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Posts tagged ‘Contemplation’

Jan 26

Tending and Leading

“We are all farmers tending a little part of the Lord's vineyard.” – Sheri L. Dew

“We are all farmers tending a little part of the Lord’s vineyard.” – Sheri L. Dew

“But, in my opinion, this first-half-of-life task is no more than finding the starting gate. It is merely the warm-up act, not the full journey. It is the raft but not the shore. If you realize that there is a further journey, you might do the warm-up act quite differently, which would better prepare you for what follows. People at any age must know about the whole arc of their life and where it is tending and leading.”— Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

May you never consider yourself done, finished, dismissed, old news.
Keep going, expanding, contracting, learning, unlearning, questioning, praising, lamenting, wandering and wondering.
All of it, not just positive or negative or multiple choice.
Rather an essay of threads woven into a rich colorful fabric of nuance, complexity, beauty, acceptance, understanding, mystery, unknowing, trusting, faith, frustration, joy, exploration, discovery, dead-ends, turn-arounds, get ups and keep goings.
Tending and leading at the same time, sometimes one more than the other.
Through transitions, beginnings, middles-the long part, and endings to new beginnings.
The container and its contents.
What are you holding?
What needs to be poured out to be filled up again, to be nourished and renewed?
Open the windows, let fresh air in.
Cross the thresholds into the further journey.
Farmers tending.

“There is much evidence on several levels that there are at least two major tasks to human life. The first task is to build a strong “container” or identity; the second is to find the contents that the container was meant to hold.”— Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

Jan 21

Appointment with Life

“There is no mistake in nature.”- Byron Katie

“There is no mistake in nature.”- Byron Katie

“If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!”- Thich Nhat Hanh

May you anchor yourself in today.
In the present moment.
Born again each morning.
Holding what is necessary and releasing the rest.

“Let go, or be dragged.” Zen Proverb

Listening. Biding. Awake.
Enough. Empty. Overflowing.
Hopeful. Anticipating. Aware.
All of it.
On time for your daily appointment with life.

“Each morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” ― Buddha

Jan 13

Unleash and Release

“Throughout our lives, God's grace bestows temporal blessings and spiritual gifts that magnify our abilities and enrich our lives. His grace refines us. His grace helps us become our best selves.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Throughout our lives, God’s grace bestows temporal blessings and spiritual gifts that magnify our abilities and enrich our lives. His grace refines us. His grace helps us become our best selves.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“There is that incessantly gnawing loneliness that leaves us ever-restless, eventually driving us to embark upon some endless journey supposing that whatever would fill us is held in some hidden treasure that lays silently buried in a yet undiscovered place. Yet, it would do us well to understand that this loneliness is no more and no less than the image of the infinite God ever-stirring within us and all the while begging to be unleashed.”― Craig D. Lounsbrough

Loosen the binds and bonds of ego, worry, restlessness.
Enter the space of spirit, soul, being.
Always present, waiting to be found, seen, experienced.
Seek, find and be found.
Listen for the whisper, the call.
Here for a purpose, hear on purpose.
Inquire, discern, reflect, respond.
Salt, light, color.
Do good.
Bless the world with your best imperfect, flawed, beautiful self.

“Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes that look
Compassion on the world
Yours are the feet that walk to do good
Yours are the hands that bless all the world.” – St. Theresa of Aliva

Jan 8

Reside and Dwell

“To dwell is to garden.” – Martin Heidegger

“I dwell in possibility.” – Emily Dickinson

In the rushing, where are you going?
What are you running from and to?
What are you missing now front and center?
Reside and dwell.

Someday, if, when.
False destinations that steal our today.
If blessings available now are unseen, when, how, where will you recognize them?
Enough and overflowing.
In the mess, in difficulty, in scarcity, goodness, abundance and depth reside as well.
Discernment, clarity, awakening in inquiry, observation and listening.
Reside and dwell.

The gift of winter.
Quite, harsh, softness, beauty, peace, wrestling, restoration, preparation, patience, dormancy to unbind, unravel, unfold, cocoon, hibernate, set root.
The precursor to new, to breaking soil, to bud, to bloom, to spring.
Reside and dwell.

Seasons, cycles and circles.
Lessons, letting go, taking hold, tipping points, transformation.
Beginnings, middles and ends. To begin again.
Reside and dwell.

“Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.” – Orison Swett Marden

Dec 20

Shape of Your Soul

“Nature is the direct expression of the divine imagination.” – John O’Donohue

“May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique, that you have a special destiny here, that behind the facade of your life there is something beautiful, good, and eternal happening. May you learn to see yourself with the same delight, pride, and expectation with which God sees you in every moment.” – John O’Donohue

Steeped and anchored.
Free, defying gravity.
Dancing and poetry.
Grounding and embracing.
Knowing and mystery.
Wide and deep.
Intuition and clarity.
Beyond, above, below and all encompassing.

May you enter your soul space daily to rest in awe, held in delight.
The heart of your purpose and beauty of your being.
Defined by God, not others or self.
Never confine or define God on human terms.
Too too small.
The expanse of the sky, the depth of the ocean. Perhaps, yet still so much more.
Undefinable and familiar at the same time.
Accept the unknowing and enter the expanse.
Beauty. Goodness. Shelter.
Soul work.

“All through your life your soul takes care of you…your soul is alive and awakened, gathering, sheltering and guiding your ways and days in the world. In effect, your soul is your secret shelter.” – John O’Donohue

Dec 2

Tune In and Listen

“Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.”― Herman Hesse

“Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.” – W  Wayne Dyer

Enjoy this day.
This one alone.
Get out and expand your view.
Tune in and listen to that still small voice.
The whisper, the longing, the song.
Walk lightly and aware.
Capture and cast light.

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” – George Washington Carver

Nov 24

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Still Waters

“The Lord is my shepherd, shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” – Psalm 23

“So much of our lives takes place in our heads – in memory or imagination, in speculation or interpretation – that sometimes I feel that I can change my life by changing the way I look at it.”― Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere

In memory and imagination;
In speculation and interpretation;
In thoughts and words;
In stillness and observation;
Pause and let still waters, still and fill your soul;
To feel the expanse, depth and richness of life;
To shift your view to see the same differently;
Sit still and allow stillness to take you on an adventure to yourself.
Slow. Attention. Stillness.

“In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.”― Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere

Oct 9

Being Human

“God is the place where I do not remember the rest.” – Joseph Joubert

A BLESSING FOR BEING HUMAN

“Blessed are we, living in this small space, in these bodies we now inhabit, within the walls of circumstance, in these short years and finite strength, and with these eyes that see only so far. We are fragile, contingent beings.

Yet blessed are we, recognizing that it is our limits as well as our gifts that can shape the natural contours of what is possible, that guide us to what is ours to do.

Blessed are we when it is not our greatness that speaks, but our littleness. For it is our vulnerability that is the truest thing about us, the place where mutual connection is possible, where competition ends and community begins.

And oh how blessed are we in our fragility and dependence and brokenness, knowing that You, O God, hold all things together. There is no cure for being human…but for each other, we are all good medicine.” – Kate Bowler

May you be blessed today and each day with awareness and gratitude for the gift of being human and the grace of God in the midst of all of it.

Oct 8

Receptive

“Great thoughts come from the heart.” – Luc de Clapiers

Take a break from swirling thoughts and think with your heart today.
Filter through empathy, connection and acceptance.
Lay down the chains of opinion and assumption long enough to allow fresh thoughts in.
Build, expand and grow.
Be receptive, moved, transformed.
See what is right in front of you only visible through the heart.

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Oct 4

Forest and Trees

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”― John Muir

“In our mediocrity and distraction, we forget that we are privileged to live in a wondrous universe.”— John O’Donohue

When you cannot see the forest for the trees, step back and observe the forest, the entire picture, the full journey. Uncover the narrative you’ve come to believe. Fiction or nonfiction? When too close to opinions, assumption and criticism, step back and find the connection between self and others. We are more alike than different. Humans, carrying stories that confine and constrict, trying to figure out the ending and missing the journey in the process. Joy can exist separate from circumstances and is rooted in gratitude.

Find the sacred in this day, found within. Be gentle and others. Kindness and peace to you today and each day that follows. Enter the sanctuary of the trees to be brought back to the fundamental and holiness of living daily. Clarity found in quiet. Ease found in pause. Gratitude found in seeing both the forest and the trees.

“Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured…

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.

A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.

A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.

When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.” – Herman Hess, Bäume. Betrachtungen und Gedichte

“You should belong first in your own interiority.”— John O’Donohue

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