Strengthened I Rise

It creeps on you

    this life

        this new world

it creeps until you can't ignore

    the unease

        the out of ordinary

it creeps and obscures

    the way the fog closes in and hides things

        usually seen.

Day by day, moment by moment, 

    we live our lives

    barely seeing the

    toll that is being paid

    somewhere, somehow.

I go to my knees

    depleted

        but knowing that the One True God,

        the one who knows all

        who sees all, 

    knows me

    sees me, 

I listen...

And She says, "Arise, child of mine,

for I give you strength of 

body and heart and soul.

Arise and step into this new day, 

this new moment, 

knowing I am with you, always.

Arise."

Based on Ephesians 3: 14-17

July 29, 2020

On the Veranda

On the veranda it is

almost normal ~ forgetting our isolation order

the birds singing their God given songs

the colors of the sky & trees, God created colors

just a gentle breeze Holy Spirit is that you come to visit

I feel an almost irresistible urge to pull out another chair for Jesus, move it away from the fire table, so he will have room for his legs

What are the birds singing I ask

Do you want some water? A glass of wine? Are you hungry? How long can you stay? (this is me ~  martha)

Why did God make the peacocks screech so?

I get no real answers,

but my heart is calmed ~ my anxiety at rest (this is me ~ mary)

He is with us. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, martha, mary ~ all are one

Little Stings

Preserve me from minding little stings or giving them.
   -From For Today prayer by Phillips Brooks, taken from Forward Day by Day

I read this prayer every morning, and for the last month or so this line has jumped out at me and taken root in my soul. Making me pay attention even when I really didn't want to. I was focused on the not "minding little stings," more than the "giving them." Trying not to listen to little stings aimed at me; to forgive when I felt them. I didn't really think about my giving them. Because I'm a nice person right? I try not to do or say those little stings that could hurt someone. This surely didn't mean me. But then something happened to make me look at this a little differently.

I was driving along, minding my own business, when the car in front of me suddenly slowed and turned right, causing me to hit my brakes rather hard and yell out, "Well, I guess that fancy, expensive BMW didn't come with turn signals." Rather benign, and they couldn't even hear me. So that's OK, right? I didn't give them a little sting. Agreed? And I'll admit here, between you and me... this wasn't the first time I've yelled this (or other snarky remarks) in my car. Or the first time I've muttered less than good things under my breath.

But this line kept coming into my head and I had a big realization. Yes, this is about giving little stings to others, in ways that cause them hurt. AND it is about the hurt and damage done to ourselves when we think them (or yell them inside our car). It is about the little stings we think about ourselves to ourselves.

It isn't just in the aloudness that hurt is done to others or to us. It is how we disrespect ourselves when we let that little sting into our hearts at all. It's how that seed of darkness and negativity takes root and then can run away with us - much more than we realize. Little stings can, well, sting. Little stings can grow big. Whether directed at others or at ourselves; by others or ourselves.

I pray, Preserve me from minding little stings or giving them. Yet, I am only human and in my humanity I will, in all likelihood, sling that little sting again. Being mindful is the first step in changing my heart. Repenting and asking for forgiveness is essential. Becoming the person God intends me to be means paying attention to my thoughts, as well as my words and actions - no matter which direction they are aimed.

So, to God, and the driver of the BMW, I ask for your Grace.

Faith to sustain

I used this quote from Bishop Edmond Lee Browning's book A Year of Days with the Book of Common Prayer for the Daily Inspiration on November 16, 2018:

"What we need is a faith that will sustain us when all evidence is to the contrary."

After the recent tragedies in Southern California - more violence/shootings, catastrophic wildfires & the ensuing loss of life and property, and all the other devastating events, it is easy for our faith to waver. To question where God is in the midst of all this. To feel hopeless.

But that is the wrong course. We cannot know the mind of God, nor know the "why" of any events that occur. It is in these times in our lives that we need to remember the goodness of God. And to look for it wherever we can. Always, always, after these terrible events there comes to light the stories of hope. Those people who give of themselves to help others, who risk themselves to save others, the miraculous survival. The media call these "human interest" stories and cover them almost as an afterthought. But they are so much more. They are found in every disaster. They are the best of us. They are the light in the darkness.

We cannot stop suffering in the world. We cannot heal this world. Yet we can be kind to one another, look out for one another, take time to really listen to one another, we can pray for one another. We can hold fast to our faith in a God that gave his own son for us. We can let our faith sustain us.

Bishop Browning closes the meditation with this,

Do we always feel our faith running briskly through our hearts? Maybe not. But like those holy women [the first at the tomb after Jesus had risen], we can keep right on walking and trusting in our God, and God will reward our trust."

Wise words for these times.

Walk with me. Walk in love. Walk in faith. Walk with God.


Note: I haven't written in a long time, letting the Daily Inspiration do all the talking & inspiring (see tab 2018 Daily Inspiration to the right). I'm drawn to write again, to share thoughts about God's presence in our lives and will be writing more regularly here. If you'd like to follow this blog, please sign up on the right. Please visit the God Speaks in the little things Facebook page also - link on the right.