I am here on Cedar Mountain in North Carolina in a retreat center called Terra Nova. They have a place called the Hideaway that guests stay in. I have known the people who created this place for a number of years and they gifted me retreat time in this lovely space, for a few weeks.
There are five bedrooms that have a number of beds in each. I have one of the back rooms that is sort of away from the others to accommodate my having a silent retreat. As the people came and went, my “silent retreat” occurred more when I walked the woods or stayed in my room, which worked out just fine. As I went into the common kitchen area, we would all meet with each other and it always seemed to be a beautiful heart-felt exchange.
What was interesting was the common question that started the conversation each time… “Where do you live or where is your home?” Everyone I met answered easily enough. But, each time for me it was a new revelation. It asked me to look closely at what was coming up in responding to their question as to where was my home.
The feelings of not having a “home” were kind of unsettling at first, having just recently moved out of AHAM. It’s not like I am walking as the Peace Pilgrim did years back. I do have a car. But, to tell you to truth, it brought up something to see through. Staying with these feelings as they were arising from Awareness, what come through was … “the Heart is my home.”
I’ve said this many times before or heard it said. But, this time it struck a deep cord. When there is literally “no home,” one is left with nothing to hold on to. What Grace! There is only the Heart left standing as a solid, strong feeling within.
This then brought about the further realization about what it is to “follow a calling” … this phase of my life is to follow this mysterious calling into the unknown. And, it is revealing itself each step of the way. Every chance meeting is a blessing … a blessed exchange of Heart … a puzzle piece in the whole picture. This was a blessing that someone visiting this center gifted to me: “It is commanded, the most benevolent outcome for Elizabeth, that she has clarity of her calling and moves along her path full of grace and love, giving and receiving blessings.”
Everything that I am being moved to read or hear spoken, is opening the space for clarity as to what is true, where I am and what is my next step to take. Much like the old movie “Field of Dreams” and how he was given each step as he went along and didn’t know the ending until it got there. There seems to be an uncanny faith in this unknown journey and a certainty that all that is needed will be provided … and, so far so good.
Lao-Tzu says it so beautifully …
Be content with what you have;
Rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking
The whole world belongs to you.
Just before leaving and coming here, Jim and I went to a concert at Duke University in Durham and met with Miten and Deva Premal. Deva had given consent for Jim to use one of her songs in his new Arunachala DVD (which will be coming out soon.) And, so after the concert, we met them out back in their motor home. What impressed me, during the concert, was Deva mentioning how people would ask them where they lived. And, she responded “our home is wherever we are." So, it is not a unique thing, with what is happening overall these days, that people are following a calling to serve wherever their Heart moves them to serve and doing it however they are being inspired. One of the songs we chanted together was, “Let the Heavens meet the earth.” The Love was so powerful and deeply moving for all.
