… watching for the brushstrokes of God
Come with me into the field of sunflowers, Mary Oliver invites in one of her poems, for their wonderful stories.
“…Don’t be afraid
to ask them questions!
Their bright faces,
which follow the sun,
will listen, and all
those rows of seeds –
each one a new life!
hope for a deeper acquaintance;
each of them, though it stands
in a crowd of many,
like a separate universe,
is lonely, the long work
of turning their lives
into a celebration
is not easy…. ~ Mary Oliver
What is your long work of turning?
“It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.” ~ C.S.Lewis
How do you come in out of the wind?
A phrase recently caught my eye in “The Holy in the Night” by Shannon Dycus. Speaking of Mary, the mother of Jesus, “she is expectant with a faithfulness that imagines the world differently”.
May there be peace on earth in the coming year!
In what ways are you faithfully expectant?
The notes of hope wanting to emerge, rise, and turn to song in this season as we watch for light, wait for peace, and follow a star.
“O Holy Night…a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices…”
Do you wonder where the notes lead? What journey lies before you?
“They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.”, author Zora Neale Hurston wrote. In this season of long nights, in the dark spaces of our times, in this season of Advent for Christians, we wait, we watch, we look, we long for God’s coming.
How do our eyes watch for God?
“He was hovering above some blackberry sprays just touching flowers here and there, yet all unconsciously life, life, life was left behind at every touch.” ~ Lillias Trotter
Are you aware how your lightest touches leave life behind?
With the Eyes of the Heart 