Alignment
Connecting the Dots
As I look ahead to a change in my professional world, I can look behind me and see a pattern of connecting dots that brought me here. This next move perfectly aligns with the dot-to-dot of my previous roles. In this issue I ponder how to live in alignment by awareness of connecting the dots.
Note about the image: This is Grandfather. You can’t see his “rhino” face but you can see how big he is. The original trunk is almost ten feet in circumference.
My Mysterious Mind
After my second unsuccessful trip to the DMV to get my driver’s license renewed as a Real ID, I have been pondering life as a dot-to-dot activity. My first trip was unsuccessful because I needed a marriage license to verify my name change from 42 years ago. Funny, I thought my Social Security card and 42 years of the IRS accepting joint returns with my husband, were strong indicators that I was, indeed, married. No, the kind DMV employee told me, your social security card is just “a card with a number on it.” Trip number one was the first “dot” in my dot-to-dot journey to obtaining my new driver’s license.
No problem, I thought, as I returned with the blue folder marker “Marriage License” I had kept with my important papers for 42 years. Dot number two was me putting my various documents on the counter in front of the DMV employee and handing her the blue folder. “Oh,” she said. I thought, “That’s not a good sign.” She told me I needed a “state-issued marriage license” and could get one by calling the county recorder for where I had been married.
So, dot number three, I called the Recorder of Deeds for the county in which I was married, the same county who had given me that important, but useless, piece of paper in that blue folder. Another kind woman searched the data base, as I prepared myself for another piece of bad news. Perhaps my father-in-law, who performed the wedding, hadn’t filed something correctly and we weren’t actually married. “Here it is,” she said. Phew! A few minutes later, and a charge to my credit card, she assured me that a copy of my marriage license would go out in that day’s mail.
I can’t move to dot number four until that official document arrives in the mail. Then I can return to the DMV with an “if at first you don’t succeed” echoing in my mind.
Thus, I’ve been thinking about the dot-to-do experiences life brings us and how to respond to them. My almost-7-year old grandson got a book of dot-to-dot puzzles for Christmas. The pages are covered with tiny numbers, hundreds of them. My “eyes-over-40” glasses are not strong enough to be of much help to me in helping him. As he started one puzzle he couldn’t find number one. I suggested he start at the lowest number he COULD find. He patiently, and with intense concentration, proceeded to connect the dots, starting with number 12 or so.
Connecting dots requires patience. Sometimes, if the next dot isn’t apparent, it’s best to just look at the big picture and see if you can figure out where the lines might be going. Each day is like a little dot. Sometimes you can see the next dot and move towards it; sometimes you just have to sit and wait. As I wait for my official marriage license to arrive in the mail, there’s no amount of “scribbling” that will do any good.
Message of Mystery Acres
My forest offers at least two forms of alignment. At night, as the stars appear, I can connect the dots and see the Big Dipper. From there, I can find the North Star. Sometimes my husband and I look for groupings of stars in the “shape” of something. One night we found what we thought looked like a dot-to-dot house. As we gaze heavenward, I feel connected to countless humans who have gone before us, who also played dot-to-dot with the stars.
What is unique about the alignment at Mystery Acres can be found in the marker trees. These white oaks were shaped by native people, probably Osage, as a means to communicate a path or point to a direction of something significant. From what I have learned from reading about marker trees, they were usually about 100 yards apart, making the next marker visible from the current one. There are some marker trees, called “trail trees” whose routes eventually became some of our highways still in use today. Fewer and fewer of these trees remain, lost to death from aging or cut down to clear a piece of land for some other purpose.
The four marker trees at Mystery Acres are not trail trees. Grandfather, who is the largest and died before we purchased the land, points west and resembles a rhinoceros. We have yet to identify to what he is pointing, that next “dot” probably lost to age and time.
About 100 yards behind Grandfather is Valkyrie, whose branches resemble a hand in a “V” of victory. The bend in Valkyrie has an unusual orientation and is fairly high off the ground. One researcher speculated that such trees were “rider trees” because they were intended to be visible to travelers on horseback. We can’t find a “dot” in the direction of the bend, however, facing in the exact opposite direction brings Grandmother into view.
Grandmother, named because I thought she looked like she had a face overlooking the ravine, is about 100 yards from Valkyrie, and points due East. One researcher told me that Grandmother is a village marker. She is looking towards the location of a village, now just an overgrowth of trees. Our land was part of one of the last treaties with the native people, signed in 1832. It’s possible there were native people still using the land at that time, but not for long after. Still, she stands as a silent “dot” pointing to a place no longer visible.
Near Grandmother is Capercallie, which means “horse of the woods.” If I trace an invisible line due east from Grandmother and another directly in line with the bend of Capercallie, I find two collapsed areas in the ground. One expert told me, without seeing the land, that the shape of Capercallie’s knobs on the “hip” of the bend, indicate the tree is a grave marker for two tribal leaders. He told me that without knowing I had already identified two possible disturbed areas in alignment from Grandmother and Capercallie.
Connecting the dots, a picture comes into view. On the side of the hill, overlooking the village, are two graves of former tribal leaders, who also “overlook” the village as silent sentinels. Tracing up the hill from Grandmother is Valkyrie, who served to guide travelers to the site of the village. Grandfather’s purpose is less clear, but one expert speculated he points towards a council ring or healing circle. In sum, the uniqueness of these trees in this combination, he said marks this as a “sacred” place to the Osage.
The message of Mystery Acres is a voice of alignment. In a long-distant past, the trees connected a path for native people. Those same people also gazed at the sky and played dot-to-dot, connecting their lives with mine. I can connect my life with them through the trees they shaped. I see markings of tethers used by native people to hold the trees in place to form their current postures. When I say “hello” to these trees I am speaking across time, connecting my voice with those of people who long ago left this land and their life here. The voice of alignment calls to me to relax into today’s dot and look quietly to find the next one, watching patiently to see how alignment might be emerging.
Ancient Mystery’s Voice
“Lead us” to the right next dot, and keep us from chasing the wrong dots. (very loose paraphrase from Luke 11:4)
How do I know which is my next dot? As I pondered this, the Lord’s Prayer from the book of Luke came to mind. There are two phrases in that prayer that speak to being lead. The traditional translation from the original Greek is this: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I’ve long struggled with the “lead us not” phrase. My brain wants a positive direction, not a “don’t do this” negative one. Plus, the God I know wouldn’t lead me into temptation, so why pray for Him not to do that?
If we use the dot-to-dot view of our lives, then the prayer might be: “Don’t lead us to the wrong dot.” But, again, I don’t believe we need to ask God to do that. Thus, I suggest we ask God to “lead us to the right next dot and keep us from chasing after the wrong dots.” That makes more sense to me as I think about being in today’s dot and trying to figure out which dot comes next.
When we chase after the wrong dots, the “picture” of our lives is ruined. I also find it interesting that the prayer is written in plural using “we” and “our” instead of “me” and “mine.” My paraphrase isn’t “lead me to the right next dot and keep me from chasing after the wrong dots.” The original words of Ancient Mystery are plural. As we connect the dots of our lives a picture appears that’s a combination of our interconnected lives. As a “Western individualistic” thinker, my default tendency is to think “I” and “me,” “not “us” and “we.” But this prayer is plural, and, therefore, collectivist. The dot-to-dot of my life is on the “same page” as the “dot-to-dot” of everyone else’s lives. What is the combined picture? Is it a beautiful pattern or a scribbled mess?
Lead us not into a scribbled mess by chasing after the wrong dots. This is a very loose paraphrase and won’t make an official church service, but it helps bring clarity to the “big picture” of our lives. Lead us to the right next dot, and keep us from chasing after the wrong dots. The combined picture we are “drawing” depends on each of us moving thoughtfully in our own dot-to-dot patterns.
Living in Mystery
How can we live in alignment, moving from dot to dot in a way that makes a beautiful pattern emerge? First, it means not chasing after the wrong dots. It’s better to wait in your current dot than to go “scribbling around.” Pause. Ponder. Watch. Where is the right next dot? Where is the next step to take? My “to do” list contains many possible “next dots.” I find, if I am calm and mindful, I can accomplish many “dots” with ease, even when it seems there are too many to connect and complete.
Too often people fill the space between the dots of their lives with screens. Transfixed by their smartphones, they stupidly scribble instead of just being in their current “dot” while calmly looking around for the next “dot.” That next dot might be a chat with someone nearby. It might be an emerging awareness of something productive to do. It might be experiencing a gentle breeze, a singing bird, or a puffy cloud. So much meaningless “scribbling” on stupid phones! Living an “aligned” life only happens when there’s very limited meaningless “scribbling.”
As an old mom to young parents, I encourage you to learn how to live a life of alignment while teaching your children to do the same. I recently read the book Stolen Focus in which the author described various factors undermining our ability to concentrate. Not surprisingly, one of the factors is the infusion of screens. Surprisingly, one of the critical factors is the lack of daydreaming. Instead of allowing ourselves to become calm and maybe even a bit bored, we are reducing our ability to focus by filling our lives with constant activity and stimulation. In order to have better focus, our minds need to have calm spaces in which we are doing nothing. We need to “sit in the current dot” instead of scribbling around with distracting dots. Parents who can do this, and teach their children it’s OK to be bored, will, ironically, have better focus for yourselves and your children.
To live in alignment, means to rest calmly in your current dot. Look around mindfully for the next dot. Resist the temptation to scribble around while waiting. Remember the dot-to-dot of your life is part of a much bigger dot-to-dot with the rest of us.
Connecting with Mystery
Dear Lord of All Mystery, thank You for my current dot. I know sometimes I am tempted to “scribble after” the wrong dots. Help me to relax, trusting You with where I am right now. Help me to clearly see where I should next trace the line of my life. Thank You for having a beautiful picture in mind for the dot-to-dot of my life. Amen.
Notes from Dr. Mac
If you want to do your own investigation of any of the scriptures I use, I suggest you go to Bible Gateway. This free online version of the Bible allows a search of words or phrases in various translations. The full text of the Lord’s Prayer can be found in the book of Luke, verses two through four.
You can find previous posts and podcasts in my ARCHIVE and organized compilations in the My “Books” section.
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