No Distance

by Dr Timothy O'Higgins

“In remembrance there is no distance,” was a favorite saying of Faith’s. In my remembrance the following incidents spring to mind: Walking one day in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside we visited Wordsworth’s graveside and there saw a young woman meditating trying to tune in to the poet’s vibrations….how upset Faith was at this trespass. How careful she was not to trespass in her life walk, whether by not sharing what someone was not ready to hear, or by not resisting the arrogance of other’s ignorance.

One afternoon on her arrival from England, we were greeting Faith at Margaret’s house, when in walked ‘Riffles’, a dog belonging to Ann Lambert, who lives next door to Margaret. Faith got down on her knees, hugging and petting Riffles, her eyes filled with tears and she sobbed and sobbed for Riffles sorrow, her spirit identifying with this animal who had just lost his mother and his best doggie friend. Though Faith had not heard of these tragedies in the dog’s life her heart burst with the Christ compassion at this loss. I have heard and seen numerous incidents of this respect for animals, birds, fish, and insects, that Faith constantly demonstrated in her realization of the Omnipresent in all.

Faith with the dancing heart was a great lover of fun. She sprinkled laughter in her path and was a great prankster. Once she bet Conrad that if ever she put on false eyelashes he would never know the difference. She did, he didn’t, and after a month of blinking her lashes under his close gaze, she claimed her victory. Whether playing jokes, dressing in Halloween masks, playing ‘Mother Christmas,’ shopping for gifts or buying food, cleaning house, or during ‘happy hours’ evening conversations, her light-heartedness, her constant awareness of the eternal moment within the temporary incident brought such a profound air of authenticity and naturalness to Faith’s spirituality. She loved to teach by doing; to be her word in action. I was with Faith one Christmas Eve in Blackpool, as she spent several hours wrapping little gifts for the children of her neighbourhood, of course they were really wrapped with prayer; prayer for the personal and family needs of each child whose life stories were written in her heart.

Many times I remember Faith crying in anguish at mistreatment of her friends; medical system’s drugging of those seeking care, to keep them quiet and manageable, the legal system’s injustice towards those seeking the restoration of their rights, family systems whose internal abuses were hellish, and religious systems which enslaved the innocent in doctrinal bondage. In her life, Faith experienced and bore, with courage and fortitude, burdens from innumerable systems of the mind of man.

I remember Faith sharing with me this prayer:

Let every human spirit be still;

Let every confusing voice be silenced;

Let every temptation be rejected (weakness of disposition);

Let every false nature be revealed;

Let every distracting activity be pruned,

Everything cut off not bearing fruit;

Let ever disobedience be purged – attitudes of heart;

Let every human disposition be uprooted.

Thank You Father for Faith being this prayer in action in so many lives, and for Your continuing life expression in her expression, as she continues to express in Your Omnipresence.