Seasoning

Seasoning
by Joellen McCarthy, BVM; Peggy Nolan, BVM and Mary Ann Zollmann, BVM

Dear SALT Readers,

It is June 1st. We are sitting outside on the front patio of the BVM Center in Dubuque overlooking a velvety green lawn and a silvery ribbon of river. Fifteen sisters, colleagues in leadership from nearby congregations, have joined us for an end of the year celebration.

We’ve dined on picnic fare: brats and hamburgers, baked beans and potato salad, topped off with strawberry shortcake. We’ve exchanged hard luck stories about the rigors of the day and long laughs about situations that refuse to resolve themselves in spite of our best efforts.

Now we are gathered in a semicircle, quiet, enjoying the feast nature has served up for us this lovely June evening. A cardinal sings, a lone heron passes high overhead, a barge inches its way up the Mississippi, a light breeze ripples the grass. The sun bathes everything in gold.

Absorbed in this beauty we share our thoughts: the abundance of nature, the miracle of new life, the whimsy of the birds, the quiet and peace. We are immersed in the power of this moment. The river and breeze, grass and birds, our own struggles and laughter become one with something much bigger.

We who work in this building and can look out on this site at any moment are caught off guard. Why do we ignore what is at our doorstep? Our group prays in gratitude for what is and promises to spend this summer awake to the gifts of creation poured out in our midst so profusely.

This issue of SALT, with its focus on leisure, is devoted to BVMs and Associates who have found ways of waking up to the gifts of mind, body and spirit that surround them. They have found just the right leisure activity that brings them the happiness and surrender to the present moment that a front porch picnic brought to us June 1.

Whether it’s cards or skiing, cross stitch or camping, mental gymnastics or tennis, these writers tell of ways they have found to expand their horizons through leisure activities. As you read their stories you will see that leisure pursuits can create an enormous amount of activity, activity that renews and refreshes.

The sheer number and range of leisure pursuits provide a window into the wide variety of taste and personality flourishing among us. Yet these different activities seem to have some common threads:

they are chosen not imposed;
they are relational, either connecting one outwardly with others, or inwardly to self;
they are done for their own sakes; the doing of the activity is as important if not more important than any product that might result.

Leisure can mean solitude or camaraderie; doing little or doing lots; having loads of fun out loud or experiencing quiet inward satisfaction. While leisure can have as many different faces as the persons who engage in it, at heart it’s about nourishing the spirit while refreshing the mind and the body.

Grounded in the Christian tradition, we believe in a God who plays and creates, rests and enjoys, and whose goodness spills over into all that is.

Made in God’s image, we, too, play and create, rest and enjoy, and our goodness spills over into the lives of our families and friends, our neighbors and our world. Our leisure renews more than just our own bodies, minds and spirits.

This SALT invites each of us to savor our own leisure time pursuits, and perhaps encourage someone to discover for the first time that leisure activity that is just right for them.

We like to imagine that each of us has the equivalent of a BVM Center front porch in our lives, that spot that beckons us to experience another way of being, even if only for a few moments, by ourselves or with others. As the summer unfolds, may we find and enjoy the leisure that is waiting for us.