Where do you find joy? I used to think happiness occurred in a constant stream. Once I found it I would have it forever in my possession. One time I "graded" each day - yes A through D ( no F's allowed) on the blessings I experienced – this helped me live more in grateful gladness. Do we have to wait for the big celebrations and mountaintop encounters to smile, to enjoy, to dance with delight? “Sometimes, the simple things are more fun and meaningful than all the banquets in the world.” ― E.A. Bucchianeri Simple Joys This spring I have been collecting moments of wonder. I hold these in my heart, gleefully grateful to God. I surprise my face by smiling unexpectedly. I am thriving in thrills otherwise unnoticed. Detecting delight delivers depth to my being. Here are just a few of the simple joys I recently welcomed and embraced: My one and only daffodil in my yard. Yes, I love their sunny cherry appearance every spring. Why do I have only one? Well, we dug … [Read more...]
Stillness – A Spiritual Practice to Refresh your Soul
Stillness is not one spiritual practice that comes easy for me. I fidget. My mind wanders into strange and curious excursions. My spirit hops around like water on a hot skillet. Then suddenly I realize I am off to Neverland, not being still with God. I thrive in getting things done. Is thrive the right word? Maybe addicted/obsessed/focused is more exact. I love being busy/productive. Always having more to do. Accomplishing something. Anything. To be still is not automatic for many of us. My “sit still” skillset slips and stumbles. Practicing stillness is hard for me. Anyone else relate to this? Through Lent, I did keep up most of the time the practice of 15-20 minutes of Centering Prayer with God each morning. Being still with our savior refreshed my soul in new ways. Quiet before God helped me hear him deeply and connected with myself too. I gained a new perspective to happenings internally and externally. Peace and tranquility bathed my spirit. The more I … [Read more...]
Lucy – A Lesson in Persistence
We call her Lucy. Lucy is a young robin who decided to build a nest on top of one of our backyard outdoor speakers. The good news is the speaker is tucked up high under the eaves, providing protection from the elements. The bad news? The flat space on the top of the speaker is narrow, about a 6-7-inch square. Every day she brought twigs, willowy branches, and yard waste to the speaker. Every day the nest fell apart by day's end. Fragments of her failed fiasco splattered in ruins across our porch. Every day. My hubby and I fretted about Lucy. Was she too young to know what she was doing? Do robins learn to make nests from their parents and somehow Lucy never got that education? Bill worried she would still lay eggs there resulting in their rolling off the speaker dropping 6 feet to their destruction. Lucy was definitely deficient in nest construction skill and experience. Every day Lucy began once again. Every day the nest fell apart by day's end. We researched … [Read more...]
The Power of Remembering – A Spiritual Practice
Many of us watched in shock, sadness, and heartache as Notre Dame burned on April 15. Fixated on the scene, I couldn't imagine the horror, destruction, and grief from this tragedy. The years of worship and the deep identity of a symbol for the French blazing to its ruin. Remembering - The Cross Still Stands But Notre Dame wasn't completely destroyed as we learned the next day. I love this photo, showing the burned wooden beams from the collapsed roof crumbled at the foot of the golden cross. The headline in the secular papers read -The Cross Still Stands. Amen! No matter how our world is abolished around us, our lives in defeat or we are overcome with hopelessness, God remains. Then stories emerged. One report told of a human chain of firefighters and the firefighter chaplain risking their lives to enter the burning cathedral to find and rescue key artifacts and priceless treasures from the engulfed church. The human chain image reminded me of how we are all linked … [Read more...]
Holy Week – What is Holy Tuesday?
What is Holy Tuesday? This week is Holy Week – a major worship-filled week for Christians. What a week to create space in our lives, calendars and time to come humbly and mindfully before God who gave us all – life, love, and grace. We start the week together waving palms, honoring Jesus as King. We eat together on Thursday beholding Jesus as the bread and wine. We cry together in the dark sanctuary on Friday evening, remembering the cruxificion. We rejoice together on Sunday receiving the gift of everlasting life from the One who defeated death forever. As this post goes live, it is Tuesday. What is Holy Tuesday? Holy Tuesday The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us that on Monday Jesus cleanses the temple of the money changers, curses the fig tree, and weeps ever Jerusalem. On Tuesday, all four Gospels relate that Jesus finds the fig tree withered and talks about faith. What Does Holy Tuesday Teach Us? As I paused on this way through this sacred time, I … [Read more...]
Discernment – The Next Right Thing
What is Discernment? Discernment, doing the next right thing, is making decisions while discovering and articulating how God is shaping our lives. Discernment is listening to God in faith to live fully in how he created us and called us to do in his work in the world. Discernment isn't easy. Sometimes life is confusing. The signs we see are real. Yet we still get lost in this world. Discernment I shared this road sign a number of years ago that was erected in a nearby city. Imagine you are driving north in traffic. You need to know if you should turn or keep going straight. Quickly what does this sign mean? I wrote on the blog post: "East is still east and west is still west in my county, Here Ohio 15 runs north and south for the last 80 years, but that is not what the sign signifies. In their wisdom of seeing the whole picture, the Ohio Department of Transportation replaced the road sign recently, striving for consistency throughout the state. State Route 15 is … [Read more...]
Monthly Musings – What I Learned in March
March Monthly Musings Some people don't like March. Me? I really enjoy March. March is my birthday month. But more than just that special day in my life, I love watching for the first greening hints of spring – robins, buds on the bushes, and a-just-enough warm breezes to open a window. Yes, we can get nasty weather, even lots of snow in March, but I know it won't last long. March is hope for newness coming. One of my favorite women of spiritual history is Hildegard of Bingen. She wrote about the greening power of life. I think of her in March. What Hildegard's greening means is the life force within everything that is alive, including us. Greening refers to vigor and vitality and is a gift and energy from our Creator God planted in us, our world, and our universe to savor and cultivate. “The soul is a breath of living spirit, that with excellent sensitivity, permeates the entire body to give it life. Just so, the breath of the air makes the earth fruitful. Thus the air is … [Read more...]
Being Aware and Naming our Temptations
In my struggles with my weight, I am trying something new when tempted to indulge in a snack or sweets that are not on my plan for the day. I can just look at chocolate and it mysteriously disappears into my mouth. I become the cookie monster when around snickerdoodles. And don't get me started on peanut butter or ice cream. In the book Atomic Habits – which I highly recommend – I learned about a technique used in Japan called Pointing and Calling. The author James Clear writes, "Over time, the cues that spark our habits become so common that they are essentially invisible; the treats on the kitchen counter, the remote control next to the couch, the phone in our pocket…we must begin the process of behavior change with awareness." Pointing and Calling was developed for the Japanese railroad system. This process once implemented reduced errors by 85 percent and accidents by 30 percent. It raised the level of awareness from a nonconscious habit to a more conscious one. Here is … [Read more...]