Category: Just do it

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Journal, Just do it, Listen, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship, Yield

A Living Sacrifice

That has been my word or phrase for the year 2023. I have been pursuing what that actually means. This year I have tried to learn more about this concept. I blogged about it last January. https://wordpress.com/post/treasures-in-plain-sight.org/11031

I do not usually read the Bible interpretation called The Message. I came across this and had to find who wrote it. Yep, it is from The Message!

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 12:1-2 Message

That is it in a nutshell! Guess I need to get out the nut cracker and unpack that?

With God’s help – take your usual life – and place it before God as an offering. Meaning all of your life is given to Him and lived for Him and to Him. An audience of One! I must never think I can do this on my own. I need help and should ask for that help regularly.

Embrace what God does for you. This means I am not taking credit for His work. Remember the gratitude list? All the things in a single day that God does for you and in you. Embrace it all. That can be hard when He does not do the things I want like remove chronic pain and illness. Embracing is ‘the best thing I can do for Him.’ Have you ever asked God how you can please and delight Him? Here is one way!

Do not expect to fit in with the culture around us. As we grow closer and deeper in the Holy One we will NOT fit in with the culture!

FIX YOUR ATTENTION ON GOD. Not easily done, but with practice it does get easier and the more one does it the more one misses it when wandering begins. The Holy One is where I want my attention to remain. It is a kind of super glue for those of us living in the world but not of the world! Fix our attention on the Holy One.

Recognize and respond. I see what You want, Lord and {not I will get to that later} I am on it! The more we love someone the more quickly we will delight to please that one. I recognize what is required of me and I am quick to do it. Not running out before the right time, but willing to fulfill what is being asked in a very timely manner.

The promise is that God will develop well-formed maturity in us. Oh yes, Lord, let it be so! That we will not longer be spiritual babes, infants in Christ.

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 NRSVA

That is just full of promises and this I am to do and let glory be given to God and just wow.

Are you willing to give it a try? If we stumble and think that is failure we are wrong. If we stumble and do not accomplish the challenge it just means there is room to grow and like the Benedictines we need to say, “Always we begin again.”

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

Mercy and Grace

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16 NKJV

Do we go boldly? Or do we second guess God’s Word and stall, believing false ideas about ourselves. No, we will never be deserving of mercy and grace. That should not stop us though. We are invited to come to the Father.

Even in the Old Testament we are told to come.

Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.

Isaiah 55:1 NIV
Living Water

So I ask you, are you needing mercy and grace? Is there ever a day you do not need mercy and/or grace? Are you waiting or running to the source of all forgiveness and love?

Go boldly. Recently the Kroger grocery parking lot was packed. I commented to Bob as we drove past, “The shoppers must think they are giving stuff away!” Well, it turns out they were giving stuff away! My neighbor brought me dog items she could not use and an air freshener she did not want. I imagine there were shoppers who called other family members and told them to come on up to Kroger to get free things.

Are we telling our friends and family that they can come boldly to the throne of grace and find mercy and grace in time of need? Do we believe the Word about the benefits of knowing and loving God? Are we acting boldly on behalf of God? Is there fear about the repercussions from society? Consider Acts 4. Peter and John had been jailed for speaking in Jesus’ name. The temple leaders could not decide how to punish them so they released them, telling the two apostles not to speak in Jesus’ name again.

“But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.” So Peter and John went back to their own people and began to pray about the situation.

Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

Acts 4:29-30 NIV

If we are not acting boldly on behalf of God, perhaps we can take a lesson from Acts 4 and begin asking God to “enable us to speak the Word with great boldness.” Consider this. Try it. Find out what God will do!

Posted on in Beagle, Faith, Humor, Just do it, Special Event, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Freedom, Is it scary?

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV

There is some controversy within the church about the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote directly to this topic bringing equality to the Lord and the Spirit. Remember the Trinity is like 3-in-1 oil. I love the Spirit of the Lord is freedom wherever the Holy One is.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1 NIV

Is there a yoke of some sort trying to enslave you? Stand firm and embrace the freedom that Christ has give you!

 ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful’, but not all things build up. 

1 Corinthians 10:23 NRSV

I had to post the above for myself a number of years ago when a certain type of candy threatened to enslave me. It helped me remember the freedom Christ has given me. Do you fear freedom? Is there something that might get you?

Freedom in Christ is slightly different than American freedom from British rule celebrated July 4th. Lucky does not concern herself with what type of freedom, she is just terrified of all sorts of thunder, lightning and fireworks.

Her fear is really primal, animal fear. She was a rescue dog and makes no sense when it comes to these sounds. We have never tied her outdoors during a storm. Never threatened her with sleeping outside during late June or July.

If we take her out to ‘do her business’ and there is the slightest thunder (even in the distance) she is terrified. She will pull our arms off trying to get in any garage, even if it is not ours! Last evening there was someone on another street lighting ‘black cats’ the little tiny fire crackers. She was done.

I thought I might get her to tinkle a bit, but then someone else set off a bigger boom! and that was that. Within half an hour all the fireworks were exploding and we knew it was a lost cause. We had her sleep in her kennel rather than clean up a potential mess in the morning.

Do you celebrate the freedom Christ has won for you? Is your celebration only political and basically limited to one day per year? Does any of this give you pause that perhaps you could celebrate BOTH sorts of freedom and celebrate those freedoms more often?

Maybe gratitude is a better method than explosions? Choose your style!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Humor, Just do it, Listen, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Traveling, Yield

Hawaiian Chickens

and roosters, and chicks. They are every place you go. I even stopped at a grocery store Starbucks. When I came out the people on the porch sipping their beverages were amazed at the hen and chicks that were passing through looking for bakery crumbs.

We stopped at one overlook to take some photos. There at our feet was a rooster. Bob captured this portrait.

Chickens have been on the islands for decades. Storms caused many of their coops to be destroyed. After their escape they have found life on the islands rather easy. There are no natural predators in residence! Talk about free range chickens!

We even walked the jungle trail to Honolua Bay on Maui where the snorkeling is said to be tremendous. Guess what?

You can easily see 7 chickens here! There were many more around our feet!

I often wondered if I caught a chicken and took it to a restaurant would they kill, clean and cook it for me for lunch? Does any one harvest the eggs?

Some of our neighbors here in Ohio keep chickens. The crowing of the rooster always makes me smile. The by-laws of our subdivision prohibits the keeping of chickens on our property. I wonder how these residents would view free range chickens!

I wonder if Jesus told every church leader in the greater Cincinnati area that Christians were to keep chickens, how that would go over? His words in the New Testament are

 “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 and Luke 13:34

Jesus longs to gather us to Himself. Just as in Isaiah 30:15 there is that haunting phrase, “But you would not.” Are you resistant to Jesus’ call to come to Him?

All four Gospels refer to the crowing of the rooster when Jesus is speaking to Peter about denying Him. Can you imagine how Peter felt when He heard that crowing?

So the next time you hear a rooster I want you to ask yourself if that is Jesus calling you to His side like the hen gathers her chicks or is it a reminder that each of us has the propensity to deny knowing the Lord Jesus? Either way I urge you to be willing to go to His side. He will lead you in paths of righteousness. Do not be a free range chicken. We, unlike the chickens in Hawaii, do have an evil predator seeking to destroy us and our faith.

Posted on in Book quotes, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Augustine and Hearts Every Place I Turn!

Have you every tried the writing prompt of noting every word that follows one idea? Example: Ice cream is followed by sundae, hot fudge, nuts, summer, treat, year ’round, UDF, favorite flavor …..

Here one idea lead to another. Where does your mind go from the following quotes?

I was reading Richard Rohr’s book “The Naked Now” and he quoted Augustine as saying,

If you understand it, then it is not God.

St. Augustine

Rohr asks, “Wouldn’t you join me is saying “I would not respect any God that I could figure out”?

In a bit I opened another reference work called “Connecting the Testaments” and the author for the day quotes the oh so familiar quote,

You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it finds rest in you.

Augustine’s Prayer

When I think of a restless heart I remember ,

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”

– Blaise Pascal

When you imagine your heart and God what phrases or description arises in your mind? If you present those words to the Father prayerfully, He can help you find the paths to strengthen, restore, renew and recreate your heart. Don’t ask me how it happens. I do not understand the ways of my Lord.

I do, however, seek to follow Him in all the paths of righteousness He shows me. There are times in our spiritual journey when God asks us to come and play. Put down the seriousness, the stiff, starched attitudes of religion and just be His companion. So wherever the Spirit leads you, try to joyfully follow. Place your heart in the hands of the Almighty and you will be amazed at what is unfolded!

Posted on in Book quotes, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship, Yield

Perhaps I Should Rewrite This One?

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.

I have learned more about my journey to the center-down silence since 1988. I have been pondering re-writing this poem but have not attempted yet. Maybe the words will come and I will pursue it.

Until then I pray you will venture into your own journey with the Living Christ. Find your way to quiet your self and rest with the Holy One.

I abandon all that I think I am, all that I hope to be, all that I believe I possess. I let go of the past, I withdraw my grasping hand from the future, and in the great silence of this moment, I alertly rest my soul.

~ from DEEP IS THE HUNGER by Howard Thurman

God clearly gives us a path to His quiet. We must desire this. We must make a move towards Him. He writes clearly through the book of James 4:8. We are to “draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded.“

My heart is not proud, Lord,
    my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
    or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
    I am like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child I am content.

3 Israel, put your hope in the Lord
    both now and forevermore

Psalm 131 NIV

Go there, to that place of quiet. Wait for His touch and His wisdom. With practice you will not be disappointed!

Posted on in Aging, Faith, Family, Illness and Health, Just do it, Listen, medical treatment, Memories, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Twice in a Few Hours

This came up in my email today. The same sentiment arose another time and I can’t recall where!

Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.

Howard Thurman

“Trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.” With the smoke from the Nova Scotia fires moving into the Cincinnati area and the air quality index indicating the air is dangerous for those with compromised health issues it has been a rough time at our house.

My husband has COPD and, like me with my health issues, sometimes lives in a high state of denial. (COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.) The week of June 11-17 was exceptionally bad. Bob has had difficulty getting accustomed to the fact that the air quality index warnings have to do with him. It seemed that each day his symptoms got worse. Finally on Friday evening, June 16th, he crashed into his chair and knew he was ill. We were outdoors for a part of the day on the 17th for a celebration of life memorial for a friend of his. We went home and I locked him in the house. He likely should have seen a doctor on the 15th, but did not. By Sunday evening he knew he had to contact the doctor on Monday morning for at minimum steroids and antibiotics. I was convinced the doctor was likely to admit him to the hospital, though he did not.

The doctor got him in. Put him on steroids and told him if there was no improvement, antibiotics were next. Sent us home.

During that time I did lots of praying and lifting. The Lord told me I needed to yield to Him, too. I was shocked when I returned from retreat how very, very anxious I became about Bob’s health situation. Listening to the voice of the Spirit I realized why.

I had gone from trusting the Lord implicitly during the retreat to anxious and worried. How did that happen so quickly? I was reminded that my Dad had been chronically ill for years with heart disease. (There are many tales about that I could write, but not today.) I grew up living on edge about his condition. At ten and younger I did not quite understand that his condition would be fatal. My husband almost succumbed to flu in 2018. That is when his COPD went from mild to more severe.

Mayo Clinic online says, “COPD symptoms include breathing difficulty, cough, mucus (sputum) production and wheezing.” There were times I could hear Bob’s lungs rattle with wheezing from across the room. His cough became so severe and prolonged that I wondered if he would bring up part of a lung instead of just mucus. Sunday evening his breathing was fast and very shallow. One night he must have coughed in his sleep. I, too, was asleep; however, I came straight up out of the bed thinking he had fallen. He was asleep in the bed. The LORD spoke to me that my anxiety was linked to that childhood experience of my father’s heart disease and subsequent early death. (At the time he was 46 yrs. old, I was 11 yrs. old.) I am no longer that child. The Spirit helped me recognize this and release that childhood scarring to my heavenly Father.

So as Monday morning came I was listening to the LORD, praying, releasing my fears, declaring to God that whatever happened at the medical office my heart was in His hand. I am sorry to report that my praise over the doctor not hospitalizing Bob was not as robust as my praise before the appointment thanking God for giving us good medical care. I think I had braced myself and was not quite certain what to do in the aftermath. Isn’t that sad?

We went out to lunch at his favorite place. Visited the pharmacy for the new medication. Came home, tended to housekeeping duties and took our rest. He was still very sick. That afternoon when my watch rang for the afternoon alert to bring my attention back to Christ, I gave thanks that we were working together on vacation photos and other office matters. I confessed my shame at not being more grateful immediately after the appointment.

This morning he decided to text the doctor as his sputum was no longer clear. Doctor had said that would indicate need for antibiotics. Bob did all of that before I was out of bed! This round of denial is certainly over.

“Trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.” Beauty – we went out to lunch. Were able to celebrate our recent vacation to Hawaii and not get swamped by fears about the illness. Unremembered peace – relief as I texted two people who were praying as we went to the doctor. We each think sending him home was good news.

Having ridden this roller coaster so recently I am trying to maintain an even attitude towards this illness. When he was intubated in 2018 the doctor told me that COPD can ‘turn on a dime’ meaning someone with this illness can go from sick to extremely ill in no time at all. That makes it hard to suspend my fears and hesitation. I am determined though, ‘with God’s help.”

Even to your old age and gray hairs
    I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
    I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4 NIV

Today (June 28) the air quality is again dangerous. We have closed up the house and are praying this does not exacerbate his symptoms. Stay well!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Challenge, Faith, Journal, Just do it, Listen, Memories, Nature, Special Event, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Nautilus or Ammonite?

I mentioned I would get back to the shell on my soul collage.

“The nautilus and the ammonite are similar organisms. Both are aquatic molluscs with spiral shells. Ammonites, however, have been extinct since the K-T event that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago while the nautilus still roams the seas. There are numerous other differences between the two creatures, most of which are minor.”

https://sciencing.com/differences-between-nautilus-ammonite-8687704.html

Since childhood I have been fascinated by shells. Grandma Rush used to bring them to me from her bus trips to Florida. I likely found some on an eastern seaboard beach with my Dad before age 10. Even the land snails I found along the banks of the stream in Kuhner’s field fascinated me with their shells.

The nautilus creature makes a larger shell as it grows. Then it closes off the old chamber where it lived. Once when we were traveling the east coast we found a nautilus shell that had been cut open in a shop. Bob let me get it. For years it was hanging in my office. It was very fragile and got broken on the edges when not packed soundly for moving. From another vacation I now have a small cut open nautilus in a stained glass piece. In Hot Springs, Arkansas we found an ammonite in a rock shop that had been cut open. Again, Bob said, “Get it!”

Ancient to Arkansas to Ohio
Inner ancient chambers

Why are these special to me? When I was learning about the Center down silence, the nautilus showed me a way to do that. Instead of growing outward, to enter meditation and silence I need to travel from the largest chamber to the smallest, dropping things that hinder my listening to God along the way. Also note, the smaller the chamber, the fewer things it will hold.

During the retreat when I finally was able to come to stillness, a stop, I sensed the Lord saying that I had not been going to that quiet place enough with the Spirit for about 6 weeks or so. That is why I was so tired and drained. It was a gentle enlightenment and I immediately knew the wisdom of the statement. I forgot to drink from the Living Water, daily. I failed to enter the center down silence. Before retreat I was so hungry for silence. No wonder! I had not been there consistently for a long time. Yes I checked off boxes, did devotional readings, even read Scripture and Christian books. But no concentrated peeling away of distracting layers and just listening.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:1,4,6 NIV

How could I skip going to the Living Water God offers me? The Word says the heart is deceitful above all else! I am so easily deluded. Help me, Jesus my Redeemer, to rest in Your holy place daily.

Much more important than showing you the photos is to ask you to try entering that center down silence for yourselves. Even Monica Brown understands! Look at the CD cover of hers I found in my favorite colors!

Will you try this for 21 days? Just listening for that still, small voice. It makes all the difference in the world! Give yourself to listening. Quiet your thoughts and heart. Sit still. Be quiet.

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
    in quietness and trust is your strength,
    but you would have none of it.”

Isaiah 30:15 NIV
Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Journal, Just do it, Listen, Memories, Nature, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship, Writing Life

Give Cheer and Listen

You may remember what I wrote here https://wordpress.com/post/treasures-in-plain-sight.org/10918 about Jeff Koterba and his great drawing shown above, illustrating “We must listen with our ears and our hearts.”

During retreat at sunset I went to my car to get a printed notebook of Treasures in Plain Sight to share with Sister Maureen. You sort of have to read some of my postings if you want to get to know me. Walking back to my room 7:12 PM on 23-6-5 I heard the Lord say,

"I want you to sit
Enjoy the breeze
LISTEN to your own writing."

There is a huge patio with picnic tables near the parking lot. It is covered with a roof held by ropes and poles. I had earlier seen a sister who seems to be confined to a motorized wheelchair. She is younger than me. I saw her sitting on the patio enjoying the evening breeze. The patio overlooked a part of the grounds where the trees open and a small meadow is seen.

I told her, “Look at you! You take your chair wherever you go! I had to walk out here and there is not even a back on these picnic benches!” She rewarded me with a huge, lovely smile.

Sister went back in the building when an alarm rang on her wrist. I wondered if she had been waiting to see deer? There was a lovely meadow in the distance with an opening in the trees. Sure enough,  at 7:27 two large deer came out from between the trees and began to graze in the meadow. I made note of the time to give to her. (I saw her in the cafeteria at lunch the next day and slipped her the note. She cheerfully thanked me with a BIG smile.)

I sat in the evening breeze and began paging through the notebook with writings I had posted a year ago. It was fun to visit memories and see His hand at work in my life. When I had finished I heard,

“Blog or not
writing IS part of your calling."

You see, during this retreat I was asking what the Lord would have me do in the future. I was exhausted in so many ways. If I was told to stop X-Y-and-Z, believe me, I was willing to obey. I had made a retreat here last autumn. The program was Soul Collage. Participants choose magazine pictures to illustrate their theme or train of thought. I brought my most meaningful collage with me to ponder during the retreat. I prayed repeatedly asking the Lord to direct my ways. The focus of this collage is writing.

When I write I bow my heart to the Lord similar to the nun in the white habit, praying that I can find the words to explain my experiences and bring God glory. One thing that has always fascinated me is the sound the waves make as they recede from the beach back onto the ocean floor. “Susurrus”is the word that describes a murmuring stream. Wonder what describes that sizzling water going through sand sound? Those are the things that keep me writing! The bookshelf tells the story of me researching my writing. The keyboard, my obvious method. The clock reminds me that I am to walk Lucky at about eleven every morning. I have a time limit to my writing session! And the fossilized nautilus. That became a centerpiece for my retreat. More later on that.

Returning to the building I found a book I had never seen before. The author is Edward Hays. It is entitled “The Ladder.” What an eye opener! and soul unfolder! I spent much of the evening reading the first 20 or so pages.

The following song describes what was going on for me. Lyrics show on the video.

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Music, Nature, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship

Spiritual Things/Temporal Words

I have sensed from my youth that trying to put spiritual things into temporal words always diminishes them. Our language does not describe the eternal very well. I will continue to try to describe my retreat time in hopes that it might bless your journey and deepen your relationship with the Holy.

On Monday I was trying to stay in the center down silence. This song kept surfacing in my heart and mind. This music was originally written as lullabies. There was such a response from parents when they found themselves humming a tune then remembering the Scripture that went along with it! The Word goes forth!!

Based on Psalm 139:14

The song repeated in my head. I told the Lord I was having trouble getting my mind to enter and stay in the silence. I heard:

“You often merit from a song –

in your heart, from your heart,

Flutter open and rest in that.”

23-6-5 9:25 AM

Talk about no guilt! I was amazed over this and every other answer I heard during my time with the Lord. That lead me to wonder when I learned to sing? Do you know when you learned?

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

Psalm 139: 14 NIV

I also sensed the following verse.

Jesus said to them, `Come away with me. Let us go alone to a quiet place and rest for a while.’ 

Mark 6:31a NIV

Different translations call it a lonely, desolate, desert place. I responded, “Lord, this is not a desolate place and I truly must be careful not to eat too much, but You bless me by allowing me to come here for 6 days to rest a while.” As far as eating, there was a wonderful cafeteria where I had many choices as to what I might eat at every meal. I truly did need to pay attention to my carbs and calories. So delighted to enjoy egg salad and did not have to make it myself! Once I found there was a soft serve ice cream machine I was about over the moon.

There were CDs available for us to listen to at any time. I played this one as I was practicing pastels and then trying to finish an embroidery project that had been set aside way too many times over the last 5 months. One CD was “Sounds of the Eternal” by J. Philip Newell, (his photo is above). The words to this prayer stopped me immediately. I needed to listen again and copy out the words. I sat with this and still sit with it even now. The words from this prayer are below. The underlined portion is what grabbed me.

“That truth has been enshrined into my heart and 
into the heart of every human being
there to be read and reverenced
Thanks be to You, O God.

“That there are ways of
Seeing and sensitivities of knowing
Hidden deep in the palace of the soul
Waiting to be discovered
Ready to be set free
Thanks be to You.

"Open my senses to Wisdom’s inner promptings 
that I may give voice to what I hear in my soul
And be changed for the healing of the world.
That I may listen for truth in every living soul
And be changed for the well being of the world." 

Where he wrote 'hidden deep in the palace of the soul' by brain wants to pray, 'hidden deep in the palace of the heart.'
I took these words to my new spiritual director, Sister Maureen. She said, "That sounds just like what you experience." I was flabbergasted."Ways of seeing and sensitivities of knowing."

I tried to sketch that with pastels with a drawing of a brain for knowing and eye for seeing. When I was almost finished I noticed I had misspelled sensitivities! What a goof. Found the illustration below online. I was trying to draw a brain with blue arcs like your wireless phone gives to show how much signal you have.

One description of John Philip Newell says,'... a Church of Scotland minister whose Ph.D. is from the University of Edinburgh, is internationally acclaimed for his work in the field of Celtic spirituality and his commitment to interfaith relationships and peacemaking." Celtic spirituality has always had a deep root within me.

So as you walk with God today I pray you will ask for the ways of seeing and sensitivities of knowing that will bless you and the world around you.