Albert Schweitzer once stated that nothing of real value in the world is ever accomplished without enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. The word enthusiasm literally means “God-possessed”.
What moments were you God-possessed?
Enthusiasm
Tightrope walk
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?
Let us pray
“Enable us to carry out from this place peace and strength that here we gain. Because we have talked with You here, may we be able to work more patiently for Your kingdom, bringing light upon the problems that perplex the world, dispelling the night of doubt and fear with Your sheltering love.” ~ from Meditations of the Heart
How do you carry peace?
Traveling
People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars . . . and they pass by themselves without wondering. —St. Augustine, Confessions
How do you marvel at yourself?
Hope has holes
Hope has holes
in it’s pockets.
It leaves little crumb trail,
so that we,
when anxious,
can follow it.
Hope’s secret:
It doesn’t know
the destination —
it knows only
that all roads
begin with one
foot in front
of the other. ~ Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
River
“Here on the river I have known peace and beauty such as I never knew in any other place. There is always work here that I need to be doing and I have many worries, for life on the edge seems always threatening to go over the edge. But I am always surprised, when I look back on times here that I know to have been laborious or worrisome or sad, to discover that they were never out of the presence of peace and beauty, for here I have been always in the world itself.” ~ Wendell Berry
Where do you find peace and beauty on the edge?
With the Eyes of the Heart 