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Posts tagged ‘Faith’

May 19

Number 23

“Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself…do not be disheartened by your imperfections, but always rise up with fresh courage.”― St. Frances de Sales

Psalm 23 – The LORD Is My Shepherd

“The LORD is my shepherd; I 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.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.”

When the grinding, speed, doing, overdoing, list checking come up short, empty, flat.
Again and again.
Rest, long pause, quiet.
A soft whisper.
An invitation.
A command.
A welcoming.
Green pastures.
Still waters.
Soul restored.
Cup overflowing.
Again and again.
You cannot outrun yourself.
Home calls.
Answer the call.
Still small voice. Listen.
Restored and renewed.
Made new.
Again and again.

“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”― Carl Jung, Psychology and Alchemy

May 16

1 Comment

Moors and Hills

“Roads? Who spoke of roads? We go by the moor and the hills, and tread granite and heather as the Druids did before us.”― Daphne du Maurier, Jamaica Inn

“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.”― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

On your journey, wherever you are right now, may you know love.
Love that walks beside, before, beneath and above you.
Not fixing, but accompanying, present.
Some seasons weigh heavy.
Be kind to yourself.
Open to hope, beauty, joy.
You do not walk alone.
Love, light, peace.

“I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Apr 28

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Fortunate Hours

“There are those fortunate hours when the world consents to be made into a poem.”― Mark Doty

“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”― Alan Wilson Watts, The Culture of Counter-Culture: Edited Transcripts

Moments of stillness.
Quiet symphony.
Awake to beauty.
Drawn to light.
Pause here.
To root, anchor, steep.
Ordinary days.
Fortunate hours.

“Hoping to live days of greater happiness, I forget that days of less happiness are passing by.”― Elizabeth Bishop

Apr 21

Be Unreasonable

“Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances. ”― Maya Angelou

“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.”— George Bernard Shaw

When you fall down, get up;
When others disappoint, offer grace;
When you have a hard day, keep going;
When others show what’s wrong, find what’s right;
May you see good in yourself, amplify;
May you see good in your neighbor, connect;
May you see good in the world, participate;
Optimism, action, love, generosity, joy, resilience, forgiveness, laughter, kindness, beauty, faith, imperfection, action, effort, compassion, hope, grit;
These transform self, others and the world.
Go change the world, one small thought, word, act at a time.

“What will matter is the good we did, not the good we expected others to do.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Apr 8

1 Comment

Fresh Courage

“When there is nothing left to lose, we find the true self—the self that is whole, the self that is enough, the self that no longer looks to others for definition, or completion, or anything but companionship on the journey.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

“Adversity is a natural part of being human. It is the height of arrogance to prescribe a moral code or health regime or spiritual practice as an amulet to keep things from falling apart. Things do fall apart. It is in their nature to do so. When we try to protect ourselves from the inevitability of change, we are not listening to the soul. We are listening to our fear of life and death, our lack of faith, our smaller ego’s will to prevail. To listen to your soul is to stop fighting with life–to stop fighting when things fall apart; when they don’t go our away, when we get sick, when we are betrayed or mistreated or misunderstood. To listen to the soul is to slow down, to feel deeply, to see ourselves clearly, to surrender to discomfort and uncertainty and to wait.”― Elizabeth Lesser

In the twists and turns.
On the roads not chosen.
Unexpected yet here.
In smooth sailing.
Alignment, ease, going great.
In all of the in between of the ebbs and flows of life.
May you know you are so much more than your circumstances, trials, challenges.
Patience. Companionship. Love.
New day.
Look in, out, up.
Fresh courage.

“Have patience with all things but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that.”― Saint Frances de Sales

Apr 7

On What Matters

“There are two ways to do anything. We can do it in order to make life better for me, or we can do it in order to make life better for someone else, as well as for me. The first way gets the thing done; the second way gets the thing done and makes life a sacrament.” – Joan Chittister

“My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.”

May I go further than merely getting things done.
Creating never-ending lists of to dos.
Plans, steps, short-cuts, hacks, tips and tricks.
Making my days transactional.
Progress, efficiency, speed, one-dimensional, flat, no flavor, skimming the surface.
Deep into being, becoming, wonder, enough and overflowing, grateful even in the chaos and incompleteness, joy, relationships, connection, presence, laughter, inquiry, emergence, clarity, guidance, awe, reverence.
Daily living as a sacrament, altar, liturgy, offering, holy ground.
The rigorous fulfilling work of loving the world.

“Meditation practice is like piano scales, basketball drills, ballroom dance class. Practice requires discipline; it can be tedious; it is necessary. After you have practiced enough, you become more skilled at the art form itself. You do not practice to become a great scale player or drill champion. You practice to become a musician or athlete. Likewise, one does not practice meditation to become a great meditator. We meditate to wake up and live, to become skilled at the art of living.”― Elizabeth Lesser, The Seeker’s Guide: Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure

Apr 6

Blossoms Breaking Open

“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

“May you listen to the voice within the beat even when you are tired. When you feel yourself breaking down, may you break open instead. May every experience in life be a door that opens your heart, expands your understanding, and leads you to freedom. If you are weary, may you be aroused by passion and purpose. If you are blameful and bitter, may you be sweetened by hope and humor. If you are frightened, may you be emboldened by a big consciousness far wiser than your fear. If you are lonely, may you find love, may you find friendship. If you are lost, may you understand that we are all lost, and still we are guided—by Strange Angels and Sleeping Giants, by our better and kinder natures, by the vibrant voice within the beat. May you follow that voice, for This is the way—the hero’s journey, the life worth living, the reason we are here.  ”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

May you find peace, equanimity, joy in this day.
Welcome them home like an old friend.
Put down the unnecessary.
Mute the noise.
Opening to answers different than your own.
Paths off trail.
Possibilities unfolding.
Broaden and deepen.
Sweetened by hope and humor.
Guided and held.
In the present moment.

“Whatever is happening, whatever is changing, whatever is going or not going according to my plans—I release my hold on all of it. I leave behind who I think I am, who I want to be, what I want the world to be. I come home to the great peace of the present moment,”― Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Apr 5

The Art of Just Being

“It’s not about getting over things, it’s about making room for them. It’s about painting the picture with contrast.”― Brianna Wiest

“The key to finding happiness in this life is realizing that the only way to overcome is to transcend; to find happiness in the simple pleasures, to master the art of just being.”― Brianna Wiest

Nuance.
Shades.
Shadows.
White space.
Hues.
Tones.
Muted.
Bright.
Contrast.
Rarely black and white.
Nor ordered perfectly.
Allow and enter the beauty, depth, mystery, color, unfolding, cadence, symphony and rhythm.
May you allow happiness to rise right where you stand now.
The beautiful art of just being, embracing and being held in gratitude and grace.

“Happiness is not something you can chase. It is something you have to allow. This likely will come as a surprise to many people, as the world is so adamant about everything from positive psychology to motivational Pinterest boards. But happiness is not something you can coach yourself into. Happiness is your natural state. That means you will return to it on your own if you allow the other feelings you want to experience to come up, be felt, be processed, and not resisted. The less you resist your unhappiness, the happier you will be. It is often just trying too hard to feel one certain way that sets us up for failure.”― Brianna Wiest, The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery

Mar 28

No Greater Love

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” – John 13:34

“No greater love has anyone than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” – John 15:13

Sacrifice.
Suffering.
Friendship.
Service.
Yielding.
Kindness.
Humility.
Companionship.
Generosity.
Compassion.
Redemption.
Unconditional.
Love.
All alive this day and each day.
Available to everyone.
Holy Thursday, the threshold to the Easter journey.
No greater love.

“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” – John 13:14

Mar 27

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Bit by Bit

“At the gates of time, blessing waits to usher toward us the grace we need.”― John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?” “It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”― Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit

In the culmination
The cumulation
Time and wearing
Imperfection
Stops and starts
In betweens
Ordinary days
Transitions and thresholds
Weathering
Joy and laughter
Wilting, weeding, seeding, planting, blooming
Growth, fruition, transformation
May you love your Realness and others too
A beautiful thing to behold and unfold
Loved into becoming.

“Faith is not an art. Faith is not an achievement. Faith is not a good work of which some may boast while others can excuse themselves with a shrug of the shoulders for not being capable of it. It is a decisive insight of faith itself that all of us are incapable of faith in ourselves, whether we think of its preparation, beginning, continuation, or completion. In this respect believers understand unbelievers, skeptics, and atheists better than they understand themselves. Unlike unbelievers, they regard the impossibility of faith as necessary, not accidental …”― Karl Barth, Reader

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