post and photos below by Sue Duby,
In the dripping humidity and heat of Arkansas summers, any chance for an enjoyable walk requires an alarm-clock-setting wake-up. Usually, a stiff nudge from Chuck, a loud groan from me, a bleary-eyed grab for tennis shoes, and a shuffle down the driveway, pave the way.
Around the corner, while we still struggle to fully focus our eyes, a gentle voice cuts the air… “Good Morning!”. It’s sweet Miss Lilly; our 80-something neighbor. In her favorite porch chair, coffee in hand, eyes twinkling, a smile that says, “I’m so very happy to see you!”. Always on the alert for whoever might pass by. We’ve adopted her as our neighborhood greeter, cheerleader, and historian. She knows everyone’s names, who just joined our tribe, what landscape projects need attention and which neighbors need help. All with a heart of grace.
Her life challenges us. Her joy is contagious. She smiles when sharing her secret.
“Every day is an adventure. So much to discover!”. Her curiosity never wanes. Discovery of new wonder is always just a breath away. We want to be like her when we grow up!
I quietly whispered to Him, “I want to be more curious like Lilly”. His creative ways to answer requests and teach new lessons surpass anything I could ever imagine myself. This time, with spiders and bagworms.
One night, heading to the hot tub before bed, the moonlight saved me from a full face plant into a massive spider web. I first noticed a yellow spider, anchored to a silk strand, blowing gently in the breeze. I grabbed a flashlight to investigate (a baby step in curiosity). Stunned, I discovered a two-foot circular masterpiece! Intricately woven, a few circle strands yet to be set, a few moths already captured and the spider scurrying to finish his work while bugs filled the airspace around him.
I yelled to Chuck, “Come see this!”. As I moved the flashlight, we gasped… a second equally masterful web (and spider) hung just a few feet away.
The next morning, no trace of either web could be found. We spent the next few nights cautiously entering the night with flashlight in hand. Curiosity yes, but honestly, protection from being tangled in a big web! For three evenings, the first spider returned. Starting his web all over again at night, only to have it vanish by morning.
Curiosity took hold. I scoured YouTube for spider videos. They complete webs from start to finish in 30-60 minutes and only after dark. Spiders are able to distinguish between a breeze on their web and a bug landing for dinner. They spin two kinds of silk… one for tough main strands and another with glue to help capture prey. Whoever knew???
Just a week later, our second lesson in curiosity unfolded. Taking his daily “assess the landscape” walk, Chuck discovered the entire back half of a favorite screening tree gone… no green needles, just brown sticks from top to bottom. Peering a bit closer, he found some strange “looks like baby pinecones” hanging from all the remaining branches. He picked one, gently squeezed (pinecones don’t squeeze!) and out popped a slimy worm. He rushed inside. “We have a problem!! I need your help!”.
A quick internet search identified our foe… bagworms. Chuck’s curiosity led him to some wild facts. Bagworms spin a cocoon-like bag using their silk and needles from the trees (for camouflage). One female can lay over 500 eggs. That news sent us on a crazy four-day rampage, picking bagworm cocoons off four trees. Over 400 later (really!!), we sighed, hoping next year’s season will reward our efforts.
Both adventures felt like God-scripted lessons. With principles to grab beyond the wild world of nature and bugs.
Curiosity is a choice. Many days, life passes by with lists of tasks, routine duties, and a “same old thing” mode. Yet each day, His invitation is there… waiting… offered to us. Whether bugs, people, places, books, landscapes… it all whispers “Be Curious!”.
Children seem to naturally fill their days with curiosity, discovery, and wonder. The crawdads in the creek. The lizard’s lost tail growing back on its own. The magic of bubbles popping in the air. The splash of a rain puddle. As we grow, curiosity wanes and takes a bit more effort.
When we choose curiosity, it awakens something deeper inside. It stirs us to long to discover more. And that discovery leads us to wonder. And wonder leads us right to Him… the creator of everything that made us curious in the first place. He planned the journey well, knowing us. The “want to know” (curiosity), the fun adventure (discovery), and the awe of His creativity and handprint on everything around us (wonder). May our curiosity never cease. May discovery always beckon. May our wonder in Him captivate us, always. Even in our own backyard.
- “Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” Exodus 15:11 NIV
- “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” Job 5:9 NIV
- “The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.” Psalm 65:8 NIV
- “… to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:4 NIV
Feature photo of cobweb by Kathie Hempel
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photo by Karl Graser and post by Jenneth Graser,
Writing out and drawing your own prayers, poetry and imaginings is a wonderful stress relief and perhaps a different way to explore prayer in your times with God through creative contemplation. You will often be surprised by a revelation or something new to discover about yourself and others. Wisdom shines through the colours, paints, and pages as you go.
I recently released the Unlocking the Secret Garden Prayer Journal which is now available as a companion to Unlocking the Secret Garden: 100 Days of Imaginative Prayer. It can be used together with or independently of the devotional, with quotes from the book and journaling prompts to spark reflection and creativity.
And I will be vlogging my way through the Prayer Journal with you, using the prayer activations from Unlocking the Secret Garden and also the prompts in the journal itself. I will be gathering my coloring pencils, watercolor paints, magazines for collage, pens, and fine-liners for a time of calming journaling and prayer.
Creative journaling is a therapeutic way to engage with God as you adventure through the Secret Garden using your imagination and art supplies. It is good to get in touch with the childlike parts in ourselves that are not afraid to try something new and get messy!
Pastels, paints, glue and textured paper, magazine cut-outs, ribbons, stamps, watercolors, pencil crayons… the possibilities are endless. Sometimes these creative practices take a bit of time to get used to because maybe it’s just not something we usually do or we want everything to look perfect from the beginning. This can lead to putting off what will be fun and enjoyable when we feel that perhaps it’s not going to turn out the way we had hoped.
One of the things I need to look at in myself is creative procrastination. Because it doesn’t have to look perfect, and I don’t need to wait until I have done a course in art, completed an art degree, or received a certificate in scrapbooking or creative journaling to start! And if that is something that also causes you to feel hesitant, then I encourage you to join with me in this creative journey. Come into the Secret Garden with your art supplies handy and your childlike spirit ready to try something perhaps for the first time.
I welcome you to my first video session of prayer journaling, using Day 1’s prayer activation as my inspiration – Light of the World –
Find out more about the Prayer Journal here:
Unlocking the Secret Garden Prayer Journal and devotional are available from your local Amazon.
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post and photos by Rodney Marsh,
Where I live it is mid-winter – the cold, rainy season. This year, after four years of drought, empty dams and failed crops farmers are enjoying a productive season. And the countryside rejoices. I recently retired, and I have been visiting farms up to 150km East of where I live. Each day, as I drove around the countryside, I found animals who, just by being who they were, gave glory to God. Their being (in which I share also as a being created by God), brought me great joy.
Day 1 A Whale
I saw my first whale of the season. I took my lunch break and sat by the rocky coast. Just offshore, a lone young humpback played at being an adult. He slapped his fins and tail and practised breaching. When Humpback mothers return to their winter breeding ground here on the South Coast, they will swim away from their offspring. This young male was now an independent adolescent, clearly not fully grown but growing up. I saw him take a dive and thought, “he’s going to jump” and the photo shows his ‘teenage’ nose emerging from the water at the beginning of his breach. He completed a not very impressive jump, but it was a good effort. I imagine that in three years time he will be a breeding male and will, by then, be able to impress the girls with a fully grown body and his magnificent breaching.
For children and adolescents, play is learning and learning is copying. This young humpback challenged me to wonder if I could still ‘play’ and enjoy my life and he also asked me to remember that I am always a learner, a disciple of the one who created me and shares my being. Being a disciple means copying my Leader and growing up into him who is the head of all things.
Day 2 A Tortoise
The next day, I travelled inland visiting mainly beef farms. In many places I had to proceed carefully for the swamps had turned into lakes and water covered the gravel roads. Whilst driving along a bitumen road, I had to stop my car to allow a Western Swamp Tortoise to finish crossing the road to lay her eggs in the nearby bush. In late spring, the turtle hatchlings (about the size of a fingernail) will recross the road to join their mother in the lake. There they will feed and grow and, as the summer advances and the lake dries, they will, like their mother, bury themselves deep in the mud, hibernate, and emerge whenever the lake fills again. These tortoises live for about 40 years and may lay up to three clutches of eggs a season. They will survive a dry lake as long as the deep mud, in which they sleep, does not completely dry out. I was so pleased to see this female since these animals, though endangered now, were a very common feature of my childhood. I photographed the female tortoise on her lonely, slow, dangerous journey across the road.
This tortoise reminded me of Paul’s words in Philippians 4:13, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” I wasn’t going to stop her from getting where she was going! This determination was a gift. It was part of her nature and being “who she was” – a tortoise. This tortoise gave glory to God and brought me joy by just being. She reminded me that to be “who I am” is unique and cannot be found by looking to others’ expectations of me, or of looking to the expectations I presume others have of me or looking to my own imagined expectations of an image I have created of “who I am”. My holiness is completely unique to me and, like this tortoise, is inbuilt and totally non-self-conscious. So to become who I am I need to be in a relaxed and confident connection with the one who made me. Then I will be who I am meant to be in God’s world.
Day 3 An Alpaca and a mob of Kangaroos
I ventured East toward what are mainly cropping and sheep farms. Local farmers often include an alpaca with their sheep flocks. Being a herd animal, the alpacas bond with the sheep and provide much needed protection for the lambs. Alpaca’s deadly kicks keep foxes from killing lambs. This friendly alpaca had no sheep to bond with, so he had joined a mob of kangaroos. But he also apparently liked humans because, perhaps in the expectation of a treat, he sprinted over to my car as soon as I arrived in the paddock. I photographed him through the driver’s window. I think his ‘smile’ and his look show plenty of chutzpah.
This is the kangaroo mob that the alpaca had joined. I counted 30 kangaroos in this mob and there were at least as many not in this photograph. The males on the outside of the group are paying attention to me. Am I a threat? Can they trust me?
The alpaca and kangaroos reminded me of the great differences in ‘personality’ within animals and in the body of Christ. When Paul tells the Corinthians, “Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body”, Paul emphasises both differences and unity of purpose of all members of Christ. Members have different gifts and distinct services to offer and many ways of operating but these differences come from one Spirit, we serve one Lord and it is the one God who works in us in all these different ways. If I am an ‘alpaca’ will I use my strength to protect and serve others? Kangaroos and alpacas both give glory to God and joy to me by being who they are – timid or bold. In God’s economy, this means I must also ask myself, “Who am I for others?”.
Day 4 Ewes and Lambs
This time of year, the temperature can drop to near freezing at night, and the weather forecasters often issue a ‘sheep weather warning’ because the combination of cold, rain, and wind can be fatal for lambs or newly shorn sheep. But what can a farmer do? The only protection provided can be some remnant vegetation left to provide shelter for the flock. The photo below shows a newly birthed lamb. As I approached the farm, I saw that the farmer had left some remnant vegetation and then I saw one newborn lamb in the scrub. I trust this little one found her mum.
Of course, many Biblical images use lambs and sheep but the one that sprang to my mind when I saw this lamb was Jesus’ story of the little lost lamb. Her mother’s searching love is like God’s searching love for us and we all experience lostness and being found as part of all our lives. The back story is always that we are sought and will be found by God’s seeking/finding love.
This photo shows the rest of the flock nearby. Notice the frolliking lambs. What joy! What innocence! What freshness! What beauty! Life begins this way, but can my life be marked each moment by freshness, innocence and joy? Only by continuous and intimate contact with the source of life.
A Poem: All things praise Thee—Lord, may we!
God’s being is seen in…
A jumping whale
A plodding turtle
A bold alpaca
A timid roo
A leaping lamb
And
In me too
A Practise
I practise 30 mins of Christian meditation every day and I conclude my prayer with this version of The Gloria (modified):
(In breath) Whilst seated, I raise my arms with open hands toward the sky and say out loud:
(Out breath) “Glory be to the Father from whom all things have their being”
(In breath) Then I stretch my arms horizontally and say out loud:
(Out breath)“And to the Son in whom all things find their being”
(In breath) Then I fold my arms across my chest, with hands touching my shoulders, and say out loud:
(Out breath) “And to the Holy Spirit through whom all things express their being, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.”
Then I say, out loud, the Lord’s Prayer.
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by Christine Sine,
In a couple of weeks, Lilly Lewin and I will conduct our Fall retreat Gearing Up For A Season of Gratitude. In preparation, I am reading Diana Butler Bass’s book Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks. She explains that gratitude involves emotion and ethics (moral principles) both of which function in the personal and public realms of life. (Grateful, xxvi) As a result, we can view gratitude as emotion – in the personal realm delight, joy, or, surprise, in the public realm expressing appreciation with family or community. Or, we see gratitude as requiring action, like writing thank you notes or in the public realm, social action expressed in charity or volunteerism. (Grateful, xxvii)
Most of us, she points out, have a distorted view of gratitude emphasizing only one aspect of gratitude and usually “assumes the language of emotion”. She then explains that this means gratitude is seen as a “feminine” virtue, “something soft and sentimental” which usually means it loses its intellectual bite and is seen as less important especially in the academic field. (Grateful, 12)
Wow! The same thing has happened to awe and wonder and I suspect to our appreciation of beauty. These are all relegated to the emotional realm when they should be seen as moral principles woven into the foundations of our faith, part of the lens through which we interpret life. Awe and wonder are not meant to be an exclamation of praise or a gasp of surprise when we see something beautiful or unexpected and then quickly dismissed at will. It is part of the nature of God and of the universe, woven into the very fabric of life. God is awesome – fact, not emotion. The world in which we live is awe-inspiring – fact, not emotion. Can you see the difference and understand the implications? When we think of awe and wonder as an emotion we give ourselves permission to switch it off or on and it does not have consequences for how we live our lives. When we recognize it as fact we have a responsibility to embrace it and work towards incorporating it into the nature of who we are too just as we work to incorporate other aspects of who God is – love, patience, compassion, faithfulness, generosity. And we are responsible to weave it into our view of creation.
As I think about this, I am reminded of the Celtic Christians who believed creation was translucent. The glory of God shone through it. Every aspect of creation from the smallest cell to the highest mountain is awe-inspiring and the glory of God shines through it. That is a fact not an emotion. As I mentioned in my post Meditation Monday – Anchored in Wonder, Rabbi Abraham Heschel, one of the 20th century’s leading Jewish theologians and one of my heroes, emphasizes the need to begin and remain anchored in wonder in order to deal with the pain in the world and I think what he is talking about here is wonder as a part of the nature of God, not an emotion. In that post, I go on to say:
Wonder changes our perspective on life. It opens us to surprise, anticipation, unpredictability, celebration and mystery, replacing the rigidity of fear and anxiety with flexibility and joy. It enables us to imagine new life, new opportunities and the possibility of new beginnings definitely something that we all need to do at the present time. I think that one of the great benefits of wonder is that it helps us to look not at the pain but through the pain to God’s comforting and strengthening presence. It enables us to hold onto hope when everything around us seems hopeless.
It is this approach to wonder that we all desperately need at the moment, not a feel-good emotion, not even a spiritual practice, but a lens through which to view life. Writing The Gift of Wonder took me on an amazing journey into dimensions of wonder that transformed my life. Now I feel I am at the beginning of another exciting journey, exploring new dimensions of wonder, another one of those roads less travelled I seem to specialize in. Maybe there is another book in the future! Any thoughts you have on this would be greatly appreciated.
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A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:
“La Ténèbre (Our Darkness)” and “Bless the Lord” are songs from the ecumenical Taize community in France. Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé.
“Be Thou My Vision” is a traditional Irish hymn, held in the public domain. This folk arrangement is by Andrew Myers and Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License 0.
“Kyrie for September 5, 2021” – text and music by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).
“Step by Step” was written by the American folk musician Pete Seeger, and appears on the album “Songs of Struggle and Protest 1930-1950”, released in 1964. I believe it’s currently in the public domain, and if it isn’t, I think Pete would have wanted us to share it anyways.
Thank you for praying with us!
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guest post and photos by Elaine Breckenridge,
Recently, my husband and I had a very unpleasant encounter with our next-door neighbor over the issue of her barking dog. When left home alone, the dog will bark for hours on end. We wanted to offer our concern for the animal and to share that it was difficult for us. She told us “To mind our own business.” She was abrupt and rude. As we left, I said to my husband, “We need to have compassion for her. She must be an angry and lonely person.” About an hour later, I was anxious and depressed. As I tuned into myself, I realized that the event had left me feeling fearful and powerless. Clearly, this meeting with our neighbor was a catalyst for me to experience unresolved issues from my past.
With that in mind, I got into the car and drove to a nearby nature preserve to walk and to visit one of my favorite trees. Once parked, as I started walking down the path, I prayed that I might be open to receive whatever nature might have to offer me in that moment. Imagine my shock as I approached my tree finding it in a terrible state. One of its huge limbs had been stripped away from its trunk, leaving behind a shocking gash.
After my initial shock, my tears began to flow. Hot tears. How could this be? I found myself speaking to the tree, “I see you. I feel for you. I am sorry for your pain.” Later, I realized I was also speaking to myself, recognizing my own buried pain evoked by the encounter with our neighbor.
But at that moment, as I stood there, I realized that the tree was calm and steady and actually reaching out to me. I had a witness as I released and let go of a layer of pain that I had carried, but, ignored for years. I experienced that the tree was seeing me and was present to me. I was grateful.
In a book called, Forest Bathing by Cyndi Gilbert, she writes, quoting May Sarton, “I think of the trees and how simply they let go, let fall the riches of a season, how without grief (it seems) they can let go and go deep into their roots for renewal and sleep… Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain, psychic pain. Sit it out. Let it all pass. Let it go.”
Let it go. Some of us leave childhood with wounds. Others of us experience tremendous losses later in life. Being human is to encounter and experience pain. However, I like the saying, “Pain is inevitable but suffering is not.” Clinging, grasping, holding on, or burying emotions actually intensifies our feelings of fear, anger, sadness, pain. The alternative is to let go. But how do we do that? What spiritual practices can we adopt to help us let go?
Imitating the trees is one example. In Forest Bathing, the author recommends sitting with a tree (especially in the season of autumn) and imagining whatever it is we want to release as one leaf. Imagine the leaf falling to the ground. Say good-bye. As it lands on the ground, imagine it decomposing and providing new energy for the soil. Say goodbye again.
“Autumn is a season that invites us to let go… yes to yield… yes, to die. We are encouraged to let things move in our lives. Let them flow on into some new life form just as the earth is modeling these changes for us.”- The Circle of Life by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiedecker
A friend of mine created her own ritual after the accidental death of her twenty-two-year-old son. She went to a sandy beach on the ocean. She laid on the sand and let the waves caress her body and she imagined her sorrow going out with the tide. She said she felt emptied, dying, and came out of the ocean like a new woman. She said she had to die as a mother and be born again as a childless woman. Since then, she has developed a resilience to live alone and her career as a kindergarten teacher and dancer is bringing her great joy.
Her grief and pain were transformed. “When we discover that we don’t need to be afraid of our pain, that we can stand witness and bear it, we release a tremendous amount of energy for living.” (Earth, Our Original Monastery by Christine Valters Paintner).
I have been visiting this favorite tree frequently. The limb that was torn from the trunk appears to be diseased. I wonder if the tree is standing taller without the burden of that weight? Looking at the tree from another angle, one can’t help but notice its wound is in the shape of a heart. In my recent journey, I am feeling lighter and more open to life as it unfolds. The tree encouraged me to let go of a dis-eased part of myself. There has been a measure of healing for me, flowing, I believe from the tree’s broken heart.
Maple Tree Heart
Letting go is realizing that it does not mean falling into an abyss or into nothingness. We fall into grace, into the divine mystery, into the compassionate arms of God. Ultimately, we let go to fall into divine love which in turn transforms us.
Questions for Reflection
- What spiritual practices have you used to help you let go of grief and pain?
- How has nature helped you in identifying wounds and guide you into healing?
Bio for Elaine
The Rev. Elaine H. Breckenridge is a recently retired Episcopal priest residing on Camano Island, Washington. She is enjoying nature, caring for two grandsons, taking online classes, and enjoying experimenting with photography.
Want to experience more of the awe and wonder that God offers us? Check out the Gift of Wonder Online Retreat by Christine Sine. This retreat allows for 180 days of access for only $39.99 so you can move through the sessions at your own pace.
by Lilly Lewin,
READ this week’s gospel reading from Mark 7:31-37
Jesus Heals a Deaf and Mute Man… MARK 7:31-37 NIV
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Who do you need to bring to Jesus to be healed today? Friends, family, enemies, yourself? Take time to pray for these people.
What in you do you need Jesus to heal? Talk to him about these things.
How have you felt deaf recently? Talk to Jesus about this.
What are some of the things Jesus has “done well” in your life lately? Take time to be grateful.
Jesus, like this man we need our ears opened…
Help us to hear.
Help us to hear your voice.
Help us to hear you above all the chaos of this world.
Help us to get away from the crowd and confusion and receive your healing love.
Help us to listen to your words and know that we are loved and cherished right where we are.
Heal us Lord. AMEN
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
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