From The Innkeepers

On Connectedness
A Blog for August of 2023

One morning out at our labyrinth meditation garden, I saw a most beautiful spider web woven into part of the gateway arch. The intricacy of the design was nothing short of amazing. Standing there in admiration, the pattern made me think of the interconnectedness of our lives. One thread leads to another then another, and soon you have a diagram of how each delicate string of silk is dependent on the other to create the whole. So too it is with us and the relationships we form in our lifetimes. For instance, some parts of our webs were created for us at birth when we were brought into our families of origin. I think back to my growing up years in Jackson, MI and people I had around me that have died. They no longer walk this earthly plane but are still very much a part of my web of life. Back then my very existence depended on them, but the nature of human existence is that people come and go in our lives. They are preciously held inside the empty spaces between the silken threads, leaving room for those who come after them, but no less a part of who we are and who we have become.

As we grow older, the other parts of our web are created by ourselves as a result of the relationships we choose. There is only a handful of people from both my convent and college experiences that have endured and are a part of the threads of my life today. However, the most significant relationship of those years is spun into the very center of the web of my life today and for that I am most grateful.

In my adult working career a few folks that were part of daily relationships then are still in my web, albeit on the periphery, as I do not see them or communicate with them with great frequency. But oddly enough we are aware of the other and in some ways are still present to each other. Occasionally they surface, and there is the certain sweetness of our shared past that brings joy when we meet again.

Here at the Inn we have another layer of connections formed in the last twenty years that are very much an integral part of our lives. The beauty of this work is that we get to be with them when they visit here. Connectedness is built into the very calendar of our days, and for the richness of that frequency, I am most grateful.

Seeing that spider web and thinking about connectedness brought to mind how during the pandemic, I was much better at reaching out to people in the various parts of my web. The isolation of those months certainly provided more than ample time to do so. In reflecting on the meaning of that time, there has been many positive outcomes. For instance, I still make it part of each month’s purpose to reach out, and in some small way express gratitude for several people’s presence and importance to me. It may only be in an email to “catch up” or a phone call, or a birthday card. The size of the gesture doesn’t matter, but that remembering can make someone’s day and ultimately strengthen the bonds of those fragile threads. To that end in the coming month we are blessed with the opportunity to reach out and personally visit with some people who for whatever reason are unable to come to the Inn at this time. Nurturing and nourishing relationships is important to the integrity of our interconnectedness.

This brings to mind that the spider’s whole purpose in creating a web in the first place is to nourish. The design of each web is meant to bring in other insects, which will ultimately provide food for its maker. So, it is with us. Whatever we can do to nurture connectedness, it nourishes both ourselves and others. Unlike the spider though, our intent is not to the ultimate detriment of those who enter out webs but for their soul’s nourishment as well.

I hope you enjoyed this sharing of reflections from a morning walk to the labyrinth and that it brought some insight about the nature of our relationships with one another My wish for you this month is that you pay attention to the threads in your web of connectedness with openness, gratitude, and generosity of spirit.

May it continue to be so.
Marcia, Pat, and Sharon, Keepers of the Rustic Gate