A big week for Oliver, who has learned to ride his bicycle. He showed real determination and independence, and it was great to see his delight when he managed it – on a video sent by David. Today I was able to see him riding down the street “live”: David held a webcam out of the window, and Oliver went up and down two or three times, with Vicky watching from a distance. The picture here goes back a couple of weeks, when he was still getting a helping hand in the garden from Nana (but always wanting to do it on his own). This afternoon he goes with his mother to his new school for a familiarisation visit.
Dot missed this morning’s ride because she was inspecting a school at Wreningham. On Tuesday she was out all day taking Aunt E to visit Aunt J at North Walsham. Rather wish I’d gone, but I did speak to both of them: E to find out why Dot was so late back, and J later to thank her for keeping a paper for me and to mention that I’d met a friend of hers (Yvonne K) at Welborne. Dot and E had lunch at Elderton Grange, and Dot was enthusing about it.
The weather has improved a bit: it’s quite warm, but we still have occasional quite heavy showers. Other parts of the country are much worse hit: part of a rail track was washed away on the England/Wales border.
I spent most of yesterday working on a translation / interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer using the original Aramaic text and commentary on it. Aramaic is a much richer language than English, because its words (and their roots) have wider associations, usually based on verbs and vital human activities. I was trying to create a sort of prayer-poem, and I was reasonably pleased with it. It’s based on a book called Prayers of the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz. Obviously I don’t speak Aramaic, so I was heavily dependent on the translations and expansions given. Here it is (feel free to skip):
You who created all things perfectly
out of what did not exist
You who are mother and father to us
the source of light and blessing
whose breath flows through and transforms all it touches
rising and shining in space so that we can know you
through the song and vibration of the universe
we plant a garden
a holy shrine
within ourselves
separate
letting go all that would distort or inhibit
your focusing light,
your wisdom, your peace
Come like a fruitful arm
a coiled spring
to release the potential of the earth
Come and fill your children
with delight and faith to go forward
bearing the music and the spirit of your kingdom
in new directions
As stars swirl together in harmony
your heart’s desire is an irresistible force
Let this be true of our hearts too
in word and vision
without break or discord
as we sigh together with the living earth
our home
Take us forward step by step
Give us the food and understanding that we need
Breathe into us warmth, passion and creativity
Produce within us fruit and light
fulfilling what lies within the circle of our lives
an illumined measure of your abundance
nourishing each other
Through forgiveness return us
to our uncorrupted state
clear and unburdened
free of secret debt and hidden entanglements
accidental offences and frustrated hopes
Embrace us with the purity of emptiness
just as we free and forgive others
consistently
repairing relationships
Do not let us be diverted from the purpose of our lives
by surface temptations
or seduced by what is false
and illusory
Do not allow our minds to be lost in forgetfulness
like flags waving aimlessly
in the wind
but break the seal that binds us to what is immature, unripe
or inappropriate
Free us to walk your path with joy
For your field is fertile and all-sufficient
You determine all in your royal universe
Yours is the force that produces and sustains
Yours is the glorious song
light and sound in balance
astonishing fire
from one age to another
in the cycle of time
gathering to gathering
mysterious
grounded and true
