FEAST: Savoring it!

ALL DAY OUR HANDS OUR JOYFUL as they prepare the meal to come. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for the FEAST! The word "feast" is my word for 2018, and I felt a deep satisfaction at the most recent Cynthia Winton-Henry's online dance chapel when Cynthia offered me the word "feast" in the poem by Rosemerry Trommer. As we moved, we contemplated its words and images. I have been honoring it all week as I moved into the Easter/Passover weekend.


Here is the poem: 

Grace

Though the world is dented and dinged

and scuffed and scorned,

we trim the beans and peel the potatoes,

and the kitchen is warm and full

of laughter. We hum as we work

and break into scraps of song.

All day our hands are joyful

as they prepare the meal to come.

There are wars and battles even now,

not all of them fought with guns,

some waged intimately in our thoughts,

our scraped up hearts. And still,

this scent of apple pie, sweetening

as it bakes, this inner insistence

that love is not only possible,

it is every bit as real as our fear.

Whether the host has brought

out his best wine and his best crystal glasses

or water in chipped clay cups,

there is every reason

to be generous, to serve not only

our family, our friends, ourselves,

but also those we don’t yet know how to love

and those parts of ourselves we

have tried to keep separate.

Tonight the host has hidden bait

in the dinner—we all are caught.

Scent of sage, scent of mushrooms

and cream. The bite of cranberry.

Never mind the potatoes cooked too long.

Blessings seep into all the imperfect places,

even if you can’t name the blessings—

consider them secret ingredients.

The point is not to understand the feast,

but to eat, to eat it together.

-Rosemerry Trommer

...there is every reason

to be generous, to serve not only

our family, our friends, ourselves,

but also those we don’t yet know how to love

and those parts of ourselves we 
have tried to keep separate... (art by Hallelujah Truth)

I have been moving with the redemptive idea of loving all of myself, peeking through the fear, anxiety, and sometime depression to find and hold the love,  joy, and talents that are perpetually present along side those less positive feelings.

I am beginning to understand that if I can truly witness the parts of myself that are good and whole, I will not linger on the forces that tear me apart. All are present - ingredients in the soup. 

Better yet? 

With this keen practice of finding the good in my messy soup, I can better learn to locate and be present to the good in all of those surrounding me - friend and stranger alike. The community soup of love - a VERTIABLE FEAST of love in presence of that which also destroys us. 

Which do you choose? The having of the good? Savoring that good with others? Or letting those less taste-worthy ingredients to spoil your/our soup? 

I am practicing choosing the FEAST of good flavors and ingredients, knowing the other is present but not allowing it to prevent the nurturing presence of the good.

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Soul blog with me about what you are feasting on this week. Are you taking time to savor your feast with all of your senses?

FEAST: Savoring it! (art by Hallelujah Truth)