In the past week, I have had three dreams or sleeping thoughts. I am puzzled.

In the first dream, I was at a school new to me and was receiving instructions about my classes, paperwork, and schedules. Then someone offered to lead me in the right direction and showed me the door to my room. Instead of a vertical door, though, it was like a mail slot—a horizontal opening in the wall with a flap to push forward. It was big enough for a person to go through, but it didn’t look easy or simple. So, I said, “I am not going through that door.”

The second dream was really just a thought, like a voice asking me, “What is the key to the door?” That’s all. I thought I should turn on the light and write it down, but I really was fully asleep, so I did not.

The third dream was last night. I don’t remember the “story line” of the dream, but the significant statement was, “Find the gate and walk through it.”

Awake, I am wondering, what new direction, or familiar direction, is hidden from me.

Today is a day to watch the snow falling in big lacy flakes, softly falling, no raging wind, no dark clouds, only snow continually swirling and gently covering everything. It is just cold enough to snow–2 degrees warmer and this would be rain instead of sparkling snow.

Today reminds me of a day in 1975 when I was nearly ready to give birth to my son. I could say that I was more than ready, but he was not. I so wanted a new dress for Easter, which would fall on March 30, but I did not want to buy a new maternity dress. One of my friends offered me a dress she had. It was bright pink, of the new “miracle” fabric polyester, and it had a white collar. Because it was sleeveless and the weather was still chilly, I bought a white crocheted shawl to cover my arms. On Easter morning, it was a day much like today, snowing big puffy flakes. I wore that dress anyway, and I was grateful for the shawl. My baby was born the following week, April 8. Perhaps I still have that shawl, a reminder of that day.

Today is Palm Sunday, a day to commemorate the day that Jesus of Nazareth rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, not the steed of a king, but the beast of burden used by common people. Still, the crowds of people hailed him as a king that day. He knew what was coming, they did not. This week, we will commemorate those events–his celebration of Passover with his closest friends, his trial, his suffering, and his painful death on that instrument of torture, the cross. Next Sunday, we will celebrate his miraculous resurrection from the dead. Does it sound fantastic? But, I know it to be true.

Today is a day to rest, to contemplate, to ponder life, and death, new life, and eternal life, to think of God, and of his great love for people, to remember a lacy white shawl over a bright pink springtime dress, and to see the snow in springtime covering everything in sparkling white. God said to his people long ago, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.”

I am so excited that I am making progress in swimming. Today, for the first time in my life, I swam two whole laps, that is to say, four lengths of the pool. For me the big problem is the rhythm of breathing with the stroke. Today, I was able to approach an easy timing and I was not terrified of being in the deep water. So, I have made huge progress since my first class three years ago.
Although six people are signed up for the class, today I was the only one who came. So I had a whole hour of one on one instruction. This particular instructor is also a musician, so he teaches the rhythm in this way: the feet are the bass line, or perhaps the drums, and the arms have the melody line. Meanwhile, the breathing has its own count, but it is best to coordinate it with the arms. It’s important to relax in the water, just as it is important to relax while singing.
I have also gained in stamina. I can tell because three years ago, I thought an hour was way too long a class! I was exhausted after about 20 minutes, and then sort of stuck it out until the end. Today, I was quite tired at 55 minutes. My teacher said, “We still have five whole minutes!” So, the “stick it out” time has decreased considerably. It’s important to use time wisely, and to meet commitments, no matter how tired we may be.
I spoke to the aquatic director after my class, thanking him for providing classes. “I am so grateful and so excited,” I said, “I am really making progress!”
“Yes!” he said, “I was watching you today.”
There are two more classes in this session, but I will miss the final one because of a trip we are taking. But, I can sign up for the next set. There’s nothing like having a coach and a set time to meet to learn new skills.
An old saying is “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” and people usually say this applying it to people. It’s not true, if the trick is worth learning.

Life is all about patterns. I’m taking swim lessons again, because after more than a year out of the water, I have to start over. I’m so close to being able to swim, but, the rhythm of the breathing eludes me. Also, it takes a lot of energy to be able to swim any distance, such as the length of the pool, and I am lacking in energy. I said to an instructor, “I have so little energy.” He said, “Then don’t waste any of it.” As we learn effective patterns of movement and breathing, we can save energy, and direct that energy to the swimming itself. Yesterday, we worked on the back stroke. That alternating arm movement is so difficult for me. I wonder if it is an issue of focus in my brain, or an issue of the strength required to move my arm through the water?
I used to do a lot of quilting, a process of creating blankets, clothing, or art work, in which at least three layers of fabric are sewn together in patterned stitching. Patchwork is a particular style of this art. It started as a way to make use of every scrap of fabric available, and not waste anything. For example, to make a dress for an adult, you need about four yards of fabric. It is folded in half lengthways. You lay the pieces of your pattern on the cloth along the fold, so that you are cutting one line, and it is the same on both sides of the piece. Usually the skirt front flares out from the waist line in a triangle, and the skirt back is in two pieces so you don’t need to put it on the fold. But, there will always be unused fabric because of the shapes required. Sometimes you could make a child’s garment with those parts, if you laid the pieces carefully at first. But there will still be some left over, too dear to throw away, but too odd shaped to make another garment. A good use of those pieces was to cut them into various shapes, triangles and squares being the favorites, and sew them together in patterns to make the top of a blanket. Sometimes people also used the good parts of worn out clothing to make patchwork. Imagine a dress that was worn out on the back, and at the hem line, but still fine in the front. These parts could be used again in a patchwork quilt. A quilt has this top, then some filler such as cotton, wool, or some other old blanket that was nearly worn out, and then a bottom piece. These layers can be tied together with yarn, or sewn with decorative stitching. An early American proverb is “Waste not, want not.” If you have little, don’t waste any, energy or fabric.
Sudoku is a modern puzzle in which you organize numbers into squares. In each puzzle, some numbers are given, and you have to find the others. The rule is, though, that you must not repeat the numbers in a horizontal line, a vertical line, or in a set of nine in a smaller square. Think of a grid of nine small squares set together to make one large square. Each smaller square has nine tiny squares—one number for each tiny square. For each small square, you need the numbers one through nine. For each long vertical line, and each long horizontal line, you need the numbers one through nine. You have to find the correct placement by using what is already given. For example, if a smaller square already has an 8, you can’t put another 8 in that set of nine tiny squares. And if an 8 already occurs in one of the longer lines, you can’t put the 8 in that line. Each number has its proper place. I see the puzzle as a nine-patch quilt. It is the simplest pattern in quilting. Put those tiny squares into blocks of nine, then organize the blocks into larger blocks, until you have made the size you want. Being careful of how you organize the colors within the blocks, you can make designs in the larger piece. So I enjoy the puzzle which occurs in our daily newspaper. It’s an exercise in logic, in organization, and in creativity within a structure.
Patterns of numbers, of movement, of rhythm, these are the patterns of life. Shall we dance? Shall we sing? Shall we swim? Can we use what’s given to find what’s not? Can we see colors in the numbers, or hear music in the water, or find poems in the daily rhythm of life? If you don’t see the pattern, keep looking. If you don’t hear the pattern, keep listening. If you don’t have much to work with, don’t waste anything. Use the structure, the forms of the stroke, the steps of a dance, the melody of a song, to gain energy, to be effective, to create beauty. Perhaps we can find then, the patterns of love and joy.