Half a million dead. This is the number fellow Americans who have died in the Covid pandemic. In one year – 500,000 lives gone. This grim statistic stabbed my heart. I can't even comprehend this staggering number of a half of million. I read this is more that the entire population of the city of Atlanta. There are 525,600 minutes in a year. That’s one Covid death per minute, for almost an entire year. National Geographic shared these and other graphics about this tragedy. In 2020, the U.S. saw a more than 15 percent increase in deaths over the prior year, the highest year-on-year rise in deaths across the U.S. since 1918, which experienced both a global flu epidemic and the First World War. A line of 500,000 caskets, laid end to end, would stretch for 645 miles. Those coffins would reach from New York City to Indianapolis. It would take a wall almost nine times the length of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., to list the … [Read more...]
Uphill and Into the Wind
Can you imagine walking uphill and into the wind? Think about the determination, the pain and fatigue, unable to see the final destination. The persistence of plodding one step at a time, one after another, bogged down with thick mud or snowdrifts. Straining with each labored breath. Icy cold driving rain pummeling your face. I dreamed that scene last week. I rarely remember my dreams so when an image not only lingers in such detail but echoes in my soul with such a thundering boom, I notice. Doesn't take a genius to pay attention when God is trying to show me something. I tried to find just the right photo to capture this uphill and into the wind image. I wanted to paste it into my journal. Show it here to you. The illusive perfect illustration hasn't surface yet but still lives vividly in my mind. I am being vulnerable today, sharing this experience, baring my soul. In my morning prayer time lately, Jesus has been sitting across from me, listening, watching, … [Read more...]
Ready or Not: Here Come Ash Wednesday
Ready for Ash Wednesday and Lent? Today is Shrove Tuesday which I featured on the blog last year and tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. This solemn service includes confession and reconciliation and the use of ashes to form a cross on each forehead. “From dust you came and from dust you will return.” Genesis 3: 19 The symbolism of ashes stirs my heart each year and feels like the threshold on our walk to Gethsemane and the Resurrection. I stand in the doorway between the seasons and pause to ponder God's faithfulness and forgiveness and to pray and praise his grace and love. The sign of the cross on our forehead with ashes recalls our baptism, and reminds us that in both life and life beyond life we belong to God; we are “marked as Christ’s own forever.” In our parish and many others, the ashes are made by burning palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday. Throughout the Bible ashes represent repentance and asking God for mercy and forgiveness. For … [Read more...]
Are you a Spiritual Marathoner?
Are you a spiritual marathoner? I am a not a runner. Yes, I do walk for exercise but run? No way! If I did try running, I am sure I wouldn't go far before gasping for air or collapsing. My legs and my heart aches with the thought of running a marathon. Yet, in many ways we are all running a collective marathon right now. It has almost been a year we have endured this pandemic – a life event we didn't choose, can't control, and we are not sure when it will be over. We are tired. We desperately want to get back to how we used to do things. We are emotionally and spiritually exhausted. I said this to others serving in the church and friends of faith and all agreed. There is a bone weary, soul numbing fatigue. "Hitting the wall" is a phrase marathoners use when every step feels like you are wading through concrete and you begin to doubt if you will ever see the finish line. In reality this feeling of defeat and discouragement usually arrives at about mile 20 of … [Read more...]
What’s On My Reading Stand?
What's on my reading stand? I don't know about you but I am one of those types who has multiple books going at once. I pick one up to read one night, then often am onto another one next. I love to slowly digest the wisdom from other writers. I love the blog posts where I get the glimpse into what another is reading so thought today I would share what is piled up, ready to be taken in by my heart, mind, and spirit. 3000 Miles to Jesus – Pilgrimage as a Way of Life for Spiritual Seekers by Lisa Deam. She had me at the word – pilgrimage -as that is a key word in my spirituality. This is a new title exploring that everyone is a pilgrim and we are all on a journey. This is a book about traveling well. "For Dante, pilgrimage required two elements; the challenge of distance and the sense of being strangers in a strange land." I certainly can agree with that statement – both in my external travels and my inward journey. I especially like how she introduces us to fellow … [Read more...]
Who Shapes Your Faith?
Who shapes your faith? Deep in your most inward core of your being, the center closest to God, the Creator, who are you? Who influenced how you live from that tender place? What you believe. How you think. How you perceive others, the world, and even yourself. Reflecting on who shaped/shapes us (both past and present tense) is a powerful question revealing insights into ourselves and why we think and act when we are on autopilot. That default mode leads many of our daily decisions and in the long run, forms the direction of our life. This also affect our intentional actions but to be honest, often we exist quite mindlessly. Many of us will note our parents and grandparents as part of this list. Maybe a significant teacher or mentor. Sometimes an important event, ah-ha moment, or momentous situation contributed to our bent. I know even my silent still times with God formed and continues to form my heart. Other Writers Shape our Faith Writers, both current and … [Read more...]
Stretching My Journal Muscles with a New Approach
Journals– most of you know I am an avid journal writer and know the free download I have shared here about journaling is the most popular one I have written. I love collecting journals and have quite a stack ready to grab once I fill one up. Writing in my journal is prayer and a practice of reflection, growth and record of life. The disciplines of contemplative prayer and expressing my emotions within a book's pages have been essential during the rough uncertainty of the past 12 months. Journaling serves as lifeline for me. Journaling helps me hear my own voice often drowned out by the world. Journaling helps me connect with God. One of my favorite writers, Emily P Freeman, has just released a new journal in a unique format. Her probing guiding questions will stretch my journaling muscle in a new way. Her new book is called The Next Right Thing Guided Journal – A Decision-making Companion. And what a great companion this book will be. This book is set up as a place to … [Read more...]
GO – A New Spiritual Practice
Go is my word of the year. I wrote about this practice last week but today want to expand on how this word will guide me in 2021. At first I thought this was too simplistic, but I kept hearing it. Feeling its energy. This word invites me forward with hope, liveliness, and power. GO symbolizes a new spiritual practice for me. As I prayed about choosing a word for the year, God (interesting to pay attention to the first two letters in the word GOD) asked me to watch for his grace. To daily watch for his touch, gifts, presence throughout the day. Grace Observed. In essence this mean to ask myself: Where am I seeing grace each day? Grace Observed draws my eyes from my ego, self-pity, and what I don't have or what I have lost and helps me see grace in every place. To appreciate all that God provides - visible and invisible. Forgotten, then remembered. Cherished instead of neglected. I have had fun playing with this word – another confirmation of this power in this word and … [Read more...]