Several weeks ago I was reading an article and the author was talking about taking the position of a supplicant. Now there is an old fashioned word you do not hear very often. A supplicant is one who supplicates...I am not kidding that is from the dictionary. Supplicate means to make a humble entreaty for; to ask for earnestly and humbly. The author was using it in the context of leaning into God in prayer; taking a humble posture and opening your hands as a supplicant.This word fascinated me so I looked it up in my Concise Dictionary of English Etymology. I wanted to know what does it really mean? It comes from the same root word as supple and means to bend down under. 

Well today I was given the very best picture of supplicate/supplicant and a wonderful insight into what this word really does mean. I was walking with a friend at Four Mile Creek, an area in Charlotte that borders a large creek and nature preserve where the city has built a beautiful walking/riding trail. We came to a place where several people had stopped and were looking at something in the grassy area not twenty five feet from the path. There a doe had stopped and was nursing her fawn for all to see. She didn't seem to me to be the least bit alarmed at all of the humans gawking at her, but what so caught my attention was the position of the mother and babe. The fawn was bending down under and nursing happily away; so much so that all you could see of the fawn was its white tail wagging excitedly. The mother's position was not one of boredom...looking straight ahead... or alarm ...looking at us.. but rather her constant posture the entire time was having her head turned in and turned down toward her young one.

All I could think of was the word supplicate; seeing it with news eyes and new understanding. The fawn is a supplicant bending down opening its mouth and receiving life from its mother. That is exactly what God wants me to be and to do. It should be as joyous to pray and commune with God as it was for that fawn to nurse from its mother. I smile even now as I remember the little white tail communicating in a way that words cannot. And how reassuring that the mother was not ignoring the fawn or distracted or remote or any other word we might conjure up to think about where God is when we pray. The mother in whom the Creator Himself deposited all these beautiful instincts was looking down, turning in and intently involved with her offspring. Why should we think God would do anything less?

 I cannot believe the last time I posted anything was in January! I have been so caught up in other pursuits that when I have something to write I simple don't have the time or energy. So I just wanted to say a word about what I am up to for those who maybe interested.

I am in the process of trying to take the material from the class I taught Crossing the Threshold and turn it into a written format in order that it may reach a larger audience. That is a huge undertaking and has required an enormous amount of time. I do hope that one day it will be published as a book. I feel as if I am literally on the Hero's Journey with this project and am sure there will be many "tests" and "ordeals" ahead but right now I am enjoying the challenge and find it exciting. Writing is very different than teaching and I am seeing the material in all sorts of new ways. So if you have listened to Crossing the Threshold and wanted more; hang in there I am working on it!

As for Movieglimpse.....I have seen some movies I really want to write on, but once again it is a time issue. I will just throw a couple of thoughts out there and hopefully will get to put more up on the site this summer. I really want to write on The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. There are lots of things to say about this film and I know that it is reaching a huge audience; especially the over 50 crowd. As a matter of fact one of the really key things about this film is that so many people are going to see it. Why? That is the real question I hope to explore.

Pixar's Brave is another jewel that has such a wonderful message with deep truth. I hope to have time to really unpack that movie for it truly deserves more than a movie review. I did see Madagascar 3 with one of my grandsons and while it is not something I will be writing on I did love the ending. The four animals who have been on a real "Hero's Journey" finally return to the zoo in New York. This is a key scene but says soooo much! They look inside and see that the zoo they have been trying to get back to for so long is not quite how they remember it. They look at the small cages and how isolated they were and what they had settled for as life and then compare it to the the wild adventure they've been on and the  tribe/ family they have been part of. All of a sudden they realize what a small story they were living in and it is no wonder they  opt out for the much larger adventure that life really is. The movie is worth it just to see the ending. It is a beautiful message about life versus the small story we so often settle for.