Happy Spring!

 

“A Seed Psalm”

 

Awaken, you buried seeds

Asleep in your earthen tombs!

Rise up with joy to break forth

The hard coffins of your shells!

 

Your Eastertime has come;

The song of the dove

Is heard over the softening land.

 

Awaken, seeds of holiness

Buried deep within me.

Rise up to fulfill your destiny

Whose time has come.

 

For sanctity is scribbled

Bold within my blood and brain.

Onward and beyond

Have I been called

Even before I felt the sun

Or knew the earth around me. 

 

May spring enchant the saint,

Shy and hesitant within me,

And set the rhythm for my sluggish feet

In a dance of holy yearning.”

~Ed Hays, “Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim”

 

St. Joseph...quiet humility

"Such was (Joseph's) intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said..."

Matthew 1:20

 

St. Joseph is the guy we can think about when we think we hear a call from God, but then question, "Seriously?" "Are you sure, God, because that seems to be a bit of a stretch!" God calls us to step outside of our comfort zones regularly. Sometimes it feels just too far afield and that's when we can look to St. Joseph. St. Joseph is the patron saint of the 180 degree turn-around. He was going to do one thing (marry Mary), then was going to do something else (divorce her quietly when she was with child, as they say) and finally, ended up doing something else again (took her into his home).  And all because he listened to the still, small voice of God through the angel.  He listened to God in his dreams and in his heart and that is a fabulous example for us!  Joseph doesn't say much...in fact, not a word in scripture. But, that quiet humility and faithfulness to God is what we can all learn from him.  Blessings on your St. Joseph's Day! Love, heidi

S-L-O-W-L-Y

"Above all, trust in the slow work of God..."

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

 

This seems to be a real theme for me right now.  (I have the poem, in its entirety, below).  It seems that part of me lives in the future and I can get so impatient about the wheels turning so slowly!  I want to get to "there" so much faster than I seem to be going.  One example is the Spiritual Direction course I'm taking.  It's a two year program, we just started the second year and I'm thinking too far ahead of where I am. Each time we meet is rich and wonderful. I will surely miss these gatherings and the beautiful exchange of ideas.  Challenging? Certainly! But that is the "slow work of God" in this poem.  We are slowly being formed, during class and during the months in between our time together.  The operative word being "slowly." God works in all of our lives and endeavors at God's speed. It may seem slow to us, but God knows that we need that much time.  Our slow movement of time is just a blip to God, in God's time.  So, today, this St. Patrick's Day, let's relish time and savor each moment.  God is working, diligently, in each minute we are given today.  Let's enjoy it!  Irish blessings on everyone! Love, heidi

Trust in the slow work of God...

“Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.”
―Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Awesome faith!

"Jesus said to him, 'You may go, your son will live.' The man believed what Jesus said to him and left."

John 4:50

 

I really gotta hand it to this guy.  I would struggle with just hearing Jesus say, "Go home, your son will live."  I would want Jesus to come with me for the healing and stay a couple of weeks afterward to make sure there is no relapse.  But that is my itty bitty faith, I guess.  This official trusted in Jesus' words, alone, and did what Jesus told him to do.  He started back for home in faith.  Awesome faith, that. I can only hope to have that kind of powerful faith one day!  Let's take the opportunity today to think back on times and events where Jesus reassured us and we believed him and carried on.  There may be more than we realize.  Jesus, I want to have this unshakeable faith in your words...please help me nourish my faith! Love, heidi