Monday, January 26, 2015

Week of Jan. 11 devotional points to consider

Sunday-Ps.29 may well come from another religion and adapted to fit the god of Israel. It is a hymn to god and creation’s power.I wish to highlight its boldness in belief that Israel could take any good prayer and apply it to their God. Our faith is secure enough to find the good and adapt to to our faith without fear, as we believe in a universal God.

Monday-Dwell invites me to make a home, to remain here for a long while, and to deepen into the stories of this place, making them a part of me... What do I want to dwell in? How do I choose to inhabit my days?  Dwell asks me to not to linger in resentment, anxiety, or anger, which have occasionally been some of the shadows lurking inside me these last few months. Dwell asks me to choose joy, possibility, and paradox.Abbey of the Arts

Tuesday-. The flight attendant comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" I dreamed of Italy." -go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language..It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around..... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had in Italy .you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.-To some degree, every love in life lands us in Holland, no matter where we thought we were going when we boarded the plane. ..appreciate the reality,rather than to pine for another destination. Michael Jinkins

Wednesday-Lord, let me not only fall down before you in all humility, and worship you with the Magi, but allow me, I beg you, to take you in my arms, like Simeon.  And not only take you in my arms, but to hold you in my bosom, and to lodge you in my heart . . . Let me live in you, let me die in you, let me dwell eternally with you.  For my eyes have seen your salvation.  -- Charles Drelincourt, 1595-1669

Thursday-To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.-Arundhati Roy

Friday-We look with uncertainty/ beyond the old choices for clear-cut answers
to a softer, more permeable aliveness/ which is every moment/ at the brink of death;
for something new is being born in us/ if we but let it./ We stand at a new doorway,
awaiting that which comes.../ daring to be human creatures,/ vulnerable to the beauty of existence. Learning to love. Anne Hillman

Saturday-"I know now that true charity consists in bearing all of our neighbors’ defects—not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues."– St. Therese of Lisieux


 

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