Epiphanies

It's the Wisemen's big day. 

They are off on another adventure to find the Christ Child. 

Me:  Are you excited?

Wise1:  Oh yes dear landlady.   We are very excited to start our pilgrimage. 

Me:  But aren't you supposed to be there today?

Wise1:  It's all about the journey my dear, not the destination.

Me:  Oh...I see....So....I gotta ask....where did the camel come from?

Wise2:  A gift from one of the Magi we visited last year...

Me:  Aha...Well, I must say you did a great job of packing all your gifts upon your camel!

Wise2:  Was that yet another insult about our immovable arms?

Me:  Heavens no!  I was just curious about how you did that?

Wise3:  Never you mind....

Me:  Any wise words before you leave?

Wise1:  Yes indeed.  Do not rest on what you believe to be true. 
Wise2:  Keep searching for the divine in all you do and in all you meet and you will have cause to rejoice.

Me:  So you're saying that we are all called to celebrate Epiphany?

Wise3:  Every day in every situation.  Here's a wonderful quote to ponder while we are gone:
"Without the quest, there can be no epiphany."  Constantine Scaros

Me:  Got it...keep the quest alive! See the beauty of Christ in all that you meet.

Wise3:  And give thanks for every glimpse of that child's light.

Wise1: You will be delightfully surprised by all the light that surrounds you, and by the light you emit.

Me:  Sigh...I miss you guys already....Safe Travels

Resolutions....

Happy New Years Eve! 

May it include party hats, confetti, and noise makers! 

And don't forget the resolutions! 

Do you make them? 

Are they like this one?

 

 

I read today that 45% of us make resolutions while 38% refuse.

Also read that if you're in your 20's you have a 39% chance of success,

but for those of us over 50, our chances drop to a measly 14%.

What does that say?

So while the usual suspects top the list of the ten most popular resolutions

(i.e. weight loss, getting organized, and quitting smoking)

 I prefer these words from author Neil Gaiman's blog:

 

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things,

trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world.

You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes.

Make glorious, amazing mistakes.

Make mistakes nobody's ever made before.

Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough,

or it isn't perfect, whatever it is:

art, or love, or work or family or life.  

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it. 

Make your mistakes, next year and forever."

 

something on the horizon

In light of artist/author Jan Richardson's husband Garrison Doles having died today, I wanted to use one of her wonderful Advent quotes.  May she find the light in the darkness as she grieves the loss of her beloved.

 

“The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon

the likes of which we have never seen before… .

What is possible is to not see it, to miss it,

to turn just as it brushes past you.

And you begin to grasp what it was you missed,

like Moses in the cleft of the rock,

watching God's [back] fade in the distance.

So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder.

There will be time enough for running.

For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay.

Wait. Something is on the horizon.”

Jan L. Richardson, Night Visions:

Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas.

 

To join her Advent online retreat go to the painted prayerbook.

First Sunday Advent 2013

'Tis the first Sunday in Advent 2013.....in today's sermon I heard "it's time to do the deep work of Advent"....I wonder what that will look like? 
Here's what I have for today - a quote by Fr. Alfred Delp who lived a deep and meaningful life...



"Light your candles quietly,

such candles as you possess,

wherever you are."

 

Do you like my 'candles'???
My husband put lights on my prayer flag that attaches to the side of our 5th wheel....
They are making me very happy~!



 

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

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

handshakes

 

“To make peace, any peace

nothing, absolutely nothing visible

may need changing on Earth.

Peace is made up of handshakes

that take place

entirely in the mind.”

 

- Theo Grutter

 

from Thinking Wild - Its Gifts of Insight

 

image from here

uses of sorrow

“The uses we make of sorrow

are the measure of our spiritual growth.” 

- Diana Lampen

being present to the life we have

 

 

“We travel so far only to land where we are.

We imagine other lives, only to meet who we are.

We seek out love in special ways, only to find everyone is special.

Humbly, we can’t avoid this journey.

It is precisely through it that, if blessed,

we wake to the life we want by being present to the life we have...”

 

- Mark Nepo

The Book of Awakening

 

taken from an ad for Mark Nepo’s LIVE workshop slated for June 2013 in Colorado

tiptoe through the tulips

Today my friend Karen took me to trip through the La Conner tulips to celebrate my 60th birthday.

What a glorious day.  I have no words for the beauty of these flowers. 

Enjoy!

 

 

Deep in their roots all flowers keep the light.

-Theodore Roethke

Life is a celebration of passionate colors. - Leialoha Cator

 

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom,

maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Terri Guillemets

 

Sometimes I imagine colors as if they were living ideas, being of pure reason with which to communicate.

Nature is not on the surface, it is deep down. - Paul Cezanne

 

Color is joy. One does not think joy. One is carried by it. - Ernst Haas

 

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors,

there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Make a Wish

 

"The strength of the genie comes from

his having been confined in the bottle."

- Richard Wilbur

 

I read that Richard Wilbur was referring to the structures of poetry,

but what about the various forms of  confinement we face in life

that hold the possibility of making us stronger and more determined?

It's a Good Friday

 

“If you want to see just how far

God has fallen in love with you,

then look at Jesus – look at Jesus on the cross.”

 

Rev. Alan Jones, Passion for Pilgrimage

quote from today's Good Friday sermon

bless our journeys

This past weekend while attending a retreat

at St. Andrew’s House on the Hood Canal

I walked over to Harmony Hill and spent some time

within this exquisite seashell labyrinth.

And this morning I came across

this prayer from the Iona Community

which fits perfectly:

 

“Lord, bless the journeys we never planned to take,

but through your surprising wisdom

discovered we were on.”

-Peter Millar, "A Time to Mend"

 

 

Which of us could have predicted where our

journeys have taken us?

Sitting on bench in middle of labyrinth,

looking forward to the journey back.

 

plaque at entrance to shell labyrinth

“In memory of all those who have

walked this path"- The Ferrari Family

without story

 

 

“Without Story,



information is nothing



but a lot of bricks lying about



waiting for someone 



to make constructive use of them.”



- Aidan Chambers

our stories connect us.

stories bring us home.

Move In Day



It's move in day.  David and I are starting to put our "stuff" into our 5th wheel which is parked in our daughter's sideyard.  We've been living in her spare bedroom since October so now we're feeling like we are taking up an extravagant amount of space.  And I've brought the wise guys over.  I took them out of their box and placed them in front of the kitchen window to ease them into their new digs.  So far they haven't said anything.  Can't tell if they are mad or in shock.  Plus I haven't quite figured out how to break the news that they missed the Feast of the Epiphany.  But they are the wise men.  They probably already know that.  Which explains the silence.

So I'll leave you with a quote from their Thomas Merton book - the only reading material they've had in their box for the last 3 months:


"When I am liberated by silence,
when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life,
but in the living of it,
I can discover a form of prayer in which there is effectively, no distraction.
My whole life becomes a prayer.
My whole silence is full of prayer.
The world of silence in which I am immersed contributes to my prayer."

-Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude, p.103

engaging reality

“Mystery

is an engagement

with reality

that is so deep

as to be

incomprehensible

by our minds

except through

God’s revelation.”

- Rev. Randall C.K. Day,

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church

Teaneck, New Jersey

lots to ponder in this one!

change happens by love

"When you love something you wish it goodness;

when you hate something, you wish to annihilate it.

Change happens not by hatred but by love.

Change happens when you understand what you want to change so deeply

 that there is no reason to do anything but act in your own best interest.

When you begin to inhabit your body from the inside...

any other option except taking care of it is unthinkable."

Geneen Roth - Women, Food, and God, p. 121

be kind

“Part of kindness

is loving people

more than they deserve.”

~Joseph Joubert

"The Good Samaritan" is by Chinese artist HeQi

and the interpretation of the art is from Howard Carter’s

blog which is located here

Today I hit the 1000 mark on my posting meter....
Imagine that! 

wounds like stones

"There is no freedom until we dance the ghosts

from the chambers of our wounds,

until we pile our wounds like stones

at the mouth of our own quarries."

- Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening, p.201

art:  "Pile of Stones" by Alan Bowring.

  © Copyright Alan Bowring and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License

do the hustle

"When we spend a lifetime trying to distance ourselves

from the parts of our lives that don't fit

 with who we think we're supposed to be,

we stand outside of our story and

hustle for our worthiness by constantly

performing, perfecting, pleasing and proving.

Our sense of worthiness - that critically important piece

that gives us access to love and belonging -

lives inside of our story."

-Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection, p. 23

Connie Sun comic from here