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.

Creative Prayer Journal - Our Loved Ones in Heaven, Pray for Us

Putzing and praying around the house this morning, I felt the urge to sit down and create this.  I have not done very much with my prayer/art journal, but having a visual of what I ways pondering and praying was very helpful to me.

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the needs for prayer right now.  Thinking of all of those who I know are praying too, brings me comfort.  Then, the idea occurred to me that there are some special people I love in heaven that I can ask to help pray came to me.

Maura, Mary, Grandpa Luthard, Grandma Ada, Grandma Sophia, and Loretta - pray for us.  Amen.

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

What Keeps Me From God?

I always consider Lent a time to reassess my relationship with God.  It is a time of new beginnings for me.  It is a time when, as the Benedictines say "Always, we begin again."  (However, with the Benedictine Rule, that is a saying that applies to every moment of life.)

Sometimes I feel that I am asking God to forgive me for the same things over and over again.  Sometimes I even decide that I am going to give up and not even ask.  I am sick of myself, and I figure that God must be sick of me too.

Reading this book, The Willpower Instinct, has helped me look at my unwanted ways in a new light.  By understanding how and why my brain says and responds to the statements--"I will," "I won't," and "I want"--I am better able to see how I can control my temptations.

As I mentioned in my last post, listening to an audio book has presented me with a few challenges in itself.  I realize that I am most definitely a visual learner.  Listening is really a challenge to me!

At first, I tried to scribble down a few messy notes while listening and walking on the treadmill.  I soon realized that why I was writing something down, I was missing what was being said next.  My penmanship was also lacking.  (It is hard to write when you are walking.)

I know that I am missing things by choosing to listen to the book in the audio format on the treadmill, but I know that I am not only exercising my body.  I am exercising the audio portion of my brain, which needs some help.  After I finish the book in the audio format, I plan to read it as well.

A Photograph Prayer

A Facebook friend of mine shared this post from The Episcopal Church page today.  I loved not only the words of the prayer, but how the photograph seemed to speak the same words.

Prayer Stones

I am creating a little pile of prayer stones in the window above my kitchen sink.  So many times I intend to pray for someone, but I simply forget.  On each of the rocks, I am going to write the name of someone I want to pray for.  As I stand in front of my kitchen sink at some point every day, I thought it was a good place to put them.

Another thought I have had is to carry around one of the stones in my pocket if I want to keep someone specially close in prayer.

It is very possible that the window ledge will get full.  In that case, I will transfer them to a bowl or basket.

Eagerly Wanting to Adore Christ

Closeup Detail from Adoring the Christ Child by Carl Von Marr

Over Advent I thought about what it would really mean if I waited with earnest for Christ to come.  Have I become complacent?  Do I even believe it will really happen?  Have I simply given up waiting?

Now, during Christmas, I am pondering what it would feel like to experience the awe of the second coming of Christ.  Can I even wrap my mind around it?  Do I dare dream about it--expect it?  Do I dare stretch on my tiptoes to eagerly watch for it?

"Want" and "expectation" have become negative words to many who have developed the practice of mindfulness in their lives.  Is there a place for them?  How does "want" differ from "hope"?

Digital Liturgy of the Hours App for Smart Phones and Tablets

Today I noticed that the Divine Office Facebook page was still offering 25% off their Liturgy of the Hours App.

For those who are not familiar with the practice of praying the Liturgy of the Hours, Wikipedia has a helpful overview.  

Waiting for the Coming of the Messiah - Waiting for the Messiah to Come Again

On this dreary day, with the rain and temperatures falling, I am finding that sometimes a little candlelight during the day time can be just as special as candlelight at night.

I am glad I can light the Advent wreath any time of the day, and I do not have to wait until the evening to light the menorah.

Come, Lord Jesus

A Christian Menorah: The Fifth Night

Tonight is the fifth night of Chanukah and today is also the beginning of the Advent Season.  I do have an Advent wreath, but after lighting the menorah after sundown for five nights, I can see something that often gets missed with the Advent wreath tradition.  The Advent wreath can be lit anytime of the day or night, but there is something special about candlelight after dark.

As someone who is not particular fond of all of the darkness we have here in the Northern Hemisphere right now, I long for daylight.  That is probably why one of my favorite bible verse this time of year is the following:

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

May I long for Christ as much as I long for daylight.  Amen

A Christian Menorah: The Fourth Night

My previous post sent me looking up the words "Shabbat Candle."  I knew "Shabbat" meant Sabbath, but I did not know about the tradition of lighting the Sabbath Candle every week.  (This is separate from Chanukah.)

Apparently, the timing of the lighting the Shabbat candle is very important.  There are even websites dedicated to stating the proper time depending on where you are on a specific date anywhere in the world.  The proper time is eighteen minutes before sundown on Friday night.  Once the Shabbat candles are lit, the Sabbath begins, and it does not end until sundown the following day.

There is much more to the tradition, and it is quite meaningful.  So, I will definitely write more about it in the future.

Until then, I found this article particularly enlightening - Shabbat Candles: Shedding light on the day of rest.

A Christian Menorah: The Third Night

I am cheating a bit tonight and posting my intended post for last night tonight.

The center candle on the menorah is called the Shamash candle.  It is the first candle lit, and the one that lights all of the other eight Chanukah candles.  (Note: This is not really possible to do with votive candles, so I had to improvise.  Now I know why traditional menorahs use taper candles.)

Shamash and Shabbat candles are two different things.  However, because the Sabbath began yesterday and it was also Chanukah, people of Jewish faith lit candles for more than one ceremonial tradition.

This was one of the posts from Chabad.org yesterday, which I follow on Facebook:

Shabbat candles are lit inside our home.  By contrast Chanukah's candles have to light up the darkness of light, into the street. 

Shabbat candles bring light within, but the Chanukah lights go further, also transforming the darkness outside.

May Christ be our Shabbat candle that burns inside us.  And may we bring light to everyone we meet.

Amen.

A Christian Menorah: The Second Night

Does anyone else have a favorite musical version of a Psalm?  I do.  And unfortunately, when I try to find another one to take its place, nothing seems right.  The Lord is my Light and My Salvation (Psalm 27) by Gary Miles is like no other to me.

I found an MP3 version, but it is only a very short sample.  It does not even include my favorite parts.  Still, it is the link I have decided to post for tonight.  Maybe you have another favorite version.  If you do, please post a link.

www.communityofcelebration.com/zen-cart/media/The_Lord_is_my_light_and_my_salvation.mp3

A Christian Menorah: The First Night

For the last couple of years, I have had a desire to follow the Jewish celebration of Chanukah by lighting a Menorah.  I am new to the practice, so I had to do a little reading on the tradition.

One thing that I thought was interesting and significant with the songs that have been going through my mind tonight is that a menorah is lit from right to left, like one reads Hebrew.  However, when a menorah is placed in a window, it should be lit for whoever is outside.  That means it is left to right from the inside.

That is meaningful to me as I think about, and pray for all those outside my house at the moment.  As Chanukah coincides with Thanksgiving this year, I remember and pray for all those in need and at the same time thank God for all I have been given.

Above is a list of the songs that I have found meaningful this first night.  Below are a couple links to a website that I found helpful.
www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Winter_Holidays/Chanukah/chanukah.html
www.hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Holiday_Blessings/Chanukah_Blessings/chanukah_blessings.html

A Visual Prayer - The Light that Darkness Could Not Overcome

The Day by Victo Ngai

I spent some time with this piece of art today, and I could not help but thinking--(Jesus) the Light that darkness could not overcome…  In these dark days, when the sun has already set by dinnertime, I feel like I need that assurance more than ever.

A Blessing for the Senses

Visual Prayer Using Orthodox Icons

Above is the oldest known icon of Christ (Christ Pantocrator).

6th Century

Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai, Egypt

"One of the odd things that has happened to prayer in much of Western Christianity — in some churches with the Reformation, in others more recently — has been the drastic erosion of the physical dimension of spiritual life.  Prayer has become mainly an activity of the head.  Many of us have become like birds trying to fly with one wing. Icons can help us grow back the missing wing, the physical aspect of prayer."  Praying with Icons from the Eastern Orthodox Tradition by Jim Forest

A Visual Prayer - In the Shadow of Your Wings

In the Shadow of Your Wings

by Daniel Gerhartz

Daniel Gerhartz a renowned Wisconsin artist.