Funny Connections

There are two phrases running through my head this morning (and yes thoughts do regular laps in this brain) and they are “what makes me laugh” and “consecrated hope”. One is funny and the other quite serious. Are they random thoughts passing on this track in my brain mass or are they running juxtaposed to show me something today?

Debbie had a great blog here about getting words mixed up and this had me laughing. I am on holidays and thought I would spend some days vegging out and watching movies and my TV broke which makes me laugh. It means I have more time to read, and to listen to a variety of music. Sitting in a restaurant yesterday and watching people makes me smile. Not in mockery but simply in delight at enjoying the wonder of human beings and how we interact, react and are all different. Last night I put on a CD and danced around the house – something I used to do as a teenager. The freedom of it was wonderful, and it made me laugh.

So what do hope, consecrated hope, and laughter have to do with each other? Hope or rather expectations that are not met often come with tears. What does hope feel like? Yesterday hope was wrapped up with “nesting” for me. I went on a search for curtain rods that would be unique so I could hang some curtains that had been in the drawer for a year. I hung a curtain on the wall to hide the fuse box that is in the hallway. Hope is for the future and yet hope is very much for the present too. Yesterday hope felt like a sense of snuggling into my sanctuary.

Maybe the connection of laughter and hope is that both are a stirring inside. One bubbles up and comes out when our eyes crinkle, our shoulders shake and our laughter gets its own voice. One sends air bubbles up as it goes deeper and deeper inside of us stirring our deepest desires and our spirit. Laughter, and hope, comes from promptings – whether they are internal or external. They are both created and come from the Divine. The Divine Maestro has painted them into our very being and wants to see them both active in our lives. When hope is lost and the search for it is intense, the laughter can be lost.

But what is “consecrated hope”? Consecration requires my awareness of and in “the present”. Hope is part of this very moment and in Gerald May says recognizing its presence is my consecration. Hope is therefore very intentional. I don’t always feel hope, but feeling it and recognizing it is there are two different things. I ponder hope as I work with the Divine Maestro to redeem silence, to reveal complete femininity and let both of them be fully alive in me. Consecrating these means to make them sacred.

Gerald May in his book The Awakened Heart puts forward this explanation: “You will need to find the ways of immediate consecration that are authentic for you; they may or may not be like mine. You will find them only by first waking up to the there and now. In the beginning, you may feel there is too much to contend with in the moment. Give it time, asks God for the grace and guidance to help you find your way, and keep trying. Remember that it is not a matter of success or failure. Every attempt you make, however stumbling, is an expression of your care, which is to say, your love.”

Love, laughter, hope and grace. These four are now running together and I think I will sit with them and see how they work together, and where I will find them together in today.