By June Friesen —
When reading this phrase ‘live/see life differently’ it immediately causes me to think of being introduced to meditation as a spiritual experience. Sitting in silence…..being present first to the silence…….then being open to the silence….then embracing the silence.
Psalm 46:10 – ‘Be still and know God.’
God asks that I come to Him and just ‘be.’
Be:
Recognize: embrace His presence in the silence –
Breathe: Inhale deeply of His presence and exhale the ‘stuff’ –
Embrace cleansing – let go of the usual, expected, the known…..
Still: ah…..quiet, peace, stillness,
Relax…..let go……release….embrace peace –
And/then:
Empty: of the world, the rush, the worries, the duties, self –
Let go: for the/a moment (or two) and just ‘be’ –
‘Be present in and to the stillness.’
Know:
Awareness: hear, smell, taste, see, feel –
Engage: new, change, different, creativity, openness –
Know God and most of all know God’s presence and embrace it.
“Thank you, my friend for sitting with me,
Thank you for opening your inner self to be with me
And most of all to letting me be with you,
Let us go together now and begin a new journey in our new relationship,
Together you and I will bring a new sense of my presence into the world.”
Signed, GOD
by Christine Sine
Henri Nouwen calls hospitality “the creation of a free and friendly space where we can reach out to strangers and invite them to become our friends…. He goes on to suggest that the most important guests, the most important strangers we get to entertain in our homes are our children. When they are born, we don’t really understand who they are or who they will become. “They are guests we need to respond to, not possessions we are responsible for.”… Maybe hospitality is about receiving every stranger in the same way we receive a child. (The Gift of Wonder 187)
I have just set up a new contemplative garden on my desk – a hospitality garden that’ll be the focus of my morning prayer time for the next few weeks. You could say that this garden was created by happenstance or more likely the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
All are welcome
Last week someone gave me a collection of cups to make into succulent gardens. Our dog Goldie immediately grabbed one and broke it, so I decided to make it the focus of my garden. Then I took an assortment of succulents that needed homes and planted them around and in the cup. Next I painted my rocks with the words “all are welcome” and decorated them with dotted patterns.
To prime the pump for my reflections I reread the chapter in The Gift of Wonder entitled Come to the Table, which the quote above comes from. My eyes were riveted. On Wednesday my nephew Matt and his wife Kass arrived from Australia with their 6-month-old baby Lucy to visit. We have done everything possible to welcome this baby, this stranger whom we hope will become a friend. We have cleared out our guest room to create space for her. We have rearranged our schedules to make time for her and now we want to spend time with her, accepting her as she is now, not trying to change her into who we want her to become but seeking to identify and encourage her to develop the gifts God has placed within her.
The Gift of Radical Hospitality
We forget sometimes that Jesus too came as a baby and as a stranger into the midst of his family and community. And he was an unwanted baby to many, born to an unwed mother, outside the bonds of convention and acceptability. Yet he was welcomed by his mother Mary with great excitement and delight. And he was welcomed by Joseph as a part of his family too. They seem to have extended generous hospitality to him, made room in both their hearts and their home for him.
Then while he was still an infant, he becomes the welcomer to those who are most despised in his community – to the shepherds and the gentile magi. Once again Mary and Joseph and probably his extended family, make room for the strangers that come to meet this baby. What an incredible model of hospitality we see even here in the birth of this child.
What if we read life with the belief that all are welcome at God’s table? What would it look like if I was willing to welcome every stranger as I welcome this child?
It did not occur to me until I was finished creating my garden that this is gay pride month and more than anything people in this movement long to hear the words of hospitality “all are welcome at my table.” They want to know that though they may be strangers we are willing to sit down and invite them to become friends, we are willing to embrace and listen to them rather than criticize and reject them.
It is the same for refugees and immigrants, for the homeless and those of different races and creeds, so many of whom have also travelled long distances in the hope of welcome. There are so many who are strangers in our midst that are waiting for us to sit down and invite them to become friends, just as we have invited little Lucy and her parents into our home and invited her to become a friend.
How did you respond to the last newborn infant you were introduced too? What feelings and emotions welled up within you? …. What changes in behavior were you willing to make in order to get to understand this child, accommodate its needs, help it feel welcome in your home?
Now think about the last time you met a stranger – perhaps a homeless person on the street or a new member at your church. How did you welcome them as you would welcome a child? In what ways did you endeavor to turn this stranger into a friend? The Gift of Wonder 189
One of the hallmarks of Jesus’ life was radical hospitality. He repeatedly invited outcasts, and the despised, Gentiles and Jews alike to eat together at his table. His guiding precept is “God is love and I will extend that love to everyone who comes.”
A New Testament theologian once told me that he believed Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus was one of the creedal statements of the early church.
What if that is true? What if we all are one in Christ in spite of our differences?
Yesterday I came across this beautiful poem by Native American poet laureate Joy Harjo. It is a great one to read as we reflect on our differences and the place that hospitality can play in helping us to see the world and those who inhabit it differently.
Perhaps the World Ends Here:
The world begins at the kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of the earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and will go on. (Read entire poem here)
I think that is what the banquet table of the kingdom is all about. It is a place of radical hospitality to which all are invited and at which all are welcome. It is a place where all can sit down and talk about their differences, not with judgement but with love. Not seeking to convert others to their viewpoint, but seeking for understanding and acceptance of those who think differently. What do you think?
By Lilly Lewin
Sunflowers are my favorite flowers! I love tulips too, but there is something about the yellow brightness of a sunflower that always makes me smile. I lived in Northern California for four years, and there the freshness of the sunflowers amazed me. They were freshly cut at the farmer’s market and so unlike the kind I’d experienced in Ohio where they’d been picked, packed, and trucked cross country. I now paint them and have them scattered throughout my house. This week, I need the newness of a farmer’s market, northern California sunflower. The continued abuse of children and families on our southern border, the lack of compassion from our government ready to deport more people, the threats of war with Iran…all are despicable and make me depressed.
I need to be reminded that God is in control and Jesus invites me daily to trust that His love can heal and conquer the hatred and division around us. I want to be like the Sunflower and face Jesus and reflect his light! I don’t want to live in fear, or despair or bitterness because I cannot fix things. What about you? Are you in need of the Sunflower today? This reminded me of a prayer station I created a few years ago inspired by my friend Martha Vetter. God spoke to her through the many sunflowers, both living and dried up and dying, that she saw along the Way as she walked on pilgrimage on the Camino di Santiago.
Maybe you need to be a renewed by the Sunflower and the Son today.
Find a photo of a sunflower or go out and buy some to brighten your day.
Find some sunflower oil, or use some olive oil and allow Jesus to anoint you with His LOVE!
Create your own sunflowers in paint, crayons or even clay!
Give some some flowers to someone you know needs cheering up!
Here’s the Prayer Station:
Consider the Sunflower
Anoint yourself with Oil
God is choosing you! Creating you daily, just like the flowers . Consider the Sunflower!
REMEMBER: God, through Samuel, anointed David when he was only a shepherd boy. David had not even been invited to the gathering, he was out taking care of the sheep.
Yet God knew David, and God had already called David for God’s own. God had big plans for David and God has big plans for YOU!
“God spoke to me using the image of sunflowers. He told me “Stand tall like the sunflower. Be beautiful, bold and bright like the sunflower. Remember that the face of the sunflower always looks towards the sun. The oil from the seeds of the sunflower is a symbol to you of my anointing. And even when the seeds begin to die, remember that the birds of the air are nourished by these seeds.
It is THEN, during the dying process, that the seeds are able to provide life, not death.”
Martha Vetter while on on pilgrimage Cammino di Santiago di Compostela
Anoint yourself with sunflower oil
Picture Jesus touching you with his great love.
Allow God to hold you.
Allow God to heal the broken places of the week, the month, or even those places of loss and hurt of the last year.
Picture God anointing you for love, ministry & God’s service.
Allow God to call you again! Allow God anoint you for new things, new ministry, new places, new people. Allow the beauty of the sunflower to bring you joy, healing and hope!
Consider the Sunflower and bask in the Son and the Sun today, even if it’s just in a photograph!
this is an older post that i needed again this week!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
By Sue Duby —
“So what are you doing now?”… hmmm…letting it unfold. “So what’s the plan?” Hmmm…waiting on Him and paying attention. “So what does it feel like? Look like?” Hmm. . . that’s one to ponder further!
2 months ago, my husband and I crossed the line into the big “R” season… retirement. After 30 years in full time missions, we find ourselves poised, ready, wondering and adjusting our life lenses. A bit clueless how to walk forward, yet grabbing hold of hope that “R” stands for repurposing, revisioning, re-energizing and redirecting.
We grieved concluding a long season of wonder with Mercy Ships and Hope Force International. Sailing into Africa for the first time with the overwhelming sights, smells and sounds, only to leave our hearts behind with it’s people. Working as family with multiple nations and denominations and knowing Jesus would smile. Discovering pastoral hearts in caring for staff and crew. Standing speechless surveying a tornado ravaged neighborhood and realizing “just listening” to survivors powerfully speaks love. Still, God’s trail of indicators pointed to one truth…”It’s time to close the chapter”.
As in any big life moment. . . high school graduation, first job, a wedding, first child… one’s imagination scripts multiple scenarios. Most never unfold and the new reality brings just that… the NEW! And new requires reading life differently.
In our fresh journey, we’ve already discovered some foundational precepts to guide us along the way. In a great sense, this life change has almost forced us to read life differently, and though a sometimes-bumpy process, we wouldn’t trade the “old” for the richness unfolding. So far, these are some non-negotiables that are becoming signpost reminders along the way:
Be honest. I’m daily trying to put words to my feelings in this adventure. Without that exercise, I find I squirm through my days with confused irritation. For me, entering this new season is like
– Putting on a brand new outfit with fresh style, itchy fabric and a funny fit
– Sneaking out of school in the middle of the day to camp at a favorite coffee shop… sipping away with a vague fog of guilt
– Hiking on a twisting path, noticing beauty along the way, but struggling to see around the corner
Remember. Chuck and I now have a weekly coffee date to reflect. Flipping through years of “Duby Dateline” newsletters, we’re smiling and sighing together at the incredible adventures we’ve shared. Lessons, passions and principles to grab, record and set the next course. Fresh understanding of how God made us, what He’s packed inside and what “lights our fires”.
Pay attention. It’s almost as if God leaves tiny clues, whispers bits of vision, deposits words in my mind and people in my path… if I am paying attention each day. Knowing I’m often distracted, He is faithful and gentle to repeat the nudges!
After moaning to Chuck one morning about my empty calendar, I realized the previous week had filled with multiple phone calls, coffee dates and emails with younger and older friends. I turned to him and said, “Hmm, I think it might have something to do with women”. He just smiled.
Be bold. God nudges, but I still must grab hold of courage and take steps. With a brain bent on equation solving and puzzles, I’ve strangely felt words ready to bubble forth. My calendar now boasts a Tuesday date with my laptop, “just to write”. No agenda, no goal, no serious editing. Just write. I love crafts and flowers. Discovering a free online lesson in water color roses , I ran to buy supplies, tucked a table in the corner and voila…a mini art studio! I’m not sure what will “stick” for the long haul, but it feels delightful (and let’s be honest…. scary too) to try the new.
Allow life to be different. Don’t hold too tightly to the old form. Dare to dream. Dare to try. Listen to the whispers. Trust He will show you what He sees and in that, His steps will unfold.
By Rodney Marsh —
Don’t worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today….. I tell you not to worry about your life. Don’t worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food or clothing? (Jesus) …. Don’t worry about anything but pray about everything. (St Paul)
I work at a school and it is exam time! A season of increased anxiety. Worry time, usually. Exams and tests are designed to allow teachers to collect evidence of achievement and make “on-balance judgements” of a student’s level of achievement – “below, at or above the standard”. But they cause stress.
Exams make students vulnerable because they submit themselves to others’ judgements to decide whether we are “below, at or above the standard”. Wow! No wonder students feel anxious. Fear, stress and worry are natural responses to being judged as ‘adequate ‘or ‘inadequate’ or ‘more than adequate’. The result: pride and joy if students reach or exceed their own, or others’ expectations; or distress, feelings of inferiority when students fall short of their own or others’ expectations.
First, Jesus’ advice is don’t worry about the future. Worry is wasted emotion. Worry cannot change a future outcome. Jesus’ advice, “Don’t worry about tomorrow”. Corrie ten Boom elaborates what Jesus said, “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength – carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” So, I tell my students, in exam week, don’t waste your energy on worry. Your mental energy is needed for other tasks.
Second, trust in your own value. Then you won’t worry. Jesus told his listeners “Don’t worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear” or housing, work, health, a job, the future, the flu, Trump….. or exams. Why not? These things very real and relevant concerns. Jesus answer: You are loved, cared for, valued INDEPENDENT of the value judgements of success/failure, wealth/poverty, approval/disapproval, ability/disability fears/dreams etc. You are loved, valued, accepted, no matter what. Ultimately, Jesus was referring to trusting God’s love, but we all need the physical and emotional support and acceptance that comes from loving friends and family. When we have that we don’t need to worry.
Third, love and prayer are the best antidotes to anxiety, says St Paul. Not prayers like “HELP! I haven’t prepared at all for this judgement. Rescue me. NOW!” God answers such prayers by allowing the natural consequences of our action/inaction to ensue. However, when we understand prayer as entering into the presence of God and allowing ourselves to experience the self-acceptance that love brings, then worries fade. Our worries (fear of future failure, shame or catastrophe) will always fade when we accept we are OK as we are, where we are.
Both Paul and Jesus use a word for “worry” that describes distraction, fragmentation and disintegration. When we worry too much, we, literally, “fall apart”. Love and prayer are the ways we can protect the centre and be put back together in a season of worry. Only individuals can pray (for prayer is internal and a matter of the heart) but the context of love and practical concern for a friend or family member under pressure, can support the worrier to not fall apart in a ‘season of worry’. Perhaps it is no accident that the word for ‘worry’ that both Jesus and Paul used can also be used mean ‘to scatter, distribute’. With this meaning the word for ‘worry’ is also used to describe showing concern, compassion and care for others. So, to turn our worries into concern for others going through a similar trail (it’s called ‘loving your neighbour’), is the partner of prayer in helping the worry factor fade in our own and others’ lives.
What are some ways you are reading life differently this season without worry? An anti-morbid rumination practise you may want to try:
Sit still. Relax your body. Take three gentle, deep breaths and say, with each breath. “My heart is open. My life is filled with tenderness.” You do not have to believe. Just say it.
By Barbie Perks —
I am starting to settle in more from my last post, “Reading Life Differently In the Unknown.” Settling in has been a bit like when we were first married – in a new town, not really knowing anyone. For me, I have been waving my husband goodbye early in the morning, knowing I won’t see him again until early evening as his new office is 30 minutes’ drive out of town, depending on the traffic. And then the day looms ahead, and the question of how to fill it.
Back home I used to wish for free time, with no calls or commitments. I was kept busy with some office work, some church work, some volunteer work, some bible study and cell group preparation, a little handwork, some exercise and of course friends, pets, housework and gardening.
This past month I have focussed on getting around Iringa, and discovering where the shops are (they are all over!) and what they sell (each one specialises in a couple of items!) This has been my form of exercise – walking, looking around and taking everything in. The people are really friendly but the language barrier prevents any meaningful conversation happening.
Because I have no calls on my time, I can focus on doing things I would not normally be doing, like doing the washing and ironing on the same day☺; like thinking long and hard on what to cook for supper because that involves getting ingredients, making do with fewer utensils and a different kind of stove. Suddenly care and concern for my husband’s wellbeing has come to the top of the list again and he is revelling in it!
I’ve begun thinking about my relationship with the Lord, and how after so many years of walking with Him, serving Him in many different areas, both in church and out of church, maybe I have begun to take Him for granted. I haven’t focussed attention on Him as I used to do in those early years when I first came to salvation. Bible study slowly became more about preparation for leading others, than for personal insight and gain – although God was gracious and I had many special moments of insight and growth in the process.
In Revelation 2:2-3, Jesus tells the church in Ephesus that He knows all about their deeds, their hard work, and their perseverance, their good theology, their hardships and that they have not grown weary. It’s a great commendation and affirmation to know that Jesus sees all we do for Him and seems to appreciate it.
Yet all is not well, because in verse 4 Jesus drops a bombshell – He has something that He holds against them. He holds something against them!! That comes as a bit of a shock, and I read on to see that He says they have forsaken their first love. They are continuing to do the things they know to do, in faith and in obedience, but it no longer happens out of love. It has become a duty, part of what they do because they are believers. Somewhere along the way, the concentrated devotion has been diluted by the many areas of service they have become involved in. When I personalise this scripture I begin to realise how far I have drifted from that first love!
How do you repair a relationship when you discover someone holds something against you? There are times when you can go for a long time without knowing exactly what is wrong, you just know there is something wrong. And then you find out what it is. After the initial pain of discovery, you acknowledge your part in the problem, ask forgiveness, and begin to live with the awareness that this is a new journey, and hope that maybe it will be a much better, much deeper one than before. If the Holy Spirit gives me ears to hear, then I must listen!!
So I am feeling delighted and excited that I have this opportunity to come back to that personal devotion to Christ, to learn new things about Him and from Him, to look at life with fresh eyes and with a heart that is newly grateful for His grace and love. What are some ways you a reading life differently this summer that has brought you back to a deeper devotion and love to Jesus? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
by Christine Sine
Examining God’s doodles with an imaginative mind is a joyful spiritual practice in itself. I watch the river flow around a boulder and think “there are no obstacles in God’s world, just opportunities to choose a new path”. I see it overflow its banks and deposit its life-giving nutrients on the soil and I applaud that God loves to renew and refresh us with with physical and spiritual food. We run into problems only when we confine the river with lees and dams because we don’t want it to change directions. “How often, I wonder do I confine the river of God and try to build impenetrable barriers to its flow because I don’t want God to change my course?” (The Gift of Wonder 74)
This week I have had fun doodling. Some of you may remember that this is one of the practices I talk about in The Gift of Wonder . I was introduced to it by my good friend Kim Balke and I find it to be an inspirational way to look at life and the challenges I am facing from a different perspective. It is also a great stimulus to creativity and a way to open my heart and my soul to the movement the spirit of God.
Doodles begin with chaos
Doodle taking shape
I grabbed one of my gel pens and my art journal, closed my eyes, did a few deep breaths to relax myself and doodled with my left for about 15 seconds. When I opened my eyes I was a little frustrated with the image. My gel pen was obviously drying out a bit and the pattern was interrupted by blank spaces.
But as I stared at it God began to speak. “Like this image, your life is chaotic and messy at times, and even the lines of messiness aren’t clear. You fill in the lines and then add shape and color to bring out its beauty, just as I do in your life, and a little like I did when I created the earth and all that is in it“.
So I started to add color. My first line of dots looked like a question mark. Life’s uncertainties are always before us but sometimes we are more aware of them than of others. So many of my friends are facing uncertain situations at the moment, illness, job loss, life transitions and I want to be able to fix them, but they are not mine to fix.
Question: Are there places in your life that seem chaotic reigns and messiness reigns where God might be beginning a new creation in you?
What do we do with loose ends?
“But I don’t like loose ends” I reminded God, they speak of unfinished business, unfulfilled dreams, uncompleted tasks that nag at my brain and make me feel inadequate.
“Loose ends are a part of who we all are” God reminded me. “It’s only when you pull on them at the wrong time that they unravel.” Wow now that could keep my contemplative mind busy for the next week on it’s own.
Question: Are there things in your life that are unravelling because you have pulled on them at the wrong time or in the wrong way?
Out of chaos beauty can emerge
Out of chaos beauty can emerge
Now as I look at my completed doodle I am amazed at the beauty that has emerged. There is still a lot of blank space and my fingers itch to fill it in, but God prompts me to wait and sit in silence for a while. I think about my own life, admire the beauty that God has created out of the chaos and messiness, consider the blank spaces I still itch to see filled in and sit patiently(I hope) waiting for the Spirit to guide me into completeness. There is beauty in incompleteness. I am not finished with you yet. Be patient, allow the unfinished shapes to beckon you on to new adventures, new creativity, new revelation
Question: Where are the spaces in your life that you itched to see filled in but sense God is saying wait?
NOTE: The prayer above is part of the series Prayer Cards for the Day, available through the Godspace store.
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