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Posts from the ‘God’ Category

May 25

Open to So Much More

“As long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgments, opinions, evaluations, and condemnations. We will remain addicted to putting people and things in their “right” place.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen

“Humility was an offensive characteristic for a God, in the eyes of early non-Christians. How could Christians worship a God who deliberately chose to share in human birth with all its mess and vulnerability and limitation, as well as a shameful death? How can we now worship a God to whom all the unimportant little details of our lives actually matter? How can we respect a God who takes us more seriously than we take ourselves, and yet is not impressed with all our accomplishments? Who loves us equally well, whether we succeed or fail? How could it really be that God simply disregards not only our education, our tastes, our industry, our niceness, our worthiness in order to love us? God’s greatness we can begin to approach. The sheer humility of God’s love is incomprehensible.”― Roberta C. Bondi, To Love as God Loves: Conversations with the Early Church

Open hands.
Soft heart.
Generous spirit.
Listening to understand.
Loving rather than judging.
Humility to yield to the incomprehensible.
Blinders off.
Out of our own way.
Entering unknowing, mystery, unfolding.
Awash with amazement.
No need for explanation.
Trust. Faith. Hope.
To put it all down.
And be filled up.
Anew.
Beauty. Light. Fresh bloom.
Open hands.
Grateful soul.

“Dear God,

I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!
Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?
Please help me to gradually open my hands
and to discover that I am not what I own,
but what you want to give me.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life

Jul 6

Behold and Beheld

“Flowers live, they are perfect and they affect us; they are God’s glory, they make us know why we are alive and human, that we behold. ― Elizabeth Alexander, The Light of the World

“I will have nothing to do with a God who cares only occasionally. I need a God who is with us always, everywhere, in the deepest depths as well as the highest heights. It is when things go wrong, when good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly.”― Madeleine L’Engle

Heights, depths.
Smooth road, potholes.
Sun, rain.
And everything in between.
Always present.
Walking alongside, behind, ahead.
Never alone. Ever.
May you feel loved today wherever you are on your journey.
Because you are loved, carried, accompanied.
Always.
Behold and beheld.

“Don’t try to comprehend with your mind. Your minds are very limited. Use your intuition.”― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wind in the Door

Nov 15

Softly and Tenderly, Held

“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.”― Corrie Ten Boom

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”― Corrie Ten Boom, Clippings from My Notebook

May you find ease today.
Rhythm, flow, peace.
Put worry down to lighten up.
Find hope in the corners and crevices.
Small and big.
Joy in a smile, in laughter on an ordinary day.
Assured that what comes you will always be held, carried, accompanied.
Entering a place, space, being, presence, undefinable, nearness, depth.
A warmth, love and grace bigger than self and other.
Weaving all of the threads together in to a beautiful tapestry of color and texture.
Give into this hope, grace, love and light.
No fear, only trust.

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”― Corrie ten Boom

Jul 8

Divine Spark

“The spark divine dwells in thee: let it grow.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“I need a God who is bigger and more nimble and mysterious than what I could understand and contrive. Otherwise it can feel like I am worshipping nothing more than my own ability to understand the divine.”― Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

We limit our world by trying to understand it all.
Trust there’s more than to the eye.
Beyond our understanding and tidy boxes to categorize and name.
Enter the mystery, divinity, deep waters.
God is big and beyond comprehension.
The Author, Creator, Sustainer.
Let the divine spark grow to a flame.
Bud to bloom.
Holy, sacred ground.
Walk here.

“To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance and Other Essays

Jun 17

Nearer, Beside, Within

“Try pausing right before and right after undertaking a new action, even something simple like putting a key in a lock to open a door. Such pauses take a brief moment, yet they have the effect of decompressing time and centering you.”― David Steindl-Rast

“He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, at other times to thank Him for the graces, past and present, He has bestowed on you, in the midst of your troubles to take solace in Him as often as you can. Lift up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.”― Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

Pause. Look. Listen.
Taste. Savor. Be still.
Drink in beauty.
Be held in grace.
Believe. Hope. Love.
Crossroads. Intersections. Connections.
Temporal. Spatial. Spiritual.
Centering. Anchoring. Easing.
All things are possible.

“That all things are possible to him who believes, that they are less difficult to him who hopes, they are more easy to him who loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of these three virtues.” – Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

Nov 12

Nothing to Everything

“God comes to you disguised as your life”― Paula D’Arcy

“Nowhere to go, nothing to do … Lost and found in the moment … Just practice this … Maybe here is where we find wholeheartedness and our true freedom.”― Joan Halifax, Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet

May you pause long enough to clarity, resting in nothing to see everything.
Nowhere to go, nowhere to return, anchored in this moment.
Lost and found at the same time.
What is right in front of you that is invisible to the hurriedness and checklists?
Beauty, joy, light – hidden in plain sight, slowness, awareness.
Witness the symphony of creation singing.

“Why is all of creation singing?”― Paula D’Arcy, Gift of the Red Bird: The Story of a Divine Encounter

Oct 18

Encounter

“Patience. Kindness. Generosity. Humility. Courtesy. Unselfishness. Good temper. Guilelessness. Sincerity. All these things make up the Supreme Gift, and are there in the soul of whoever wishes to be in the world and close to God.”― Henry Drummond, The Supreme Gift

In nature
In others
In your own heart
May you encounter God in ordinary moments, where God resides, waits and moves
Patient, kind, generous, the Supreme Gift to be opened again and again
A whisper, a smile from a stranger, a sleepless night
Conduits, bridges, connections, patterns, unknowing, mystery, beauty.

“God is never a set of concepts to be understood but a relationship to encounter.”― Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within