote it for Jean Cook a woman he worked alongside who was struggling with grief following the death of her mother; now her grief was not just about the physical loss but also about the fact that she and her mother had never really got on. He also explains that the poem is not only about our connection to those who have died but all that has existed and all that will exist past, present and future. It links every moment to eternity; the rainbow therefore is the bridge between now and eternity. It points to the eternity of all life what happens before we are born, what happens now and what happens beyond. The poem The rainbow therefore depicts the rainbow as a symbol of eternity.

Here is the poem in written form:

“How the Rainbow Works” by Al Young

(for Jean Cook, on learning
of her mother's death)

Mostly we occupy ocular zones, clinging
only to what we think we can see.
We can't see wind or waves of thought,
electrical fields or atoms dancing;
only what they do or make us believe.

Look on all of life as color -
vibratile movement, heart-centered,
from invisibility to the merely visible.
Never mind what happens when one of us dies.
Where were you before you even get born?
Where am I and all the unseeable souls
we love at this moment, or loathed
before birth? Where are we right now?

Everything that ever happened either
never did or always will with variations.
Let's put it another way: Nothing ever
happened that wasn't dreamed, that wasn't
sketched from the start with artful surprises.
Think of the dreamer as God, a painter,
a ham, to be sure, but a divine old master
whose medium is light and who sidesteps
tedium by leaving room both inside and outside
this picture for subjects and scenery to wing it.

Look on death as living color too: the dyeing
of fabric, submersion into a temporary sea,
a spectruming beyond the reach of sensual
range which, like time, is chained to change;
the strange notion that everything we've
ever done or been up until now is past
history, is gone away, is bleached, bereft,
perfect, leaving the scene clean to freshen
with pigment and space and leftover light.

"Where are we right now?" is a very good question indeed

The more I grow and understand the more I see that everything is connected in ways we will probably never fully know or understand. To me this understanding is so central to the religious life. Everything is connected to everything, there is no separation. I’m not just talking about the human family but all life and that that is beyond life. We are not even separated by death. I’ve been thinking of this over the weeks of November. Everything I’ve been experiencing has been connecting me with these thoughts and feelings as I moved through all that I have experienced and witnessed and heard said. Everything is a part of everything, it is not limited by time and space; life is not the beginning and neither is death the end. 

"Sometimes all we need to do is search for what is at the other side of the air." Anon

I have not always thought this way and I know many will think this nonsense, I have thought very differently myself in the past. I may change my mind in the future, but right now my whole senses seem filled with this truth.

When I look out of the windows of my soul through these eyes even when I see storm clouds I know at the other side I will also see those beautiful mountains and I know that I will soon once again glimpse the messenger of hope, the rainbow, and that this will link me to all that is and all that will ever be. By doing so I stop worrying and can once again focus on what I can do instead of what makes me afraid to live the life I have been given. I can offer whatever help I can to my suffering brothers and sisters.

I’d just like to end this little chip of a blogspot with something I recently heard from an anonymous friend.

"There is a rope that connects everyone to God. Sometimes these ropes break. When a broken rope gets retied, however, the distance between us and God becomes shorter."

"Storm Clouds" by New Model Army