Slowing Down and Yielding to the Beautiful

I noticed the daylilies were in bloom this morning.  While googling "daylilies" because it is highlighted as misspelled in this post, I realized that they are edible.  That means that all three of these yellow flowers in my gardens are edible.  Kinda cool.

The Elizabeth Gilbert quote I included in the graphic I just found, and I love it!  It seemed to fit perfectly with my thoughts, as I yielded to absorb the beauty of the blooming yellows I found.

The Spiritual Discipline of Wonder

Beauty and the Five Senses from Three Bridges West on Vimeo.

The Next Best Thing to Being Next to the Ocean - YouTube and Google Chrome

For Christmas last year, our son and his family gave us a Google Chrome device.  Basically, it is a small thing that you plug into your TV so you can watch things from your computer on the TV screen.  We have used it with Netflix to watch movies, but yesterday I had the idea of putting up an ocean video from YouTube.

That may sound really corny, but it is amazing how just sitting, watching, and listening to a video can be a prayer practice.  The real ocean would be much better, but when that is not possible, a video can be the next best thing.

The weather here has been cool for this time of year and rainy.  The forecast this week calls for rain every day.  I like rain, but I am feeling the need for a little sunshine and warmth too.  Imagining being on a beach helps.  Meditation and prayer also helps calm my anxiousness.  There is something about the movement of the tide washing ashore that assures me of God's steady and non-ending love.  No matter how I feel, and no matter what the weather is like, I can rest in the presence of my Lord and Savior.


Here are some YouTube links for videos of nature and water:
The Shore Shown Above
Watching the Ocean from Above a Rocky Shore
Tropical Beach
Woodland Stream
Woodland Waterfall

My Word for 2014 - Adoration

For the last couple of years, I have chosen a word to ponder and focus on for the new year.  As I was looking at the faces of the angels in the painting--Adoration of the Christ Child by Carl Marr--that I posted yesterday, I decided that what I was seeing in those earnest little faces was not wanting but adoration.  They were not looking for something to happen, they were adoring what was right in front of them.

Therefore, I decided that my word for 2014 is "Adoration."

I invite you to choose a word for the new year as well.  As Christine Valters Paintner would say, it is often the word that chooses you.

(I would also highly recommend following Christine's blog--
Abbey of the Arts.)