Morning

A snippet from OtR's latest newsletter:

Woke up this morning on the farm, on the blurry edge of the world, mist rising off the fields, the embryo of a new day breaking open, pink and lavender spreading like a hopeful rumor in the east. A glowing crescent was clinging to the edge of the still-high moon like a spooning lover. A patient hawk sat silent in the dead elm, the goldfinches waking up, the first hummingbirds arriving at Karin’s feeders, thrumming the invisible harp of the world with their wings.

The morning smelled like a freshly opened bottle of wine – leaves, earth, the damp woods, berries, grass.

There is still more than enough beauty in one morning alone on earth to break a heart wide open.

-- Linford Detweiler

...mine's cracked; how about yours?

Difficult Circumstances and Intimacy with Christ

As we wait, we can fix our eyes on Jesus as a companion who empathizes with our suffering and a Savior who is working behind the scenes. Difficult circumstances seem to increase our ability to experience intimacy with Christ.

-- Ruthann Ridley

The more stories I hear, the more this seems true. It certainly seems true in my life.

Bon Iver

...one amazing experience tonight! Words fall short....

Blindness

One great power of sin is that it blinds men so that they do not recognize its true character.

-- Andrew Murray


 This seems quite true, doesn't it? In many respects, our sin(s) dull our sensitivity to God...our awareness of Him, even our interest in His ways. It blinds us, so that we don't see Him as clearly as we otherwise might. Perhaps this is why our prayers and songs acknowledge the phrase, 'Open our eyes, Lord....'  It is as much confession, as desire.


 There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes

-- Chris Tomlin

...more on blindness and sin.

Circumstances and Goodness

Our circumstances are not an accurate reflection of God's goodness. Whether life is good or bad, God's goodness, rooted in His character, is the same.

-- Helen Grace Lescheid

Lys Agnes

Mystery

If there were no mystery man would not feel his corruption; if there were light man could not hope for a cure. Thus, it is not only right but useful for us that God should be partly concealed and partly revealed, since it is equally dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness as to know his wretchedness without knowing God.

-- Blaise Pascal

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!

'For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counsellor?'
'Or who has given a gift to him,
to receive a gift in return?'
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.


I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

-- Romans 11:33-12:2

I think I've missed the intent behind 'living sacrifice' by not connecting the verses before it. First, I suspect that I can only present myself to God by appealing to His mercy. ...it is not primarily an act of self-control (as I have so often thought), as it is a act of submission to His mercy...by acknowledging that I need His mercy. Second, the use of my body is the result of the use of my mind, particularly its renewal. My side of things is really more about how I conform to this world and His side is the transformation that can occur when I stop trying to conform.

Stopping this (conforming) is a real challenge, until I realize how much power God has over things...thus the prior OT quote. When my heart bursts with awareness of 'O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!', the desire to conform is highly mitigated.

Summer Snowflake

Amazing summer snow...flake.

See more amazing here...a short picture-story, if you will.

Tahquamenon Falls 2011

More root beer please!

...click pic for more pics.

Beauty and Strength

One of the naturally most compelling forces in life is true strength.  It is hard not to admire it, whenever we see it.  Perhaps even more powerful is true beauty, which can slay the mightiest of things.  When combined, little is more life-giving to the world.

...that's a good place to leave it, but an opposite is also true and worth mentioning, particularly in the human arena of this.  Admitting weakness is sometimes a very strong thing to do.  And, acknowledging our lack of beauty...is a most beautiful thing

Fitting Time

For certain things are not refused us, but their granting is delayed to a fitting time.

-- St. Augustine

Worry

Worry is a misuse of imagination.

-- Dan Zadra

...got this one from a good friend, Jim Eisenbraun.

I suspect this isn't what Dan had in mind, but here's where my mind went today regarding 'worry is the misuse of imagination'.

So, why might this be true?  Well, for starters, what might we tend to worry about?  If we were honest, we could make a long list and whether we actually do so or not, we have such a list and it is pretty long.  I've realized that I've been worried lately.  I didn't even recognize it, but I think that's what I've been doing.  Why do we worry about the things on our lists?  What is at the root of nearly all of our worries?  I suspect that it is, in fact, a kind of loss of imagination...of letting God be God in our lives; over the things we worry about.  We don't imagine much more than what we see, so we take over.  Which often just leads us to...more worry about how we're doing.  So we really aren't imagining much of Him at all. ...and that seems like a misuse of imagination to me.

What are you worried about today?

Interruptions

One thing [Peterson's life story] makes clear is that vocation is not so much about what we want as about how we respond to God's interruptions in our lives.

-- Christianity Today, Review of The Pastor by Eugene Peterson

Nothing Destroyed

There is nothing destroyed by sanctification but that which would destroy us.

-- William Jenkyn

Weddings

In anticipation of a good friend's wedding yesterday, I was thinking about why I like weddings.  There are many things, but the thing that stuck out to me yesterday was the sense of hope they represent.  Hope of what?  I think weddings represent a hope we have that our desire for perfect union will be satisfied.  This is a massive desire, to be sure.  So big, in fact, that we often end up looking right around it for other things than acknowledging how much it dominates us.  This is a good desire, by the way, a God-given desire...for it is with Him that we desire a perfect union.

Weddings are times that reconnect us with our desire for God, with others, with another person.  They remind us of the perfection we long for in our relationship with all things.  This is probably why weddings can be painful, too, because they remind of what isn't, what hasn't happened, and what has happened...that leaves us far short of the beauty and hope of such events, and the perfect union.  But the pain of these things is never enough to overcome the power of our desire for all that is good with another person, with this world, with God.  For as great as this power is, God's desire for such perfect union is even more profound, more deep, more beautiful.  And, He will not be stopped in His pursuit of His bride. 

I enjoyed the wedding immensely.  I enjoyed even more what it represented...about my and our desire for perfect union.

My, Oh My

The beauty of this day already has my eyes full of water, tears of gratitude that I could even take such things in so deeply.  Tears of joy at the prospect of a dear friend's wedding.  The eyes moistening from such a brilliant response of the earth to this morning's sun after a day of slow and lazy drizzle.  The wordless satisfaction of the swelling of healthy competition from a good workout, the kindest of words from a son, the beauty of marriage...all speak straight into the center of me, and make me feel more alive than I've dreamed possible.

A friend (thanks, Randy) passed along a book written by a man I have come to deeply respect over the years. Parker Palmer's A Hidden Wholeness is proving to be a capturing of something that resonates within me about as deeply as anything I've known on the "shape of an integral life, the meaning of community, teaching and learning for transformation, and nonviolent social change".  He observes "how quickly words can cut loose from human reality" and credits his wife for helping him stay tethered to three questions as he writes:  Is it worth saying?  Is it said clearly?  Is it said beautifully?

Here's an example:

There was a time when farmers on the Great Plains, at the first sign of a blizzard, would run a rope from the back door out to the barn.  They all knew stories of people who had wandered off and been frozen to death, having lost sight of home in a whiteout while still in their own backyards.

The analogy's connection to our broader existence is striking. Another blizzard-reference characterizes something I recently tried to capture in my own life about 'a strange merger' I feel within me:

The blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of my soul.

-- Leonard Cohen, The Future

My, Oh my.  I have only begun to live within and without.  And, at times, the splash of sun on the tiniest drop of last night's dew can just about bring me to my knees in awe of it all.

Just Because

I was talking with a friend today about life, and things that we would like to be doing...job-wise, study-wise, other-wise.  We agreed that it's possible that not everything we would like or think is good...is necessarily good for us.  A lot of times, we need to simply just take the next step towards what is right in front of us, rather than wishing we were somewhere else.

Just because I want to, doesn’t mean I should.  Just because I don’t want to, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.

Inner Ripening

No one can know what secret inner ripening can come from suffering and sorrow. All we know is that every individuals life is priceless - that each is dear to God.

-- Christoph Probst

...love that imagery, inner ripening, not often how I have thought about suffering / sorrow over the years. But, now it seems quite accurate.

Freedom

Jesus continually communicated freedom -- not freedom to go your own way but freedom to relate to God through the intimacy of grace.

-- keri wyatt kent, Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity

Just Don't Know

We just don't know what will happen in life, we just know what's at the end.  And that should make all the difference...!

Sex Economics 101

What's your 'take' on this subject? What are we translating to our kids regarding what they are facing into today's 'market'?

It seems that what is modeled speaks the loudest. After that, what are we actually teaching / saying about such things...with our words (or, lack of them)?

...click the pic for the article.

Beauty

Beauty is often only considered skin-deep in our culture. No wonder we often live like that is all there is...because we seem to think that's all it really is. But beauty is so much bigger, so much more.

For example, when we observe that something is a thing of beauty, what are we saying? What kinds of things do we describe this way? How about a 'well-oiled' machine, like a high-quality car? How about a team that performs very well together? How about an significant accomplishment that has a manifest result? We say such things are a real 'thing of beauty'. Something we don't fully understand, but can deeply appreciate...can be a real thing of beauty. And, of course, things in nature or artwork can be beautiful.

What about the human dimension of things? Women, for example, can be beautiful. The strength of a man can also be beautiful. A relationship between a man and woman can be beautiful. As can a relationship between a father and son, or mother and daughter.

How about another dimension of beauty; is it possible that a woman's beauty is enhanced by the strength of a man, one that allows her to relax, to offer tenderness, gentleness? To me there is little that surpasses that beauty and yet it can be so easily tarnished when a woman seeks the beauty (glory) of a man. Likewise, the strength of man is a beautiful thing, especially when it is sacrificial, other-centered. A woman, like nothing other, can enhance this kind of beauty, when it supports the risks a man can take when extending his strength towards a world that needs it.

In other words, there seems to be an even more beautiful beauty, a combined beauty, that emerges out of individual masculine and feminine beauty.

I hope our sons and daughters can catch a glimpse of these realities of beauty, a kind that will take them past the skin-deep versions so splattered about by our culture.

Who Could

...even think of such beauty?

Sanitized God

I DON’T PRAY to a sanitized God, an airbrushed God, the God of the silver screen. I pray to the God who put the green into nature and fire into the tongues of men; to the God of ceaseless change, who gives with one hand and smites with the other; to the God of the concentration camps and to the God of the bullies so many of my Jewish brethren have become. I pray for the humanitarians and I pray for the barbarians and I pray to stop pretending I can always tell them apart.

-– Sy Safransky

I really appreciate the honesty here, especially in light of the 'airbrushed' God so often marketed by the church. A lot to reconcile...a lot of reconciliation needed. ...including with me. A sanitized God really puts me in an ungodly position, one of judging Him by who I want Him to be...which, of course, leads to an equally ungodly position of judging what others are.

Self-conscious

I often feel quite self-conscious after speaking in church...which I did that recently. I put a lot of time into it and only a couple of people even mentioned it to me, and then only in passing. In another era of my life, I would have tried to 'read' a lot into that -- condemning only before condemning myself for my inadequacy. Now, I realize that I can make a lot of things 'about me' that really aren't. So, I just worry about it less than I used to.

But, I would be lying (at least to myself), if I pretended that I'm not self-conscious about such things at all. When I spoke, I talked about the need to acknowledge the day-to-day things we feel to God, if not to others. And, that not doing so, under the pretense of not 'needing' to do so, really cuts off others and myself from the opportunity for access to some deeper things internally. So, I took my own admonishment and went to God with my 'self-consciousness'.

Two ideas surfaced. One is that in doing such a thing, like speaking in church, I really do not want to do a dis-service to the Truth by mis-representing something about God. I feel this pretty deeply, more deeply than I had realized. This led me to the realization that I likely have to admit that it is impossible not to mis-represent Him...and that, in some unexplainable way, that should be freeing.  But I still don't want to mis-represent Him...either by carelessness or intent.

The second thing that surfaced in my thinking is that almost nothing I do is completely absent of self-serving, self-promotion. So, some of what I want in such situations is simply for people to praise me for things I do, at the very least for the effort I expend. This is nothing to be proud of and not necessarily a revelation, but just admitting it again, out load...takes some of the hot-air out of the pressure I likely put on people to make me feel good.  To whomever I have done that to, I profoundly apologize.

...so, here again, I receive something deeper by taking my own advice and confessing the simplest and most normal of things. Admitting what is going in within me, rather than denying it.

Thriving Child

A child does not thrive on what he is prevented from doing, but on what he actually does.

-– Marcelene Cox

When Was the Last Time?

When is the last time you felt really listened to?

Anyway

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

-– Kent M. Keith

Faith

Faith, to me, seems to be something along the lines of...the willingness to acknowledge the uncertainties of this life (uncertainties about myself, uncertainties about life, uncertainties about God, etc.) and turn to God with them, as opposed to the commonly perceived benefits of simple denial, self-determinism, or the false medications offered by our world.

Emotional Constipation

...if there were such a thing, what do you think 'emotional constipation' would be?

Here's a stab at it:  The inability or unwillingness to recognize or utilize what our emotions indicate to us.

It leads to a number of things:

• Explosiveness
• Addictions
• A kind of forfeiting of goodness to which perceived bad feelings can lead

I was talking to my daughter the other day about the tendency we have to keep things inside. While there is a place for common sense and controlling our tongue, I think many times our silence is not so much prudence as it is self-protection. We don't want others to see some of the things that go on inside us.

The truth may more be, though, that we don't want to see the things that go on inside us either.  And, what we don't realize is that the self-protection we broker with regard to others and their view of us is really a weapon against ourselves. Our silence can cause us not to speak to ourselves, or perhaps put a differently, to not put words to the reality we are experiencing. When that happens, we form a kind of denial about things, about life, about ourselves. Denial at this level can be damaging to who we are, because it allows a false sense of self to grow.

When our kids a little, we say "don't hit, use words".  What we don't often realize as adults is that we often learn to not do either one.  ...and the result is often an experience of someone who is constipated.  Pretty uncomfortable.

Dazzle Gradually

The truth must dazzle gradually, or every man go blind.

-– Emily Dickinson

CUBS 2011

...another fun day at Wrigley. Yes, they lost again.  But, the peanuts were good...they just seem to taste better at the ballpark.

Consumerism

The main problem with this culture...the thing that will destroy evangelical christianity in the next 25 years is it's willingness to be at home with the commercialism and the consumerism of our society.

-- Tony Campolo

Surface

Draw on the surface of things in life, in order to go beneath it.

Comma

Never put a period where God has put a comma.

-- Gracie Allen

It's The End of the World As We Know It

Reason & Spirit

The philosophers of old made reason the sole ruler of man and listened only to her, as the arbiter of conduct. But Christian philosophy makes her move aside and give complete submission to the Holy Spirit, so that the individual no longer lives, but Christ lives and reigns in him (Galatians 2:20).

-- John Calvin

3 Things

I often ask for 3 things: wisdom (to understand what is important and what isn't), courage (to speak or move, even when I don't have wisdom's things all perfectly arranged), and strength (to face accusations caused by my courage -- whether they be legit or not).  I need all 3 of these.  When I choose to stop after any one of them, I feel like I am yielding to a kind of fear.

Sympathy or Compassion

Sympathy vs Compassion.  Which do you want more?  What's the difference?  Which is more empowering?

Greater

To love God is greater than to know him.

-- Thomas Aquinas

Afraid to Speak

They that know have grown afraid to speak. That is why sorrows that used to purify now only fester.

-- C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Mothers Day 2011

To My Beautiful Wife, Tami,

I want to thank you today, for being you.  I am so grateful for all that you are for us, for our kids.  For how you have battled for our relationship, and to hold on to 'higher things'...and for the direct gift that is to our kids.

I want to thank for giving yourself to them, selflessly over and over.  For showing them that the world is not all about them.  And, for showing them that they are loved, that they are enjoyed. 

I love the way you 'hang' with them, being you...and being with them.  I love how you draw them in...to the things you do in this life.

I love the way you commit yourself to the things they need...even the things that feel endless, like chores and picking up and communicating and doing the things in life that 'just need to be done', to BE a family.

They look forward to dinner every night and that is a wonderful thing, the regularity of it.  The warmth of it.  The humanness of it.  And, the taste of it!  I'm glad you foster an environment that makes it good to eat together.  I'm glad you make them clean-up when we're done.

I'm glad for our home and all that you 'motherly do' (it's clean, it's beautiful, it's inviting) that makes everyone just 'want to be here'.

I'm grateful for your hard work outside of the home, even when that seems overwhelming...and for what that communicates about life to the girls and to Conner. 

I'm grateful that even as mother, you also take time to be my wife.  Hard roles, at times, to effortlessly switch in and out of.

I love you, Tami.  And, am so grateful for you this Mothers Day.

Dana

My Dog, My God, and Me

So, I was running with my dog the other day and he saw a squirrel in the woods to his left.  He started straining to his left, pulling me in that direction.  I remember thinking, 'Probably a squirrel...he always does that'.  Then he pulled harder and my next thought was something like, 'C'mon we're running, Murphy! We don't chase every living thing...we're running!' 

Of course, such sentences, when built with actual words tend to linger for a while in my mind.  What he didn't realize was the three squirrels that were on his right, almost right beside the road.  He saw the squirrel on his left and that was all he saw from that point on. And then, there was me, somewhat ungraciously guiding his leash.  ...thinking how not unlike my dog, I am at times when I see something that looks good to me.  Almost instinctually, I just respond to 'it', no longer realizing much of what else is going on or who else is guiding what I am about that day. 

I wonder sometimes what goes on in Murphy's head, if anything at all.  He is such a creature of habit, of instinct, of simple design and being.  He remembers patterns to things, but (or so it seems to me) completely forgets other things.  Like, he will angle in a certain direction as we run together, based on where we have run before.  He will (incessantly) groan and walk back-and-forth with something in his mouth when he is excited about something familiar about to happen to him (like going on a run together).  And, he will forget all about it, if I yell at him for some irritating habit of his, just going right back to it, even seconds later.  Yes, and he rolls in poop whenever he can get away with it.  No matter what I do to 'discourage' that behavior, he just does it again the next time, with no hesitation whatsoever.  I've concluded that one is 'built-in' to his dog-ness. 

And so, I've wondered about my dog-ness (or, human-ness), how different I am at times in what I instinctively respond to, what I go for, what I naturally think about or do (ok, and yes, what I 'roll in').  I suspect we are all significantly creatures of habit.  Just try to take the ones we've developed away from us.  We get kinda grouchy.  And, the older the we get, the more committed we seem to become to 'our ways' of doing things.  At one level, I'm thinking that must look a lot like my dog did when we were running.

So, I wonder how God actually views this kind of thing...how He views me.  I picture Him sometimes using His 'guiding leash' with me, not too unlike I do with Murphy.  In spite of all the squirrels he can't go for, Murphy 'loves' to go running with me.  And, in some strange and similar way, I love to go running with my God.  Or, more simply, to be with Him in some way, that is often difficult to describe.  I'm glad He let's me chase my squirrels, that He still takes me running in life, that He guides me where I really need to be going.

And, yes, for the benevolence in His leash.   I didn't used to see it that way -- benevolent.  But as I've plumbed a few of the depths of where my independence gets me, I have realized that there is something wonderful and by design in acknowledging my limitations and my need for His guidance.  This probably isn't a fashionable notion for many, but typically the young reacting to it have to grow up (and get knocked around) a bit more and the old doing the same should acknowledge some of the bitterness they're left with...by going it alone.  I'm not 'there' completely yet (squirrels still interest me, too, and yes, I resent leashes from time to time), but I'm more and more looking forward to the 'rest' at the end of the 'run'.

Ego & Spirit

Passed along from our good friend, Dave Terry:

Imagine this scene if you will. Two babies are inutero, confined to the
wall of their mother's womb, and they are having a conversation. For the
sake of clarity we'll call these twins Ego and Spirit.

Spirit says to Ego, "I know you are going to find this difficult to
accept, but I truly believe there is life after birth."

Ego responds, "Don't be ridiculous. Look around you. This is all there
is. Why must you always be thinking about something beyond this reality?
Accept your lot in life. Make yourself comfortable and forget about all
of this life-after-birth nonsense."

Spirit quiets down for a while, but her inner voice won't allow her to
remain silent any longer. "Ego, now don't get mad, but I have something
else to say. I also believe that there is a Mother."

"A Mother!" Ego guffaws. "How can you be so absurd? You've never seen a
Mother. Why can't you accept that this is all there is? The idea of a
Mother is crazy. You are here alone with me. This is your reality. Now
grab hold of the cord. Go into your corner and stop being so silly.
Trust me, there is no Mother."

Spirit reluctantly stops her conversation with Ego, but her restlessness
soon gets the better of her. "Ego," she implores, "please listen without
rejecting my idea. Somehow I think those constant pressures we both
feel, those movements that make us so uncomfortable sometimes, that
continual repositioning and all of that closing in that seems to be
taking place as we keep growing, is getting us ready for a place of
glowing light, and we will experience it very soon."

"Now I know you are absolutely insane," replies Ego. "All you've ever
known is darkness. You've never seen light. How can you even contemplate such an idea? Those movements and pressures you feel are your reality. You are a distinct separate being. This is your journey. Darkness and pressures and a closed-in feeling is what life is all about. You'll have to fight it as long as you live. Now grab your cord and please stay still."

Spirit relaxes for a while, but finally she can contain herself no
longer. "Ego, I have only one more thing to say and then I'll never
bother you again."

"Go ahead," Ego responds impatiently.

"I believe all of these pressures and all of this discomfort is not only
going to bring us to a new celestial light, but when we experience it,
we are going to meet Mother face-to-face and know an ecstasy that is
beyond anything we have ever ex-perienced up until now."

"You really are crazy, Spirit. Now I'm truly convinced of it."

This story contains a central truth. We as persons get stuck, locked in,
and fixated on a certain point of view about real-ity, and we, like Ego,
have great difficulty developing an alternative reading of reality.
Spiritual transformation involves the capacity to face our confined
human perspective, to look beyond our limited experience, and often, to
transcend what our primary relationships have negatively taught us about
the world and about ourselves. We are invited to be like Spirit and to
expect and to seek out a new reality, a new creation, and Another whom
we have not yet encountered fully.

-- Wayne D. Dyer's adaptation of a story told by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Thank God that there is more than we know. And, knowing that there is more can free us from clinging so tightly to our methods of trying to survive in this world. What do we ultimately have to fear if nothing can stop us from truly being born?

...food for thought as we as we move on in getting free from the lies
of self-preservation.

Nothing We Can't Do...?

"Today we are reminded that as a nation there is nothing we can't do..." as he hailed the pride of those who broke out in overnight celebrations as word spread around the globe.

-- President Obama said of the news of the killing Osama Bin Laden

Really? Sounds a bit like our last President, too, and frankly many before that. What do our leaders trust in...our military, our effort...ourselves? And, we the people, seem to just drink it in, especially when the bad guy 'over there' meets a demise suitable to us.  God save us (literally) from this kind of thinking.  We need to drink a little more from this glass:

   When your enemy falls, do not rejoice;
   when he stumbles do not let your heart exult.
   Lest Yahweh see and (it be) bad in his eyes
   and he turn his wrath away from him.

   -- Prov. 24:17-18

...more of the damage of such things here.  Thanks, Jim, for forwarding.

The Pastor

More good stuff from Eugene, click image for the NPR interview...thanks Tyler!

Wasteland of Hyperactivity

We are every day becoming aware of the costs of a life without rest. Increasingly, social workers, courts, and probation officers are raising our children, rescuing them the unintentional wasteland of our hyperactivity.

-- Wayne Muller

As you might detect, I am doing some reading on the concept of Sabbath in our lives. Noting, particularly, that from God's perspective, this isn't just a recommendation (see the 10 Commandments, number 4). I'm wondering if 'remember the Sabbath' is a pivotal commandment between the earlier ones and those that follow and am considering the ways that this might be the case. And, in so doing, the quote above makes some sense.

Why do you think we are so submerged in 'activity'? What are we afraid of...if we don't stay 'busy'?

The author of the book referenced below suggests:

...our restlessness injures the people around us, who need our attention more than they need our accomplishments. Our children need us to have the time to look them in the eyes, to ask about their lives, to give them the gift of attention. And we need that as well.

I really like this.  It is both convicting and freeing...to be different, to stop...to rest.

How Great Thou Art

Morning Prayer

Good morning, heavenly Father.
Good morning, Lord Jesus.
Good morning, Holy Spirit.

Heavenly Father, I worship you as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
Lord Jesus, I worship you, Savior and Lord of the world.
Holy Spirit, I worship you, Sanctifier of the people of God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.  Amen.

Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence and please you more and more.
Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God, have mercy upon me.  Amen.

-- John Stott

It will become clear of itself

Who is it that can make the muddy water clear? But if allowed to remain still, it will gradually become clear of itself.

-- Tao Te Ching


To practice Sabbath is to practice a stillness that brings clarity to our lives. From Rest:  Living in Sabbath Simplicity by keri wyatt kent

Cause and Effect

There is cause and there is effect.

And, there is mercy and there is grace.

Visual Jesus

A shout out to Donald Miller for this one:

A Portrait of Christ from Jeremy Cowart on Vimeo.

Creativity

Hey, Michelle, thanks for the link for this from a thread on another discussion.

Mary's Joy

I've often thought of Mary, the mother of Jesus, through the eyes I think I would have if I were a mother. I think I have largely viewed her as the bearer of an unbelievable burden, to birth and raise and mother the Son of God, whose purposes were so beyond the world of normal family life that...well, I just haven't imagined much of it beyond the focus of surprise, wonder, pain beyond bearing, loss, and confusion at what all just happened to me...the last 33 years.

Perhaps time would reveal more, as it does for so many of us. Perhaps that revelation would overcome the terrors of earlier days.

I read a description of Mary in a writing of a friend. She said, he wrote, "Joy came and found me and joy has never left." This got me thinking about my view of Mary, the work of Jesus, life itself. What causes me to see more largely the tragedy of life than the redemption running through it? I'm sure the answer is somewhat simple; something like the limitations of my humanity.

But considering Mary primarily through the lens of joy alters my perception of her experience as it defers to a greater one. One that I, too, must defer to. And when I consider that greater one, I am filled with something new, something alive, something more real than the realness that the pain of life seems to offer as our only expectation.

I am grateful for my friend's writing this morning. I am grateful for joy . I'm lifted up and into something by it.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know...

-- James 1:2

How many people do you want at your funeral?

Read this....

So, how many?

Man does not...

The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, man does not.

-- Oswald Chambers

Space

I have a 4-day weekend this week.  And, I am amazed at what 'space' does for my soul.  I often live so much of the time by schedules, ToDos, things that need attention...how to fit everything together.  In other words, packed in.  Long spans of time in this mode are not good for me...I change.  I become something (someone) I'm not.

Space helps me breathe.  It helps me know myself.  It gives me opportunity to be more who I really am.  Like this morning for example, facing the next four days, I awoke with a strong desire to connect with myself, things important to me, by writing.  While many mornings start with a groan about having to crank the engine of getting 'all things done', today I had to force myself to just lay there.  Finally, my desire to write, to explore my thoughts won and I headed off, even happily, to Starbucks to sip and write.

I love 'space'.

Wilco Wow