Be a Shout of Color…

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Picture Credit: Julianne Jackson

The fallen azalea flower…

far removed from its mother bush.

Bright pink, but face down in all the muck and mud that gathers before the opening of the drainage ditch.

Just the gentlest of showers could carry it into that darkest of places – forgotten.

But for now it is a shout of color within the dirty debris.

Being itself in the midst…as it is called to be…as it needs to be.

“Be who you are and be that well in order to honor the Master whose handiwork you are.” St. Francis de Sales

“When they walk through the valley of weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs.”

 

+It has been awhile since I have posted on this blog and I hope now to return more regularly.  I have weekly been posting on my professional blog at http://www.lifelinesmobile.org/blog and you are welcome to visit me there. And yet I have missed this place, this bit of Godly sanctuary, and each of you my readers. I’m learning that in work we often wear seatbelts. I see God so connected in the all about me, it blesses me (and I h0pe you as well) to share those bits of light. In this crazy, mixed up world we need to remember God is with us. He is Emmanuel, and we in turn are called to be those shouts of color…that hope for the weary.

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Live the SHOCK…

image via From the heart of j

image via From the heart of j

God has put “timelessness” in our hearts…

Let us live this SHOCK in the midst…

of the time constrained culture we walk in…

How will you live the timelessness this day?

I have considered the task which God has appointed for men to be busied about.  He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men’s ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. ” Ecc3: 10-11

A Blessing in our Life…

image via from the heart of j

image via from the heart of j

“The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of his master.” Ben Hur Lampman

Dear God, Thank you for the gift of our dog. She was part of the family. Her loyalty and faithfulness, her obedience and her affection for us all reminded us that all good gifts come from You. She was a blessing in our life. Although today we said good-bye, she will remain with us in our hearts.

+ Paisley 4/9/14

Rough Around the Edges…

image via from the heart of j

image via from the heart of j

 

In the roughness of nature, we see beauty…

the gathering of storm clouds, the rush of stormy seas, kudzu covering an abandoned barn.

With a soul’s pause, we see beyond the ordinary.

In the “rough around the edges” of our spirits… there too is beauty…

And with a souls’ pause we see beyond the ordinary of self and others and are… captivated.

To see the beauty in the roughness is to see with God’s eyes.

To live beauty in the roughness is to live love.

To live love is to live + Jesus.

Live beauty… live love.

Live love… live + Jesus…

All in the roughness of the day.

May the roughness of your day…be an invitation to ponder beauty.

 

Shutters of the Heart…

Annecy, France image via fromtheheartofj

Annecy, France
image via fromtheheartofj

There is something sacred about the early morn…

the just waking up of the world as the sky stretches into the hello of the sun…

easing into colors of praise pinks, blues, and yellows.

The birds begin their hymns… their song joining in the symphony.

How often Lord have I insulated myself from the joy of arrival…

with curtains drawn and a hit to the snooze button?

The song of the new day knocks

May I be awake to answer this glory…

May my life be a part of this orchestra of grace each day anew.

Let the shutters of my heart be opened.

Sand Storm of Purification…

imagesW9B4PZDQ

The desert…

The place of encounter…

Inner wrestling with Truth resplendent…

Stripped of the color of everyday…

The starkness…the silence…the heat…

The sand storm of purification in the rending of the heart…

Brings an oasis of grace…peace unshakeable…spirit renewed.

“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God.” Joel 2:12-13

Blessings on your Lent. May your journey in the desert bring you ever deeper into the Heart of Jesus.

Companions of Your Pilgrimage…

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In loving your neighbor and caring for him…

You are on a journey.

Where are you traveling if not to the Lord God, to Him whom we should love with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind?

We have not yet reached His presence…

But we have our neighbor at our side.

Support, then, this companion of your pilgrimage if you want to come into the presence of the one with whom you desire to remain forever.  + St. Augustine

An Epic Poem to be Savored….

feet-up-resting-footstool

Official permission to slow down one’s life…

is like being given an epic poem yet to be savored.

Give thanks for those things in life that sloooooow down one’s steps….

for truly the mind and the heart soon follow. (I promise)

“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ” James 1:2-3.

Surprise Disciple…

Helping-Out

“Being a disciple means being constantly ready to bring the love of Jesus to others, and this can happen unexpectedly and in any place: on the street, in a city square, during work, on a journey.” Pope Francis in Evangelii  Gaudium