At least ten years ago my mother gave me a magnetic notepaper holder to hang on my refrigerator. It had a delicate angel and rainbow picture, with a saying about love on it. For a long time I’ve realized it doesn’t appeal to me anymore. Lately my hands have been feeling restless and unsettled. Tonight I put on Tracy Chapman and pulled out scissors, paper, and glue and gave it a new cover.

I’ve been thinking about God lately, in the context of Being, Consciousness, Love, and Mystery. Back in the 1990s, I slogged through times of aching isolation and loneliness. Friends came and went. I felt so alone and small. I struggled to make ends meet. At one point, I meditated on love as an ocean. The tides of love may be high or low in a given day, but the ocean is always there. It was a reassuring concept.

As I created tonight, the Breton Fisherman’s Prayer floated into my awareness: “Oh God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.” It is, of course, a prayer for protection. But perhaps, at least in the case of Love and Awakening, the boat is our Ego. Maybe I’m not ready to give up the boat entirely, but I could go swimming more often.