Category: Faith

Posted on in Collection of Quotes, Faith, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Writing Life, Yield

Every Moment Holy Volume III

Are you familiar with a liturgy? One online sight says, “Liturgies help provide language for hard to articulate thoughts and feelings, and ways to respond accordingly. They are a dynamic form of prayer—acting as a dialogue between you and God, and all those participating. As you read a liturgy the words form you personally and alongside others.”

Douglas Kaine McKelvey has written and collected volumes of liturgies for every occasion imaginable. I first read this portion through the daily quote you can get through the Every Moment Holy app at https://www.everymomentholy.com/

Lord, I confess that all these words I love and lay before you were never mine, but always yours; truth itself is never mine but always yours.

Your truth is in every word and yet always beyond words, and so I ask, when I have finished writing that all I have said or tried to say, may gesture at last beyond itself towards you, that you will bring me and my readers to the brink of language itself, and beyond that brink into the wordless mystery of your true and loving presence. from Liturgy of Labor and Vocation, a Liturgy before Writing, by Malcolm Guite

Malcolm Guite is a living poet, author, professor and Anglican Priest. He has YouTube videos and has written at least seven books. How had I never heard of him before this? He sums up my heart beautifully.

I keep devotionals and liturgy books to help me focus upon my Lord and my King. There are innumerable things in life to distract us from the Kingdom. Any aide that works towards keeping my focus is valuable in the long run.

The EMH books are published through Rabbit Room Press. My first volume of Every Moment Holy was a gift from my friends Dan and Betty Cooksey. I do not own every volume but the selections in this volume drew my heart. This version of Every Moment Holy uses the work of over sixty authors, poets and songwriters and seven artists worked the accompanying prints. The Foreword alone is inspiring!

Here is information taken from the Rabbit Room Website https://www.rabbitroom.com/

Rabbit Room Press publishes works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that embody the mission of the Rabbit Room—cultivating stories that nourish Christ-centered communities for the life of the world. We believe in creating books that are beautiful both inside and out, books not limited to any specific genre or market but which adhere to a basic belief in the value of creative writing and storytelling. A well-written and well-made book can help to shape the world around it, and Rabbit Room Press is dedicated to creating such books and putting them into readers’ hands. When author, singer, and songwriter, Andrew Peterson, visited the Oxford home of C. S. Lewis in 2006, he returned to Nashville with a conviction that community nourishes good and lasting artistic work—and that creative work nourishes community. Soon afterward, the Rabbit Room was born with the mission to create and curate stories, music, and works of art to nourish the life of Christ-centered communities for the life of the world. 

If you are looking for fresh and even ancient inspiration in everything from changing diapers, to making coffee, preparing for death or welcoming a new child these collections have you covered. You can even find them used at some book sellers.

Posted on in Faith

Family First?

Been trying to figure out what to do with myself this week. Our oldest Grandgirl and her partner just got the keys to their house. There are ways I can help out there! I also know my energy at almost 75 years old is not at all what it used to be.

Last week we had a young man come do our windows inside and out. While he was working Bob and I put sheer curtains in the dryer with no heat to dust them. Then we vacuumed many of the blinds in the house along with lampshades. Put the sheers back on the rods. As always, one thing lead to another. When we moved my mother’s antique steel lamp we found that it must have rained in that window one day and the lamp had rusted on the rug. That lead to rug scrubbing and finding a way to protect from further rust should it get wet again. Presto! cut a piece of fleece fabric to put under the lamp. Run the laundry, needed to pick up, shake, and wash the dog blankets. Before lunch I was totally drenched and absolutely exhausted.

When it comes to unpacking and helping over there I need to be careful NOT to overdo things. There is a half-bath that is situated right at the front porch with a large window. I took some fabric from curtains I had at our old house and fashioned at temporary curtain for that window. Now to go get a tension rod from Walmart and hang it so the movers can use the potty without going into the master bedroom or up the stairs unnecessarily.

Please pray for these young people to be happy in their new home

Their menu today will be chicken barbecue, my mother’s recipe for baked beans, grapes, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas that Lizzie loves. At Walmart I will also get them potato chips.

All this to say, my head is not in the writing today. Not even in the editing of devotional #2.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Nature, Obedience, Surrender, Yield

In The Quiet

The doe enters the yard with her twins, fawns still bearing their white spots. One is curious and inquisitive. The other stays close to mama.

I scan the two yards next to us. The rabbits are not to be seen. I proceed with my meditation and prayer time. I glance up half an hour later. Two lumps of brown in the distance. No, not mole hills. Binoculars reveal my large rabbit friends. So silent, just grazing. They too, listen to the gravel crunching on the roadway. No threat there. Just noise.

These creatures of the quiet draw my heart and mind. Where does that doe hide two long-legged babies? How does she corral that inquisitive one?

Where do those rabbits live when I cannot see them? Is there a clutch of bunnies some place? When will they be old enough to graze? Will I get to view them, also?

Lord, I want to be your woman of the quiet. Help me to sense every signal of Yours as to my activities and terms of stillness. Your call to me from Isaiah 30 is always life giving.

In returning and rest I am saved, in quietness and trust is my strength
In the presence of the Lord there is joy forevermore
Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord oh my soul.

Are you drawn to the quiet? How do you get there? Do you return to the quiet when things get hectic around you?

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord Acts 3:19 NIV

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Focus, Just do it, Listen, Music, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Delighted to Find This!

I do not even remember how I came across this! I listened this morning for the first time to a discussion about an old hymn and then the actual singing of the hymn. I found it to be a most delightful YouTube video. It was also early morning on a cloudless day as I listened. This only heightened my awareness of the light. I hope you like it, also! Luke Powell gives a very nice discussion of how the author Walter Chalmers Smith weaves the theme of God and light throughout the hymn. I had never thought of God and light quite that way before. At the end the he plays and sings the hymn.

Immortal, invisible, God only wise! Yes, the describes the song of my soul, too!

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Focus, Illness and Health, Music, Prayer, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Worship, Yield

Back to Basics

Sometimes I have to just return to home. The home plate with my Father.

I am easily distracted and must withdraw from the many distractions if I am to maintain equilibrium. The Audience of One, the Holy One who loves me, that is where I find rest and restoration.

Daily I need this. When things are too busy I need this more than once a day. Do you have a similar practice? When you get tired of all the outgo, how do you open the faucet for inflow?

This can be especially difficult when my physical being flares up in pain or distress. Why is it so very difficult to ignore the flesh and flow in things of the Spirit? That will be one of my most pressing questions in heaven!

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord,one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Humor, Music, Nature, Praise, Prayer, Surrender, Thanks, Worship

Cooking in Summer

I have been cooking every time I step outdoors. Twenty minutes of working in the garden and I am soaked as if God decided to baste me!

Did I show you the rose? Last year the deer kept eating the new shrub almost to the ground. I was not even certain it would survive the winter after that abuse. Yet here it was blooming large and glorious! And oh, the fragrance of an old fashioned tea rose.

“I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses”

This photo was from June 17 and it is a good thing I took a photo, because the next morning it was gone. Deer bit it off. Unbelievable!! None of the subsequent flowers were as large or as fragrant as that first one. So Bob had the idea we protect the shrub with berry netting. I put up the netting and refreshed the bars of Irish Spring soap. They were deterred! Next I noticed Japanese Beetles eating the flowers. I sprayed like crazy and removed any bugs I saw.

A week or 2 later, I noticed there was hole torn in the netting, perhaps by deer teeth?!? Bob and I spent just about 20 minutes the other evening replacing the berry netting around the rose bush.

You can see where the Japanese beetles have eaten leaves. I cut the remaining flowers and brought them indoors. By the time I came in the house every stitch of clothing was soaked. I am not exaggerating!

The same day, earlier in the day, I began cooking. We had visited the Country Market. I went to work making green beans and ham with potatoes. That required more than one boiling pot! My neighbor had commented, “Them’s some good beans!” so of course, I felt compelled to make him some more. Plus the price was down to .99 pound for fresh green beans!

I went on to cook the spaghetti squash. I am a diabetic married to a man who loves spaghetti. Well the sauce isn’t too bad but the carbs in spaghetti are not good for me. Spaghetti squash gives me a nice alternative!

half an empty squash shell
spaghetti sauce shreds – enough here for 3 servings

I usually freeze the squash into servings for myself. Having just made fresh pesto sauce I am certain we will be feasting on this soon!

Yes, I have been cooking in more ways than one! Hope you are finding ways to remain cool or at least cool off when you have been basted out of doors!

Posted on in Art, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Obedience, politics, Trust

Live Joyfully

Those who have served in countries less privileged and less developed than America always seem amazed at how joyful the people are. I have wondered if the Americans think those people should be sad they do not enjoy the ease of our wealth? The truth is more likely the quote below.

Perhaps the most radical act of resistance in the face of adversity is to live joyfully. Ari Honarvar

The poorer people of other countries seem to have grasped something the others have missed. IF your hands are full of things, it is more difficult to lift them in praise. If you think you possess all you need, it is hard to give thanks for the lesser things that are out of your control but can still bring you joy.

When we are in situations that demand that we empty our hands and look up to the heavens we can begin to understand that even in the face of adversity, we can live joyfully.

In New Mexico I bought a new t-shirt. It shows a Native American Indian and simply says DISOBEY. The site, myartbroker.com comments about the popular OBEY piece saying,

Shepard Fairey’s OBEY campaign, launched in 1989, has become one of the most iconic and influential symbols in contemporary street art. Originating from a simple sticker, OBEY evolved into a bold critique of authority and social conformity. Fairey combines graffiti, pop art, and political commentary to create a visual movement that transcends art and challenges viewers to question established structures of power.

So to me the Native American Indian with the word Disobey says even in this political society of distrust and division, if we choose to live joyfully we have won a contest. While disobeying the fear tactics and often repressive decisions, we can participate in the radical act of resistance.

In the World War II concentration camp psychologist Victor Frankl discovered that those who survived the longest had a capacity to not let others have control over their minds. “They kept a place of living within themselves that was not available for repression.”

 “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl

What decisions are you making for how you live in today’s political climate? Is there a place within you that is not available for control by others? Are you in a mindset of obey or disobey? Paul, the three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and Daniel all resisted and disobeyed those in authority over them. Jesus refused to stop working miracles on the Sabbath. The disciples continued preaching even though the Sanhedrin told them to stop.

“In short, civil disobedience is allowed — and possibly required — any time the commands of men contradict the will of God,” writes The Daily Declaration from Australia. So when we are told to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) that will likely require that we disobey things like the tearing down of the structure to make our lives more aware of diversity, equity and inclusion within American society. (DEI)

but my righteous one will live by faith.
    My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.”
But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost but among those who have faith and so preserve our souls. Hebrews 10:38-39 NRSVUE

We need God’s help to persevere and not shrink back. Holy Spirit strengthen our faith to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with you.

For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with excellence, and excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. 8 For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-8 NRSVUE

We have much work to do! We are made in the image of God. He does not rate one person as more valuable than another in his Kingdom. He sees us with diversity, equity and inclusion. Can we see each other in the same way? God does not show favoritism or partiality. Romans 2:11

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Cooking, Faith, Humor, Praise, Special Event, Thanks

Art Museum Adventure

This month we finally made it to the Cincinnati Art Museum. Bob wanted to see the exhibit “Farm to Table.” Such a catchy contemporary title, don’t you think? It featured food in works of art and as the museum says, “The exhibition showcases over sixty paintings and sculptures, including the work of Claude Monet, Eva Gonzalès, Victor Gilbert, Paul Gauguin, Jules Dalou, and Vincent van Gogh, artists who examined the nation’s unique relationship with food. The bounty of France’s agriculture and the skill of its chefs had long helped to define its strength and position on the international stage. ” For more details click on the link below.

https://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/exhibitions/farm-to-table/

The painting above was huge. The features on the faces of the sheep enchanted both Bob and me.

Here is the description of another painting.

We studied the painting and discovered many unusual details such as the man with his hand on the bottom of a woman. What caught my attention the most was the woman along the back wall. Is she crocheting or knitting?

I find the detail almost unimaginable. How did they paint these?

We finally decided she is likely knitting and holding her needles in continental fashion. Obviously, she was relaxed and enjoying her work in the midst of the hubbub!

I give thanks to God for those talented enough to paint these amazing descriptions of daily life. To me, some of them actually looked as accurate as photographs.

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” – 1 Peter 4:10

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” – Philippians 4:8

Posted on in Book quotes, Faith, Just do it, Obedience, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Yield

Humility The Lost Virtue

I have been reading Joan Chittister’s book Wisdom Distilled From the Daily, Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today. In the chapter on humility she writes about both Benedict and Augustine.

Some place between these poles of extreme suppression and extreme selfishness, monastic humility provides a basis for human community and a basis for union with God. To Benedict the process is clearly the work of a lifetime. He calls it “a ladder of humility,” a climb with basic parts, a progression – not a leap- that involves the integration of both body and soul. “Our body and our soul are two sides of the ladder” he teaches. No dualism here just the simple, honest admission that each of us is grounded in something but reaching for God and each of us is attempting to bring the demands of the body and the hope of the soul into parallel, into harmony, into center. Against gravity and despite all the imbalances of our lives. Pulling body and soul together is the problem. It is also the project of life.

The tower and the ladder symbols were favorites with the ancients, but it was left to Augustine to give us that marvelous line: “Do you seek God? Seek within yourself and ascend through yourself.” If we are really seeking God, we have to start in the very core of our own hearts and motives and expectations. We can’t blame the schedule or the finances or the work or the people in our lives for blocking our progress. We have to learn to seek from within ourselves. We have to stop waiting for the world around us to be perfect in order to be happy.”

That is a load to think about! Body and soul. Spirit and seeking. Working with the ladder of humility. I pray this Sunday will start you on a journey of finding more humility in your walk. I hope you can descend within your own heart and discover the power of Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) Christ is able to lead and guide us in all of our searching.

Inside Out © 1988 Molly Lin Dutina 

I want to live from the inside out,
always within the center-down silence.
Having to struggle to get back 
is not the direction I choose.

Teach me, Lord, and help me 
know how to grow 
from the peaceful
sanctuary within.

Show me please where 
to refresh our love.
Give me attitudes that will unravel me
from the sin which so easily entangles.

Make me one with You, Lord,
so I will know 
how to be close 
to all that is around me.

Help me, Father,
and be glorified in my life.

Posted on in Faith, Focus, Listen, Music, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship

Our Recent Church Service

The opening photo was by Dan Cooksey taken at The Notch in Colorado 2020.

This prayer below is taken from the Communion prayers at our church last Sunday. There are times when I am struck by the prayers and feel I must share them. I hope you are blessed by the sharing.

Holy One, we gather this day as one people, members of the same body, grateful for your many gifts and carrying the hope within us for a world filled with love. This vision was given by you, from the very beginning of your creation. You made the earth and all that lives on it. You inspired prophets and shepherds, widows and slaves, to seek liberation from all that oppresses. You led your people from the bondage of slavery in Egypt into the Land of Promise. Your redeeming work continued when, through the Virgin Mary, you became incarnate in Jesus Christ, so that through him we might experience the depth and width of your unquenchable love.

While Jesus lived among us he stood up for women and children, he touched the untouchable, healed the sick, and welcomed those who had given up hope of being included. Through him we see a path not only to our own freedom, but a path to the liberation of the whole world. He taught us that it will not be in the brutality of violence that our world will be saved. Rather, it will be in showing kindness to our neighbor, in standing up against injustice, in returning hate with love, in transforming one heart at a time. It will be in the simple but holy tasks of dining together, sharing bread and wine, truly seeing one another as beloved by you.

Those two paragraphs are a lot to be taken in! I could not comprehend it all in one reading. I could not absorb it by typing it out and then finding my typos. I may spend my remaining days trying to live into this prayer!

Too often we think we know exactly what God is saying to us and has said through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. The indwelling Holy Spirit continues to show me there is more to learn. So much more.

How about you? Have you followed Christ for decades? Are you continuing to discover more about the Kingdom? Are you looking for direct and new insights. Have you shut the door on that idea? Brandon and William Benjamin sing “all that’s good is yours.” I so agree! Hope you will listen and follow the lyrics. There is more.

Our creative God put things into orbit and I am firmly convinced the Almighty continues to open our eyes to perceive and understand more and more and more.