Rising From the Fog: Brigadoon

Overnight, the Atlantic Ocean rolled out a silent blue gray mist. It hovered over coastal inlets, drifted through the trees behind my house before spilling onto my street. From my window I saw the world wrapped in puffy cotton balls and I was as excited as a child waking up to winter’s first snow. There is nothing more soothing or more mysterious than a walk in the fog. It is what I needed.

Stepping into the gauzy mist, I took in a lungful of dewy air. Swallowed up in quiet dream-clouds, I felt shielded from the sorrows, tragedies, and injustices of the world. Van Morrison depicted fog as illusion and confusion that hangs heavily over the world, menacingly and with foreboding.  

But I see fog as something holding the mystery of life, something to be unveiled.

Mysteries in the Lifting

Comfort hugged me like a blanket.  Cushioned by the mist, layers of thought were wrapping around me like a velvet glove.  As with clouds, fog is a collection of tiny water droplets, the source of life, and also the stuff of tears.

This morning, I am held in the soft palm of this dual apparition, searching for clarity.  

I found myself clinging to the story of Brigadoon, clear, bright and rising from the mist. Is it a metaphor for humankind?  Do the generations advance day by day,  year by year or does it take a hundred-year event, something once hidden and now visible, to awaken us from our slumber?
Continuing, the pond behind my house came into view. Untouched by the mist, it appeared clear and pristine. There under a canopy of gray, it brightly presented itself like the mystical Brigadoon, rising from its hundred-year sleep. Something inside of me stirred. More thoughts emerged. Am I also awakening from slumber? No answers came. Sometimes it is enough to wonder.
A family of ducks floated effortlessly on the pond’s glassy surface. I imagined myself floating downstream with them, drifting me away from all the risk-reward COVID decisions I will be making, all the pain, sadness, injustices, and human cruelties in our world. The complacency of the pond is a pleasant escape . . . but only momentary.   
There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.
- Deepak Chopra
Life has purpose.  My life has purpose. I am here to heal and love, even when it is not easy and maybe especially when it is not easy. But I do not wander aimlessly in a fog of despair, under shrouds of uncertainty searching for light above the fog.  I was given a model, whose life here on earth showed me how to live, how to forgive and how to love.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

*****************

For another post on finding purpose, see the link below:

https://atomic-temporary-151792464.wpcomstaging.com/2019/04/23/awakening-to-and-coming-into-your-purpose-a-post-easter-message/

2 Comments Add yours

  1. Bill R says:

    A walk on a foggy beach is something very different. My wife did that on a miset morn in Glouscester , Mass long agr Damp,, chilly, wonderful. Nice to be reminded.

Leave a Reply