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Friday, April 27, 2007

God meets me in the pool.


I try to go to water exercise every morning and I feel it is one of the most contemplative things I do. I usually rush into the pool just at 9:00 in the morning and so spend the first minutes greeting the extraordinary women who come so faithfully. In the meantime, we are exercising our arms under the water as we exercise our lips to catch up with each other. One of my favorite friends will soon be 90 and I am planning a party for her; she joined me for Centering Prayer yesterday and then we played Scrabble as she is a great Scrabble player.
All the women in the pool seem to have the wisdom of life experience and the sharing we do is fantastic! Then we get down to serious exercises that require our silent participation and that is when God seems just to be so present in all - the people, (there are some men who come, too), the water, the sun, the whole atmosphere. I am grateful that I can be immersed in God there so easily. At the end of the hour, when my time permits, we walk or skip the length of the pool for another fifteen minutes. This is when being the only nun that goes to water exercise and the only one some have ever met, becomes a great opportunity to share His Love, but mostly I am receiving His love. I know this public pool has become a sacred space for me. His joy is reflected in so many faces full of His goodness.

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