Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on a letter of the alphabet. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. The Letter AWhat does the letter A bring to my mind and heart? I knew the answer immediately: my great Aunt Anna.What a legacy she left. My middle name - Anne – was given to me in her honor. But she is also deep within my genes and DNA as she was a writer and studied spiritual giants in her lifetime.Aunt Anna was born on January 24 1883 and was the sister of my grandfather. She died when I was just a teenager at the age of 84 so my memory of her is a gray-headed old woman who liked to tend her garden. Little did I know then that as an adult, I would identify so much with her.Oh, how I would love to spend time with her now and … [Read more...]
Cold Sores and Cold Feet – No Wonder I Don’t Like Winter
This is the second in my series about Contemplating Winter – trying to find spiritual lessons in my least favorite season. You see, I am NOT a winter person. I dislike winter so much I rank it about ten on the list of four seasons. But I do know God sends us lessons in all experiences if only we are open to hold them for a while in our hands and hearts. What is winter showing me this year? “Contemplating Winter” will be the focus on my blog posts on Tuesday in January. Come and ponder this season with me."Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it." ~Henry David Thoreau, 28 November 1858 journal entryCOLDI pondered the word COLDthis morning. No wonder I don’t like it. Think of all the negative associations with this word:Cold soresCold feetCold-bloodedCold warCold caseCold shoulderCold sweatCold turkeyBrr – being cold is laden with emotional … [Read more...]
God Knows – Lectio Divina
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. Psalm 139: 1-2 NIVYou know me.You know me, Lord.Part of me takes great comfort with that statement.Yet buried deep in my ego I squirm with the idea that You really know me.All of me.The good. The bad. The hidden. You are familiar with every last atom in my body and fragment of my soul.No wonder I doubt Your love at times.I want to only share with You the decent, the behaving, the following all the rule parts. I put on my mask of self-righteousness and in vain smugness exclaiming to others: God love you! All the while tiptoeing the reality of my belief that if You really knew me, You would leave me.Yet You call me Your child.What an amazing God You are.You welcome me with open arms, embracing all of me. So enfolding me with love that all the walls between us disintegrate and I collapse in Your heart, knowing You do love me. Our souls meld in this all encompassing … [Read more...]
Blessing for the New Year – Quote of the Week
May this year we have peace within.May we trust God that we are exactly where we are meant to be and exactly where we are supposed to be heading.May we not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.May we use those gifts that we have received, and pass on the love thathas been given to us .May we be content knowing we are a child of God.Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow our soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.It is there for each and every one of us.St. Theresa … [Read more...]
Spiritual Discipline of Pilgrimage
My husband and I have been blessed to travel twice to Europe– once to Germany and another time to Italy - with a special lady, Sister Nancy Brousseau.Nancy doesn’t just offer tours she invites us to pilgrimage. She calls us pilgrims. The trips take on deeper meaning than just sightseeing.I treasure how I grow spiritually on those journeys and thought of them once again a few weeks ago while reading the book, The Art of Pilgrimage by Phil Cousineau. Rich with great quotes, it was one of those books I underlined quite a bit.“If we truly want to know the secret of soulful travel, we need to believe that there is something sacred waiting to be discovered in virtually every journey.”“A pilgrimage is a transformative journey to a sacred center…a pilgrimage is a spiritual exercise, an act of devotion…pilgrimage is a powerful metaphor for any journey with the purpose of finding something that matters deeply to the traveler.”“Pilgrimage is the kind of journeying that marks just this move from … [Read more...]
Contemplating Winter – Spiritual Lessons from My Least Favorite Season
I am NOT a winter person. I dislike winter so much I rank it about ten on the list of four seasons. But I do know God sends us lessons in all experiences if only we are open to hold them for a while in our hands and hearts. What is winter showing me this year? “Contemplating Winter” will be the focus on my blog posts on Tuesday in January. Come and ponder this season with me."Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it." ~Henry David Thoreau, 28 November 1858 journal entryThe scene outside my window today fits this theme of Contemplating Winter perfectly. I think God in His good humor knew to send wintry weather for me to set the mood as I write. In Ohio today it is 27 degrees, windy, cloudy, and snowy. I am a warm weather person who loves the sunshine and higher temperatures. Winter shrouds my spirit and slows down my soul. Yet I felt God’s invitation … [Read more...]
Honoring a New Year – Lectio Divina
In the beginning, God… Genesis 1In the beginning, GodLord I love the freshness of the new year. The hope found in new beginnings.You too know the excitement and joy of launching something new.In the beginning, God…What was that like for You, Lord?Did You smile when you declared all creation as good?Did love drip from Your eyes as You surveyed the beauty of the earth?Lord, the door is open for 2012.I don’t know what awaits for me as I cross its threshold, but I do know that You are already there because “In the beginning, God…”Thank you for preparing my way, for being with me into this new year and for Your guidance and light for each step.Lord, I want to reflect You in the coming year.May I give hope, joy and love to others.May my heart be so transparent only You shine through.And may all my beginnings, begin with You.In the beginning, God … [Read more...]
New Year Eve’s Quotes of the Week
For last year’s words belong to last year’s languageAnd next year’s words await another voice.And to make an end is to make a beginning.” T.S. Eliot(Thanks Laura for this quote) We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called “Opportunity” and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.Edith L. Pierce … [Read more...]