A Call to Bloom

Posted on January 12, 2010 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Flowers by the side of the road

Thank You, God, for the beauty of simple things. And thank You, too, for the joy of sharing. This is my AT HOME day but I had gone out briefly, and was leisurely driving home on a back road when I saw these flowers by the side of the road.

So lovely, with the early morning light shining through them. And, isn’t that what YOU want of us — that we let Your Light shine through us.

Hmmm. I suppose that means we are to be out in the Light? Not stuck away in some gloomy cave — brooding over the unfairness of life? Ah, You caught me! A definite whiff of a judgmental spirit there. Yes, appreciation of what is, can go hand in hand with a deep desire to reduce the brutality of so much of our world. You BLESS People and Groups who fight sexual slavery — inhumane working conditions — starvation — illiteracy — hunger — polluted water — all the conditions that keep our fellow humans from blooming.

ALL THE CONDITIONS THAT KEEP OUR FELLOW HUMANS FROM BLOOMING? That sentence has set off a churning deep inside me — bringing up a hint of tears — an angst too extensive for words. It is as if You have let me share a nanodrop of YOUR SORROW at all those things that keep us from blooming. And they are everywhere, aren’t they. A chorus teacher who tells an eager young girl DON’T SING! A discouraging word, even just a failure to notice . . .

Yet, YOU have the power and desire to restore us! You CAN and WILL take garbage and turn it into fertilizer! Take us and turn us into flowers!

You call to us LOOK! LOOK AROUND YOU! NOTICE PEOPLE! HEAR THEM! LOVE THEM! LOVE AND BLOOM!

Yes, YES! Help us to HOPE and to HEAR and to LOVE and to BLOOM. Please.

Posted in beauty, blooming, both / and, Help me to see, Hope as a gift from God, Light, Light shining through, simple joys of daily life

The Sea Turtle and me

Posted on January 11, 2010 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Sea Turtle

There is something very special about inter species contact. You know, God, on Friday while I was swimming off of Sans Souci a turtle — just about this big — appeared almost underneath me. BIG SURPRISE! But after I had recovered I followed her — at a respectful distance — captivated. Fish are nice, but sea turtles are more like us. Is that why they are so fascinating?

I watched for several minutes and much to my surprise she came up to the surface to breathe seven or eight times. Most of the turtles I have followed seem to breathe maybe every two or three minutes. (I “checked” that on google and they can go much longer on a single breath.) Anyway, I had the feeling that the turtle had just “awakened” and was replenishing her air supply. Seeing her head lifting briefly out of the water was enchanting. . . and evocative.

It made me think about the ways I might be like a sea turtle. Is prayer time — or meditation time — the equivalent of a breath of air? Are we, like turtles in two worlds? AT LEAST TWO. Your Kingdom. Your Spirit the very Breath of Life — yet, we only dimly realize our need to breathe. Hmmm. I swim / snorkle in the shallows. Near Shore. I am not a scuba diver — out in the deep — with the creatures of the deep. And that pretty well describes my visits into Your Kingdom.

Am I satisfied with that? Gosh, God. I don’t even swim when the jelly fish are out — in that period after the full moon. Timid! I am TIMID. Well, scared is a more accurate word. And the chances of my going scuba diving are small. But, yes, I would like to venture further into Your Kingdom. Make that a LITTLE further. But, As You wish, God. As You wish.

Posted in breathing in Your Spirit, interspecies contact, Venturing out of the shallows?

What am I looking at?

Posted on January 10, 2010 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

20th Century version of a stained glass window

Good morning, Lord God! I’m still back on stained glass windows, I guess — as it occurred to me that the congregational church I’m in has put clear glass doors in the place of stained glass windows. Doors that look out on green grass and trees. Doors that welcome and are open to both people and the gentle weather of Hawaii.

What a change in focus! The stained glass images were designed (mostly) to help us focus on heavenly things — Jesus, Biblical figures, saints. These open window/doors focus on NOW — on Your Creation, to be sure — but it is accessible to us NOW.

Looking at a Rose Stained Glass Window is like looking into YOUR MYSTERY. There is a sense of the BEYONDNESS of Your Heavens, God. And at the same time there is a sort of invitation to enter into Your Realm. Hmmm. Isn’t that what the Greek Orthodox believers were trying to create in their icons? A doorway from our world — into YOUR HEAVENLY REALM.

Ah, God. The Feudal Age passed and we had printed books and literacy and capitalism and the Protestant Awareness that the Holy Spirit was given to ALL Believers. AND? And we began the process of creating Heaven here on Earth! Imagine — trains and factories; the telegraph and steamships; electricity and radio; TV and computers; iPods and the Internet. I suppose it is understandable that we might have come to believe what that Snake whispered to Eve — You Can Be AS Gods.

Only, of course, we can’t be, can we.

BUT . . . We CAN focus on You in Jesus. We CAN invite Your Holy Spirit in to reclaim and rebuild US. We CAN confess our shortfalls and mistakes and missed opportunities. We CAN consciously RENEW our side of our Connection with YOU. We CAN be about the business of Becoming New Creatures in Christ.

Come to think of it. That WOULD have a certain impact on our World, wouldn’t it?

Posted in Becoming as Gods?, New Creatures in Christ, Progress and our Change in Focus

Stained Glass and Our Hearts

Posted on January 9, 2010 by a moment with god — 1 Comment

stained glass

Another early morning, God, with the smell of coffee permeating the air. This image of stained glass came as part of an email yesterday and it brought back wonderful memories of the stained glass in my childhood as an Episcopalian . . . and of the stained glass in cathedrals.

Of course, stained glass depends upon Your Light pouring through it. I guess it is our attempt to replicate the beauty of light pouring through green leaves or the orange and red leaves of maples in the fall.

I had always wondered WHY the protestants (except for Episcopalians) did away with stained glass — until this morning when I realized IT WAS THE MONEY! It was rejecting WEALTH as necessary to WORSHIP. It was, I guess, part of a class war. A desire to reclaim THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS as opposed to an aristocracy of people superior by birth — and power/wealth.

Interesting how stained glass got thrown out with the church of the ruling class. Haves and Have Nots. You show a clear preference for the Have Nots, God. And, now, the ruined churches in France appear in my mind — torn stone from stone by angry Have Nots in the French Revolution.

Ahaaa, sigh. Now You are reminding me of how quickly and easily the Have Nots turn INTO The HAVES. It isn’t about money. It is about The Heart. Our HEARTS. Help us with our Hearts, O God!

Posted in beauty, Having the Heart of a Have Not?, Light, Light shining through, Uncategorized

Fountains of Living Water

Posted on January 8, 2010 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Fountain at Kapiolani Park

How beautiful is this, God! I love looking at the sunlight flowing through the water. I especially love it after I have been in both Your Sunshine and Your Water. The ocean is our birthplace, isn’t it. Where You began this amazing journey from single cells (and LESS) up to us.

UP to us, doesn’t feel quite right. As a person who was raised on Science Fiction, I keep hoping You have SUPERIOR SPECIES OUT THERE . . . watching? It is really scary to think WE might be the most advanced. And looking at how we are doing. . . ah my. All these gifts You have given us — like the love of beauty — get perverted and turned into a love of diamonds and rubies and gold and . . . power?

But, then I look back at the fountain. It seems to spend half its time being repaired or cleaned out. If we as individuals allowed ourselves even a few hours of being “UNDER REPAIR” or “DOWN FOR CLEANING” it would make an amazing difference.

And now I remember how after I retired a friend took me to a ten day silent retreat in Snowmass — with the monks and tapes of Father Keating. It was such a glorious time of cleansing. I dumped tons of resentments and anger and . . . yes, I guess hate, too! How I needed that repair and cleaning time!

You tell us that we are designed to have Fountains of Living Water flowing out of our innermost being. WOW! With Your HELP . . .AND You DO LONG TO FLOW THROUGH US! Oh, PLEASE help me set aside the necessary periods of cleaning . . . YOUR CLEANING! Thank YOU!

Posted in Rivers of Living Water

Small Mysteries

Posted on January 7, 2010 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

sunrise in Honolulu

Sunrise . . . isn’t so much about watching the sun rise . . . as it is noticing our world turning. It is always turning but the transition from dark to light is dramatic.

Like birth and death, God? We are creatures set in time. And our time scale seems so small. My response it HERE IT IS. GRAB IT! LIVE IT! BE THANKFUL!

Now, that may be all I am supposed to hear this morning. I was going to ask You about how it works that from January 7th (today) all the way through January 25th the sun continues to rise at 7:11 — even though the length of the day increases by 12 whole minutes. Amazing! And it is noticeable as I am out walking at sunrise — but almost alway inside at sunset.

I like getting up in the dark to walk. Brings out my Night Owl. Thank You God, for nights and sunrises — for births and deaths. For giving us the Gift of Life — I don’t think I did anything to deserve it. Maybe all You want is for me to enjoy it? SEE IT? Yes. It isn’t about DESERVE — or entitled or maybe any other human concept. But it sure feels as if You want us to open our eyes and appreciate what You have given us. Family! Friends! Flowers! And, small mysteries like sunrise staying at the same time for most of January. SMILE!

Thank YOU!

Posted in appreciation, small mysteries

Conservation Lands

Posted on January 7, 2010 by a moment with god — 3 Comments

an oak on the Tejon Ranch

Good Afternoon, God. Yes, God, I KNOW time doesn’t matter to You, but Hi seems too informal. Anyway, I want to think about conservation land. Once again I was reading Sierra magazine and was struck by an article about the Tejon Ranch putting 90% of its land into conservation status. It’s a BIG ranch.

How many times have we driven the Grapevine — going right over Tejon Pass. But it was just a Pass — I had no idea the oldest ranch in California was surrounding it. Ranch land that spans the coastal hills, the central valley and the Sierras. Ranch land that is on the northern edge of the giant Los Angeles megalopolis.

Now, why am I so interested? As I ponder this it comes to me that my Days at Home (twice a week — well, one and a half days a week) have the value to me that Conservation Land does to California. Keeping excess development at bay? Or is it more a matter of making room for Nature — Your activities — not ours.

Perhaps one benefit to leaving things alone — is that we don’t come in to “improve” things. Your complex web of life works very well when we dwell within it in humility. And I think of the German Forestry Workers who removed “useless” dead trees — only to find that they had badly damage the forests, who needed the dead trees.

Ah, humility . . . the fine art of knowing at least a portion of what we DON’T KNOW! Help us, God. More to the point, help ME!

Posted in days of rest as conservation days?, humility

Unknown Variables and THE Expert

Posted on January 5, 2010 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

fly fishing

Good Morning, God. Here I am — with my thought for the morning. It’s the difference between expert advice and tradition. Expert advice is something people have proven scientifically SHOULD work. Tradition is what HAS BEEN WORKING.

What brought that thought to mind was listening to the book The Age of the Unthinkable by Joshua Cooper Ramo. I heard how in the 1950s the conservation experts figured out mathematically how many fish could be harvested from a given site — only to have their formulae result in massive fishery collapses.

Apparently, they had failed to take into account a lot of variables — variables they were unaware of. Say for example, the fact that more fishermen with a smaller limit meant more foot traffic, more litter, poorer drainage and thus less moss for the fish that were food for the target fish.

Yes, God, everything IS connected to everything else. And it would be a good idea for us to cultivate more humility and less expert certainty. Or, perhaps, also to be more aware of expert advances so we can prepare? This book talks about how in traditional war the goal was killing enough of the enemy to “win”. Whereas now the innovative idea in war is to analyze the enemies complete system — looking for maximum “effect” points to attack.

It comes to me that if the Devil wanted to “take out” good people the most effective way to do it would be to encourage them into doing more and more “Good Deeds” until they reached the point of collapse and descended in to a more noticeable sin — affairs, embezzlement, etc.

ONE WHOLE DAY A WEEK RESTING? It worked really well for the traditional Jews for many many hundreds of years. Might even have accounted for why people persecuted them so badly. People who believed YOU COMMANDED THEM TO REST! Not to work? Enjoy their spouse and familly? Wow! Now THAT is EXPERT ADVICE That HAS WORKED! The best kind of tradition.

So, You are saying there are experts and then there is THE EXPERT? Ahaaa, God. Help me HEAR YOU AND RESPOND WITH TRUST! You say I might also think of that as “obedience”? Yeah, You know I don’t like that word. Help me, here, to hear.

Posted in A weekly day of rest, accepting my need for help, becoming the change I wish to see, busy, busy as an attack strategy, Experts and THE EXPERT, Trusting God

Monuments, Perspective and Time

Posted on January 4, 2010 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Corinth

Good Morning, God. This is an old photo from the book The Greek World. When I was there in Corinth a decade or so ago I don’t think I saw anything but pillars. The lintels had fallen.

It makes me think of Time Passing — not just for civilizations but for me — and not just for me but for my mom. Not the most cheerful of topics, to be sure. But it does enforce a certain perspective.

Paul preached in Corinth and wrote two of his letters to the church there. Letters in which he calls them/us to become new creatures in Christ. Calls us to become Ambassadors of Reconciliation — reconciling the world to YOU, God, through Christ. Going through Christ is hard. It is like the camel going through the eye of a needle. Talk about enforcing perspective!

We (and most civilizations) seem to be focused on building monuments — when we could be building relationships. Relationships. It seems to me that all my relationships rest on my relationship with You. When my life is set in context — in You and in Your love — then all the other relationships do better. Ah, You point out that having come to You THROUGH CHRIST I have truly set myself in context . . . I have the right perspective.

We are the sheep of Your Pasture. It is YOU who have made us and not we ourselves. I am a sheep. I need a Shepherd. AND I HAVE A SHEPHERD. That reality is way outside of TIME and vastly comforting. Thank You.

Posted in Christ as Shepherd, Perspective, seeing myself as a sheep

Emotional litter and clear waterways

Posted on January 4, 2010 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Elmer Eddy, founder Waterway Stewards

Last night I came across Elmer’s photo in Sierra magazine. He is the founder of a group called Waterway Stewards — a group dedicated to picking up trash as they paddle.

Kit picks up trash as he runs. Sometime, if I am close to a trash can, I will pick up a piece of trash myself.

Now, God, I find this a marvelous metaphor for how we all ought to live. Trash picker-upers. Literal visual trash is easy to pick up — and YES I will try to do more of that. But, people who are under stress or unwell (or maybe just in a bad mood) also toss away “emotional trash.” I guess I would describe that as unkind words or gratuitous criticisms.

Sometimes, we get a chance to put in a kind word — or maybe respond in a loving way — after this emotional trash has been tossed. I would call that a chance to pick up trash. Elmer talked about keeping the waterways clear. Communication waterways need to be kept clear, too. Ah, another idea, God. When we apologize we can pick up a portion of the “emotional trash” we tossed. Keeping our interpersonal waterways clear seems like a lovely idea.

Oh yes, prayer, confession and repentance help keep our waterways clear with You, too.

As I heard in the sermon this morning, we are ALL BEGINNERS here — help me be a beginner who is learning to pickup trash and learning not to toss it.

Posted in being a beginner, clear waterways, emotional litter