The beauty of a Christmas Cactus ...

O Lord, How Majestic is Your Name in all the Earth!

 

On the West Rim of the Grand Canyon close to the Hualapai Native American Ranch ... Guano Point

I was standing in a much "safer" place to take this picture but if you enlarge it you can see my loved ones ... Matt & Courtney and Katie at the top.  That's Joe climbing up to meet them! 

journey to a place called wholeness ...

why bother to take the journey?  i know not why ... it is simply compelling.  i can't ... not go!  for i know the journey's end, whatever that is, if it is ... will be worth the pain of finding all the fragments of memories and experiences to include in my consciousness.  the call to wholeness deep within cannot be denied.  the sound in the silence cannot be ignored.  i am part of something larger, greater ... an intricate mosaic of God's own making.         breathe in breathe out ... come Spirit come

this is the question i carry into my day ... what is it i carry in the pack on my back ... that weighs me down and keeps me a heap of pieces scattered along the stony path to wholeness ... ?  

a man called Jesus once said ... come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and i will give you rest ... how can something that sounds so easy be so hard?

Advent Wisdom from Thomas Merton

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:5

We are supposed to be the light of the world.  We are supposed to be a light to ourselves and to others.  That may well be what accounts for the fact that the world is in darkness!  What then is meant by the light of Christ in our lives?  What is meant by "holiness?"

If we are called by God to holiness of life, and if holiness is beyond our natural power to achieve (which it certainly is) then it follows that God must give us the light, the strength, and the courage to fulfill the task.

   Thomas Merton, Life and Holiness

I use this prayer from Companions in Christ as a communal acknowledgment of God's sustaining presence:     
Light of Christ, shine on our path and lead us to the heart of God! 

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

in Houston, Texas

OK ... I lived in Calgary, Alberta for a couple of years in the 90's so I realize that it doesn't seem like a winter wonderland but around here the white stuff on my boxwoods and indian hawthorne is amazing!  I haven't seen it in awhile, but I think it is SNOW!  The average temperature for December 4 in Houston is a balmy 67 degrees.  So at 34 degrees I am sitting here feeling as if I just crawled into a deep freeze!  It is all relative ...

Secrets of the Spiral Staircase

 

Sometimes you find a picture that strikes you so deep in your soul that it captivates you for a very long time.  That is the way I felt with this one ... so I sat with it awhile and I drew my own interpretation of it ... I didn't try to duplicate it ... I just tried to let it inspire me ... then I wrote poetry with it and let it speak to me.

Secrets of Spiral Staircase

Round and round I go up the stairs
Round and round I go down the stairs

Round and round I go one step up
up to the sun
Sharp blades of light
A golden explosion
I’m blinded by the light

Round and round I go one step down
down in the dark
Mystery and pain
I’m blinded by the night

Fingers of madness tickling my mind
I’m stuck in the middle
Of my own spiral staircase 

Can't go up

No solace in the light

Can't go down
No comfort in the dark

O my soul ... I'm trapped
round and round I go

falling into the Heart of God
© 2008 Cindy Foster Serio & revised 2009

Advent Wisdom from Henri Nouwen

Prepare the Way of the Lord ... Pere Thomas keeps telling us in his sermons that the days before Christmas must be days of deep prayer to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ.  We must be really ready to receive him.  Christ wants to be born in us, but we must be open, willing, receptive, and truly welcoming.  To become that way we have Advent ... This morning I thought the day was completely free and open for prayer.  Now it is evening, and I don't know where the time went.  Somehow the externals of Christmas -- presents, decorations, short visits -- took over the day and drained away like water through a poorly built dike.  How hard it is to remember ... the difference between the urgent and important!

 Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak

A Prayer for the Day:  O come, O come Emmanuel, God with us ... Fill me with longing for prayerful solitude so that I might find in my heart the holy space where you are born within me each day.  Help me be open and receptive to your presence so I am able to remember what is truly important.  Amen.