by Sue Duby
After hearty agreement that we didn’t feel like our normal Sunday hike, Chuck and I tossed aside our mutual guilt and headed to Starbucks. Settled in comfy chairs, sipping our coffee in the sunshine, we both fixed our eyes on the same scene.
4 young teenage girls, happily light-stepping it to their car. All in a row. Matching strides that kept them in sync. All in summer dresses, all the same length. All with long, straight locks cascading past their shoulders. All holding “Grande” sized cups in their right hands. Beautiful. Yet something inside me wanted to gently whisper their way, “You don’t have to look the same. You’re one of a kind. Just celebrate you!”.
A few days later, I found myself on a quiet back porch, again in a comfy chair sipping coffee. This time, solo, on my 3 day “silent retreat” (not difficult to master the “silent” part, when nobody else is around!).
I soaked in the solitude, listened and observed. A symphony of sounds echoed through the forest behind, back and forth across the landscape. Whistles. Caws. Squawks. Chatter. Squeaks. Tweets. Not one of them the same. Cries from chickadees, cardinals, robins, blue jays and more. So many shapes, sizes and voices.
Then, my eyes fixed upon the forest. A prickly kind of fir tree boasted dusty green needles and brown threads of disease. A thick flush of lime green leaves, bigger than my hands, waved in the breeze just down the hill. A tall, slender, “looking dead” trunk, sported a solo, bushy green “topper” 60 feet up. Much like a shorn poodle with a curly head! Another bare one seemed to cry out, “I’ve had a rough winter!”. Yet, a bundle of fresh green leaves at the base whispered, “I’m going to make it!”.
So many differences. Anywhere we look. Any focus, whether it’s people, birds or trees. All part of His handiwork. His craftsmanship. His way of reminding us, “Unique is to be treasured”.
I found myself smiling, with a nudge to pause and ask, “What makes me unique?”. So, I took the challenge.
- I have curly hair. Only discovered in my 60’s (life could have been so much easier!!!) No more curling iron, brushes, rollers, or “tools of the week”! Just a weekly wash, quick dry, fluff with my fingers and I’m off to face the day.
- I’m a black and white girl, love following rules, drive for clear answers and delight in solving puzzles. At the same time, I’m creative. Get restless with the “same old” anything. Love exploring without agenda. “Free flow” beats a scripted list of activities any day!
- My big toes are big. Chuck says, “Those are dangerous!”. Watch out if I accidentally bump you with one. I just smile and say, “Thank you Dad!” (his were even worse).
- I’m the oldest in a family of all boy cousins on my Dad’s side. Torture on holiday celebrations, shifting between the boring grownups in the living room and the wild, screaming boys in the basement!
- I love simple. Explaining algebra in a way that lights up a student’s face. Continually removing clutter from any room. Serving the same “chicken in a dish with everything” for any guests (shhh…. Don’t tell!).
Unique means “being the only one”. “Being without like or equal”. “Being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else.”
We most often think of ourselves as “unique” to mean “different”. And that “D” word seems to carry a negative vibe. Different, when I want to be like others or change the parts that are mine alone. The truth is, we each ARE unique. His plan, not ours. An unchangeable fact.
Thank goodness!! How dull and boring life would be, if we actually were all alike. No variation. No interesting qualities that would draw us to be friends. No differences to share in community, making a masterful, “only He could do it”, vibrant whole.
Remembering the tapestry of friends I’ve met across the globe, my heart bursts. All different in so many ways. All special. All a wonder. All unique. I am not like a one of them, and yet, a valued part of the whole.
Everything God created is good, and to be received with thanks. Nothing is to be sneered at and thrown out.
I Timothy 4:4 MSG
We know that all creation is beautiful to God and there is nothing to be refused if it is received with gratitude.
I Timothy 4:4 TPT
We are His creation. Formed and fashioned with care, purpose and love. No mistakes in the process. All bringing pleasure to Him.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14 NIV
I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex!
Everything you so is marvelously breathtaking.
It simply amazes me to think about it!
Psalm 139:14 TPT
May we ponder and celebrate the many ways we each display His unique handiwork. May we embrace with joy and thanksgiving, His good, delightful and treasured creation in each of us.
Did you know that alongside Christine Sine’s book The Gift of Wonder, we have many resources available to you? The free downloadable bonus packet or beautiful prayer cards featuring prayers from the book, for example – something to hold and behold! Or perhaps you’d like to journey through the book alongside a retreat – we have that too! You can check it all out in our shop!
It’s been quite a weekend. Sunday on the liturgical calendar was Trinity Sunday, and I went out looking at all the trinitarian symbols in my garden that remind me that the very nature of God is woven into the world around me. At the Mennonite Church we are now attending it is called Covenanting Sunday and this year I gave my resounding yes to the covenant they ask us to live by. Its as I said in my Meditation Monday: Covenanting for a Just Peace theologically we have been Anabaptists for a long time. It was just a matter of accepting the challenge and moving churches.
Saturday was also the full moon, known in this part of the country as the Strawberry Moon. Mary De Jong explains: “The name originates from North America, were native tribes associated the rising of the June Moon with the blossoming of berries. To the Algonquin tribes, June was synonymous with strawberries. The Farmer’s Almanac said: “At this time of year, when spring turns to summer and the flowers of May begin to fade, berries burst forth from bushes.” You might enjoy her wonderful Full Moon Wheel available as a free gift from her website. Wonderful to see our strawberries thriving too. It reminds me of the post I wrote a couple of years ago about strawberries, which as you know only produce for a short season. In Meditation Monday: The Gift of strawberries, I talked about this and what it means to produce fruit in season.
Last week I talked about the different designations I like to give the months of the year so that I know how to focus my spiritual practices. Interestingly there are many wheels, we can explore. As well as the Native American wheel Mary uses, there is the Chinese Lunar calendar and at least one for the southern hemisphere. Part of what I love about this concept is the recognition that the naming has local significance. It needs to be adapted whenever we move to another location. We all need that kind of flexibility to the way we adapt our spiritual focus and practices. I love the work that Mary De Jong does around this theme. You might like to check out her Wild Summer course.
The whole garden is thriving at the moment. We have 28 beautiful looking tomato plants in our new tomato enclosure, as well as several more scattered in pots throughout the garden. There is loads of lettuce, arugula, broccoli and radishes in our new raised beds and basil in my creatively improvised planters. This weekend I will plant squash and hopefully we will be ready for a bountiful summer. I must confess the wonder of the garden continues to distract me from work on Godspace and other projects I should be working, but I sense this is an important season in which I am meant to be delighting in the beauty of God’s creation and allowing it to refill my spirit and soul. There are a few things stirring in my imagination that I suspect will emerge by the end of the summer however.
fLast week’s post on Godspace were particularly inspiring for me. I loved Bethany Dearborn Hiser’s post Breath of Life, on the translation of the Lord’s prayer from Aramaic and Lilly Lewin’s Freerange Friday: Sitting down with the Trinity is also a must read, as is Jeannie Kendall’s Reflections on Ordinary Time and Ordinary Things. Probably the most profoundly impacting post for me this year was by our new writer Jenny Gehman on the Holy Host. It could have been called The Weeping Years, as she shares vulnerably from her own life and struggles.
This week I am reading two books that I am excited about. The tenth anniversary edition of Brene Brown’s The Gift of Imperfection is fascinating. I read the original book 10 years ago but very definitely need this refreshing new version, with lots of time to reflect on what I read. Lacy Finn Borgo’s Faith Like a Child is also worth a read. I feel it makes a good companion book to my own The Gift of Wonder. We have so much to learn from kids. This is an ongoing area of exploration and delight for me.
Whether you are looking forward to summer or to winter, I hope that this season is one of much delight and spiritual refreshment for you. My poem today is adapted from one I wrote several years ago that I call my strawberry poem and it seemed appropriate for the day.
God of abundant provision,
May we go out
Into your world,
And bear fruit,
Fit for the season,
In which it ripens.
Let us savour its flavor,
And enjoy its sweetness.
God of generosity,
May we go out
Into your world,
And bear fruit,
That will last,
As long as you intend it to.
Fruit that will nourish, sustain and grow us,
In the ways you created it to.
God may we go out
Into your world,
And bear fruit,
That will build your eternal world,
Of goodness and love and peace.
 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 Christine Sine
Yesterday was Covenanting Sunday at Seattle Mennonite Church which we are currently attending. For the first time I publicly offered my “yes” to their congregational covenant affirming my commitment to the church and its beliefs.
This was not an easy decision for me. Even though we have occasionally visited the Mennonite church over the last 30 years, our commitment, until last year was to our local Episcopal congregation. Moving pushed me outside my comfort zone. I loved the sanctuary at St Andrews which we attended for the last 15 years, and the liturgical worship which fed my soul. In some ways, however, I realize that my enjoyment of worship, without a sense of commitment to action made me complacent and satisfied in places that I should not have been.
Tom and I have always been more drawn to Anabaptist theology and its focus on living into the ways of Jesus. The core of the Anabaptist faith is that living as citizens of the kingdom of God by obeying New Testament commands (like those found in the Sermon on the Mount) is essential to the Christian faith; holding right beliefs is also important, but not as important as holy living.
Since I worked in the refugee camps in Thailand in the mid-1980s, and was given a book entitled From Saigon to Shalom, I have been attracted to the images of the shalom kingdom of God that is very much at the heart of Anabaptist theology. The result of my many years of study was my booklet Shalom and the Wholeness of God, though I continue to grow in my understanding of what God’s peaceable kingdom means and what it means to live today towards a just peace.
Attending the Seattle Mennonite Church over this last year has opened up new areas of understanding. I love that we recite a land acknowledgement at the beginning of each service. It is not just a statement of belief in the wrongness of how Native peoples have been treated,. It is an invitation to engage in the issue. I love too that we light a peace lamp each week and pray for a “just peace” for all peoples and for creation. I have learned too about the Coalition for Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery and the important work being done to overcome the patterns of oppression throughout history that still continue to dispossess Indigenous Peoples of their lands.
Standing up and committing to this covenant is a challenging though also enriching commitment for me. I hope that I will continue to grow and learn over the coming years. I hope you enjoy reading through the covenant I agreed to and the practices it encourages.
Congregational Covenant Seattle Mennonite Church
As an Anabaptist community of God’s people,
we at Seattle Mennonite Church receive with joy and humility
the mystery of God’s grace, truth and love.
In response to God’s initiation, we make this covenant
with God and with each other, to join in worship, praise, and service.
We affirm our faith in God, the source
of life and love, the Creator of the world.
We commit ourselves to follow Jesus Christ,
who reconciles and reveals God to us through the Holy Spirit.
We welcome God’s Spirit to transform, empower and guide us,
as together we discern and follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We pledge to care for each other, including our children, nurturing the gifts of each person,
and living towards just, nonviolent, and transformative relationships in community.
We renounce evil, both personal and corporate,
and join God’s plan for healing the earth, and bringing just peace to its people.
We accept God’s call to share the good news of transforming love,
and welcome others to faith in God and belonging
into Jesus Christ’s beloved community.
We encourage and pray for each other as we live out this covenant which gives us hope
for the time when God brings all of creation into wholeness
and an end to all suffering.
Affirmed at an SMC congregational meeting, March 22, 2015.
Congregational Practices – Seattle Mennonite Church
We believe our Covenant calls us to the following practices in this time and context:
1. Active participation in congregational life
a. Worship – God calls us to be the church together. We encourage participants to honor
their gifts for teaching, preaching, leading, responding, and otherwise contributing to
our corporate worship.
b. Discernment – members are encouraged to practice personal spiritual discernment in
order to faithfully contribute to discerning God’s will for the congregation.
c. Hospitality – members are called to care for each other through table fellowship,
sharing our lives and spiritual journeys, and ongoing prayer.
2. Ongoing spiritual transformation
a. Spiritual practices – in addition to participation in Sunday worship, we engage other
avenues of spiritual growth such as practicing spiritual disciplines; attending spiritual
retreats; meeting with a spiritual director; and regularly reviewing our stewardship of
time, money, gifts, and other facets of faithful living.
b. Spiritual formation of children – we seek to lead children to life in Christ through love,
care, formation in the Gospel of Jesus, and embodiment together of the Way.
c. Spiritual journey – we encourage each other to publicly claim and proclaim faith in God,
and we also grant each other the freedom necessary for searching and questioning.
d. Giving and receiving counsel – we believe we are not an island unto ourselves but need
the larger body of Christ for our mutual growth.
3. Acting on our commitment to the Gospel of Just Peace.
a. Relationships – our commitment to peacemaking begins with fostering healthy
relationships. We commit to practicing Christian love and faithfulness in our primary
relationships, supporting healthy marriages and families, and seeking reconciliation in
situations of brokenness.
b. Economics – continue to actively live out our calling to engage in God’s jubilee
economy.
c. Creation care – we commit to grow in understanding our impact on God’s creation, to
act to reduce the adverse effects of our actions, and to celebrate and support the rich
diversity of all creation.
d. Justice for oppressed people – we advocate for concerns local and global, act on our
biblical convictions against war / militarism and for particular presence and response to
the poor, to immigrants and to all who are dispossessed. We are a congregation which
actively seeks inclusion for our LGBTQ kin.
The points listed under each practice are not meant to define the totality of how we engage a particular
practice. They are meant to highlight key aspects of that practice to which members are committed.
Also, we intend for this list of practices to be periodically reviewed and for changes to be made as we
discern new ways in which God is calling us to faithful discipleship
by Bethany Hiser
I recently came across this Lord’s Prayer, translated from the Original Aramaic and I thought it quite powerful!
I invite you to take a few deep breaths before reading it, ground your feet on the floor, and read it slowly.
Prayer for Meditation
Lord’s Prayer (in Original Aramaic)
Abwûn Oh Thou, from whom the breath of life comes,
d’bwaschmâja who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.
Nethkâdasch schmach May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.
Têtê malkuthach. Your Heavenly Domain approaches.
Nehwê tzevjânach aikâna d’bwaschmâja af b’arha. Let Your will come true – in the universe (all that vibrates) just as on earth (that is material and dense).
Hawvlân lachma d’sûnkanân jaomâna. Give us wisdom (understanding, assistance) for our daily need,
Waschboklân chaubên wachtahên aikâna daf chnân schwoken l’chaijabên. detach the fetters of faults that bind us, (karma) like we let go the guilt of others.
Wela tachlân l’nesjuna Let us not be lost in superficial things (materialism, common temptations),
ela patzân min bischa. but let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true purpose.
Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l’ahlâm almîn. From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act, the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.
Amên. Sealed in trust, faith and truth. (I confirm with my entire being)
Notice how you feel.
What images or words stand out to you?
Repeat that word slowly to yourself, allowing it to become nourishment.
Engage with God, asking questions, inviting reflection on how this word is speaking to your life right now.
Inhale. Exhale.
As you have space, sit for a few minutes in silence.
Bethany Hiser
Bethany works as the Director of Soul Care for Northwest Family Life, and is the author of From Burned Out to Beloved: Soul Care for Wounded Healers. As a bilingual social worker, chaplain, and pastoral advocate, Hiser has worked in a variety of ministry and social service settings with people affected by addiction, sexual exploitation, incarceration, and immigration.
After experiencing her own burnout, she has become passionate about being a sort of spiritual midwife alongside other helping professionals, as they navigate secondary trauma, move toward groundedness, and uncover their belovedness. She weaves together various contemplative, inner healing, body-based reflections, and recovery tools in the sacred space of individual soul care appointments and workshops. You can find out more about her here https://www.
Bethany lives in San Diego with her husband, Kenny, and their two young daughters.
New resource! At Godspace, environmental issues and creation care are two things we are passionate about. This document is designed to help you make a positive impact on the environment. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of environmental issues facing our planet, but by taking small, simple steps, we can all make a difference! Click here to download today.
This weekend we celebrate Trinity Sunday on the liturgical calendar. The Sunday we celebrate the mystery and wonder of God in three persons. This follows right after Pentecost Sunday when the Holy Spirit is poured out on all people.
I have always felt like I understood Jesus. Once I knew you could have a relationship with the Son of God, I was in! Father God was harder because of my relationship with my dad who was a perfectionist and performer and I felt like God the Father was like that too. Expecting me to be perfect and perform just right. Thanks to lots of good therapy and learning more about the Father Jesus knew, I too learned to embrace Abba God. The Holy Spirit was the silent member of the Trinity in my childhood.
I grew up in a church where the Holy Spirit was the Holy Ghost of the Trinity. You never heard about or saw the Holy Spirit.. Then I went to college and was in a small group with lots of older students who alll had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and all believed in the gifts of the Spirit for today. Wow! My worldview was changed. But, not speaking in tongues myself meant that I wondered for a long while what was wrong with me and why I hadn’t had this experience? I prayed and prayed and pondered and pondered. Eventually I encountered the power and presence of the Spirit in the form of tongues. I even worked for a denomination that wanted you to confess that you believed that speaking in tongues was THE sign you’d been filled with the Spirit. Well, I signed it but I didn’t believe it. I know that we are all filled with God’s Spirit! God breathes God’s spirit into each of us! When we receive Jesus we start to notice this in a powerful way. And I know that for me there have been seasons when I have felt closer or more in touch with the power of the Holy Spirit than other times.
I need to be reminded of the power and mystery of the Trinity of God! And the relationship, the community of the Trinity!
We are not alone, ever! We are in the presence of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We are invited daily, hourly into that loving relationship!
We are invited to sit at the table and have a good cup of tea/coffee or a great glass of wine with the creator of the universe, the loving son and beautiful Spirit.
TRINITY Scott Erickson
What would it be like for you to sit down at this table today? To sit in relationship, in community, in the great love of God in three persons?
Which person of the Trinity do you need some healing with right now? Talk and pray about this with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Imagine the scene. Sit down with a cup of tea, wine, or coffee and receive the love of God today.
Drink in this love. Breathe in the healing power of the Spirit. Open your heart to a newness in this season of Pentecost.
Crow Trinity
“The law of God was written in stone, the incarnation of God was written in flesh, the movement of God was written in spirit. God isn’t content to live around you, God’s desire is to live in you! “ AJ Sherrill
“The Mystery of God as Trinity invites us into a dynamism, a flow, a relationship, a waterwheel of love. The Mystery says God is a verb much more than a noun. God as Trinity invites us into a participatory experience.” Richard Rohr
“Mystery doesn’t mean something you cannot understand. Mystery means something you can endlessly understand. You never can say ‘ I got it! “ There is always more, always more. True of any talk about the Holy Spirit.” RICHARD ROHR
John Giuliani Lakota Trinity w Red Winged Hawk
God be with you in every pass
Jesus be with you on every hill,
Spirit be with you in every stream,
Headland and ridge and moor.
Each sea and land, each path and meadow
Each lying down each rising up.
In the trough of the waves,
On the crest of the billows
Each step of the journey thou goest.
Gaelic Traditional Prayer
At present, as a mailing from Christine recently reminded us, we are in a season of ‘ordinary
time’. It is curious, isn’t it, how a phrase can start us on a train of thought and reflection in
which God can speak to us and challenge us? This simple phrase did that for me.
Here in the UK, it is exam season, and I have a part-time job as an invigilator, overseeing
exams in a secondary school for 11–18-year-olds. This is a surprisingly complex task with
several procedures to be carefully followed and with pupils who have, inevitably, varying
levels of engagement. It is also unexpectedly physically hard work, spending several hours at
a time on our feet walking up and down various rooms, some of which are quite humid and
uncomfortable at this time of year.
It would have been easy to simply grit my teeth, be grateful for the extra income, and wait
for the time to pass. In all honesty, at the start that was exactly what I did do. However,
thinking about ordinary time gave me another perspective. How could this task, so
mundane in some ways, be a way in which God reaches out with his hospitality?
Invigilation is not a role where you have contact with the young people, other than a smile
as they enter, checking IDs and collecting papers. Yet as I reflected, I realised even here
there is an opportunity to bless. Each session I invigilate, I find myself drawn to one or two
of the young people with an inner nudge to pray for them in silence as I continue my task. I
suspect many of them have no-one who ever prays for them. It feels an enormous privilege.
In addition, I remind myself regularly, through aching feet, that because the Spirit of Jesus
lives inside me, as in all believers, I take his presence, his fragrance, into every room in
which I work, and into every conversation with fellow invigilators.
There is nothing special about me. What is true of me is true of us all. Every one of our
mundane tasks in infused with the possibility for the Spirit of Jesus to be at work through us.
What an adventure that makes our everyday tasks!
Each Monday I write a blessing on my writing page on Facebook (Finding Our Voice, Held In
Your Bottle, Heroes or Villains). This was the first one I wrote, and it seems appropriate to
end the blog with it. The picture accompanying the blog, lest you be wondering what the
connection could possibly be, is a female mallard I saw in the sunshine yesterday. They are
often seen as very ordinary, even plain birds. Yet the ordinary can truly be beautiful.
God of the everyday
Thank you that you
Make no divide
Between ordinary
And extraordinary
May we be blessed
To see you in the mundane
And ordinary tasks
Which you have gifted us this day
Digging Deeper: The Art of Contemplative Gardening “My healing garden inspired by Digging Deeper has been a comfort to me in this time of transition.” – M Christine Sine’s latest book is packed full of contemplative wisdom and inspiration for creating your own meditative focus. Click for more details!
Doesn’t it seem strange that Easter is a season of 50 days, Christmas of 12 and Pentecost, celebrating the birth of the church only gets one day? The weeks on the liturgical calendar from now until the beginning of Advent are labelled “after Pentecost.
Ordinary time sounds so drab doesn’t it? However it helps to realize that “Ordinary” does not mean boring or mundane. The origin of the name Ordinary Time comes from the Latin word ordinalis, which means “numbered.” This is the season that is not named for a major feast. The weeks are numbered instead. It is meant to be the season when we are God’s people focus on our work out into the world. This is the time for mission, for compassion, for caring and sharing. This is the season when we show ourselves as the people of God with the values of peace and justice and love that are the hallmark of God’s kingdom.
Being the liturgical rebel that I am, I don’t like the idea of numbers so I give the months different names instead. A growing number of churches call the season from September 1st until St Francis Day (October 4th) Creation Time. After that I like to add a gratitude season from Canadian Thanksgiving ( second Monday of October) until American Thanksgiving (4th Thursday of November) However that leaves a gap between now and September 1st. For me personally June through August is the hospitality season. I also like to add pilgrimage to that, though it is more like a moveable feast depending on what else is on the calendar. I increasingly appreciate the U.S. observances of Womens’ History month, African American History month and now Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Gay Pride Month. Part of what I like about this is that it gives me a framework for spiritual practices that open my eyes to the diverse expressions of God’s presence in our world, strengthen my faith and equip me to go out into God’s world seeking for justice, showing love and sharing generously. What practices best prepare you for hospitality or pilgrimage? How do you practice gratitude? What about your concern for creation? I encourage you too, to name the coming months in ways that help you focus your spiritual practices so that you are fully equipped to engage in God’s world.
In yesterday’s Meditation Monday: Pentecost Has Come: I said: “One of the keys for me has been sitting down with people from other cultures and listening intently to what they say, then being prepared to change. My perspectives were disrupted by Native American and African American friends who have challenged me in life changing ways. My LBGTQIA friends educate me about the cultures of sexual orientation and how I need to change to accept them.
I see the story of Pentecost and this season beyond Pentecost as a time to view the world differently. I love the diversity of our Godspace authors who challenge us with fresh perspectives that stretch and reshape our faith. Lilly Lewin’s Freerange Friday: Go Back and Wait, written from Nashville, gives a very different look at Pentecost. I love her breath prayer suggestions for this celebration. Australian writer Rodney Marsh in his post Receive asks if we are takers or receivers, an important distinction to reflect on. James Amadon, writing from Washington state U.S. encourages us to look from altars in the world that fill us with awe and connect us to the “More” that lies within, behind, and beyond all things. Carol Dixon writing from the north of England fills us with the delight of her poetry about Ascension and Pentecost. Megan Bollen from Colorado provocatively writes about the Eco-Spiritual Practice of Picking Up Trash
Next Sunday is Trinity Sunday when we celebrate the triune nature of God. I talked about this last week, and reminded us of how important this was for Celtic Christians who embraced the Trinity as a family, and each human family unit (be it family, clan or tribe) was seen as an icon of the Trinity. Many of the Celtic prayers reflect this trinitarian nature.
I also mentioned that last year I walked around my garden photographing all the red flowers, to give me an extra boost of pentecostal fire. I then looked for tripartite flowers and leaves as symbols of the Trinity. I documented this in last year’s post Celebrating the Trinity Using Flowers. This reminder was all I needed to get out and do the practice again. I particularly love looking for tripartite leaves and flowers. The reminder that we are surrounded by so much that reflects the triune nature of God is an awesome and wonderful inspiration for all of us.
You may have noticed that I am once more trying to end these letters with a poem. This week’s is a little different as it was written to remind me that not all the ideas and thoughts that flit through my mind are meant to be shared. Sometimes they are like intimate love messages between my God and myself.
Sometimes words,
Flit through my mind,
Like the blowing wind,
Then pass beyond my grasp,
Leaving a fleeting moment
Of deep serenity,
A glow of God’s embracing love.
These words are not for sharing.
They touch my soul,
With an intimate caress
Like a kiss,
Of divine light and love.
Digging Deeper: The Art of Contemplative Gardening
“My healing garden inspired by Digging Deeper has been a comfort to me in this time of transition.” – M Christine Sine’s latest book is packed full of contemplative wisdom and inspiration for creating your own meditative focus. Click for more details!
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