By Carl Hilton VanOsdall, LCSW, MDiv
A friend recently shared with me their copy of Nikita Gill’s book, Where Hope Comes From. The first poem, entitled “And a Message from the Universe,” goes like this:
In every moment of your existence,
Several realities
Are bursting across the cosmos.
Planets explode.
Stars burst.
Solar systems dissolve
Or welcome a new planet
Into the orbit of their own
Sun-like star.
The universe gives them life
And says,
Now help me live.
Listen.
I am saying that if you change your thoughts,
You, too, can change your universe.
As I reflect on this, part of me is skeptical: Change your universe? Really? Another part of me nods along, “We CAN change our/the universe If we allow our “same-stuff-as-stars” cerebrums to shift. For there is a whole universe in there.
And, somewhere in my same cerebral space are swirling around words from the August 27 lectionary passage, the starting words of Romans 12:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be TRANSformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Perfect—not meaning without blemish or error—instead perfect meaning whole and integrated. Such is God’s good will for each of us, that we might find wholeness and healing in our holy lives.
Perhaps the Apostle Paul and Nikita Gill are onto the same thing. That by God or by grace, these mysterious and wonder-filled minds are key to our transformation, even the changing of our very universe. Which for us—and for those we hold in our hearts—begins right here… begins right now.