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Posts tagged ‘Faith’

Feb 25

Sacred Shaping

“The soul speaks its truth only under quiet, inviting and trustworthy conditions…If we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two at the base of a tree, the creature we’re waiting for may well emerge.” – Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak

“The miracle, upside-down work of God is that our failure isn’t an obstacle, it’s an opportunity to remember to sink into God. Not having what it takes is not a liability, it’s a prerequisite. Maybe there is hope for us after all.”― Emily P. Freeman, A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live

In the putting down.
In rest and reflection.
In slowing.
Clenched fists opening.
Seeds falling.
Seeds taking root.
To receive something not of our doing, efficiency and striving.
Borne of our not doing, of our very being.
Wintering to prepare for the brilliance of spring.
In the putting down, in the pause, in the stillness.
We discern what to pick up again.
What to leave behind.
Reshaped, renewed, refreshed.
Sacred shaping at work.

“Be faithful to plant. Release the growing to God. Open up clenched fists and let the seeds drop into the ground, let them burrow down deep and do their secret work in the dark. Sacred shaping happens in the waiting.”― Emily P. Freeman, A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live

Feb 23

Friction to Fruition

“Life does not accommodate you, it shatters you. It is meant to, and it couldn’t do it better. Every seed destroys its container or else there would be no fruition.” – Florida Scott-Maxwell

“Friction is necessary. Ease of life leads to complacency and the atrophy of the human will and spirit. Within our struggles lives our strength, within our trials lives our triumphs. Friction creates a platform for change, generates heat and or fervor and creates a motivational charge that gives us an opportunity to be better. A gem cannot be polished without friction and so neither a person without hardships. Friction within and friction without sharpens our senses and revives our internal resolutions. Friction is uncomfortable, hardships are distressing but both are necessary. We cannot light a match without friction nor can we hone steal. Uncomfortable as it may be, our adversity ultimately lights a fire and sharpens our very will to flourish.” ― Jason Versey, A Walk with Prudence

Seeds to flowers.
In time.
In struggle.
In seasons of honing, sharpening, friction, growth is at work.
The path to fruition, a bumpy road with detours, delays, potholes.
The journey longer than we want, beauty always woven through.
Not the way we would choose.
The start is not the finish.
The middle is where we reside.
The finish comes only if we start and keep moving.
Arriving at new start lines.
Keep moving and take joy, awe and wonder on the ride.
From friction to fruition.
And everything in between.
Keep planting seeds.
Flourishing in ordinary days, in extraordinary ways.

“We like things to manifest right away, and they may not. Many times, we’re just planting a seed and we don’t know exactly how it is going to come to fruition. It’s hard for us to realize that what we see in front of us might not be the end of the story.” – Sharon Salzberg

Feb 20

Always Where We Are

“To walk quietly until the miracle in everything speaks is poetry, whether we write it down or not.”― Mark Nepo

“Whether through the patterns left in snow, or geese honking in the dark, or through the brilliant wet leaf that hits your face the moment you are questioning your worth, the quiet teachers are everywhere, pointing us to the unlived portion of our lives. When we think we are in charge, the lessons dissolve as accidents or coincidence. But when we’re humble enough to welcome the connections, the glass that breaks across the room is offering us direction, giving us a clue to the story we are in.”― Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk: Daring to Live an Authentic Life

God does not require silence to speak.
We require it to hear, see, experience and immerse into beauty, joy, grace, love that is overflowing and in abundance.
Signs, wonders, cues, clues, patterns, intuition, inclination, serendipity, coincidence, direction, clarity, discernment, guidance.
Written and painted all over each day, on our heart.
We are the obstacle.
We need quiet to overcome the noise of the world, others, self, ego to hear the still small voice that is narrating our life.
Inviting our participation and partaking.
Not the way we command and demand.
When we stop trying to change God to fit our way, we realize that we are the ones who need to change.
And if we don’t or do it slowly and imperfectly, we are still loved all the way through.
The miracle and gift of love that transcends all and descends to walk beside us in the details of each day.
Always where we are.

“life is always where we are.”― Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Feb 8

Far More

“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.”― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine

“You are far more than your worst day, your worst experience, your worst season, dear one. You are more than the sorriest decision you ever made. You are more than the darkest sorrow you’ve endured. Your name is not Ruined. It is not Helpless. It is not Victim. It is not Irresponsible. History is replete with overcomers who stood up after impossible circumstances and walked in freedom. You are not an anemic victim destined to a life of regret. Not only are you capable, you have full permission to move forward in strength and health.”― Jen Hatmaker, Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life

In the overcoming, resilience.
The getting back up, resolve.
The carrying on, strength.
Threading joy, laughter, color through it all, transcendence.

“He said not ‘Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be dis-eased’; but he said, ‘Thou shalt not be overcome.”― Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

Feb 7

Now-ness, Next-ness, New-ness

“Learn to trust what you cannot see far more than what you can see.”― Caroline Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.”― Wendell Berry

In now, awareness, attention, gratitude.
Struggle, fumbles, trips, carrying on.
Ordinary days graffitied with joy, beauty and laughter.
In next, anticipation, hope, leaping.
Unknowing, mystery, uncertainty, moving forward.
Ordinary days transformed by transitions, thresholds, change.
In new, growth, bloom, resurrection.
Trusting detours, delays, getting lost are the path intended.
Ordinary days never really ordinary at all.
Nows, nexts, news weaving together into the tapestry of life.

“She kept swimming out into life because she hadn’t yet found a rock to stand on.”― Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Jan 25

All Shall Be Well, Is Well

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”― Julian of Norwich

“If there is anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.”― Julian of Norwich

For a moment, halt.
Quiet. Pause. Listen.
Rapt attention, attunement.
Soft whisper.
Gentle pull.
Gravity.

You are loved.
You are love.
Give and receive without reserve.
All is well.
Now carry on anchored, rooted, buoyed, and held in this sweet space.
Game changer.
Available, overflowing, and given to all.
Same precious love.

“Lord, let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for thee or thine,
But quiet homes of prayer and praise, where thou mayest find fit company,
Where the needful cares of life are wisely ordered and put away,
And wide, sweet spaces kept for thee; where holy thoughts pass up and down
And fervent longings watch and wait thy coming.”― Julian of Norwich

Jan 16

Keep Moving

“Stop calling your heart broken; your heart works just fine. If you are feeling–love, anger, gratitude, grief–it is because your heart is doing its work. Let it.”― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

“Commit yourself to the present. Loosen your grip on the life you had before—before a loss, an upheaval, a change that called everything into question—so that you can be here, where you’re needed, right now. KEEP MOVING. Do something today that will bring you joy even if you know you will not do it well.”― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

We don’t make our life out of perfect circumstances, conditions, relationships.
Stop waiting to move for the timing of “someday when.”
That place is fictional and delays us from doing the daily work, reflection and rest.
Start wherever you are today.
The uneven ground you stand on now.
Move out from there – consistency, stumble, practice, mistakes, repetition, breakthrough, growth, repeat. Better than the day before.
Don’t allow a bad moment or hour to take a foothold.
Footholds become strongholds.
Let it be and let it pass. Like a river flowing.
Few days are end-to-end harmonious.
A shift in perspective can increase the volume.
Gratitude, hope, optimism, enthusiasm are powerful daily practices not platitudes.
Tough, resilient, grit to keep moving imperfectly.
They pull us through everyday frustration, struggle, grief, difficult, loss, dry seasons.
Not to deny them but to acknowledge and not become them.
Our emotions are telling us something more than the obvious.
Anger is fear.
Grief is love.
Keep making your life each ordinary day, weaving joy into the mundane, laughter into the chaos, gratitude amidst loss and change.
Perpetual becoming, transformation is hard work.
Get to it.

“Don’t wait for your life to magically come together–it’s your work to do. Every day, every moment, you are making your life from scratch. Today, take one step, however small, toward creating a life you can be proud of.”― Maggie Smith, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change

Jan 6

No Longer and Not Yet

“In every place, no matter where you look, there are nooks that one seems to see, odd little spaces and hidden corners that hide from the world in plain sight. In every single square inch of the world, no matter how populated, there are what could be called liminal places, tiny little spaces, sometimes vast stretches, where the average laws of space and time are not wholly adhered to, you might say.”― John Kreiter, The Art of Transmutation

“Honor the space between no longer and not yet.”― Nancy Levin

Losses
Shifts
Changes
Transitions
Seasons
Sameness
Suddenness
Twists
Turns
Straight lines
Deadends
Bridges
One, some, all
In different measure
A multitude of things
Concrete and abstract
Emergence
What to do with it all?
Invite and entertain
Joy
Beauty
Light
Hope
Reflection
Kindness
Inquiry
Attunement
Empathy
Compassion
Trust
Faith
Transformation
Enthusiasm
In the known and especially in the unknown
In the unseen but brewing
In the simmer before the boil
In the frozen ground preparing for bud
Doors and windows in all walls and boundaries
Exits and entrances all at once
Thresholds to cross
Reverence, wonder, awe in the knowing and unknowing, the present moment.

“God does not give us more than we can handle,” I am told but I wonder if God doesn’t overestimate me just a little. Or perhaps, and this is likely, I underestimate God.”― Julia Cameron, Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance

Dec 28

The Trifles

“when journeying with God some of the best parts of any pilgrimage are the detours.”― Margaret Feinberg, Wonderstruck: Awaken to the Nearness of God

“She is not wearied with our littleness; her smile comes down to us like a benediction through the sea of flickering candles, and she blesses our wild flowers withering at her feet. For each one of us is “another Christ”; each one, to Mary, is her only child. It is therefore not tedious to her to hear the trifles that we tell her, to look at the bruises that we bring to her, and seeing our wound of sin, to heal it.”― Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God: A New Edition of a Spiritual Classic

I heard the quote above read on the Abiding Together podcast and was struck not only by the quote but by the one reading it tearing up as she spoke it.
“Not tedious to her to hear the trifles…bruises…wounds…to heal it.”
We’ve become too hard, pragmatic, logical, cynical, flat.
Little stops us in our tracks in awe, reverence and wonder.
Be vulnerable.
Pause, look, listen.
Soften.
Smooth the edges.
God is so much bigger than we make, define, contain, explain.
Not wearied by our littleness and loving us the same, always without condition.
Found in the trifles, cracks and crevices of ordinary days, waiting for us to notice.

“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.”― Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Dec 20

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More Dancing

“I stand at the window looking out, trying to remember the truths that nature always brings home. That what lies before me is not all there is. That time is ever passing, and not only when I notice. That strife and pain are no more unexpected than pleasure and joy. That merely by breathing I belong to the eternal.”― Margaret Renkl, The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

“December reminds us that the membrane between life and death is permeable, an endless back and forth that makes something of everything, no matter how small, no matter how transitory. To be impermanent is only one part of life. There will always be a resurrection.”― Margaret Renkl, The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

The slowing ensues as Christmas and New Years come closer.
May this season spark joy even in the midst of grief and struggle.
A pause to allow grace and ease, a resurrection in the making.
With the delight of children, a sense of wonder overflowing.
Hope, light and promise.
And by all means dance.

“A person who is not afraid of looking like a fool gets to do a lot more dancing.”― Margaret Renkl

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