Spirituality by McQueen
Recently I was chatting with a friend on the topic of Divine Timing. The idea that everything in the universe is happening in harmony even when it seems like anything but.
The period where my relationship to divine timing was most tested was the year 2014. That was the year I ended an 11 year relationship with my now ex-husband, and my father passed away in a bicycle accident. Both events happened very suddenly. Every day that year when trolling Instagram I would see inspirational quotes about how ‘darkness gives way to light’ and ‘sorrow gives birth to joy,’ , etc.
Frankly, I wanted to take those quotes, stack them on top of each other, light them on fire and ride a motorcycle over the blaze. The mere concept of divine timing felt trite and condescending at best, and like something I wanted to pee on at worst.
I don’t necessarily believe that everything happens for a reason, but I do believe that reason can be found in everything. From my vantage point now, two years later, it’s not that I’m happy that those things happened. But the fire of the universe’s kiln has cooled enough that I am finally able to see and touch my smooth, shiny new shape. I wouldn’t have chosen those things for myself, and yet (warning: inspirational quote ahead), I am grateful for how all that pain hollowed out my heart, and opened me to loving more robustly than I ever would have been able to before.
Personally, I like to think of the Divine as being an avant garde fashion designer like Alexander McQueen. His creations evoked an edgy, almost grotesque type of beauty, and yet it was a beauty that changed the world with its innovation. Because we are humans, we think we want the designer of our lives to be a bit more like Banana Republic - predictable, neat, symmetrical.
But really, who would you want dressing you at the end of the day?
When something is not going my way and I need a reminder of divine timing, I always look to nature. Talk about the Queen of Fashion Week! When I look out my window and see a brilliantly red autumn leaf, hanging on by a thread and about to take one final walk down the runway of it’s life, I am so reassured by it's beauty.
Some force out there, bigger and smarter than me, was able to create that. I couldn’t create something like that with all the sharpies, chemistry sets and magic potions in the world. There is an effortless genius in that leaf. And when I take a moment to remember, I realize that that same effortless genius is what created me, and what continues to create me, throb after throb after throb in the heartbeat of life.
When I was a child and would pester my Dad with questions about religious myths, his answer would most often be: “It’s a mystery, you’re not supposed to figure it out.”
Anything you can think of these days, the internet can bring to you.
Any question you have, Siri will answer for you.
As Oscar Wilde once said “The very essence of romance is uncertainty.”
Let’s enjoy the mystery, shall we?
(Because let’s be honest friends, that’s exactly how we like it.)
Mysteriously Yours,
Mary