by Christine Sine
I wrote this prayer a couple of days ago, but when I read it this morning my initial thought was Why do I feel I need to welcome the ever-present, omnipotent God into the day? If I really believe God is present in every moment and every place surely it is more a matter of God welcoming me into the day. Then I realized how often I ignore or fail to acknowledge the ever-present One in my thoughts and words and deeds. I do indeed need to welcome God into my day because God stands at the door and knocks but will not enter until I open myself to the divine presence in that moment and that place.
So often we shut God out of our pains because they are hard for us to confront and we are afraid of what God might say to us in the midst of them. We fail to notice the beauty because our eyes are focused on our screens. And we fail to relish the joys of the day because we are so consumed with the next task we want to accomplish that we don’t take time for joy.
It is not so much that we shut God out of the day, but that we shut God out of our experience of it. In welcoming God into the day we are reminding ourselves that God is indeed present in every experience and emotion that fills our day. We are saying God you are here; we don’t want to shut you out; we welcome you.
At the moment The Gift of Wonder is bringing me great joy as are the delightful arrivals of my adopted grandchildren May and Lucy into my life. There is also pain that I need to acknowledge and invite God into – my personal pain of continuing facial pain and discomfort, but also the ongoing ache of watching friends struggle with cancer and the frailties of old age. Then there is the societal pain that seems to confront me at every turn – racial injustice, migrants at the border, climate crisis, gender abuse. So many places that I need to acknowledge in my daily experiences and invite God into. Only then can I receive God’s wisdom, counsel comfort and love.
I find increasingly that in our fast paced life, I need to pause frequently and commit my experiences and my emotions to God. Only as I face the reality of who I am and what is going on in our world can I really enjoy the intimacy of a God who cares for me and welcomes me into every aspect of my day.
Written by and photos and art work by Corrine Lund —
When it was time for me to consider college, my farmer father strongly encouraged me to do what he was not able to do…work in the medical field. The first semester was painful. No soul-filling in biology for this lady! No passion in science labs! Second semester finally arrived. An elective! I chose a drawing class in the art department. I had never even visited an art gallery before this. One class. Then another. No more biology. My journey had taken a significant turn in the road and my heart and soul were filled!
How did I ever manage to find myself on such a path!? Could that be the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Really? Is that how it works? I drew and painted and created in all manners of form and technique.
How does one take a step off the familiar (not necessarily comfortable) path, brave enough to begin seeing the world and all the possibilities with different eyes? Seeing life differently. This was a journey that was beginning to fill my heart and soul. And then…
In 1996 I was diagnosed with cancer. It was the real thing…surgery, chemotherapy and radiation…and then slowly, recovery. Ask me if I was seeing life a bit differently now! I do not think God puts frightening challenges on our path just to make us stronger and wiser. I believe that God ‘helps and guides’ us through these challenges so that we are able to find the strength to walk the path of this new journey. God is not stealing away my joy to prove a point. But…interestingly, somehow the challenge I was facing and my creativity were coming together. Even with my tired body, I was growing stronger within. Could something that so filled my soul guide me through this life challenge?
I began to manage the fear, learning about and planning for the experience ahead. The fear began to settle down so that I could explore just what this challenge meant in my life. As an art educator, I had always shared with my students that their creativity was always available to them as they faced the unexpected in life. It was not just about drawing and painting. It was about how to express, deal with, explore, and even face significant life issues. Art was also about healing and I was about to experience this for myself. I began to see cancer through different eyes – creative eyes.
Containers for My Feelings
I created unique baskets that represented ‘containers’ for all the feelings I had, always using color to keep up my spirits. God probably smiled as I joined these two experiences for my new journey. When a day was difficult, I would create. I created from fabric and wrote in journals, made collages and worked on paintings. Each time I faced a new fear I would fall back on words or images or just color to deal with what was churning inside of me. Whatever spoke to my heart and soul! I even began to reach out to share with other cancer patients who were learning to manage their own fear, anger and overwhelming confusion. I encouraged others to become involved in creative adventures they might never have considered…gardening, cooking, photography – whatever their physical situation could manage and enjoy.
What a gift the Holy Spirit had put into my heart those many years ago. By now, I knew it was not my own doing that lead me to that unfamiliar elective in the Art department. In the months that followed I put all my thoughts, prayers, meditations, creative ideas into a book that was published called, God Blessed Them for the Journey. That was my celebration finale.
Being focused, feeling at peace, letting go of fear meant looking at life differently after receiving that diagnosis of cancer. Continuing to function in a reasonably normal fashion meant looking at life differently…very differently. Looking at life differently in the midst of life’s challenges can, indeed be a challenge in and of itself. You might have to learn to see life a bit differently but…do you know what? You aren’t traveling alone. I have paraphrased the words of Jesus just a bit:
“You are never traveling alone. If you are willing, you can follow me. I am the Way. When you open yourself to seeking life in a different way, seeing through my eyes, following my path…do you know what… I am going to be there with you!”
So many stages of life we all experience, each one different from the other. Excitement and challenges, feeling blessed and experiencing fears. We learn through each passage, each turn on the path
(Hmmm, the Holy Spirit had a pretty wise plan all those many years ago!) AND I’M STILL DANCING!
by Christine Sine
Memory is tied to commitment or the lack thereof. We are often reminded in scripture of our penchant towards forgetfulness.
This quote from Tony Petrotta’s Lenten article in Radix magazine last spring really caught my attention this week. Yes I know I am a little late reading it, but I feel that it has a lot to say to us no matter what the season.
Petrotta goes on to quote from Psalm 106
Our ancestors in Egypt
were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds.
They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them.
Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.[
The whole Psalm seems to be a litany of the forgetfulness of the Israelites and the commitment of God. They forgot God’s miracles and kindness towards them; they forgot God’s instructions; they forgot God’s promise to care for them; they forgot the God who had saved them. Wow! That is quite a litany of forgetfulness, yet in spite of that God remembered them and the covenant God had made with them.
What Have I Forgotten of My Commitment to God?
Reading through Psalm 106 today made me wonder how short my memory is and what of my commitment to God I have forgotten?
Remembering is not always a happy process that I talked about in my post Meditation Monday – Remember When. Yet it is important for us to look back and remember the pain and forgetfulness as well as the joy. And looking at the list of things the Israelites forgot is a good place to start as we look back:
What miracles and kindness has God shown towards you that you have forgotten?
Where have you forgotten God’s instructions and what are the consequences in your life that you have tended to blame God for?
When have you forgotten God’s promise to care for you and worried and lived in anxiety as a result?
When have you forgotten God’s salvation in your life?
When Have I Forgotten God’s Commitment to Me?
Petrotta reminds us that:
In remembering we are reminded of God’s priorities and prompted to respond…. If we remember rightly, we also need to face the memories in which we acted not Christ-like, but more Christ-less.
When have you forgotten God’s covenant with you, God’s priorities and the promise of God’s steadfast love?
What memories have you come face to face with that show Christlessness rather than Christlikeness? Are there ways that God would ask you to respond?
Asking myself these questions this week has been a cleansing process. I have experienced what Petrotta says”
Remembering softens our hearts so that we may once again be open to experiencing God with a thirst and hunger for the things of God.
As I engaged in this exercise I was reminded of the chapter in The Gift of Wonder on remembering where I talk what I learned from John Medina’s fascinating book Brain Rules for Aging Well:
reminiscing increases our social connectedness and sense of fulfillment in our accomplishments as positive memories rise to the surface. When we immerse ourselves in memories of our younger selves we become healthy, our aches and pains are reduced, weight and posture improve, and our dexterity increases. Even our eyesight gets better. (The Gift of Wonder 39)
I think that this is one of the reasons that remembering is so important – it not only strengthens us spiritually, it strengthens us physically and emotionally as well.
So lets jump to another Psalm for advice here:
I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate on all your words and muse on your mighty deeds (Psalm 77:11, 12)
Let’s do some meditating this week on the mighty deeds of God. Let’s take time to do a bit of remembering.
by Lilly Lewin
Here is another prayer station from the LOVE WELL Sacred Space I designed for United Methodist Conference YOUTH 2019. The Theme for the conference was LOVE WELL based on Romans 12:9-10. This station had participants design two masks. One, showing what they show the world, or what others see and the second mask was what they WANT to show the world instead. You can use this as a prayer station response, or do this as a large group activity with your entire church, or as a small group activity, or as an individual devotional practice. You will just need enough Mask outlines for each person to have two masks. Have multicolored markers or crayons. We hung our finished masks on a clothes line to display them.
DON’T HIDE YOURSELF BEHIND A MASK
Love others well, and don’t hide behind a mask; love authentically. Despise evil; pursue what is good as if your life depends on it. Live in true devotion to one another, loving each other as sisters and brothers. Be first to honor others by putting them first. ROMANS 12: 9-10
Don’t Hide Behind a Mask.
Too often we don’t show people who we really are.
Too often we hide behind a mask.
We often hide our pain behind a happy face or smile.
And too often, we don’t even tell Jesus about our true feelings. Our hurts, our pains, our frustrations.
And often we don’t share with Jesus, or with our friends the real joys in our life either.
What mask are you wearing today?
What do people see on the outside?
What is different on the inside?
Talk to Jesus about your Mask. Talk to Jesus about the Mask you are wearing.Mask
ACTION:
CREATE YOUR MASK Mask PDF to copy
The Mask I hide behind: WRITE and/or draw
ON ONE SIDE OF YOUR MASK
the things you show the world. What do other people see?
NOW FLIP the Mask…
What don’t they know about you?
What’s on the inside? What things do you hide? Write or Draw that down on the back side.
HANG UP your old mask, the one you hide behind… and give this to JESUS!
The NEW FACE: TAKE another Mask.
What do you want people to see in your life?
What do you want them to know or to notice?
What do you want to give to Jesus so you can show his love to the world?
What face do you want to wear in order to Love others Well?
Talk to Jesus about the NEW face you want to wear in the world.
DESIGN YOUR NEW FACE with words or pictures draw what you want to show the world with the help of Jesus.
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
Circlewood Retreat – Saturday, August 10 on Camano Island.
Godspace readers who live in or near the Pacific Northwest are invited to Circlewood’s summer retreat on Saturday, August 10 on beautiful Camano Island. For those of you who were fans of Mustard Seed Associate’s annual Celtic prayer retreat, this will be in the same wonderful forest on Camano. The topic is exploring what it means to be an “Ecological Christian,” and will include learning through group discussion, break-out sessions, and special afternoon excursions (with plenty of time to talk with people or enjoy the peace of the forest). For more information (and to register), visit https://www.circlewood.online/summer-retreat.
On a related note, we recently spent a day with foresters Kirk Hanson and Jose Narjava from the Northwest Natural Resource Group. They are helping us put together a long-term Conservation Action Plan that will help us conserve and improve the health of the forest for future generations.
7-10-19 Interview with foresters from Northwest Natural Resources Group from Circlewood on Vimeo.
We learned a lot – Kirk took a bore sample from a 75 year old Grand Fir tree and we saw just how much water these great trees hold – check out the video!
By Barbie Perks —
Workmanship. One of the challenges about starting over in a new country is finding furniture. The house we are renting is large, and we are not going to bring up furniture that we own, so we have to look around locally for what we need. There are no department stores for us to go into and buy ready-made things.
We took a drive down the main road to see what is on offer. There are any number of people who make items one might need. This carpenter specialises in double/queen/king size beds, and so does that metal-worker, if you want a decorative metal work bed. That carpenter make chairs. Oh look, that one make children’s bunk beds. And that one makes really ornate dressing tables. Everything is displayed on the side of the road. You can watch the ‘fundi’ making his items as well. You get to have a close look at the items and feel them – sadly, the finishing of the products is pretty rough. We saw a lovely pine bed, which in our opinion, still needed at least two more lots of sanding to smooth it down nicely. Yet when coming back along the road, we saw they were already varnishing it.
The flat-pack table and 4 chairs we bought a month ago – made in China – looks nice, but screws were missing to put the chairs together, the rubber on the base of the table legs is a kind of plastic that is falling apart already. Chair tops are missing. Someone didn’t check when packing!
When we moved in, one section of the house still had renovations being done to it, bathrooms being tiled, painted, and plumbed, 3 doors had to be hung. Its two months since we viewed the house, one month since we moved in, and the work is still not completed. The painter painted over at least 2cm of the tiling, the doors have not been sanded or varnished, one corner of the bathroom and toilet still needs tiling finished off.
The question begs: are we being too particular? Should we just accept shoddy workmanship because “this is Africa”? Do we have the right to demand perfection of others? Do we in turn give of our best when we make or produce something?
I am so grateful that God is a perfect Creator, that the things he creates are good in his sight (Genesis 1 and 2)
In Ephesians 2:10 I am reminded that we – you and I – are his workmanship (KJV, ESV), created by him to do good things which he has prepared for us to do. The NIV version talks of us being God’s handiwork. A quick word study expands the verse remarkably: we have been made by God, completely created, changed or transformed in Christ Jesus, to do good, excellent, honourable and useful works – whether in business, employment, anything that we undertake to do, any product, artwork, industry, or thinking we occupy ourselves with, any act or deed we do, things we work hard at – that God prepared beforehand, or in advance, for us to do – so that we should conduct ourselves and our lives, making full use of the opportunities God gives us. Wow, what a reminder of the complexity of God’s creation of you and me!
What is the attitude we are encouraged to have? Peter and Paul both tell us that we are to work as if we are working for God (Eph 6:7) to work wholeheartedly at whatever we do (Col 3:23), to recognise the great responsibility that we have been given by God to embrace all the opportunities he creates and gives to us – to serve, to minister, to provide, to teach, to nurse, to heal, to feed, to grow, to encourage, to share generously, to lead enthusiastically, to mother, to father, to guide and mentor, to create with our hands in whatever way he has gifted us (1 Pet 4:10).
Creator God and Father, you have made me with such love and care, given me so much to guide and help me in my daily walk with you. Would you open my heart and eyes to see the wonderful areas of life in which you offer me opportunities to serve you? Would you in love renew the tired soul, bring joy to the sad one, provide new purpose for the one who has lost focus, that we might all sing your praises again.
By Jenneth Graser —
If you’ve been a fan of Jenneth’s poems, like we have — check out her newly published book of poetry called, The Present Moment of Happiness. This volume of 50 poems is a call to courage, as you embrace the wisdom that abides within your story. Her poetry explores how painful shifts in the seasons we go through can lead to even greater expansion when we trust the process. Featuring 50 poems in 5 themes: live in the moment, hope, love yourself, believe, grateful dreaming. Jenneth writes from the inspiration of her own challenging experiences tangibly, making her poetry accessible to everyone on a spiritual journey.
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