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Posts from the ‘Faith’ Category

Jan 25

The Cliff

“Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.”― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Long before morning I knew that what I was seeking to discover was a thing I’d always known. That all courage was a form of constancy. That it is always himself that the coward abandoned first. After this all other betrayals come easily.”― Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

Steadfast
Constancy
Fidelity
Care
Calm
Courage
Right action
Rooted in love
Walked out in peace.

“How will the world change if we do not question it?”― Kate DiCamillo, The Magician’s Elephant

Aug 12

No Place to Be But Here

“Wherever you are is the entry point”― Kabir

“If you want the truth,
I’ll tell you the truth:
Listen to the secret sound,
the real sound,
which is inside you.”
― Kabir

No place to be but here

On the ground beneath
Sky above
Breath within
Beauty abound

No place to be but here

Arrive, sit, look around
Deep abiding breath
Breath inside the breath
Soft petal and center

No place to be but here

No bypass, shortcuts, turning back
Entry point, bridge, mountain, valley
Walk the path
Holy ground of presence

No place to be but here

“… What is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.”― Kabir

Jul 27

Full of Resurrections

“It is not over,
this birthing.
There are always newer skies
into which
God can throw stars.”
― Ann Weems, Kneeling in Bethlehem

“The world…is full of resurrections… Every night that folds us up in darkness is a death; and those of you that have been out early, and have seen the first of the dawn, will know it – the day rises out of the night like a being that has burst its tomb and escaped into life.”― George MacDonald, The Seaboard Parish

To pursue change and be changed
Give and receive
Seeing the same in a new way, as if for the first time
Looking longer, digging deeper
To bud and bloom, again and again
Open to awe
Anticipation woven into a new day
Amidst all of the complexities
Simple childlike wonder
Poetry and prose
Unfolding, this world continues, never done
Full of resurrections.

“The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world.”― G.K. Chesterton

Feb 25

Goodness Remains, Rises

“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

“You have to shift from the gloom and doom and focus instead on what you love,” she told me before bed. “That’s all you can do in the face of these things. Love the people around you. Love the life you have. I can’t think of a more powerful response to life’s sorrows than loving.” ― Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted

Goodness remains
Moving out and through in different ways
Over rocks, through cracks, burrowing, bubbling, bursting
Drops and waves
Choose love over fear
Kindness, generosity, compassion
Love where you are and stick with it
Goodness remains, rises, overcomes
No fear, just the resistance, resilience and power of love

“Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Jan 17

To Be Where We Are

“No one longs for what he or she already has, and yet the accumulated insight of those wise about the spiritual life suggests that the reason so many of us cannot see the red X that marks the spot is because we are standing on it. The treasure we seek requires no lengthy expedition, no expensive equipment, no superior aptitude or special company. All we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need. The only thing missing is our consent to be where we are.”― Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

“To make bread or love, to dig in the earth, to feed an animal or cook for a stranger—these activities require no extensive commentary, no lucid theology. All they require is someone willing to bend, reach, chop, stir. Most of these tasks are so full of pleasure that there is no need to complicate things by calling them holy. And yet these are the same activities that change lives, sometimes all at once and sometimes more slowly, the way dripping water changes stone. In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life.”― Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

To be where we are
Standing in the red X and knowing it
Sacred ground
Time standing still and moving swiftly
Pay attention
Tune in
Savor and steep
Gratitude, awe, wonder, delight don’t require perfect circumstances or smooth sailing
Consent to be fully where you are right now
God is sitting next to you in the dailyness
Awaiting your hello, gaze, embrace, trust
Lean in.

“Whoever you are, you are human. Wherever you are, you live in the world, which is just waiting for you to notice the holiness in it.”― Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

Oct 14

The View of a Sunflower

“The morning glories and the sunflowers turn naturally toward the light, but we have to be taught, it seems.”― Richard Rohr

“Faith is not for overcoming obstacles; it is for experiencing them—all the way through!”― Richard Rohr, Radical Grace: Daily Meditations

It takes time for things to mend, grow, bloom, bind up and be hemmed into the story of our life.
And the story is written each day.
In our choices.
In things we don’t choose.
Reactions and responses.
Where we put our attention.
Distractions, delays and detours.
Order. Disorder. Reorder.
We are never done.
Dynamic. Changing. Emerging.
In the waiting, wandering and the work, find joy, delight and ease.
Keep turning toward the light.
Opening up to unknowing, to mystery, to unfolding.
Recycle the boxes.

“God is always bigger than the boxes we build for God, so we should not waste too much time protecting the boxes.”― Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer

Jun 15

Vital Awareness

“Any place is sacred ground, for it can become a place of encounter with the divine Presence.”― David Steindl-Rast, A Listening Heart: The Spirituality of Sacred Sensuousness

Life keeps happening.
Giving, taking, rerouting.
Circumstances, difficulties, challenges.
Alongside laughter, contentment, awe.
It’s all of it.
Threads weaving together, especially the frayed ones.
Expectations rooted in someday when or remember when.
Rules, counting and comparison.
Foreboding rather than forbearing.
Be in today alone.
It is enough and filled to the brim.
Find imperfect, beautiful joy on sacred ground of the ordinary.
In the present moment.
Put down expectations, the narrow view.
Broaden and deepen.
Vital awareness.
Come alive.

“Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being… Wherever we may come alive, that is the area in which we are spiritual.”― David Steindl-Rast

Jun 13

Faith Walk

“The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God.”― Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith

“Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be… a prudent insurance policy.”― Elizabeth Gilbert

In the twists and turns
The stops and starts
The before and after
The waiting and next steps
The past, present and future
May faith be our companion and friend
Prayer the “thing” to do.

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”― Soren Kierkegaard

Jun 3

Faith into Deed

“The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognize God’s image in someone who is not in my image, who language, faith, ideal, are different from mine? If I cannot, then I have made God in my image instead of allowing him to remake me in his.”― Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations

May understanding be my first and last act.
Clearing the path for all.
Inviting and allowing difference.
A potpourri of belonging and hospitality.
Love well without rules or restrictions.
Love has none.
Gentle, kind, gritty and enduring.
It sticks.
A real Presence.
An anchoring.
Faith and truth into deed.
No more fear.
Still small voice that is never silenced.
Listen.
The answer will always be love.

“So meaning is made, not just discovered. That is what religion for the most part is: the constant making and remaking of meaning, by the stories we tell, the rituals we perform and the prayers we say. The stories are sacred, the rituals divine commands, and prayer a genuine dialogue with the divine. Religion is an authentic response to a real Presence, but it is also a way of making that presence real by constantly living in response to it. It is truth translated into deed.”― Jonathan Sacks, The Great Partnership: God, Science and the Search for Meaning

“In an age of fear, moderation is hard to find and harder to sustain. Who wants to listen to a nuanced argument, when what we want is someone to relieve us from the burden of thought and convince us that we were right all along? So people mock. They blame. They caricature. They demonize. In an age of anxiety, few can hear the still small voice that the Bible tells us is the voice of God.”― Jonathan Sacks, The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning

Dec 29

The Task at Hand

“Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.”― Blaise Pascal, Pensées

“Frequently we do not leave the past behind. We clasp on to it. We dissect it, and let fears for the future, tempered by the past, unconsciously prevent us from taking up the task eternal.”― Ray Simpson, Exploring Celtic Spirituality

The dance.
Temporal and eternal.
Near and far.
Past, present, future.
The past has brought you here but will not bring next, only prevent it.
Proof of resilience, growth and grit, not a map.
Be present in today, eyes on the road ahead.
Move into the unknowing, mysterious and new.
Take up the task, make the wager, dance your dance.
Begin and begin again the journey.
Joy, beauty, home the path.

“And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?”― Rumi

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