Category: Gift

Jesus loves you from the beach~

2/19/2014

Yesterday, between snow storms, I walked the beach. High tide was waving in so the expanse of sand was limited. But never too limited for treasure. The day’s treasure was a rock with “Romans 6:23” written on it. I pick it up, turned it over and there it was, the Sunday school message that lasts a lifetime: “Jesus loves you.”

The beach was empty of people except for a couple way up at the end; maybe they had just left the rock, for it was clean and un-weathered. I put it in my pocket and headed home to open my Bible. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Probably not the scripture I would have chosen. Um, maybe just the scripture I should prayer on.

This rock is not mine to keep. It will sit with me here at the cottage for a few days and then I’ll return it to the beach. Maybe I’ll paint my own rock to leave about, but for now, this one is enough.

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Gift of solitude~

7/25/2013

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This morning as I read this meditation on solitude by Henri Nouwen, it occurred to me that I often treat solitude as a goal, and end in itself, not as a gift that leads to a greater purpose beyond me.

In solitude we can slowly unmask the illusion of our possessiveness and discover in the center of our own self that we are not what we can conquer, but what is given to us. In solitude we can listen to the voice of him who spoke to us before we could speak a word, who healed us before we could make any gesture to help, who set us free long before we could free others, and who loved us long before we could give love to anyone. It is in this solitude that we discover that being is more important than having, and that we are worth more than the result of our efforts. In solitude we discover that our life is not a possession to be defended, but a gift to be shared. It’s there we recognize that the healing words we speak are not just our own, but are given to us; that the love we can express is part of a greater love; and that the new life we bring forth is not a property to cling to, but a gift to be received.

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Smiling God's love~

6/20/2013

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Yesterday I visited a newborn. Yes, only 6 days old. Perfect in every way. I was reminded of a paper I wrote in divinity school for a Christian education class. The essence was that our task for the first nine or so months of a child’s life is to smile God’s love on him/her. Until we have to say no, until the child starts exerting herself, until he starts finding dangerous objects to put in his mouth, there is no need for reprimand.

Isn’t this wonderful? Of course there is the changing, the feeding, the rocking, the keeping the child safe--all the parental/care-giver jobs. But for many of us, our job is just to smile. It’s natural to smile at the babies I know, such as the little guy I visited yesterday, but what about the babies I meet on my walk, or pass in the super market? I don’t know them or their parents, but I do know God. I know that God is loving and that we are made in God’s imagine. I know that I can smile love at a baby and before I know it, she will smile love back.

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Life is a gift~

1/16/2012

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I’m reading Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer: An Approach to Life in Fullness, by Brother David Steindl-Rast. Life is a gift from God. Easy to accept, easy that is when I hear the news of a friend’s successful surgery: easy when I think of my mom’s grace-filled 101 years: easy when I watch the glistening rays of the sun on the water. But what about those turbulent times? Where is the gift when chemo fails, when a life short-lived ends in tragedy, when the storm destroys? Those are opportunities to keep faithful in the mystery, to be hopeful in things unseen, and to find God through charity. It’s a challenge; I have to keep believing in the gift and the giver.

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Jesus loves you from the beach~

Gift of solitude~

Smiling God's love~

Life is a gift~

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