2010 - The Year of the Tiger
The Chinese zodiac states that the year of the tiger is one of great turbulence & even change. Personally, this year would be properly be renamed “The Year of Misguided Ghosts”
This entry was inspired as I was walking down the street towards the subway after work. Blame it on night shift hallucinations due to odd sleeping habits, but for a second I caught a glance of a woman walking behind me. After doing a quick double take, I turned my head to make sure I wasn’t followed. To my surprise, it was like she just evaporated! I looked all around me. She was nowhere.
Was she a ghost? An angel? My guardian sent to protect or had been protecting me all my life? Or was it the temptress waiting for me to slip & fall on ice from the left over snowfall of two days ago?
I never believed in spiritual warfare, but often it seems there are parts within ourselves we may not know exist. Some are very honorable while others are quite embarrassing. The point is, I think, there is a need to acknowledge these different qualities within us. Our redeeming qualities are often masked in favor of our material commercialized society that is aimed at maintaining the Pleasure Principle. Without disciplining the mind, this way of life can open the portals to the vices of gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, envy, anger, & pride.
I have seen some of these vices affect the lives of many people in my life the past year. I have dealt with death both in its natural and unexpected forms. I have tasted the burning fire left in my heart now filled with emptiness after a dear friend committed suicide. I have also seen marriages fall apart. And even in my own life, some unexpected changes have occurred.
However, there were exceptions to the rule. Good news included retirements & engagements & weddings :) One great change I saw was in a friend near the end of her rope. In a matter of a month, her life took a 180 degree turn that resulted in a new and better future for herself and her daughter. Together they live in happiness free of danger. She has even sent pictures filled with hope & happiness that were difficult to find on her face years ago.
In these positive moments, I cannot take credit other than spending time with a friend who feared for her family. In addition, I turned to others to help pray for my friend. I was worried about the state of mind my friend was in, especially considering she was a mother. In asking others to pray for my friend I discovered a new side to the power of faith. A prayer request placed around the world using online resources & friends opened my eyes that prayer CAN be effective if one truly believes in its power.
Even if you don’t think fairies are real - prayers are. Instead of clapping your hands to make fairies come alive, put your hands together and you’ll renew the lives of real people in your life or those you have yet to meet.
Witnessing positive changes in the midst of other negative things going on made me hopeful in my own life. Instead of asking for my wants and needs, I simply lifted my burdens in acceptance that I am a broken soul in a world filled with other broken souls with the potential to be healed again. Realizing this, I found peace in chaos. I had accepted not being accepted. I found I could do thins in fear knowing God is my courage.
Perhaps legends, myths, fairytales, and epics are symbolic of a more spiritual yet heroic journey we all must take. As most of us take this adventure, we run the risk of bumping into those that will either guide us into the right direction or mislead us towards a dead end. Our journey surrounds us with misguided ghosts, some with good intentions yet often misunderstood consequences.
We as heroes & heroines on our epic journey will enter mazes of this world’s devices that will often cause us to trip into traps; to cause unintentional or potential harm; to do things we normally would not do. After surviving the trials of these misguided steps, however, we may be able to find the holy grail of Love that allows us to seek God’s forgiveness felt in His embrace of Grace!
This journey I describe seems incoherent to those who have never prayed or never believed or encountered God. I will tell you this- If you ever encounter something inexplicable as bumping into an alleged ghost or any other world experience, maybe you have entered the threshold that marks the beginning of the hero’s adventure into the discovery of the spiritual realm.
But more on that later…All I know, had I known what the year of the Tiger would reveal to me, I’d have carried my sword and shield every day as I do now.
