A Blessing"
May the light of your soul guide you.
May the light of your soul bless the work that you do
with the secret love and warmth of your heart.
May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.
May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light
and renewal to those who work with you
and to those who see and receive your work.
May your work never weary you.
May it release within you wellsprings of
refreshment, inspiration and excitement.
May you be present in what you do.
May you never become lost in bland absences.
May the day never burden.
May dawn find you awake and alert,
approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities and promises.
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.
May you go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected.
May your soul calm, console and renew you.
Found here from Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O'Donohue
Etchings - tentative outlines from which to move as one learns to be more contemplative, to move into this pilgrimage of life and embrace the Mystery that asks us to live with unknowns and surprises.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Calm and Storm
The last few weeks have seen my cup of life very full: some great opportunities, meeting new people, and there has been the "stuff" that comes to steal the good away. Both exist together in our lives, and I have been very aware of holding both in my full cup. Yet when I have felt it hard to trust people, the reality that I and, and do, trust the Almighty has moved me to a deeper place with Them.
This poem from over at You, A Prayerful Conversation seems to beautifully dovetail into my thinking:
Let nothing disturb you;
Let nothing make you afraid.
All things are passing;
God alone never changes.
Patience gains all things.
Who has God wants nothing.
God alone suffices.
— The Bookmark of Saint Teresa of Avila
Stop over here and read the writers' thoughts.
This poem from over at You, A Prayerful Conversation seems to beautifully dovetail into my thinking:
Let nothing disturb you;
Let nothing make you afraid.
All things are passing;
God alone never changes.
Patience gains all things.
Who has God wants nothing.
God alone suffices.
— The Bookmark of Saint Teresa of Avila
Stop over here and read the writers' thoughts.
Monday, January 22, 2007
The Solace of Solitude
More wisdom from Henri Nouwen on Solitude:
The Voice in the Garden of Solitude
Solitude is the garden for our hearts, which yearn for love. It is the place where our aloneness can bear fruit. It is the home for our restless bodies and anxious minds. Solitude, whether it is connected with a physical space or not, is essential for our spiritual lives. It is not an easy place to be, since we are so insecure and fearful that we are easily distracted by whatever promises immediate satisfaction. Solitude is not immediately satisfying, because in solitude we meet our demons, our addictions, our feelings of lust and anger, and our immense need for recognition and approval. But if we do not run away, we will meet there also the One who says, "Do not be afraid. I am with you, and I will guide you through the valley of darkness."
Let's keep returning to our solitude.
Community Supported by Solitude
Solitude greeting solitude, that's what community is all about. Community is not the place where we are no longer alone but the place where we respect, protect, and reverently greet one another's aloneness. When we allow our aloneness to lead us into solitude, our solitude will enable us to rejoice in the solitude of others. Our solitude roots us in our own hearts. Instead of making us yearn for company that will offer us immediate satisfaction, solitude makes us claim our center and empowers us to call others to claim theirs. Our various solitudes are like strong, straight pillars that hold up the roof of our communal house. Thus, solitude always strengthens community.
quotes from Henri Nouwen Daily Meditations
The Voice in the Garden of Solitude
Solitude is the garden for our hearts, which yearn for love. It is the place where our aloneness can bear fruit. It is the home for our restless bodies and anxious minds. Solitude, whether it is connected with a physical space or not, is essential for our spiritual lives. It is not an easy place to be, since we are so insecure and fearful that we are easily distracted by whatever promises immediate satisfaction. Solitude is not immediately satisfying, because in solitude we meet our demons, our addictions, our feelings of lust and anger, and our immense need for recognition and approval. But if we do not run away, we will meet there also the One who says, "Do not be afraid. I am with you, and I will guide you through the valley of darkness."
Let's keep returning to our solitude.
Community Supported by Solitude
Solitude greeting solitude, that's what community is all about. Community is not the place where we are no longer alone but the place where we respect, protect, and reverently greet one another's aloneness. When we allow our aloneness to lead us into solitude, our solitude will enable us to rejoice in the solitude of others. Our solitude roots us in our own hearts. Instead of making us yearn for company that will offer us immediate satisfaction, solitude makes us claim our center and empowers us to call others to claim theirs. Our various solitudes are like strong, straight pillars that hold up the roof of our communal house. Thus, solitude always strengthens community.
quotes from Henri Nouwen Daily Meditations
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Artistic Awe - Awe of the Artist
I love movies that deal with the subject of awakening of an artist, or the re-awaking of their gift. In the movie Shadows in the Sun, the main character Wendell Parish, has become a recluse for the past 20 years, wallowing in his grief and choosing to ignore his passion and gift of writing. He tells a younger aspiring writer to remember that “you don’t choose to be an artist – it chooses you”. Films such as this one, Artemisia, Mostly Martha, and Baghdad Café (one’s I have recently watched) are all about the process of letting the artist within choose you.
Imperfections in the artist are revealed through their wrestling with fear, despair, heaviness that is carried because they are so sensitive to their environment. Yet there is the euphoria that comes with the release of a perfect note or melody, colours that entwine and reveal the perfect sunset on the canvas, words that draw the reader in to the story, or nature’s architecture that causes you to inhale and brings tears to your eyes.
What did Michelangelo feel as he lay on his back creating intricate stories on the ceiling of a sacred chapel, or as he hewed David’s image out of marble? Or what did Van Gough feel as he painted the purple and greens together in the Iris so that somewhere someone who felt the depth of pain as he did could find a moment of beauty while looking at the canvas? Did Sibelius know how his rich earthy music, singing of nature, stirs one to sit in stillness and wait to hear the next note while visualizing streams running toward the sea? Would Teresa of Avila know how much her love and passion for Christ would be inspiring poetry 500 years hence? Bernard of Clairveaux could not have known when he wrote “Jesus the very thought of Thee”, that almost 1000 years into the future these words would still be sacred holy words of song to many.
When I think of “art” my first thoughts are of colours moving out of solitude and blending together to form something definable for me to ponder. Lines that cross and blend and create form, or notes that come together and create a melody that is a vocal and visual journey. The delicate sounds of crystal being clinked against crystal, the plethora of threads that give tapestry a story to hold and tell. Drawings in the sand which stay for a moment and are soon swept away by the tide, or paintings on the sidewalk that will become a confused blend of colours in the rain – all are works of art. When I place the raw ingredients on the countertop, smelling the fresh produce, feeling the smooth texture of the skin of various vegetables and fruits, then chopping, blending, sautéing these ingredients, I find the culinary art coming to life with scent, texture, colour, and flavour. I anticipate the wonder of the placing the final product on the table and we partake of it together.
So if the Almighty placed within us the response to the calling to be an artist what were the feelings when They created us? Only recently, after reading a passage on this idea, did I think about the awe and wonder that God must have had as each individual work of art/humanness was under creation. Hands that sculpted every curve and bone, outlining our frame and knowing it before we were even in the womb; from the colour of our hair to the intensity and depth in our eyes, the timber of the voice, fullness of the lips, the shape of our hands and fingers and whether or not we have dimples in our cheeks or our chin. Did God sit back at times and ponder where to go next or even laugh out loud in delight knowing the story of beauty, pain and redemption this life would hold? Did God’s hands rest in infinite tenderness when creating the heart, knowing it would break, mend, break again, and still courageously choose to keep pursuing life? What did my soul look like as the Creature placed it in the centre of my being and wrote the words “you are Mine” upon it? And how did God entwine love and art together so they would call to each other?
Perhaps Mechthild of Magdeburg, who lived some 800 years ago, was an artistic soul whose medium was words. Her words of love speak to me of the beauty of an artists’soul and of the Almighty sitting creating:
God Speaks to the Soul
And God said to the soul:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me.
And where the desires of two come together
There love is perfected
HOW GOD ANSWERS THE SOUL
It is my nature that makes me love you often,
For I am love itself.
It is my longing that makes me love you intensely,
I yearn to be loved from the heart.
It is my eternity that makes me love you long,
For I have no end.
Mechthild of Magdeburg
Imperfections in the artist are revealed through their wrestling with fear, despair, heaviness that is carried because they are so sensitive to their environment. Yet there is the euphoria that comes with the release of a perfect note or melody, colours that entwine and reveal the perfect sunset on the canvas, words that draw the reader in to the story, or nature’s architecture that causes you to inhale and brings tears to your eyes.
What did Michelangelo feel as he lay on his back creating intricate stories on the ceiling of a sacred chapel, or as he hewed David’s image out of marble? Or what did Van Gough feel as he painted the purple and greens together in the Iris so that somewhere someone who felt the depth of pain as he did could find a moment of beauty while looking at the canvas? Did Sibelius know how his rich earthy music, singing of nature, stirs one to sit in stillness and wait to hear the next note while visualizing streams running toward the sea? Would Teresa of Avila know how much her love and passion for Christ would be inspiring poetry 500 years hence? Bernard of Clairveaux could not have known when he wrote “Jesus the very thought of Thee”, that almost 1000 years into the future these words would still be sacred holy words of song to many.
When I think of “art” my first thoughts are of colours moving out of solitude and blending together to form something definable for me to ponder. Lines that cross and blend and create form, or notes that come together and create a melody that is a vocal and visual journey. The delicate sounds of crystal being clinked against crystal, the plethora of threads that give tapestry a story to hold and tell. Drawings in the sand which stay for a moment and are soon swept away by the tide, or paintings on the sidewalk that will become a confused blend of colours in the rain – all are works of art. When I place the raw ingredients on the countertop, smelling the fresh produce, feeling the smooth texture of the skin of various vegetables and fruits, then chopping, blending, sautéing these ingredients, I find the culinary art coming to life with scent, texture, colour, and flavour. I anticipate the wonder of the placing the final product on the table and we partake of it together.
So if the Almighty placed within us the response to the calling to be an artist what were the feelings when They created us? Only recently, after reading a passage on this idea, did I think about the awe and wonder that God must have had as each individual work of art/humanness was under creation. Hands that sculpted every curve and bone, outlining our frame and knowing it before we were even in the womb; from the colour of our hair to the intensity and depth in our eyes, the timber of the voice, fullness of the lips, the shape of our hands and fingers and whether or not we have dimples in our cheeks or our chin. Did God sit back at times and ponder where to go next or even laugh out loud in delight knowing the story of beauty, pain and redemption this life would hold? Did God’s hands rest in infinite tenderness when creating the heart, knowing it would break, mend, break again, and still courageously choose to keep pursuing life? What did my soul look like as the Creature placed it in the centre of my being and wrote the words “you are Mine” upon it? And how did God entwine love and art together so they would call to each other?
Perhaps Mechthild of Magdeburg, who lived some 800 years ago, was an artistic soul whose medium was words. Her words of love speak to me of the beauty of an artists’soul and of the Almighty sitting creating:
God Speaks to the Soul
And God said to the soul:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me.
And where the desires of two come together
There love is perfected
HOW GOD ANSWERS THE SOUL
It is my nature that makes me love you often,
For I am love itself.
It is my longing that makes me love you intensely,
I yearn to be loved from the heart.
It is my eternity that makes me love you long,
For I have no end.
Mechthild of Magdeburg
Monday, January 15, 2007
Poetry for Today
LAUGHTER CAME FROM EVERY BRICK
Just these two words He spoke
changed my life,
"Enjoy Me."
What a burden I thought I was to carry -
a crucifix, as did He.
Love once said to me, "I know a song,
would you like to hear it?"
And laughter came from every brick in the street
and from every pore
in the sky.
After a night of prayer, He
changed my life when
He sang,
"Enjoy Me."
Teresa of Avila
From Love Poems from God, by Daniel Ladinsky.
Just these two words He spoke
changed my life,
"Enjoy Me."
What a burden I thought I was to carry -
a crucifix, as did He.
Love once said to me, "I know a song,
would you like to hear it?"
And laughter came from every brick in the street
and from every pore
in the sky.
After a night of prayer, He
changed my life when
He sang,
"Enjoy Me."
Teresa of Avila
From Love Poems from God, by Daniel Ladinsky.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Quick Meals
Some guests were coming over that needed a gluten free diet. I had found some gluten free sausages from Spolumbos Deli in Calgary and so the following quick and easy dish ended up being the lunch for the crowd. It is colourful, tasty, quick and easy as well as hearty. Great with a huge bowl of salad that has some texture (brocolli slaw, lettuce, sunflower seeds, grape tomatoes).
Quick and Easy Rice and Sausage Dish:
Serves 6
3 cups of jasmine rice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp of chicken broth
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cups of fresh spinach
4 cups of sliced cooked sausage (Spolumbos Italian or a lamb sausage)
2 cups of crumbled feta cheese (save a little to sprinkle on top)
½ cup finely chopped sun dried tomatoes (use the ones in oil)
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook the jasmine rice as per directions, adding the chicken broth and minced garlic before cooking it.
Cook the sausage and then slice them into about fairly thin slices
When rice and sausage are cooked:
Place the raw washed spinach into a large mixing bowl. Add the sun dried tomatoes, and then add the rice and mix together. Rice should be dry and fluffy. Add the cheese, sausage and fresh parsley. Mix the lemon juice and olive oil in last.
(The spinach will be wilted by the warm rice but not watery and it retains it flavour and nutrients this way)
Place in the serving dish and top with a little parsley and feta cheese.
**If you like pine nuts, also add 1 cup of toasted pine nuts to this dish.
Quick and Easy Rice and Sausage Dish:
Serves 6
3 cups of jasmine rice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp of chicken broth
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cups of fresh spinach
4 cups of sliced cooked sausage (Spolumbos Italian or a lamb sausage)
2 cups of crumbled feta cheese (save a little to sprinkle on top)
½ cup finely chopped sun dried tomatoes (use the ones in oil)
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook the jasmine rice as per directions, adding the chicken broth and minced garlic before cooking it.
Cook the sausage and then slice them into about fairly thin slices
When rice and sausage are cooked:
Place the raw washed spinach into a large mixing bowl. Add the sun dried tomatoes, and then add the rice and mix together. Rice should be dry and fluffy. Add the cheese, sausage and fresh parsley. Mix the lemon juice and olive oil in last.
(The spinach will be wilted by the warm rice but not watery and it retains it flavour and nutrients this way)
Place in the serving dish and top with a little parsley and feta cheese.
**If you like pine nuts, also add 1 cup of toasted pine nuts to this dish.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Ancient Words In Early Morning
Proverbs 3
Don't Assume You Know It All
1-2 Good friend, don't forget all I've taught you; take to heart my commands.
They'll help you live a long, long time,
a long life lived full and well.
3-4 Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty.
Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.
Earn a reputation for living well
in God's eyes and the eyes of the people.
5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track.
Don't assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
your wine vats will brim over.
But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline;
don't sulk under his loving correction.
It's the child he loves that God corrects;
a father's delight is behind all this.
The Very Tree of Life
13-18 You're blessed when you meet Lady Wisdom,
when you make friends with Madame Insight.
She's worth far more than money in the bank;
her friendship is better than a big salary.
Her value exceeds all the trappings of wealth;
nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.
With one hand she gives long life,
with the other she confers recognition.
Her manner is beautiful,
her life wonderfully complete.
She's the very Tree of Life to those who embrace her.
Hold her tight—and be blessed!
19-20 With Lady Wisdom, God formed Earth;
with Madame Insight, he raised Heaven.
They knew when to signal rivers and springs to the surface,
and dew to descend from the night skies.
Never Walk Away
21-26 Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life;
don't for a minute lose sight of them.
They'll keep your soul alive and well,
they'll keep you fit and attractive.
You'll travel safely,
you'll neither tire nor trip.
You'll take afternoon naps without a worry,
you'll enjoy a good night's sleep.
No need to panic over alarms or surprises,
or predictions that doomsday's just around the corner,
Because God will be right there with you;
he'll keep you safe and sound.
27-29 Never walk away from someone who deserves help;
your hand is God's hand for that person.
Don't tell your neighbor "Maybe some other time"
or "Try me tomorrow"
when the money's right there in your pocket.
Don't figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor
when he's sitting there trusting and unsuspecting.
30-32 Don't walk around with a chip on your shoulder,
always spoiling for a fight.
Don't try to be like those who shoulder their way through life.
Why be a bully?
"Why not?" you say. Because God can't stand twisted souls.
It's the straightforward who get his respect.
33-35 God's curse blights the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
He gives proud skeptics a cold shoulder,
but if you're down on your luck, he's right there to help.
Wise living gets rewarded with honor;
stupid living gets the booby prize.
Don't Assume You Know It All
1-2 Good friend, don't forget all I've taught you; take to heart my commands.
They'll help you live a long, long time,
a long life lived full and well.
3-4 Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty.
Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.
Earn a reputation for living well
in God's eyes and the eyes of the people.
5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track.
Don't assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
your wine vats will brim over.
But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline;
don't sulk under his loving correction.
It's the child he loves that God corrects;
a father's delight is behind all this.
The Very Tree of Life
13-18 You're blessed when you meet Lady Wisdom,
when you make friends with Madame Insight.
She's worth far more than money in the bank;
her friendship is better than a big salary.
Her value exceeds all the trappings of wealth;
nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.
With one hand she gives long life,
with the other she confers recognition.
Her manner is beautiful,
her life wonderfully complete.
She's the very Tree of Life to those who embrace her.
Hold her tight—and be blessed!
19-20 With Lady Wisdom, God formed Earth;
with Madame Insight, he raised Heaven.
They knew when to signal rivers and springs to the surface,
and dew to descend from the night skies.
Never Walk Away
21-26 Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life;
don't for a minute lose sight of them.
They'll keep your soul alive and well,
they'll keep you fit and attractive.
You'll travel safely,
you'll neither tire nor trip.
You'll take afternoon naps without a worry,
you'll enjoy a good night's sleep.
No need to panic over alarms or surprises,
or predictions that doomsday's just around the corner,
Because God will be right there with you;
he'll keep you safe and sound.
27-29 Never walk away from someone who deserves help;
your hand is God's hand for that person.
Don't tell your neighbor "Maybe some other time"
or "Try me tomorrow"
when the money's right there in your pocket.
Don't figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor
when he's sitting there trusting and unsuspecting.
30-32 Don't walk around with a chip on your shoulder,
always spoiling for a fight.
Don't try to be like those who shoulder their way through life.
Why be a bully?
"Why not?" you say. Because God can't stand twisted souls.
It's the straightforward who get his respect.
33-35 God's curse blights the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
He gives proud skeptics a cold shoulder,
but if you're down on your luck, he's right there to help.
Wise living gets rewarded with honor;
stupid living gets the booby prize.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
A New Kind of Sight
I am not sure if it can be defined as lingering in a passage of Scripture, or meditating, ruminating...however one wishes to define it, it's where I have been with a portion of John 8 - all about seeing and touching yet knowing little. These words have taken me by surprise, in fact they have arrested me and held me in this teaching of Jesus for weeks.
Living with the 5 senses, embracing them, knowing The Almighty through them, has been my heart life in the last year. To come fully alive and awake with them and therefore learn to live very present and through being present to experience Holy Presence: this is what the Spirit has taught me to embrace LIFE within, to embrace Their presence, and to carry life to the world I walk in. At least I should say I am in this process.
But Jesus words in this passage in John have intrigued me.
"You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don't make judgements like that. But even if I did, my judgement would be true because I wouldn't make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father."
What? Our own experiences is all we have isn't it? It is not the paradigm from which we "know" the world around us?
"You're tied down to the mundane. I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms....You're missing God in your lives."
Is the mundane not where we can find and experience you God? Is this quest to live with one's senses fully alive not what the Spirit has been speaking to me about? Or is it that there is more beyond what my senses can experience here?
In the ordinary occupation of eating over this last week of the year 2006, the sacred has been shown to my heart in new ways. Standing in the back of a flower shop with the 2 women who run it, toasting the last day of the year with a plastic cup and a tipple of sherry, with a slice of baguette - this was sacred communion. Or seeing the life in the eyes of a woman at the table on Christmas Day - her first Christmas not spent in hibernation for many years. That was sacred and the meal was a beautiful gift of communion in Holy Presence. Are those the things beyond sight? Beyond touch? Is this the very ordinary where we find God, Jesus, the Spirit, yet miss them because we don't see more, or feel more?
The very words of the Almighty, of Yeshua, the speaking of the Spirit have begun to come alive to my senses - is there more beyond this to know? I am sure of it. As 2007 begins, the theme to my heart and soul is to "see" differently - to see with the heart and to touch life so I can understand what Jesus was talking about and the narrowness of my own experience can be expanded. What does it really mean to live beyond our senses and remain very present in this life with the senses we are created with? have begun to travel this road more purposefully and will see what is revealed.
Living with the 5 senses, embracing them, knowing The Almighty through them, has been my heart life in the last year. To come fully alive and awake with them and therefore learn to live very present and through being present to experience Holy Presence: this is what the Spirit has taught me to embrace LIFE within, to embrace Their presence, and to carry life to the world I walk in. At least I should say I am in this process.
But Jesus words in this passage in John have intrigued me.
"You decide according to what you can see and touch. I don't make judgements like that. But even if I did, my judgement would be true because I wouldn't make it out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father."
What? Our own experiences is all we have isn't it? It is not the paradigm from which we "know" the world around us?
"You're tied down to the mundane. I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I'm living on other terms....You're missing God in your lives."
Is the mundane not where we can find and experience you God? Is this quest to live with one's senses fully alive not what the Spirit has been speaking to me about? Or is it that there is more beyond what my senses can experience here?
In the ordinary occupation of eating over this last week of the year 2006, the sacred has been shown to my heart in new ways. Standing in the back of a flower shop with the 2 women who run it, toasting the last day of the year with a plastic cup and a tipple of sherry, with a slice of baguette - this was sacred communion. Or seeing the life in the eyes of a woman at the table on Christmas Day - her first Christmas not spent in hibernation for many years. That was sacred and the meal was a beautiful gift of communion in Holy Presence. Are those the things beyond sight? Beyond touch? Is this the very ordinary where we find God, Jesus, the Spirit, yet miss them because we don't see more, or feel more?
The very words of the Almighty, of Yeshua, the speaking of the Spirit have begun to come alive to my senses - is there more beyond this to know? I am sure of it. As 2007 begins, the theme to my heart and soul is to "see" differently - to see with the heart and to touch life so I can understand what Jesus was talking about and the narrowness of my own experience can be expanded. What does it really mean to live beyond our senses and remain very present in this life with the senses we are created with? have begun to travel this road more purposefully and will see what is revealed.
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