The little girl has blonde curly hair and is poised beside the pool. She wants to jump in, she knows the sweetness of being wet, yet she is afraid. She is surrounded by 5 teachers who love her unconditionally and are there to support her. This circle of support creates a vessel, a vital energy field and in this dynamic container, the little curly blonde gets what she wants. She wants to be in the water and so it is. She is in!
My homework is to be in the water with them all- the little girl and her supporters. My homework is to be with them for 10 seconds every 15 minutes. This homework, says Marc, is the most important assignment that I have ever been given. My homework is to be in the water with them and ignore everything else.
I am as diligent as I can muster in my daily life of unlimited distractions. I feel like I am exercising an atrophied muscle. Little my little, I begin to feel the strength that lies in this muscle that has so long been dormant. Little my little, I begin to trust that there actually is a feeling of connection, an openness in my chest when I do this homework of picturing myself in the pool with the girl and her circle of support.
I am driving south on Route 9 towards Cleremont and I am doing my homework, picturing the girl, the circle of support, in the water. Hmmm… I feel the quavery sensation in my chest that lets me know that I am home. Hmmm…Suddenly I am curious – if I really do my homework for 10 seconds, every fifteen minutes – just how much time would that be? So, I calculate in my head – 24 hours in a day – well, lets say 16 waking hours in a day, times 4 times an hour (I am not a math wiz and with no paper and pencil, this required some concentration…), times 10 seconds – I gasp out loud. Is it really only 6 minutes a day that I am being asked to devote to this work that is so very important to me? I burst into tears, as I am driving 50 miles per hour… Suddenly I see how much of my life is devoted to non essential matters, and I am humbled… (I do humbly realize later that I had miscalculated and it really is more like 10 and a half minutes, but the point remains clear).
Although I honestly do not manage every 15 minutes, I am working my homework more than any other homework. Little by little I begin to trust this feeling and realize that this is what fills the quavering, expectant, empty well within (see The Well). I weep with relief, with the sweetness of feeling full, even if it is only for 10 seconds or less. This is what it feels like to be supported 100% - supported by God and His agents. And only in this brief moment, does the second part of my homework finally make sense – to ignore everything else – for everything else is insignificant – what someone does or says, what I think I should do or say – all this is so very petty –when I am actually aware that God’s hand has gently touched me, supported me in the eternity of a split second…I have the sensation that this feeling acts like armor – God’s warrior armor – that for the briefest moment, I know without a shadow of a doubt that there is nothing, absolutely nothing that is more important.