Category: Faith

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Family, Memories, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Trust

Sixty-four Years Ago

My Dad died so long ago and my mom almost as long ago (fifty years ago). It is sad when one can no longer remember traits of a parent. I know stories about them, but the actual sound of their voice or personal traits, not so much. In this day and age of digital recordings, hopefully some of you might have a copy of your parent’s voice?

If not, how do you fill that gap? At age eleven or twelve when I realized that no one could replace my Dad, I began to pursue God. Even that lofty pursuit left holes and tears in the fabric of my living.

I have learned that the Trinity loves me tenderly like a mother, shields me daily like a father.

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” – Isaiah 66:13

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” – Matthew 23:37

The term “El Shaddai” translates to “God Almighty” or “the God who is sufficient.” It originates from ancient Hebrew, where “El” refers to God, and “Shaddai” is thought to denote strength or mountains, symbolizing power and stability. Some scholars suggest “Shaddai” comes from the root word “shad,” meaning “breast,” emphasizing God’s nurturing and protective qualities. https://biblicalchronology.com/what-is-the-biblical-meaning-of-el-shaddai/

One of the best loved Psalms declaring God’s protection is 91.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

3 Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.” Psalm 91 NIV

May you find nurture and protection, shelter and relationship in your fellowship with God.

Posted on in Aging, Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Nature, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Thanks, Yield

Move A Snowflake

Saw this quote and wanted to share it.

Every avalanche begins with the movement of a single snowflake, and my hope is to move a snowflake.

THOMAS FREY

Doesn’t that make you want to DO something? This morning we are having our first snowfall of the season. It won’t accumulate much, but there is snow on the grassy places and on most every rooftop. Almost every plant is bowed over, not from the weight of the snow but the bitter cold. Wind chills are in the 20’s and teens. The birds are crowding the feeder.

Where do you need an avalanche in your sphere of influence? Can you attempt to move a snowflake and begin needed change? An avalanche is usually destructive, but what if that avalanche just clears away accumulated, unwanted debris?

Thomas Frey hopes to move a snowflake. What do you hope to do? Here is a little video from Nat Geo. Enjoy!

This leaf was the day before the snowfall. Yes, one was face up and next one was face down.

What would change if I moved some of the things cluttering up life? Bob cleans every drawer and closet annually. Not exactly an avalanche, but when I do it there tends to be a huge donation pile for Goodwill. As the weather brings us indoors more and more I look forward to moving some snowflakes and creating avalanches of unnecessary items to be taken out of here.

It is truly right, and good and joyful, to give you thanks, all-holy God, source of life and fountain of mercy. You have filled us and all creation with your blessing and fed us with your constant love; you have redeemed us in Jesus Christ and knit us into one body. Through your Spirit you replenish us and call us to fullness of life. The Great Thanksgiving, BCP

Yes, Father God, move heaven and earth to help us uncomplicate our lives and give more and more of our attention to the Holy Trinity. May we yield to you with grace and peace.

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Thanks, Yield

Our Brokenness

This sums up what I often try to express. Yes I used it another blog recently. Then it was posted on Gratefulness.org and I realized I had more I wanted to share on the topic.

Our brokenness is also the source of our common humanity, the basis for our shared search for comfort, meaning, and healing. Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our capacity for compassion.

BRYAN STEVENSON

I have a friend who has usually prided herself on her perfection. Make-up, clothing, hair, conversation topics at meals. I never measured up to her standards. Ever.

Recently she has had some changes in her life and consequently in her attitudes. This month we met for lunch. She gave me a card with this envelope. Told me that even her pen would not work correctly that morning.

initials for Molly Linda Cheryl Rush Dutina

Don’t you know this envelope made her even more endearing to me? I am by no means perfect in anything I do. Aren’t you relieved when you can be with someone who does not expect perfection from themselves or from you?

“Our common humanity, shared vulnerability and imperfection.” Oh, that we would each learn this lesson and approach one another as the plain human beings that we are! Flawed, yes. Honest, rarely. We need transparency with one another if our relationships are to thrive and grow.

“Our shared search for comfort, meaning, and healing.” What do you want the most in a friend? That is likely what they want most in their friendship with you!

I pray for the remainder of the year you can find ways to nurture and sustain your capacity for compassion. Then show that compassion to those around you. Amen.

Truly a challenge as the holidays approach!

Posted on in Aging, Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Humor, Joy, Memories, Nature, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Yes, Lord

When I was at the Convent November 9 for our JTIS meeting, I again remembered this prayer poem. Thirty one years later this is still my prayer.

Grow On! ©1994 by Molly Lin Dutina                

Wild the wind that sends the leaves aloft
Gleefully they chatter, “I’m free! I’m free!”
‘Falling’ leaves of autumn
Travel far from their beginning
Mixing with a flock of birds
As we, all earth bound, fail to see
Which is bird and which is leaf.

Mighty Force of God, capture me in Your updraft
Hurl me headlong in Your love
Drift me sideways with the angels
Take me far from all complacency
Where the familiar dulls my senses
Gently land me back at the place
On my Pilgrim Journey path where
You meet me with new courage
To grow on.

I wrote this while at the Convent of the Transfiguration in 1994. The wind caught the Japanese Maple leaves and the poem tells the rest of the story. I still need new courage to grow on. Lead me oh Thou Great Jehovah in your paths of truth and righteousness.

JTIS is our group for crochet, knit, any hand crafting an associate or friend wants to do. We started the group a decade or so ago. Most of us sat in silent retreat with one another, but did not know anything about each other. So we began with inviting the Cincinnati, (i.e., local) Associates of the Convent. The initials stand for Journey Together In Stitches. Not just sewing stitches, but laughter, too. Sadly, our group has begun to dwindle of late. One month another person and me were the only ones in attendance. This past week there was only one Associate and two sisters, another friend and me. I wonder if the group can be sustained?

I asked if anyone had any ideas how we might grow the group. I was told about the Methodists wanting to join communion with the Episcopalians. Perhaps we can invite Methodist women to join us?

I ask your prayer for this group to grow and prosper. We all need others to complete our walk. We need the stories of others. We need the encouragement of others. The joy and laughter cannot be substituted with things on line. The face-to-face meeting is special and to be cherished.

I know things change and evolve, but not everything needs to be thrown out. This fellowship has been working and in my opinion can continue to work for years to come. In AA they say, “Keep coming back. It works if you work it.” I pray the members of this group will return to coming back and working the magic of fellowship in Christ.

19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:19-20 KJV

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV

 

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Nature, Poetry, Praise, Worship

Autumn Has Arrived

Right out my door
3 days later
Straight out my door
3 days later, even the light is so different!
Left out my door
3 days later, the orange gown on the grass
The entire neighborhood has black roofing material. This is Baker’s roof on the morning of 11/4/25, pure white.

Yep, Jack Frost has been getting busy with that brush of his! Do you recall the power of your childhood imagination?

“Jack Frost” by Gabriel Setoun

The door was shut, as doors should be,
Before you went to bed last night;
Yet Jack Frost has got in, you see,
And left your window silver white.

He must have waited till you slept;
And not a single word he spoke,
But pencilled o’er the panes and crept
Away again before you woke.

And now you cannot see the hills
Nor fields that stretch beyond the lane;
But there are fairer things than these
His fingers traced on every pane.

Rocks and castles towering high;
Hills and dales, and streams and fields;
And knights in armor riding by,
With nodding plumes and shining shields.

And here are little boats, and there
Big ships with sails spread to the breeze;
And yonder, palm trees waving fair
On islands set in silver seas,

And butterflies with gauzy wings;
And herds of cows and flocks of sheep;
And fruit and flowers and all the things
You see when you are sound asleep.

For, creeping softly underneath
The door when all the lights are out,
Jack Frost takes every breath you breathe,
And knows the things you think about.

He paints them on the window-pane
In fairy lines with frozen steam;
And when you wake you see again
The lovely things you saw in dream.

Posted on in Aging, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Thanks, Yield

Capacity for Compassion and Stephen Ministry

Here is a recent quote from Grateful.org.

Our brokenness is also the source of our common humanity, the basis for our shared search for comfort, meaning, and healing. Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our capacity for compassion.

BRYAN STEVENSON

I am once again considering becoming a Stephen Minister. If you are unfamiliar with the ministry you can read more about it here. https://www.stephenministries.org/stephenministry/default.cfm/917?mnbsm=1

I was involved in the ministry many years ago. I recently had a Stephen minster of my own and am now ready to serve again in that capacity. I look forward to the multiple books and online training I will be doing. It is always good to give back to any program that has helped or encouraged you. I pray you will do the same!

Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2 NRSV)

There truly is a wealth of information on their website. Please explore it at your leisure and see if this is something that you or your congregation could benefit from!

We are all broken. Some of us just hide it better than others. Care and compassion can heal so much.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4 NIV

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Joy, Nature, Obedience, Praise, Thanks

The Garden at Church

Our church has a Creation Care Team. Each year they plant a vegetable and flower garden. It is a great opportunity for the children to learn where some of our food comes from. They also let the children (and adults) pick the vegetables (such as cherry tomatoes) and package them. The tomatoes were donated to Interparish Ministry. It gave me quiet satisfaction when a shopper at IPM chose one of our containers and was delighted to get fresh produce for their family.

The garden has now gone to seed. The giant sunflower stalks were allowed to remain for the birds.

Look closely at right stalk and you can spot a male cardinal.

The garden looks tiny from above but the plants were packed in there and produced so much food. Below is a short video that shows the birds flying to and fro gathering the seeds. The iPhone camera did not know quite where to focus, but I believe you can figure out what you are seeing! Watch for the shadows of the birds. Some are perched on banisters at the stairs.

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? MT 6:26 NIV

All creatures look to you
    to give them their food at the proper time. Psalm 104:27 NIV

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Journal, Listen, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Yield

Stand at the Crossroads/Come All Who Are Weary

Before I began my recent retreat I asked the Lord what my focus should be. The following verses are what I heard.

Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads and look,
    and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
    and find rest for your souls.
But they said, “We will not walk in it.” Jeremiah 6:16 NRSVUE

-and-

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NRSVUE

The opening photo reminds me of the Jeremiah passage. Frequently in life we come to a crossroads. We have the choice how we respond. The people of God are instructed in this passage to stand (not run out there), look, ask for ancient paths, where the good way lies and THEN to walk in it. So fitting with me reading Practicing the Way by Mark Comer and trying to put it into practice. Going into silence at the Convent is one of the ancient paths that restores my soul. More than walking in it, it seems that sitting in the silence is my path at first, though walking the grounds in silence is also restorative.

Stand, Look, Ask also requires listening on my part. I want to follow after the Lord and not refuse to walk in the paths I am shown.

A favorite of mine! Hangs next to our bed!

And the second passage from Matthew? I could have spent the entire weekend on that one and not be finished. The Spirit did ask me to write down the things that made me weary from 2025. I filled several pages in a small journal. Those occurrences suddenly morphed into the things that brought me joy! I then added, “Lord, I am finding a sense of REST just writing out the burdens and blessings.” And so the weekend began. My eyes were opened to the continuous presence of the Lord and any blessings that came with the challenges. “Taking your yoke of the Way is helping me. Continue to help me LEARN from you. You are gentle and humble of heart.”

Remember I was looking for the obscure compline hymn? I found that recording on YouTube? I listened to the entire compline service and right there – in that service – they read Matthew 11:28-30. I was blessed, stunned and should not have been at all surprised that my steps were directed to that path!

What a mighty, caring, loving, attention to details God we serve. God is gentle and humble of heart and I am finding rest for my soul. My prayer is that you, also, will find rest for your soul in this mighty Savior.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Beagle, Faith, Humor, Joy, Memories, Thanks

Glimmers

Children bring me some of the best glimmers day in and day out. There was a tiny one (8 months old) in a shopping cart seat that smiled at me and melted my heart. She had never seen me before but there was no stranger fear in her!

This is our little neighbor down the street. She wants to befriend Lucky but is fearful of the dog. When she can summon the courage to pet Lucky she is so satisfied. Here is her Halloween costume. Her mom said she dressed herself and they are not certain what she is. I would answer, “Adorable!”

This is the same child who likes regular Doritos. At a neighborhood picnic she ate a small bag of them. Then she realized there were partial bags laying around. So she began collecting the partial bags and eating those, too! Squeezable joy, indeed!

I ordered a crochet kit because my daughter likes Gnomes. I thought this would make a good gift for her. I set myself a goal to finish it before my birthday. And I got it done!

He is about 6 inches tall.

yep, makes me laugh every time I think of him. He lives at her house now.

Posted on in Aging, Faith, Listen, Memories, Music, Prayer, Rest, Surrender, Thanks

Obscure Hymn?

Our priest recently challenged us to make plans for our funeral including any music that we want the gathering to sing. I was reminded of a compline hymn that captured my heart when the Sisters used to have sung compline. I realized over several retreats that the hymn had multiple verses in various places in the hymnal. I began to collect those verse to use during my own compline prayer time at home. Suddenly I could not longer remember the melody.

I am not very good at sight reading music. I asked Sister Corinna to play the melody for me. She suggested we use the piano at St. Mary’s retreat center where I was staying. Later that evening I found it on YouTube!

The melody was written by Thomas Tallis who lived in the 1500s. It is called the Eighth tune for Compline. The video plays the song in the midst of the Compline service. Below are the lyrics.

 1 All praise to thee, my God, this night,
for all the blessings of the light:
keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
beneath thine own almighty wings.

2 Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
the ill that I this day have done;
that with the world, myself, and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

3 O may my soul on thee repose,
and with sweet sleep mine eyelids close;
sleep that shall me more vigorous make
to serve my God when I awake.

4 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host:
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.