Pentecost Sunday
I took a course in June of 2012 entitled: “Identity and Destiny.” I started consciously living both that year. It was one of those pivotal points in my life. Pentecost Sunday has been highly significant to me since 2012. In 2012, Pentecost Sunday was May 27. On that day, I saw my first double rainbow! It was a sign I believe of the great adventure in emotional healing yet to come.
In 2013, I was in NewYork worshiping in St. Paul’s Chapel near “Ground Zero.” The priest shared in her sermon that often random acts of kindness are stirred by what we would term “bad circumstances.” These random kind acts the priest labeled as “PentecostalMoments”…..the evidence of the Presence of the Holy Spirit. In these moments,all stereo types are removed and we can see the face of God in each other.
Today, I spent a portion of Pentecost Sunday with a group of individuals attending The June Recovery Education Conference led by Shelia Thurman. The rainbow colored hula hoop was a visual of my personal circle of concern…….my emotional truth. My emotional safety is protected if I stay within the boundary of my own truth. If I wanted to do the hula hoop….the key is to remain in constant contact with the hoop. Symbolically for me……the boundaries I need to set to protect myself are simply to speak my truth in all circumstances of my life. The rainbow reminds me I can’t do it alone. I must rely on my Higher Power. “The mind that created a problem cannot be the same mind to fix the problem.” I think that is an Albert Einstein quote.
Shelia defined LIFE as our thoughts, feelings and behavior. In the past, I have let others’ thoughts, feelings and behaviors define my life. That response has been labeled: Codependency by many self help books. I choose to be proactive now instead of reactive in this the second half of my life. I am spending time with myself so I can identify MY thoughts and feelings. By doing so, I increase my contact with God who dwells within me and has the power to transform my mind. Shelia was reviewing the Twelve Steps and one step involved a dash which is different from a period, colon, comma or semi colon. A dash divides two separate ideas that are inter-related. That caused me to reflect on the spelling of the title I gave myself when I found out I was going to be a grandmother: GRAM-ME. The “me” was very important to the symbolism. I tried to be invisible a good part of my life…….ashamed of my perception of “me.” However, a shift happened in my spirit when I became a grandmother. In loving my grandchildren, I am learning to love and value myself. God called Himself: I AM. AM and ME are two separate ideas, yet they are inter-related and connected by the dash. The capital “G” in Gram-me represents God in ME and the RAM represents the sacrifice He made so that transforming union could exist in the first place and be the light in the world. I am learning to be the LIGHT that illuminates “Pentecostal Moments.”
Written by
Sherry Fraser Somerville