Wednesday, November 20, 2013

touching difficult memories

Two delicious quotes from  Stephen Levine's book " A Year to Live"



"Simply touching a difficult memory
with some slight willingness to heal
begins to soften the holding and tension around it.
 
Page 74
 
 
"If there is a single definition of healing
it is to enter with mercy and awareness
those pains, mental and physical,
from which we have withdrawn in judgment and dismay."
 
Page 48

Monday, November 18, 2013

The Sacredness of Autumn


 
O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher,
for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.
As I gaze upon your full-colored beauty,
I sense all about you an at-homeness with your amber riches.
 
You are the season of retirement,
of full barns and harvested fields.
The cycle of growth has ceased,
and the busy work of giving life
is now completed.
I sense in you no regrets:
you’ve lived a full life.
 
I live in a society that is ever-restless,
always eager for more mountains to climb,
seeing happiness through more and more possessions.
As a child of my culture,
I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received,
may I know that it’s enough,
that my striving can cease in the abundance of God’s grace.
May I know the contentment
that allows the totality of my energies
to come to full flower.
May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.
 
As you, O Autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,
let me also take delight
in the abundance of the simple things in life
which are the true source of joy.
With the golden glow of peaceful contentment
may I truly appreciate this autumn day.
 
Edward Hays, contemplative, spiritual director, author, chaplain, etc.
This poem/prayer is taken from the book Earth Prayers
 
photo is of leaves at Earth Sanctuary taken by Helen Forshee. 

Friday, November 8, 2013

the hardest of these is love

I received this poem today from Inwardoutward.org and loved it:

IF PRAYER WOULD DO IT

If prayer would do it
I'd pray.

If reading esteemed thinkers would do it
I'd be halfway through the Patriarchs.

If discourse would do it
I'd be sitting with His Holiness
every moment he was free.

If contemplation would do it
I'd have translated the Periodic Table
to hermit poems, converting
matter to spirit.

If even fighting would do it
I'd already be a black belt.

If anything other than love could do it
I'd have done it already
and left the hardest for last.

Stephen Levine
Source:  Breaking the Drought

That first line about prayer brought discomfort.   I often commit to praying for someone in an effort to remain detached or to comfort myself with the thought, "well, at least I'm praying for them."  

My prayer for today is to remain open to new ways to love one another, for that is what Christ continues to do ....Love costs but as the saying goes, it pays well.  

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

prefer truth

It's ironic that my last post from August says "be here now" and yet I've been everywhere but here! 
As life unfolds I'm willing to go where Spirit leads. 
Today she led me to the blog and this photo of Morse Creek in Port Angeles, WA. 
I discovered the quote in Richard Rohr's Immortal Diamond.
May your path lead you to truth. 
 
 
 
 
"Christ likes us to prefer truth to himself,
because before being Christ, he is truth.
If one turns aside from him to go toward the truth,
one will not go far before falling into his arms.
 
- Simone Weil, Waiting for God