J is for joy, jargon, jokes, jewels (three), Jim (Pym), Jehosophat, joining, jobs …

I had plenty of ideas lined up for this second J in my Buddhist Quaker alphabet, but somehow none of them was quite becoming a post. None got further that a sentence or two. Not that I’m aiming at any great length, but it needs to say something to make it worth posting.

Then, as I sat in meeting last Sunday, I saw these words, these happening to begin with J words, as being a jumble, like a jumble of threads in the mess my sewing basket sometimes is, or the mess we used to see when emptying out the bags of donations for our annual guide jumble sale. When the jumble was sorted there would be a very few gems, lots of could be useful to somebodies, and loads of probably complete rubbish. But it was always hard to be sure quite what might sell. What’s rubbish to one person could be just what is needed to another.

Sometimes my spiritual life is like that pile of jumble waiting to be sorted. So many ideas coming in, from many different sources, that I can’t see any way forward. But time and patience, looking at each one, maybe trying it for size for a while, eventually create some degree of apparent order.

Until someone (probably me), accidentally or deliberately, tips the table over ….