When we had Leonbergers, we frequently took them to our closest large lake to swim.  We swam on days in the late summer and early autumn when the leaves were changing and no one was really around.  One day I pulled up to the lake, ready for our preschooler and baby and dog to swim, only to find our car literally surrounded by so many geese I couldn’t open the door.  Our dog was lying peacefully on the floor, but once I made the decision to open the door, she sprang into action and chased the geese not only away from the car, but jumped into the lake, furiously paddling with that spent up energy from chasing the unpredictable birds.

As an Episcopalian, our strongest roots may be in the Celtic Church.  On Sunday, our priest mentioned that for the Feast of Pentecost (Whitsunday), Celtic Christians associated this festival not with a dove, but with a wild goose. The account of Pentecost – bewildering, astonishing – was seen as symbolized not as much with peace but as with perhaps fiery new beginnings, a sense of wonder and astonishment, a sense of  the untamed and wild.  What would happen next in the big story of the lives of these people, the world?

As we come into the season of Summer (and in the church calendar “Ordinary Time”), I often see the expansiveness and new beginnings of this time of year.  Children grow so much physically over the summer, and go back to school ready to begin new material, new growth.  Summer can be a time for casting off the old, and making room for the new. This can be a time of unparalled strength and creativity.  Here are some beautiful cross-cultural images to help you get started.  If you create something, please post it here or on the FB thread on The Parenting Passageway FB page.  I would love to honor you and your creation!

So, in that vein, I wish you time to create every day – whether that creation is in art, in music, in writing, in care of your home, in care of your neighbors.  Enjoy this beautiful season.

Blessings and love,
Carrie