… watching for the brushstrokes of God
I do not know if these hands will become
Malcolm’s – raised and fisted
or Martin’s – open and asking
or James’s – curled around a pen.
I do not know if these hands will be
Rosa’s
or Ruby’s
gently gloved
and fiercely folded
calmly in a lap,
on a desk,
around a book,
ready
to change the world…
Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming
What story do your hands tell? What do your hands open toward? How will you change the world?
As the sun rises at dawn, we awaken to the new day. The emerging light fills us with gratitude for another day that brings new beginnings and possibilities.
What are you grateful for?
“Hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
life is a broken-winged bird
that cannot fly. “ Langston Hughes
What are the dreams you are holding onto?
In Genesis 18, Abraham and Sarah receive three visitors with generous hospitality. Both, the three visitors as well as Abraham and Sarah are cared for. The Psalmist asks in Psalm 78:19 “Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?”. Hospitality is shaped by culture, values and faith.
What does hospitality look like these days when we cannot host each other in the ways we are used to? What creative ways to extend hospitality have you seen or come up with?
“I will never understand the silent dying of the green pie-apple tree if I do not slow down and listen to what the Spirit is telling me, telling me of the death of trees, the death of planets, of people, and what all those deaths mean in the light of love of the Creator, who brought them all into being, who brought me into being, and you.” Madeleine L’engle, walking on Water
There is forced slowing down from outer circumstances and there is voluntary slowing down, to be and to listen. What emerges as you slow down and listen?
Sometimes we travel and can’t find beauty. We are lost. It was only when my watercolor companions outlined three pictures within my one that the beauty emerged before my eyes.
How do our companions open our eyes?
With the Eyes of the Heart 