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15 minute meditation

3/31/2019

Sometimes I can be rigid, but thankfully I can also be flexible. Today I decided that I don’t have to meditate for twenty minutes, just because ‘they’ say that’s the optimal length. ‘They’ also say that if you just have a minute, meditate for a minute. I have a friend who meditates for an hour.
This morning I set my timer for fifteen minutes instead of twenty, and that felt just about right. As I meditated I didn’t dwell on the time, nor did I sneak a look to see how many minutes I had left. I was more into the meditation itself, and was surprised when the timer went off.
Clearly there is no optimal length; try what works for you.

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Sandy Hook and being of service

3/27/2019

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Again I want to share what I just posted on acottagebythesea,net blog. And, as usual, I have added something more at the end.

The other day a parent whose child was killed in the Sandy Hook tragedy took his own life. So many thoughts and feeling sweep through my mind/body/spirit. I will share one.
     How dare I worry about my life! I’d better stop perseverating on the meaning of my life and start acknowledging all my good fortune. My faith tells me that my purpose is to be of service to others.
     This should be simple. It can be done in silence and solitude.

      The Christian faith is about service. Jesus tells us so through parables, direct teachings, and his own actions. Faith versus works has been debated throughout the centuries, but I need no debate here. If I don’t believe that my life purpose is to be of service, I have no faith. Although I’m mighty amiss at following through on this, my faith reminds me when I stray.
    Belief in God opens me to compassion for others. I can hardly imagine what this Sandy Hook parent was facing every day after his child died. I have no judgment. I do know, however, that I face a God who calls me to be of service.

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Infinity of God's creations

3/22/2019

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What follows is the post on my cottagebythese.net blog the other day. I want to add a comment about de Waals comment about the gratitude we ‘should’ feel when we take the time to look at God’s creation. Every little piece of lichen brings wonder at the infinity of creations. When I realize that I am one of those individual creations, I am filled with unspeakable gratitude, wonder and humility.

From time to time I write about being in the NOW; it’s one of the ways that helps me be conscious of silence and solitude. I’m pretty HDHD, although such a diagnosis was not “invented” when I was in school (very grateful for that), so I need all these little helps to keep my mind and body quiet and attentive.
     Esther de Wall, in an article in Weavings (July/August 2002), gives a marvelous suggestion of how to stay attentive to the moment:
     i carry with me a magnifying glass—nothing elaborate—one that I can put in a pocket or carry on a string around my neck. Then, whenever I can, I walk slowly and stop and look at whatever it may be, and I find a whole other world—in a leaf, in a small stone, in a twig. But it need not be outside. In my kitchen I enjoy the texture of an orange or the grains of a bowl of sugar.
       What a marvelous time I had with my magnifying glass on my walk yesterday. In rereading her article on my return home, she told me more:
     This is the practice of seeing with detachment—seeing without wanting to own or to possess. It is seeing with total attentiveness, with delight, with wonder, with love, and with reverence. Such a mode of seeing brings with it gratitude for the amazing ingenuity and generosity of a creator God—a God who gives us a world that is rich and filled with wonder.
    I can’t wait to go out today. Or, I can stay in the kitchen.

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Dwelling Places

3/20/2019

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Dwelling Place. A comforting word, a holy word. God dwelling in us and we in God. A home of comfort, safety, peace, hope, and love.
Here are a few scriptures call us to dwellings. I gathered them together for a 98 year old friend who recently called to my attention to the comfort of the word.

You who dwell in the shadow of the Most High,
Who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91:1

"You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O LORD, which You have made for Your dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.
Exodus 15:17

"I have surely built You a lofty house, A place for Your dwelling forever."
1 Kings 8:13

O LORD, I love the habitation of Your house And the place where Your glory dwells.
Psalm 26:8

Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks, At the mountain which God has desired for His abode? Surely the LORD will dwell there forever.
Psalm 68:16

"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have
told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:2

The people who were dwelling in darkness have seen a brilliant light; and on those who were dwelling in the region of the shadow of death, on them light has dawned."
Matt 4:16

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints or the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Psalm 84:12

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Faith, HOPE, love

3/18/2019

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The other day a friend told me he had little hope. In reflecting on our conversation, I realize that he has more hope for world peace than for his own inner peace. He works for justice and peace, but he can’t let go the wrongs that happened to him as a child.
     Faith, hope, and love. He is stuck on hope, the middle one, which is more active and comprehensible than faith. Can we have hope without faith? Probably not, because without faith, hope just floats about as a capricious whim.
    Love is the easiest to grasp. I love my family, my home, and my upcoming trip to Italy. But love without faith is also capricious, depending on how other people, material possessions, and situations effect me at a given moment. It is easy to grasp moments of hope and love when things are going well. But what about those times of distress, when they are overpowered by despair and fear?
    I want to tell my friend that if he pursues faith, hope and unconditional love will follow. But I can’t tell him how, other than to suggest what I and others have found helpful. The best I can do is listen to him and pray for him. Pray for God’s light and peace to shine on, through, and with him, whatever that might mean to him. I don’t know the details of his situation; in fact they can get in the way of my prayer. Let go, let God, is enough.

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Prayer walk~

3/13/2019

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This morning’s prayer walk, being in the moment.

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It's time to go~

3/9/2019

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I visited 93 year old Bob at the hospital last week. I sat holding his hand for about ten minutes. Then he spoke. He told me he didn’t want to keep me from my afternoon plans and would I please leave. Since it was hard to understand him, I reiterated what I thought he had told me and he said, “Yes, it’s time for you to go.” I told him I loved him, and left. He died twenty-four hours later. I wasn’t surprised.

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15 minute meditation

Sandy Hook and being of service

Infinity of God's creations

Dwelling Places

Faith, HOPE, love

Prayer walk~

It's time to go~

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