… watching for the brushstrokes of God
“Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here…
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.” ~ David Wagoner
Where are you?
If we do not regularly quit work for one day a week, we take ourselves far too seriously. The moral sweat pouring off our brows blinds our eyes to the action of God in and around us. ~ Eugene Peterson
What is your quitting rhythm?
Marianne Hieb refers to Gerald May as saying we use building words rather than organic growing words…We set to fix ourselves. We build character and hammer out difficulties. This type of vocabulary gives the false impression that we can, indeed, construct ourselves through the force of our own wills.”
Are you constructing or growing?
In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison, you do not know God at all. ~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
How do you know God?
The needs of the world … the inner life. We ourselves lean now too far one way, now too far the other. The rope is straight, reliable, direct, a simple, single, narrow way: the path to life. Our struggle is to learn the balance: to walk it quietly, trustingly, simply. … The depth of our prayer and the depth of our sensitivity to and love for the world: simplicity lies in their congruence. The process of tottering into congruence is the process by which we become simple.” ~ Elaine Prevallet, Reflections on Simplicity
How do you move towards simplicity?
The poppies send up their
orange flares; swaying
in the wind, …
…that light
is an invitation
to happiness,
and that happiness,
when it’s done right,
is a kind of holiness,
palpable and redemptive.
Inside the bright fields… ~ Mary Oliver
How are you receiving this invitation?
With the Eyes of the Heart 