I know I've already posted today, but you take inspiration where and when it comes and those "aha" moments should be captured and maybe even shared. It came this afternoon as I was walking Charlie. We often see Canada geese as we walk in my neighborhood, which is fairly close to the confluence of the Clackamas and Willamette rivers. I have always loved them and use a drawing of one as my logo; perhaps they are my totem. I love that they are "community," that they mate for life, that they're really kind of pretty and, maybe most of all, that they sing continually, even if they don't have the most melodious song. I never fail to stop and just watch as a flock flies overhead.
Today, gazing on the numerous flocks of geese flying over our heads, I thought about a video a friend had posted on Facebook that I had watched earlier. It was of someone scuba diving off the coast of Kauai and in the background, amid the turtles and trigger fish, you could hear the songs of humpback whales. Thinking about the song of the whales and the call of the geese connected me to that Karl Rahner quote.
The geese, the whales, other birds, the wind in the trees, the rivers bubbling and singing over rapids -- all of these things, I realized this morning, are part of the unfinished symphony: a symphony of praise and thanksgiving to our Creator that is meant to go on and on forever. The geese pass their songs on to the goslings; the whales to their calves. I don't know if they actually teach these songs to their young or if it is inherent in them, part of their spirit. I think perhaps the latter is true.
We, too, have our own songs inherent in us, created and formed in us before we were born. And our songs are all part of the symphony of all of creation. Being a singer myself and having sung in my church choir for a number of years, I can easily slip into song at any little suggestion. One song springs to mind that has long been used in Catholic liturgies: Marty Haugen's Canticle of the Sun: The heavens are telling the glory of God, and all creation is shouting for joy . . . sing, sing to the glory of the Lord." This doesn't list a biblical citation but I suspect it is based on Psalm 19: "How clearly the sky reveals God's glory! How plainly it shows what he has done!"
Somehow this morning I felt comforted knowing that we are all part of this unfinished symphony, that we are all called to go on singing our songs, knowing we will never hear the ending -- at least not in this life -- but it is up to us to keep carrying the tune for others to continue after we are gone. If I didn't feel connected to others, nature, all of creation before, I certainly do now.
So get out there and sing your song, whether you think it's beautiful or worth listening to doesn't matter. God loves your part of the music of life.
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