Blood, prayer and bread

Unavoidable echo of Churchill's oratory, don't get me started....so many problems with that person, but the rhythm of his prose took hold at an early age, as a little kid in the house with the nine o clock news from the BBC in wartime, bringing us, as the old joke went, news of fresh disasters...

Anyway, the blood reference is to a routine blood test thing I had to do, nothing alarming, but pretty high tech when you think about it. A person had to get it, but a machine will read it, pass on the info, a computer will record it, and blessedly a person will call to let know what's up.

So, since I was in the neighborhood and had coverage for HP, I nipped over to the labyrinth, with the intent of walking it with A. I. in mind, a thing I do now and then, keep a specific person and their current situation in mind.

It was one of those scrappy experiences, where my mind was all over the place, outdoing the monkey mind in its antics, and I remembered the sage who said, don't worry about it, you're just hearing the normal noise in your head! keep walking slowly, watch each foot advance, see what happens to you.

And what happens is always amazing. This time I found a little square of glass, glittering, sharp edges, but beautiful, very mathematically sharp, too, oddly appropriate for the recipient of the meditation. I carried it around and placed it in the center of the labyrinth where you put an object, and stand confirming that you have arrived at the center with your questions, before turning to exit, and experience the unwinding that always happens in the labyrinth.

There's always a new thought, or message, or something. And this time it was about how this was my job this fine Saturday morning, to walk the labyrinth with a particular person and her family in mind. No need to stress over how engrossed I could get in meditating, just do it. No need to stress over whether it helps her, just do it.

Chop wood, carry water.

Then home to lovely lunch with HP and HS, who always enjoys his Saturday meal with us, and a discussion of the newest high tech enterprises he's embarked on. Then later I made a batch of bread, ancient food, ancient form of meditation. Bread is alive, that's why it's so good to work with. It works back at you. And we ate some of the results today, so good.

One extreme to the other -- ancient to modern and back again in one day.