When you see a chance…

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to visit with a sibling who resides out of state, but who was unexpectedly going to be in town for part of the day. The visit was on very short notice and was going to be very short in length too. However, it was wonderful to see and experience how in those few hours, there was so much quality. We had such an enjoyable visit. What a blessing.

When our time together was over, my sibling and her family headed back from where they came. We all felt so grateful for the time we had. It was amazing to me that such a brief time together could kindle such feelings of love, warmth and gratitude, strengthening the bond between us.

So often, brief and/or simple encounters with others can have such a profound effect. Oftentimes, though, it can be tempting to think that a small amount of time makes no difference or is not worth the effort. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In matters of life and death minutes…seconds or less, can be crucial, to the overall outcome.

I wonder, what might the world look like if time and use of time, no matter how small or big, was considered more in terms of life and death? While this may seem radical to some, and obvious to others, it is in essence what my faith calls me to…hoping for me to do.

As I journey, I am called to choose between life and death along the way. I (we) are called to be aware and to move toward the opportunities to be with, and to be there for others. Maybe more often than not, those opportunities come in small ways requiring a short amount of time, but in the middle, or in the heat of, our hectic lives. How do we recognize them? How do we allow ourselves to let go and to be guided to the opportunities before us?

PurpleNiagara

Hope Lake…

Just as the sun draws the mist rising up from the lake on a crisp, cool summer morning in the mountains, I feel hope rising from the depths of my soul. I feel a spirit of inner strength building within as I take in the beauty of creation before me. How good God is!

Of all the things I might say or do, of all the things I might witness or experience, God is the one Truth on which I (we) can always count. So much in the world can be hard, or difficult to understand. There are so many choices, and sometimes, none of them can seem good…noble…just…faithful.

Whether religious or not, we all have some sort of principles that guide us, leading us to make the decisions that we make. The question is who and what is served by the principles that I hold? …and, how do I live by them?

HopeLakeGreekPeakVirgilNYHope Lake ~ New York

 

Blue Jay Way…

For the past number of weeks, almost every afternoon around the same time of day a blue jay has been visiting my back yard. The other day, as I spotted it, I was thinking about how each day, faithfully, around the same time, like clockwork, this bird visits my back yard. Its behavior and routine is kind of curious and amusing. And, some days it brings a companion, another blue jay, with it.

Now, how do I know all of this? Well, I guess, I also am a creature of habit. Around the same time this blue jay visits my back yard each afternoon, I am looking out the window that is over the kitchen sink as I wash my children’s lunch and snack containers.

While I can guess how long I’ve been washing lunch and snack containers, I’m not sure how long this blue jay has been coming around my yard. However, since first noticing its daily presence, I have come to see other things about it too. The coloring and pattern across its body is beautiful. Sometimes it flies from branch to branch or to different parts of the swing set (even hopping up the ladder), and sometimes it hops around the lawn pecking and “hunting.”

It’s interesting how things can become a habit, or second nature, without any intention for them to be so. Sometimes tendencies or personality traits, such as “favorite spots for birds to watch” or “clean as you go along” approaches can be a good thing. Other times they can create a blind spot(s) perhaps causing one to be on a kind of auto-pilot (zoned in on a particular thing to the exclusion of other things). They can cause one to move through the day, or parts of it, with limited openness to a change of course or location. In other words, they can cause me to become stubborn or fixed, or to get stuck in a rut without me even realizing it.

Sometimes I need to pause and ask myself, am I open to being re-directed to something that might be of greater importance as I go about my day? Or, what is it that gets in the way or causes me to be closed off to insight, awareness, or a different view as I go along?

At times, the things that we like to do, or that we started out liking to do, can feel like an obligation. Similarly responsibilities that we may have come to embrace with a sense peace or joy can again, at times, feel like a chore or even a burden. Oftentimes that feeling can be a blessing, leading one to pause and ask, “What am I really doing here?”, “What am I looking for?” or “Why am I doing this?” Then I remember, “There is need of only one thing.” (Luke 10:42).

 

Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”
– Luke 10:38-42

How Now?

Sometime ago I came across a poem titled “Wage Peace,” by Judyth Hill*. I found the title so striking as I had never seen the words “wage” and “peace” side-by-side before. How fitting. Given the current state of civilization, it seems to be exactly what we need. Instead of each person’s outrage, disbelief or heartache turning to anger, a sense of helplessness, hopelessness, or even worse, indifference, imagine what could be if it was turned into a passion for peace….a drive toward love.

While it may seem impossible or too big for individuals to make a difference in such a way, it is not, nor has it ever been. Throughout time, many an obstacle has been overcome and humankind been made better off through movements begun by an individual(s). In much the same way, movements that have led to our falling down…to our detriment, have been started. As always, the choice of which movement is ours, but indifference is not.

Movements fueled by hate and intolerance at the center can only continue if we allow them to be bigger and brighter than our passion for peace, love, and all that is truly good. There is no limit to the power of God. We have to believe in order to retrieve the passion to withstand and rise above the chaos and confusion…to stand up for what is right and just…to restore unity in our homes, in our communities, in our country, and in our world.

We are One. We need to take that to heart, to own it and promote it, before we are none.

How? Know yourself. Dive deep down into your core. Rediscover who you are, who you were created to be. Be rooted in that place, and be sincere to your true self in all your endeavors. By doing so, no matter what comes your way, you will be saved as will the world around you, through you. For God is faithful to those who are faithful to God.

LilyPadFlower2

“Believe! Everything is possible to one who has faith.” – Jesus Christ

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” – Buddha

“Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” – Dalai Lama

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” – Rumi

“There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.” – Mahatma Ghandi

“How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment
before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank

“To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; To put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; To put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; We must first set our hearts right.” – Confucius

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water
to create many ripples.” – Blessed Mother Teresa.

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” – Rabindranath Tagore

“We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.” – Hildegard of Bingen

“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.” – Rumi

“So I say to you, ‘Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find;
knock, and the door will be opened for you.’” – Jesus Christ

 

*http://voiceseducation.org/content/38-judyth-hill-wage-peace

 

Angels Among Us…

This past week as my daughter celebrated a birthday, I found myself recalling an experience I had on the day that she was born. The circumstances were such that my husband needed to stay with our 2-year-old son and so my daughter and I were alone at the hospital that night. I remember being exhausted as well as happy and then later, so sad.

No explanation beyond labor for being exhausted. I was happy…grateful…that my daughter had been born and was doing okay and then I felt so sad that my husband wasn’t able to be there for the birth of our daughter. He was able to come for a short visit afterward, but now as the day was coming to end, it was just me and my daughter. We were alone in the room and she still wouldn’t nurse. She kept falling asleep.

At one point, I remember wishing so badly that my husband was there. I was feeling very overwhelmed by the experience of the whole day, and so alone. Then a nurse, one who I had not seen before, came into the room to check on us. She had such a peaceful presence and a gentle smile. During the brief time we interacted my feelings of being overwhelmed disappeared completely. As she was wrapping up and preparing to leave the room, she re-swaddled my daughter and gently handed her to me with a smile. She left and my daughter and I fell sound asleep. When I awoke a few hours later, I felt so refreshed and so at peace, and as my daughter continued not to nurse, I found myself with a renewed patience, and strengthened spirit. It turned out that I never saw the nurse with the peaceful spirit and gentle smile again, but to this day, each time I think of that experience I feel blessed and grateful for the angel sent to me in that hour of need.

As one goes through life, there are many signs; some are acknowledged perhaps almost immediately, some are recognized in time, and some remain hanging in the balance, waiting to be discovered.

“Then Peter recovered his senses and said, ‘Now I know for certain that [the] Lord sent his angel and rescued me…’.” – Acts 12:11

Wisdom from the woods…

As a child I recall playing with friends in the woods and walking across fallen trees or planks of wood from one point to another and sometimes over water. I don’t recall how high up “the bridges” were, but I do remember us pretending that we were walking on a tightrope high up in the air. I also recall sledding down what seemed like a mountain in those same woods while trying to avoid the many trees of varying size that were all around and between us.

Sometimes situations in life can feel like walking on a tightrope or through a mine field. It’s interesting how as a child the idea of walking a tightrope or sledding downhill and maneuvering around many obstacles can seem so much more exciting and feel so much more inviting and adventurous compared to as an adult. It’s as if once one realizes all that could go wrong, a door is shut, or at least becomes one that is not so readily opened or chosen. This is not necessarily a bad thing in terms of physical activities as older bodies are not often as agile and quick to bounce back as youthful ones. However, it can become a bad thing if it spreads into other areas of life and limits one’s openness.

An aging body does not need to become an aging spirit. So while I can no longer move through the woods with almost reckless…carefree abandon as I used to, I can still move through each day that life has to offer with a youthful, free spirit. I can continue to become both stronger in spirit and wiser with each year even when I don’t feel full of the almost boundless energy of my younger years. Despite my increasing age, I can continue to carry on with youthful hope and optimism, celebrating life, channeling the energy that I do have, and being grateful. Through the grace of God, no matter the circumstances, I can always live life to the fullest whether walking on a tightrope or standing on solid ground in ways that perhaps were not possible in my youth. The choice is mine.

“The child grew and became strong in spirit…” – Luke 1:80

treeovercreek

The Cross…

OurFather

Just the other day I was thinking about the school year ending, summer beginning and how I look forward to the down time with my children, but I do not look forward to the increased bickering that is likely to accompany it. I guess that’s par for the course as a parent. Even more than that though, perhaps it is part of carrying one’s cross.

“Then Jesus said to all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.’” – Luke 9:23-24.

So often when I think of carrying a cross I think of the big trials and challenges. However, to take up one’s cross daily means the small things too. Each time I make a sacrifice, even if it is minute, I am in a sense carrying a cross. Often I think, “Can I just have one day without bickering!” However, the way I respond or react to my children bickering, can be part of taking up a parent’s cross. How different the experience can be when I catch myself and remember this, asking God to help me to find joy, or at least a sense of peace, in moments of bickering.

How improved each moment can be when I hand it over to God. Although it can be against the grain, especially in the times in which we live, surrender is sometimes the most powerful thing one can do. It often leads to victory; that is peace. It is in the “Letting go and letting God” that people most often get through both the big and the small crosses of life, and in doing so come to appreciate more deeply all that is theirs.

A year or two ago, someone asked me why I held my hands out and upward while saying the Lord’s Prayer. The person asked, “Is that something new?” I responded, “No. Not for me.” Then I went on to explain that this was the way I was taught to say the Lord’s Prayer as a child. I continued saying that I wasn’t sure why I was taught to do it that way, but that as an adult I had come to see this gesture as a symbolic kind of opening myself up to the Lord and the Lord’s will. A silent, “Here I am, Lord. I come to do your will.” An acknowledgment that it’s not all about me. A surrendering to the idea that my life…what I say…what I do…has an impact far beyond me (and often in ways that I may never know). And, an invitation to the Lord to guide me and teach me, to lead me so that by the grace of God, I might do God’s will despite my imperfections.

Open My Eyes by Jesse Manibusan

Open my eyes, Lord
Help me to see your face
Open my eyes, Lord
Help me to see

Open my ears, Lord
Help me to hear your voice
Open my ears, Lord
Help me to hear

Open my heart, Lord
Help me to love like you
Open my heart, Lord
Help me to love

And the last shall be first
And our eyes are opened
And we’ll hear like never before
And we’ll speak in new ways
And we’ll see God’s face in places we’ve never known

I live within you
Deep in your heart, O Love
I live within you
Rest now in me

Somehow…Someway…

“But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.” – Richard Bach

As the school year winds down and the parental spiral into full-fledged teenage years moves steadily ahead, I find myself understanding more and more why it is important to write down, photograph…to memorialize in some way the moments of everyday life—both the challenges and the joys.

Sometimes I think back to the sleepless nights or days when it seemed like we were swimming in diapers and I think, “How did we get through that?” I chuckle as I remember moments of seeing glimpses of preferences, mannerisms and personality that are now more pronounced, part-and-parcel, of who my children are. What a blessing to be able to see and be part of all of those moments. Yes, even the diapers and sleepless nights—although I also feel very blessed to have moved beyond that stage of parenthood.

No matter what one’s stage or station in life, it can be so helpful to recall past moments when feeling uncertain, overwhelmed or simply wondering, “How is this going to work out?” or, “What’s this all about?” in the current moment or situation. Somehow, doing so makes it easier to keep things in perspective and refrain from falling prey to the trap that is “worry” or the superhero syndrome that leads me to falsely thinking or acting as if I can control all things.

It is remarkable how, somehow, we can get through what we need to get through and someway we accomplish and overcome what at times might seem insurmountable. Then I think, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:50)

A Needle Pulling Thread…

At times, it can seem like there is a pervasive parasite on the face of society…a force intent on squashing any semblance of collaboration and working with, and out of, a spirit of love. These days it seems to be so rampant, penetrating more and more organizations. It can be disheartening to be involved in organizations where there has been a shift away from what originally drew one to become involved.

It can be challenging when what was once open and above board becomes secretive and closed off or when a place becomes one where who one knows or what one owns holds more weight than doing the work to be done. Even more than trying, it can be downright troubling, in an environment where one would expect the very opposite of what is experienced…sad to feel like one can no longer be involved in something that once brought great joy, meaning and sense of purpose.

So while one may become stuck in the muck that seems to rule the day—politics and ego…territorialism…greed…jealousy, etc.—or surrounded by it, one may also detach from it and look to do good in other ways and in other places. Doing what one can, where one can, as one can, and then perhaps, moving on.

The other day I was speaking with a lifelong friend and she was telling me about some sewing she had done for her niece. She was commenting on how she enjoyed what she had done and was surprised at how the little work she had done (in her eyes) seemed to bring much joy to her niece who was thrilled with the new hemline on her dress. My friend sewed that hemline with joy and love in her heart and her niece received it in kind.

It was uplifting to hear my friend speak of this simple experience. As I listened to her, and in light of some of our prior conversation, I thought, “That is God’s work.” It is not necessarily in a building, through an organization, or even in big things noticeable far and wide, but so often in the little things done with love and joy, and with sincerity in one’s heart.

NeedlePullingThread

We Have Each Other…

About 15 years ago, my husband and I attended a party celebrating the anniversary of one of our relatives. It was a joyous occasion for a person who has been fulfilling her vocation with great devotion and passion, and most often with a smile on her face. At the end of our time together and as we were exchanging hugs and “so longs,” she said to us, “thank you for coming, for being part of this occasion. Did you get your gift?” We had not, but almost as soon as our faces shifted to what must have been quizzical expressions, she was off to get the gift, and before we knew it, we had it. The gift, a framed saying – “Joy shared is joy multiplied” – so appropriate for the person who gave it and the occasion on which it was given.

JoyShared

Over the past week, this saying and different variations of it have come to mind so frequently, across a number of settings. As I have stayed with it, I am reminded how through the years, in sharing, most definitely, joy has been multiplied, grief has been made bearable, and faith has been strengthened. As I look around, it seems we have everything we need…we have each other.

You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban 

When I am down and, oh, my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up to more than I can be.