Portals to Joy

by Catherine Smith | Dec 11, 2022

The phrase Portals to Joy is written in elegant white cursive over a vibrant blue water background.

What if I dive down under the distortion . . .

I now know that it’s not only me who doesn’t always enter Advent gracefully.  Perhaps you’ve had your own less than elegant entry.Perhaps there’s been an entry that you’ve missed because it didn’t look the way you imagined Advent pause and practice should, deep and rich and even.  If you’ve read my earlier post you’ll know eye surgery has been my portal.  It was so uncomfortable I almost missed it.

Anyway, at this stage of recovery, a black plank rests across the vision of my left eye. It makes me think I have my glasses on and they've slipped down so that the top edge horizontally bisects my vision. But there's nothing there on the outside. The distortion comes from within. The gas bubble inserted in my eye to press, like a tender finger on the place that needs to rest and heal, changes the way I see. It seems to limit my vision.

But what if I dive down under the distortion; the plank in my own eye (remember that story?). What if I stop trying to blink it away or heft it aside. What if I dive down under distortion into the watery dept beneath; into the fluid depths of the Holy? What if am shown a cave, a niche of stunning emptiness, a virgin place where the divine and tender life is born?

What if distraction is a portal for this potent, quiet joy?

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Catherine Smith

Catherine Smith is a writer and retired United Church minister whose words invite pause, prayer, and re-imagination.

Through Hem of the Light, she shares reflections and resources that honour longing, nurture hope, and uncover the sacred shimmering at the edges of everyday life.

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