Centering Prayer ...

Hidden God, ever present to me,

     may I now be present to you,

          attentive to your every word,

          attuned to you inspirations,

          alert to your touch.

Empty me that I may be filled with you alone.

A Prayer by Ms. Patricia B. Clark

Women's Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed, Nurtured, Celebrated

Centering Prayer by Thomas Keating ...

Nothing is more beautiful than the uniqueness that God has created.

You don't have to create the beauty - you’ve got the beauty.

You don't have to create the freedom - you’ve got it.

You don't have to create the image of God in you - you have it.

You don't have to win over God’s love - you have more than you know what to do with.

Thomas Keating, 'Centering Prayer,'
Heartfulness: Transformation in Christ

Remember who you are: An Ash Wednesday Meditation

When I was younger, I would pull out a map when I needed to go somewhere.  First, I looked for where I was.  Then I would look for where I wanted to be.  Then I would map out my route.  Then a few years later ... I found mapquest.  Then I had to know where I was by address and the address where I wanted to be and mapquest mapped out my journey for me.  Well, just a few months ago I got a GPS ... a global positioning system.  I still have to know where I am and where I want to be, but the lovely GPS lady tells me where I am and tell me every move to make on my way to where I want to be!  Well, traveling from one place to another has gotten a whole lot easier ... BUT ... you still need to know where you start in order to get where you are going.

As we begin our journey through the season of lent, we orient ourselves on Ash Wednesday. 
Who are we?  We are dust … we are nothing ... but dust! 

Perhaps dust has no value in the eyes of the world.   In the world, your value is measured by what you do, how much you produce, how beautiful you are, what kind of car you drive or what kind of house you live in, how smart you are … OR how smart your kids are!  This is not the kind of value I am talking about …This is value the way the world sees it … 

In Matthew 6:6 Jesus says, "whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Regarding our spiritual life, Jesus tells us it is what you don’t see that is valuable … God sees “in secret” God sees what no one else sees … God sees who you really are … God loves you in spite of that … God loves you because of that … God sees the man or the woman that you were created to be from the dust … and in God’s eyes, even the dust has value … Because the dust has value … you have value!

The problem comes when we buy into the world’s view of value and we put a relative value on people, including ourselves.  We fall short when we fail to value people in the way God values people … we fall short when we begin to see people as commodities to be used and abused for our own good.   When we fail to value people the way God values people we fail to value God … this is when we tumble into sin … only by spending time with God in the secret can we begin to see what God sees, to value what God values and only by spending time with God in the secret can we come to love God above all other things and to love others as we love ourselves.  Only by spending time with God in the secret can we begin to see what sin truly is and how it destroys our lives and the lives of others.  

And the good news is that when we seek God’s forgiveness in Christ … we are forgiven.   And we begin again.  There is something very cyclical about the spiritual life … we live in an almost never-ending cycle of endings and beginnings. Today is Ash Wednesday.  It is a beginning … the beginning of Lent … a time of self-reflection and spiritual formation.

Are you ready to take your Lenten journey?  Well, pick up a map ... we need to know where are we!

I am dust and to dust I will return.

Dear ones ... remember who you are …  you are dust, and to dust you will return ... Amen.

Who dat?

Who dat?
Who dat say dey gonna beat dem saints?
Who dat?


Well friends ... I can't believe it!!!
They went all the way!!!


I'm missing all my friends in New Orleans ...
I know you be dancin ... o yeah!

Check out this video on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnkLfYk_ff8&feature=youtube_gdata

Pondering a quote from Howard Thurman

“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself.   It is the only true guide you will ever have.   And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.”

Howard Thurman, theologian and civil rights leader

How can one hear the "sound of the genuine" in oneself if not to spend time in the silence until the voices of the world are banished from the consciousness.   Sometimes it seems impossible.  The host of voices screaming and the plethora of strings pulling at the soul ... surely one must be strong not to give in to the constant barrage of relentless intrusion.  

These days I find I have not the strength to do it ... pray with me, dear friends, as I enter into the silence seeking the "sound of the genuine" with this breath prayer from Luke 5:5b ... breathing in "if you say so" breathing out "I will" 

Seagulls, Duckies, and Geese ... O My!

Here I am in Chicago and it's a little chilly ... Brrrr!  Actually at 28 degrees it is quite balmy today.   I am taking a 2-week intensive class on "missional preaching" at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL (a suburb of Chicago) which is nestled in the heart of Northwestern University.  Anyway, let me tell you about my adventure walking by the lake these last few days.

Beyond these trees is Lake Michigan

I could walk to see Lake Michigan ... maybe I will before I leave but it isn't nearly as interesting as this interior Lake on the campus where the beautiful koi fish swim in the summer ... did you know they'll survive as long as the lake isn't frozen solid?  The first day I was amazed at the seagulls gathered on the ice!

Right next to where they are standing you can see behind them the only spot on the lake that isn't frozen ... I can only assume that there is some kind of warmth from the building that is close to the lake at that particular point.  So who do you think is splashing around in the water right beside them?

A community of mallard ducks!

Then next what should I see but the ducks getting curious and making their way up the bank of the Lake ...

And where should they go but a patch of muddy grassy close to the street ... ok, not sure why but they did this three days in a row.  It was lunchtime.  I wonder if they were looking for the food that we normally throw into the lake in the summer ...

He looks ...  

She looks ... 

I thought I had seen it all yet today ... a new set of friends joined the party.  Check this out!

 

Canadian Geese

I guess they are on their way south and decided to stop over.  I know you can't tell by these pictures but these guys are HUGE!  And maybe they were scary too for the poor ducks who didn't go to their muddy place today save one little brave mallard boy on his way!

These beautiful creatures have piqued my curiosity and made me laugh.  Some days they ignore me and some days they talk to me ... quack quack quack.  For sure they have kept me company.  These days when I have been on my own they have become my companions praising God.

St. Francis of Assisi is said to have preached to the birds ..."My brothers, birds, you should praise your Creator very much and always love him; he gave you feathers to clothe you, wings so that you can fly, and whatever else was necessary for you.  God made you noble among his creatures, and he gave you a home in the purity of the air..."   

St. Francis also said,  "Preach the gospel always, If necessary use words."   This week the birds have preached the gospel to me and they didn't have to say a word!

Thank you Brothers AND Sisters Birds ...

The God-Mother of Creativity

Ah, dear ones ... I cannot leave you with visions of murder in your minds!  The second part of the exercise from Julia Cameron's Vein of Gold is to "celebrate a creative champion."  These are the voices that encourage us and help us to see ourselves as our Creator sees us, made in the beautiful image of God.  These creative champions nurture our inner child through all of the ups and downs of life and help us reach our potential.  As I close my eyes to begin the creative process I think this story will be more sweet than funny ...

As my final encounter with the Emotion Policewoman left me exhausted I fell into a deep sleep and the cartoonish fantasyland transformed itself into dreamland as I slept ... and slept and slept some more.  It takes a long time to create dreamland with silk and gossamer strands into a sparkling scene.  Crystal clear splashes of living water dot the landscape of greenery and flowers of all different colors.

The gentle sound of the native american flute floats into my consciousness and I wake and rise to sway back and forth in the gentle breeze like a reed that bends but does not break.  Light floods my mind and I feel ... I feel!

Suddenly I am filled with a warmth I've not felt before and a hear a willowy whisper ... "How do you feel?"  O I feel ... understood.  I look for the voice but all I can see is the bright shining light of the sun ... the radiant rays dancing on the surface of the pools of water.  Who are you?  I am your God-Mother, dear one and I understand you. 

As I walk through the flowers, I feel her presence with me.  As I pause from my wandering and take a deep breath the light envelops me ... "How do you feel?  O I feel loved.  Where are you, God-Mother?  I am here, dear one and I love you.

Basking in the light of this strange and amazing love, I reach down to touch the velvety petals of sparkling pink flowers and marvel at their perfection.  She reaches out to embrace my being and I find strange desires welling up from within.  How do you feel?  O I feel like writing.  Why do I feel like writing, God-Mother?   Ahhhh ... because I created you to be a great writer and I have filled you with curiosity and a sense of wonder.  

It is so peaceful in dreamland!

The Creative Monster

As my Visionary Women small group has been studying Vein of Gold by Julia Cameron we are finding it difficult to move through because it is taking us deeper than we journeyed last year through the The Artist Way.  Of course it could be that the book is "deeper" or it could be we are "deeper" or it could be a combination of both ... Well, this week we "killed" the Creative Monster.  Cameron talks about the voices that reside in our minds that shame our inner child into avoiding the pain of our creativity.  In a split second, I could hear the creative monster from my past roar back into my consciousness ...that voice that just wouldn't let me feel what I felt ... the voice that made me suspect every emotion until I stopped feeling ... and creating!

Because I love to write I wrote into this exercise with abandon and malice!  Anyway the ladies laughed and begged me to make it a broadway play or write a novel ... ok so they just laughed till they cried and it went to my head.  I did promise to publish on the blog.  So I've cleaned it up for you (really I did) my esteemed readers ... please let me know if you laugh!

Ok you'll have to picture some kind of fantasy land ...

la la la la la la la la la la la ah there I am skipping down the yellow brick road -- wait I don't like yellow -- my road is bubble gum pink for joy and for laughter.  la la la la la la la la la la la ah there I am skipping down the pinky pink road -- ok so yellow brick road sounds better!


la la la la la la la la la la la ah  EEK! Ugliness jumps out in front of me ... "How do you feel?"  asks the Emotion Policewoman with a glint in her eye.  "I'm happy" is my joyous reply.  "HAPPY!  You can't possibly be happy." she sneers.  "Ten lashes with a dirty dishrag for you!" as she slaps me and runs.


la la la la la la la la la la la ah EEK!  There she is again that diabolical Emotion Policewoman.  "How do you feel?"  shrieks the Emotion Policewoman at the top of her ability.  "Well, I'm a little cold."  "COLD! You can't possibly be cold." she snaps.  "We are having a heatwave in your fantasy land today.  What's wrong with you don't you know your own mind?  Off with your jacket"  She dances away picking lint off my threads with her nose in the air.


la la la la la la la la la la la ah  EEK!  "I'm going to kill that Emotion Policewoman!"  I think as I jump to the stars.  "How do you feel?"  she clenchs her teeth and stamps her feet.  "Well dear woman, I am mad!"    Ha Ha Ha ... "you can't possible be mad ... I'm in your head ... you made me up.   You're crazy ... all right you are mad! stark-raving mad!  You are!  Ha ha ha ... Splat!


Off with your head, Emotion Policewoman.


How do I feel?  I feel good, na.na.na.na.na.na ... I knew that I would now!

Well, I feel better.  Do you have a creative monster lurking in the dark recesses of your mind ... refusing to allow you to express youself ... at least to yourself if no one else?  If so, why not try this silly little exercise and let your inner child poke some fun at you on the road to creative recovery!

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!