Sunday, December 14, 2014

Grasshopper

I saw this grasshopper on my home the other day. I was getting into my car and it was just sitting there on the brick wall with no other grasshoppers in sight.  I found it odd that I saw this grasshopper  and particularly odd to have found this one in December.  A peculiar sight, if you will...

I took this picture because of the oddness of it.  I was not thinking that I would later write about it, but often times while taking pictures I usually do recall something in my memory that draws me to the subject in the picture, hence I get an inner urging to snap photos of the subject.

I believe in and or around 1986 there was a movie called 'Kung Fu' and in this movie a young man was given the name 'grasshopper', a term or name of endearment.  It typically refers to a student, beginner still learning, a person who has much to learn".  A grasshopper can also refer to someone who hops from one thing to another, never focusing on one single subject at a time.  I believe both of these definitions hold true to my personality.

I am not currently a student.  I have done my time, graduated from college several times with several degrees, all of which I am most grateful.   I work, mother, grandmother and just try to keep my 'head in the game'.  I do love school and wish I could go back, but for now, enrollment in a college is far from my immediate goals. I still consider myself a 'student in life'.  I am learning, still making mistakes and learning from my mistakes.  I also hop from one thing to another, fascinated with life and all that it has to offer.  Each day I take notes of all the things that I think of or items I want to address, goals or chores or something I just want to create.  Today for instance, I want to rake off the pine needles off my driveway, finish a book, wrap Christmas presents, make fudge, bathe my dogs, play with my grand-baby, write, exercise, grocery shop, sew and phone my loved ones.  The list goes on as the day progresses.  My mind rarely quiets itself and I have to practice this art of silence daily or I would literally go insane with all the drummed up expectations and noise that I hear within.

I visit the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration weekly and I have been doing this for many years, every Tuesday, one hour given to God.  Sometimes it is hard to stop the fast pace life and say 'no' to the other activities and to my family, just so I can go give one hour to my Lord.  I am often times tempted to find a substitute so I can continue the hoping from one thing to the next.  But when I go to Adoration, enter the chapel and hear the silence, my inner grasshopper stops.  My focus is diverted on God.  There is silence in the chapel, a reverence beyond measure for all that enter.  It is a moment in time when  I reach to God and God is reaching for me. I adore, give thanks, repent and bask in his love for me and I bask in the quiet of my mind, heart and soul. It is a gift that I receive each Tuesday evening.

In the movie "Kung Fu" there is a conversation from Master Po and his student Caine.  He is teaching him to listen and in listening he attempts to gain wisdom.  The conversation goes something like this:

Master Po (blind):  Close your eyes.  What do you hear?
Young Caine:  I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po:  Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine:  NO.
Po:  Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?
Caine:  Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po:  Young man, how is it that you do not?


If I hop from noise and distraction to silence, I am lead into contemplative prayer with my Divine Master.  It takes practice, I am a 'not so young' grasshopper at heart.

Matthew 26:40 "So, could you not watch with me one hour?"   , grasshopper? 

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