Placing Attention
As the weather is changing
and the light is changing
and the birds at the feeder
in the yard are changing,
as the leaders are changing
and the feelings are changing
and the way that we see
each other is changing,
I notice the invitation to turn
toward the truth
of what does not change—
something so vast, so unnamable,
so unable to be grasped and held,
something so present
there is no life without it,
that knows itself
through you, through me,
through clover and tree and cloud
and goes on and on and on forever.
That. I turn again and again
toward that.
—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Music: Simple Gifts (Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss)
It’s easy to feel as if we're floundering with the many changes happening around us: the changing seasons and diminishing light, changing relationships and emotions, changes in our health and living situations, and changes in the political world. In such times, it might feel as if our center of gravity is shifting and we're struggling to keep our balance. As the song and poem remind us, we turn again and again - to the place that is right.
Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.
~Naomi Shihab Nye
In Mary Oliver’s essay “Upstream,” written near the end of her life, she shares “Something is wrong, I know it, if I don’t keep my attention on eternity.” For her - someone who sees paying attention as her life-long work - it matters where you place your attention. It can make all the difference. Oliver recalls her childhood and how she has attended to the moments of her life, particularly in nature. She ends her essay pointedly, with the words, "Attention is the beginning of devotion." Really paying attention is not just aimless looking, but it grabs us and brings us to the place where Love invites us.
When I consider what is lasting in my life, and those places where Love invites me, I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 13 (4-8,13)
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled;
where there is knowledge, it will pass away...
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
So where are you placing your attention these days?
There seems to be a point of intersection between living in the present moment and also keeping our attention on eternity, on what does not change. In reflecting on Mary Oliver's essay "Upstream," poet Mark Burrows writes,
"So, what are you paying attention to these days? How are you opening your life to this intimate sense of devotion? And what are you discovering as you do? There are opportunities enough to do this, right where you live—right at the familiar doorstep you’ve crossed a thousand times, which is—among all the others—a threshold opening to the rest of this world... and in that discovery, have the chance to “keep our attention” on eternity, in the here-and-now-ness of our lives."
For Reflection: Perhaps it would be helpful to make a list of where you find that place of intersection, where the moment holds both a sense of "eternity" and also the "here-and-now-ness."
As I consider compiling a list of such moments, I might begin with:
beside the ocean
inside a hemlock woods
holding a new baby grandchild
and Love... wherever I might stumble over it...
May we recognize Love's face as we pay attention, and know God's ever-embracing Love as our unchanging center of gravity.
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
(St. Teresa of Avila)
Resources:
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Placing Our Attention, wordwoman@rosemerry.com
Naomi Shihab Nye, The Art of Disappearing, Words Under the Words: Selected Poems, Portland, OR: Eighth Mountain Press, 1994.
Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays, New York: Penguin Press, 2016, pp. 3-8.
Mark Burrows, Attention Is the Beginning of Devotion," The Center Post (A Journal of the Rowe Center) centerpost.rowecenter.org, July 13, 2022.
Advent Online Retreat
Beginning December 1
(Sundays and Wednesdays)
For our Advent Online Retreat this year, we will use as a resource Kate Bowler’s free online Advent journey, entitled, “A Weary World Rejoices.” You may access her retreat through this link for her daily posts: katebowler.com/advent.
You do not need to follow Kate's posts to participate in our Advent Retreat. Our posts will appear automatically in your email on Sundays and Wednesdays (or you can access them through our website: practicingsacredrhythms.com). However, we have followed Kate's Advent reflections in past years and found them to be deeply meaningful, and wanted you to be aware of her free offering which we will be using as a main resource.
Feel free to share these Advent posts with your friends and family.
We pray they will be a blessing to you.
(More information about our Advent Retreat will be coming soon.)
(The Advent Retreat is free, but you may make a donation towards our programming, by sending a check payable to Donna Holstein at 2917 Village Green Lane, Eagleville PA 19403) or contact Donna to use Venmo or PayPal. Thank you!)
Comments