what to do with sorrow

“The uses we make of sorrow

are the measure of our spiritual growth.”

- Diana Lampen

Image by h.koppdelaney

“The Harvest: Cultivating the Spirit”

found here

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I’m so taken by this image.  What do you see?

pray contemplatively

“To pray contemplatively is to abandon one’s idea of how and why it all works:

God, justice, or prayer.

It is to abandon ourselves to trust in the living presence and reality of the divine,

mysteriously at work within the darkness of the human condition -

a living presence apparently not in the business of straightening out

everything we would do, or to our specifications.”-Patricia Loring

art from here

fear is good

“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign.

Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator.

Fear tells us what we have to do.

Remember our rule of thumb:

The more scared we are of a work or calling,

the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

Resistance is experienced as fear;

the degree of fear equates the strength of Resistance.

Therefore, the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise,

the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul.”

-Steven Pressfield – The War of Art

my first response to reading this quote was “ah shit!”

how about you?

integration

“Simplicity does not mean

getting rid of all of your possessions,

but rather integrating them

into your life’s purpose.”

- Mary Gregory

Hawaiian Botanical Gardens photo

woundology

“We are not meant to stay wounded.

We are supposed to move through our tragedies and challenges

and to help each other move through the many painful episodes of our lives.

By remaining stuck in the power of our wounds, we block our own transformation.

We overlook the greater gifts inherent in our wounds--

the strength to overcome them and the lessons that we are meant to receive through them.

Wounds are the means through which we enter the hearts of other people.

They are meant to teach us to become compassionate and wise.”

- Carolyn Myss

from her book “Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can”

– this excerpt was taken from here

 i took this photo from the reject pile at the statuary.

surely we don’t want to remain frozen in our pain.

we are not our wounds.

tulip haiku

It’s very grey in Sequim today, but yesterday was glorious.

I spent most of it in the garden, soaking up the sun, admiring the tulips.

 

 

So here’s a tulip haiku for you. 

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Tulip Haiku

 

“Planted, Dormant, Fall.

First Bloomers in Springtime Sun.

Cups above the Stems.”

- Marie M. Daniels

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Even Quan Yin was soaking up the sun:

 

 

While the biker gnome was imagining being on the road again:

 

 

 

remove the pot

“The solution is not to suppress our thoughts and desires,

 for this would be impossible;

it would be like trying to keep a pot of water from boiling

by pressing down tightly on the lid.

The only sensible approach is to train ourselves to observe our thoughts

without following them.

This deprives them of their compulsive energy & is therefore

like removing the pot of boiling water from the fire.”

-Lama Thubten Yeshi

 

I need a lot more practice at this!

I tend to follow my thoughts wherever they want to lead-

and it’s usually not to where I should go.

earth day

"So fragile this petal the earth,

as fragile as love."

from Love Poems from God

by Daniel Ladinsky p. 242

photo taken at Hawaiian

Botanical Gardens...

Happy Earth Day

vacuum man

It's just not possible to love God in a vacuum.

We need each other. We need community.

photo of vacuum man outside a store

in south carolina from here.

spiritual opportunity

 

“...spiritual opportunity knocks in relationship,

not in isolation;

...people are not obstacles to the spirit,

but paths to it.”

- Rabbi Dennis S. Ross

Art is by Anne C. Brink.

“face to face”

1 Cor. 13:12

visit her website to see more of her glorious art.

baffled

Baffled is such a terrific word.  It sounds like it feels.

When I'm baffled it feels like cotton candy in my head.

Not a pleasant sensation.

It's been one week since we celebrated Easter and Walter Brueggeman's prayer is a good fit
in light of today's infamous Doubting Thomas gospel reading...

We are baffled

”Christ is Risen
He is risen indeed!
We are baffled by the very Easter claim we voice.
Your new life fits none of our categories.
We wonder and stew and argue,
and add clarifying adjectives like “spiritual” and “physical.”
But we remain baffled, seeking clarity and explanation,
we who are prosperous, and full and safe and tenured.
We are baffled and want explanations.

But there are those not baffled, but stunned by the news,
stunned while at minimum wage jobs;
stunned while the body wastes in cancer;
stunned while the fabric of life rots away in fatigue and despair;
stunned while unprosperous and unfull
and unsafe and untenured . . .
Waiting only for you in your Easter outfit,
waiting for you to say, “Fear not, it is I.”
Deliver us from our bafflement and our many explanations.
Push us over into stunned need and show yourself to us lively.
Easter us in honesty,
Easter us in fear;
Easter us in joy,
and let us be Eastered. Amen.”

Easter Tuesday/April 17, 2000

taken from

Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth

Prayers of Walter Brueggemann

Fortress Press, 2003, p. 162

from head to heart

“The longest, most arduous trip in the world

is often the journey from the head to the heart.

Until that round trip is completed,

we remain at war with ourselves.

And, of course, those at war with themselves

are apt to make casualties of others,

including friends and loved ones.”

~ Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr.,

from Credo (2003). Life in General p. 126

 This amazing art was created by Guido Grzinic

and is from here as is the following blurb:

“Title: Journey from the Head to the Heart
This work represents man's spiritual journey.

Between life and death we spend a lot of time in the head,

accumulating information, watching time, doing business,

destroying nature, that we forget our true home that is to be found within our heart. “

artwork from here http://fantasyartdesign.com

where you can find Art 3D Wallpapers, digital art pictures gallery.

Good Friday

Photo of Mary’s 4th Sorrow – The Meeting

Taken at Monastery Memorial Gardens

from Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, CA

“God of Compassion, so many times we feel utterly helpless

when we experience the brokenness and pain in the lives of others around us. 

We feel incompetent when we see the many homeless persons walking the streets; 
we feel powerless when we see our world crushed by fighting and violence,

even in our own neighborhoods and cities! 

Help us to be men and women who are strong in faith. 

Help us to do all that we can do to assist others.

But above all else, help us to remember that it is when we feel most powerless

that we are able to act with the strength that comes

from your Holy Sprit of love and compassion.”

Arranged by Sr. Judith Rinok, S.N.J.M.

Seven Sorrows of Mary

While at the Mater Dolorosa we walked the ‘Seven Sorrows of Mary.’

It was in a gated garden surrounded by wisteria vines – such an aroma!

Below is the first station with the prayer of Mary

as she heard Simeon foretell the destiny of her son.

The mosaics were beautiful and the prayers profound,

especially as we journey towards Good Friday.

The First Sorrow ~ The Prophesy

The prophet, Simeon, foresaw that the child Mary held so lovingly in her arms

was the one destined to fulfill God’s plan of redemption for his people.

Simeon also knew that Mary would see her beloved son, Jesus,

enter into the mystery of his Passion and death.

And so, Simeon spoke of a sword that would pierce her heart,

a sword of sorrow in seeing the reality of suffering unfold

in the life of her very own child.

“Help us, Loving God, to remember all parents today who see suffering in the lives of their sons and daughters.

Some will suffer because of illness; others will feel great sadness at the loss of faith or love in their children’s lives;

still others will experience much grief because of addictions to alcohol or drugs.

Like our Blessed Mother, these parents, too, feel the sword of suffering and pain.

Help us to love and support each of these parents, as well as their loved ones, in such difficult and trying times.

Help us to bring life and hope to them in the midst of their struggles.’