by Lori Whittemore.
In Celtic lore, as in many other traditions, the fox is thought of as a cunning, sly creature. One that adapts to situations and even one that changes shape. Smart, quick on its feet, and handsome are all words I associate with the fox that lives in my back yard. It seems quite at home looking out from the shadows. Last year, when I lived away, I am told that the fox and its partner raised their kits in our backyard. Now that the dog and I have returned, the fox sits alone, looking wistfully at where the dog usually darts around the house. They seem to coexist very well and yet there seems to me to be a cautious look on the fox’s face when it trots across the yard or sits by its hole. Perhaps it’s a look of discomfort for having to make room for a new, unpredictable presence in the yard. As I sit in the shadows of the winter, I too wonder what is about to dart out from around the corner. What unpredictable thing is flowing in and out of my own internal yard? Will I coexist with it or run away back into the shadows? Perhaps I will take my cue from the fox in my yard.
Lori Whittemore is the founder and director of Abbey of Hope interfaith cooperation circle and of Clinical Pastoral Training Center of Southern Maine (CPTCSM), the training arm of the Abbey. Through CPTCSM she trains chaplains and pastoral care givers with today’s varied religious and spiritual landscape in mind. Rev. Whittemore approaches interfaith ministry from her Christian background and training as well as her interfaith education at Chaplaincy Institute of Maine.
