Paula DArcy - Gift of the Red Bird: The Story of a Divine Encounter

Gift

OF THE

Red Bird

A Spiritual Encounter

With a Guide for Reflection

PAULA DARCY

A Crossroad Book

The Crossroad Publishing Company

New York

I WRITE THESE WORDS sitting on a small square of red beach blanket, savoring a rare sixty-five-degree March afternoon on the Connecticut shore. The day is a gift. Beautiful white gulls fly out over the ocean, and my eyes slowly follow their graceful flight. Across the water, to the south, is the clear outline of Long Island Sound. I take a deep breath and listen with my eyes. This very spot is one of my cherished places of peace, and the finding of such a spot is not something I take for granted. It is, for me, a place of great stillness and importance.

Two thousand miles away, secreted in the Texas hills, is another such treasured location. In that oasis there is no sand, but rather palms, cactus, and gentle gray song birds. There I trade todays sandals for hiking shoes, and the sound of waves is replaced by the sweetest notes of the canyon wren. That land has also been my teacher. I have breathed in the wisdom of its canyon and have sat for hours watching midday light color the layers of rock, coaxing the tiniest petals to push for survival through dirt and stone. It was there I first learned to see what is essential. To see beauty. To see with my heart. To see that God, literally, is everywhere.

It is there that I first asked myself why we are able to master great technology, but do not yet understand our own hearts. Why, after centuries, are we still so far from understanding the nature of love? And why are we willing to make endless outer journeys, but are loath to make the significant one: the journey within. The inward journey may frighten us, yet it is this journey which holds the real treasure. There Gods spirit waits to reveal mysteries and beauty beyond our imagination: the secrets of what is holy, and the encounters with truth that change everything. It is the journey that opens the eye of the heart.

This story is the telling of my own efforts to know God through listening within and by taking this journey. Following an inner call is not an easy task. It is contrary to all our conditioning, and especially to our cultures belief that logic is supreme. I had always admired those who were learned and wise and was convinced that those attributes of the mind would reveal the truth I sought. How unexpected to discover that the mind only supplied knowledge about God. Knowing God was different, and its sole requirement (in fact, the only way) was to be open like a child. That is the great step of faith: to become open and innocent in spirit. To see a familiar world for the first time. Nothing is more difficult.

As the story of a child must be, this story is simple and filled with surprises. The experiences which seemed least likely to further my awareness of God were precisely the ones which taught me the most. But new insights were often followed by years of inattention. Ive learned this is not unusual. Awareness of Gods presence seems to weave in and out of the fabric of our years, often followed by prolonged periods of apparent heavenly silence. But fruitfulness can never be measured by activity. Whether or not I was aware of it, I was always on my way.

I was also surprised at how often I heard Gods voice with the greatest clarity through encounters with traditions that were not my own. Ive come to understand that the familiar can be a great barrier to new revelations. My original expectations about the manner of Gods presence were so set. Bit by bit those expectations had to be dismantled so I would be able to see what was, rather than what I expected or had even been taught. It was surrendering to God, rather than to my cherished image of God. The difference is the key.

I fill these pages with deep humility. My story, as history, is unimportant to anyone but me. But all of our stories, as spiritual journeys, matter. We affect one another. We are all reflections of a great Mystery.

As I write these words a seagull calls out boldly above my head, and the wind blows sand into my thermos of tea. I consider the wonder of a birds flight, or even the journey of the wind. I envy them. They know their way already, and I am just beginning.

Always be in a state of expectancy,

and see that you leave room

For God to come in as He likes.

Oswald Chambers

For Eddie Sears,

the friend who taught me

about the power of prayer

I HAVE BEEN WRITING THIS BOOK for seven years, and even wrote and published a different book in the interim. Living with a writer can be difficult. Much time is spent churning things over in my mind and heart, and I can often be far away in thought. So with love I thank my daughter, Beth, for loving me anyway, and for putting up with the distance that sometimes happens. I especially thank her for being glad for me to go so often to the Texas hills, following my heart and Gods call.

I am grateful beyond words to Laity Lodge in Leakey, Texas, for letting me live on their grounds in order to write, or simply to wander through the Frio Canyon, exploring my life and listening to the sounds of creation. That canyon home has given me more than I will ever be able to give back. It has been my teacher.

And I thank Lance Crawford (Strong Eagle), with whom I first led a Womens Gathering in 1991. The intensity of his faith has been a fire for my own. By inviting me to the desert in 1995, he gave me an opportunity to discover for myself that the desert is truly a mirror of the soul. It was there that I began to understand more fully the experiences contained in this book. His witness has helped me to find my way.

I thought the earth

remembered me, she

took me back so tenderly, arranging

her dark skirts, her pockets

full of lichens and seeds. I slept

as never before, a stone

on the riverbed, nothing

between me and the white fire of the stars ...

Mary Oliver, Sleeping in the Forest

ALSO BY PAULA DARCY

SEEKING WITH ALL MY HEART

Encountering Gods Presence Today

With her distinctive literary style and spiritual insights, Paula DArcy brings fresh air to our spiritual reading. Here, in short, meditative essays, she reflects on twenty-nine passages from Scripture and shows how they are powerful, unpredictable, and life-giving.

978-0-8245-2599-6, paperback

A NEW SET OF EYES

Encountering the Hidden God

Through a series of meditations and parables, DArcy helps readers awaken the mind to the presence of God, free the soul from its cherished idols, and infuse the emotions with joy.

978-0-8245-2573-6, paperback

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Gift

OF THE

Red Bird