"Spiritually Speaking" by Rev. Carla Golden

The Mockingbird That Sang Beethoven

A minister friend of mine shared this terrific story of how even the smallest act has an effect, changing the world to some degree.

Bonnee Joy, a gifted composer, died in the prime of life. At her memorial service, a friend told of how a mockingbird used to sing regularly outside Bonnee's window on summer nights.

Bonnee would stand at her bedroom window, peering into the darkness, listening intently, marveling at the beautiful songs the mockingbird sang. Then, musician that she was, Bonnee decided to sing back. So she whistled the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. With amazing quickness the mockingbird learned these four notes and sang them back to Bonnee. And in perfect pitch, Bonnee was astonished. Then, for a time the bird disappeared. But one night, toward the very end of her life when Bonnee was so terribly sick, the bird returned and, in the midst of other songs, several times sang those first four notes of Beethoven's 'Fifth.'

The beloved friend telling this story at the Memorial Service said, with tears in her eyes, "I like to think of that now, somewhere out there is a mockingbird who sings Beethoven because of Bonnee.

Divine Appointments: A Follow-Up

On September 13, I blogged about Divine Appointments and shared a wonderful story about Tom and Rita and how they came into one another's lives. On the very day that I posted that story, my husband and I had our own "Divine Appointment" encounter.

We had decided to go walking in a park that is about six miles from where we live. We are fortunate that there are many parks in this area and so we have much to choose from. My husband chose this particular one. We walked about a mile and a half and then decided to turn around and walk back. We talked as we walked and were deep in conversation when I glanced down the path and saw a man that looked familiar. I said to Bob, "That man looks like Craig." Craig is our classmate from seminary at Unity Village. We had graduated seven years before and had seen some of our classmates occasionally at conferences, but we hadn't seen Craig in about six years.

As we continued to walk and got closer, the man looked so much like Craig that I was stunned. But Craig lived in Nevada. It couldn't be him. But it was. As we came up to one another we all hugged. He was with a friend of his that lived in the area. It turns out that he was in town for a music conference. We chatted for awhile and then said our goodbyes, shaking our heads at the synchronicity of the meeting.

Have you ever been thinking of someone and then picked up the phone to hear their voice after they have called you? Last year, I began to reach out to some old friends that I had been thinking about. It was good to reconnect. There was one college roommate that I could not find. Just this week, she found me on Facebook.

Whether it's about us setting an intention or the energy or power that we call God or Love at work in our lives, these things happen. We can look at them as a coincidence or "small world", but maybe we should see them differently, as I mentioned in the article from September 13. Maybe we should acknowledge them as an important encounter that happens for a reason and that we have set in motion through our inner desire or an intention that we have set. If we believe that there is but one Mind and that we all share that Mind, then that could also explain it.

Even if we do not have an explanation that makes sense to us or that we feel comfortable with, it is enough to just accept it is a gift from the Universe. The joy that comes from seeing someone we haven't seen in years is reason enough to give thanks and for which to feel grateful.

"The Lost Symbol"

This last week I had the H1N1 flu. It was the perfect time to read Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol.

Like most everyone else in this country, I read The Da Vinci Code. I didn't read Angels and Demons, although my husband did and he enjoyed it, being an ex-Catholic. But this latest book I actually like more than The Da Vinci Code.

The story itself unfolds over a 12 hour period of time and is fast-paced and frantic--just like his other best-seller. It weaves in the past history of characters through flashbacks and memories and forges ahead to a crescendo and climax that may or may not shock the reader. Suspenseful and harrowing and packed with mysteries and secrets, the story does keep you reading long after you have said that you need to put the book down to get something else done. Just one more chapter...thank goodness they are short.

The backdrop of The Lost Symbol is Washington, D.C. and the reader gleans much historical information about our nation's capital and about our forefathers, many of whom were Masons. They were also Deists, and not fundamentalist Christians, which I already knew. Those who are fundamentalist Christians will probably be burning this book and proclaiming Dan Brown as a heretic, just as I'm sure some Catholics did after The Da Vinci Code.

It was the spirituality and underlying theme in this book that I found to be the most exciting and which ultimately won me over as a true fan of Dan Brown. For a book considered as "fiction", there is an incredible amount of "Truth" in its pages. Perhaps Dan Brown can finally get people to believe what the world's most sacred spiritual texts have revealed, but that we have not yet fully comprehended or embraced.

Brown's novel speaks of a time of enlightenment and transformation--of order from chaos. As I observe what is happening today in our country, with those who would use fear and paranoia to hold back change and transformation, I can't help but hope that this chaos that we are experiencing is part of a new birthing of cosmic consciousness.

My final word....buy copies of this book and pass it around.