Fall into God. Face first.
Surrender the lofty mountain of self…strewn with idols ever demanding.
To Him who is the way.
Fall into God. Face first.
Surrender all the roughness of life…sharp with pain, disappointment, despair.
To Him who is the way.
Fall into God. Face first.
And arise weightless…through Him, with Him, in Him.
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“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
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Be lifted into the glory of the day…
Into the whoosh of wonder…into the no such thing as normal.
Moments charged with eternity…
Held within the ticking of the clock…burst forth heaven into the here and now.
“We need to rediscover a contemplative spirit, so that the love of God may warm our hearts.” Pope Francis Twitter 4/8/14
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Practice prayer from the beginning. Paint your house with the colors of modesty and humility. Make it radiant with the light of justice. Decorate it with the finest gold leaf of good deeds. Adorn it with the walls and stones of faith and generosity. Crown it with the pinnacle of prayer. In this way you will make it a perfect dwelling place for the Lord. You will be able to receive Him as in a splendid palace, and through His grace you will already possess Him, His image enthroned in the temple of your spirit.
St. John Chrysostom
May your new week be blessed with a prayerful beginning.
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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.
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“I shall always sing even should my flowers be gathered from the midst of thorns.”
St. Therese Lisieux
Annecy, France
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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.
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.
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
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.
through Him with Him in Him... 