Our Mothering Hen

Today’s Gospel reading from Luke 13 has the Pharisees trying to convince Jesus to run away from Herod in fear.

But Jesus doesn’t give in to the “what ifs” because there is nothing that will stand in his way of heading towards Jerusalem.

Speaking of Jerusalem, Jesus laments:



"How often have I desired to gather your children together

as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,

and you were not willing!"

I took this photo and the following prayer

(which was based on the Lord’s Prayer) from a previous blog post

because it was just that good!

"Our Mothering Hen

Who art brooding over us

hallowed be thy sheltering wings.

Forgive our unwillingness to come into your embrace

And gather us in, reluctance and all.

Free us from fear of foxes

And the sharp bite

of anything that separates us from you.

Open our eyes

To the plenty around us.

Open our hearts

That our plenty be shared.

Lead us not into contention

But into the dance of connection.

For thine is the grace that wakes us each new day

And thine is the mercy that puts our souls at ease

And thine is the love that sets our hearts alight.

For ever and ever, amen."

Tammerie Day - posted at Day at a Glance

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.

happy valenswine's day?

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Oh No!

You just remembered that you gave up all sweets for Lent?

Never fear!

There is always roses...

And even better...Bacon and Roses combined!

Does it get any better than this?

photo from here

Season of letting go

When I was a kid this was the appropriate facial expression

for the season of Lent. Somber, Dutiful, Suppressed.

After all, we deserved wrath for our wickedness.

But this is the beginning of the season of letting go.

Letting go of all that hinders us from being who we really are.

Letting go of all that is false – not true.

For we are loved and cherished by God who never ever stops

giving to us. Recalling that we are dust and to dust we

will someday return is not all gloom and doom

but a call to wake up. Our time is short.

Love one another with a holy love.

What will that look like on your face this season?

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

Happy New Year

I receive this email everyday from Inward/Outward: Church of the Savior....

and yesterday's’s is perfect in an “examen” sort of way:

Meaning, what were the consolations of your year? 

What were the desolations of your year?

I encourage each of us to set aside some time in the next couple of days

to ponder some (or all ) of these questions.

Share your thoughts with a friend. I am going to encourage my spiritual directees to do this too!


Year-ending, Year-beginning Elizabeth O'Connor Use New Year's Eve or New Year's Day as a time of reflection on the year gone and the year to come: What took place in your home relations? Your work relations? Your church relations? What events in the larger community of city, country and world most captured your attention?   Who were the significant people in your life? What books and art instructed your mind and heart?   Did you create anything this year? Did you make any new discoveries about yourself? How were you gift last year to a person, a community or an institution?   What was your greatest joy in this year gone? What was your greatest sorrow? What caused you the most disappointment? What caused you the most sadness?   In what areas of your life did you grow? Were these areas related to your joy or your pain?   What are your regrets? How would you do things differently, if you could live the year again? What did you learn?   Did you have a recurring dream? What theme or themes ran through your year?   Did you grow in your capacity to be a person in community--to bear your own burdens, to let others bear theirs? Did you have sufficient time apart with yourself?   Did you root your life more firmly in Scripture? Did you grow in your understanding of yourself? What was your most important insight? Did God seem near or far off?   How do you want to create the new year? What kind of commitment do you want to make to yourself? Your community? To the oppressed people of the world? How do the questions about commitment make you feel? Angry? Challenged? Hopeful?   Who are the people with whom you would like to deepen your relationships in the year to come? Do you have relationships that need to be healed? What can you do to heal your own heart? What can others do to assist in your healing?   Is there a special piece of inward work that you would like to accomplish? Is there a special outward work? What are the goals that seem important to you? What are your hopes? What are your fears? What are the immediate first steps that you can take toward the goals that seem important to you?   We might have a time of prayer in which to give thanks for all the events of the year gone, and to ask that the God through whose fingers they were filtered will continue to bless them to our use. They are now the bread of our life--part of all that we have to share with another when we share what is ours to give away. loan payday online 4 web 6payday 41 loan linkloans only 1 arm 5 interestcash loan 5 advance illinois5 loan consolidators best studentloan equity home 5.5loan fax no guaranteed 500with loan 9 payday no 6 Map Source: Letters to Scattered Pilgrims Add your thoughts at inward/outward This message is a daily service of inward/outward. Was this message forwarded to you? Click here to sign up.