Category: Thanks

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Memories, Praise, Prayer, Rest, Thanks, Yield

The Bee Lingers ©Molly Lin Dutina

There are many opportunities to serve in the ministry of Ignatian Spirituality Project. From drivers to bakers, retreat team leaders and members to intercessors there are always needs to be filled. One year on September 15 I was privileged to serve on the team for an ISP Follow-up meeting at the Convent of the Transfiguration. We had held a retreat in August and now was the day for the past participants to reunite for a day of prayer and reflection. The team gathered at Friday evening for a planning meeting and a more restful night than if we had stayed at home.

As we set up the final touches Saturday morning I was reflecting upon how many joyous and rich experiences I have enjoyed at this retreat house over the past twenty years. Now I was here with a team of 3 serving 5 participants who hunger for a deeper relationship with God and recovery from various addictions.

Some of my duties involved scurrying around the grounds. At lunch I gave our Team Leader the key to the retreat house, assuming she would get back to the cottage before I finished what I needed to do. I did my errand and noticed I was the only one on the grounds when I made it outside. I took a leisurely walk through the grounds. The retreat house was locked. I wandered over to the fenced in vegetable garden to wait.

I have always had a fondness for blue morning glories and I noticed they were growing on the fence surrounding the garden, up some of the tomato plants, into the squash, generally delighting the garden with splashes of blue here and there. I suddenly realized I had not made a centering, quiet moment since early morning! Looking at the blue flowers I rested in the lovely color splashed along the fence. Then I focused on one flower. It had a black center. “Wait!” I thought, “Morning glories do not have black centers!” Looking more closely I realized I was looking at a bee inside the flower. He was moving just slightly so I knew he was alive in there. I watched and waited, and waited. He was in there a very long time. What could one bee do for so long? Don’t they flit from flower to flower? I could see that his black bottom was covered with yellow pollen. My first impulse was “Where is my camera?” Instead of leaving and missing his next move I waited. The bee lingered in there. I was amazed that this little morning glory flower had that much nectar to lure a rather large bee to stay for such a long time. Then slowly the bee started to back out of the flower. He was covered with yellow pollen. His legs were spangled with it. His abdomen almost more yellow than black. He staggered out of the flower. The limp petals could barely hold his weight. He was diligently cleaning his proboscis. Come to think of it, I did not remember ever seeing the proboscis of a bee before!

The flower kept folding under his weight and he moved to a bush close by. Still at eye level I had to see what he was doing so I moved closer. As I watched him extend his proboscis further and yet further and clean the length of his tongue with his “paws” I heard the Lord saying, “You cannot spend too much time with Me. There is no such thing as drinking too much living water from My well. Just as the bee seemed to linger an inordinate amount of time, you cannot come here too often or remain with Me too long. Share the “pollen” you collect and rest in this assurance.”

I had experienced my quiet moment during retreat, and what a moment it was! I had an open door opportunity to share the experience with one participant. During our final closing I determined I would not speak unless everyone else had the chance and it was obvious the Lord wanted me to share. The window of opportunity was wide and I told the group what I saw and learned in the garden.  

Oh Lord, help us continue to linger in the flower of Your presence, drinking in Your living water. Give us courage to share with others the treasures You give so abundantly. Amen.

Living Water

How much time are you spending with the Lord? Do you regularly drink from the living water? Do you linger in the presence of the Trinity? Are you sharing with others what you hear and experience during that time? This lingering is not a waste of time. It is the source of life.

Posted on in Art, Challenge, Illness and Health, Just do it, Listen, Prayer, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Thanks, Trust, Yield

God the Artist

The opening drawing is a take off on Scripture. My point is this is someone’s artwork. It reflects God’s power in creation. It is also a reflection of the work of the Trinity in our lives, if we will yield to the work of the Word.

Have you had a glimpse of the masterpiece God is making with your life? Do you know that the Creator who made the seasons is also making you into a masterpiece?

I recently saw a pen and ink drawing and was hit by the thought, 

"You, Lord, are drawing the lines, 
etching the picture, 
planning my future, 
equipping me to yield 
in gentle and quiet obedience."
drawing the lines
etching the picture

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3 NIV

Let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:4 NRSVUE

My thanks to Juan D. for the first photo portion and M. Linda McLaughlin for the second. The opening sketch is from the J. S. Paluch Company.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose
    and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10 NRSVUE

Are you yielding to the plan? Is your goal that gentle and quiet spirit of obedience?

Posted on in Aging, Faith, Illness and Health, medical treatment, Praise, Thanks, Trust

My Heart

Finally saw a cardiologist after the Cardiac MRI. Decided to go with The Christ Hospital group. One person in the know calls them the pinnacle of heart care in Cincinnati.

The diagnosis is as follows: Aneurysm of ascending aorta without rupture, aortic valve regurgitation, mild concentric left ventricular hypertrophy. The aneurysm measured only a tiny bit smaller with the MRI compared to the echo-cardiogram. The aortic aneurysm will eventually need to be addressed with surgery, likely 6 months to 2 years.

The plan is to test again in 6 months with a CT Scan. As a precaution, they will also do a Vasi-pad screening for abdominal aneurysm, too.

In the meantime, one drug was doubled. Blood pressure is coming down but not where they want it to be maintained. The side effects from the three blood pressure medications are giving me a fit. Fatigue has my eyelids now wearing garage doors inside of lids. Remember what the garage door sounded like before electronic closers? Yep, that rumbling in my head says I might want to fall asleep now! Muscle pain down my arms, legs, ankles, forget it – just think body-wide. The only solution has been to raise another drug that, you guessed it, makes me sleepy, too!

So I will be at home working on the writing and trying not to think about cardiac affairs. It is so strange that high blood pressure and aortic aneurysm neither one produces symptoms. No visit to the hospital planned for a few months anyway!

I am grateful the medical professionals have found this situation. I am trying to be grateful for these many medications. I intend to keep on writing and praising the God of our fathers. Perfect peace is only found there!

Posted on in Faith, Music, Rest, Thanks, Trust

Being Hymned Again!

We only see the tip of the iceberg when we consider God’s love for us. Consider this hymn and plumb the depths of that love!

I have found this hymn, then lost this hymn, and then found it again many times over the years. This morning it came to mind and at least THIS TIME I had left a sticky note in the hymnal as a bookmark for it! Hope it comforts you, too!

We are held. We are loved. He is always with us. No matter what.

Published by George Matheson in 1882, it is now in the public domain. It draws on Scripture from Jeremiah, Corinthians and Romans. 

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O Light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

The Lord appeared to us in the past,saying:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 2 Corinthians 5:14

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Romans 8:35

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Illness and Health, Just do it, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Trust, Writing Life, Yield

Using My List of Verses

For a while my writing may be hit or miss. This morning was taken up with going for blood work, dropping off papers at dermatology office, etc. Needed the blood work for the newest blood pressure medication they put me on. Yep, still trying to get my blood pressure down to where the cardiologist wants it. I accidentally let my subscription for Taltz run out. Of course! That required filling out paperwork, getting dermatologist to fill out her two pages and fax it all to Lilly Cares. Hoping they can get my medication here before I need the next injection ! I do not need psoriasis to flare up with all this other stuff going on.

A few days ago I listed verses that are helping me cope with the medical unknowns and my frame of mind. I never really mentioned how I use those verses. Yes, I read them over regularly, but I apply them at random times. I have never thought of myself as a person who worries a lot, at least, compared to my mother. Her anxiety was something to behold!

This unexpected report that I have some different sorts of heart troubles have set me to worrying, when I allow myself. So how to stop that? Well, first of all I have to become aware of the worrisome thought. When I can catch myself worrying I have begun stopping and asking the thought, “Are you from God?” If the answer is not yes, then I go to Corinthians where we are told to take every thought captive to Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

When I used to teach this verse in Bible study classes more often than not someone would ask, “Every thought?” I am re-learning that I certainly need to take captive the ones sent to torment me. None of us have any control over the things that will happen to us. So if I fret and get concerned over where all this is going with tests and possible open heart surgery I can work myself up into a high state of anxiety. That helps nothing!

After I send a thought packing to King Jesus, (and it MUST go as a captive of Jesus), I purposefully begin praising Him for being my companion and Savior. Such a Good Shepherd! He makes a way where there seems to be no way, just like His Father.

See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 NIV

There are many verses that talk about God making a way where there seems to be no way. God also changes situations that seem to be unchangeable. So we hope. We pray. We cling, knowing that we are never left on our own. Regardless of the outcome we walk with a mighty God!

Next Monday I have the Cardiac MRI, so with fasting, etc. I am unlikely to be writing on that day for posting next week, unless I get it done over the weekend. All prayers appreciated!!

Holy God, 
Holy Mighty, 
Holy Immortal, 
have mercy on us.

The Ancient Trisagion

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Nature, Praise, Rest, Thanks

Grateful for a Flicker

At our first home at times we were blessed to have a flicker visit the bird feeder. If I only caught a glimpse as it flew away I could tell it was a Flicker by the yellow band under its tail. It had a very long beak, black stripe under the chin like a fancy man ready fora night out. Black cheeks, red spot on back of the head. BUT WAIT!! There’s more!! Dashes and dots on the feathers.

Northern Flicker photo from online

At our house now they have decided that they are hungry enough to come to the suet feeder right outside the office window. Just now I heard a chirping. Rolled slowed back in my chair to see who was there. And wow! Was I delighted!! Like the photo above it had suet on its beak.

That is almost too much decoration for a single bird! Welcome glamour girl, (or boy)!

There have also been loads of bluebirds throughout the winter! Even though the Grackles finished off the dried meal worms, the bluebirds keep coming for the suet and seeds.

Blessed for their company this winter, photo from online
Some say lovely, I say ugh! Online photo

The starlings and I have a battle over the feeder. They are terrified of movement and I am quick to shoo them away every chance I get.They leave poop every where. Can empty a feeder in nothing flat and decimate a suet block “Presto-Chango” to nothing!

As soon as I find meal worms again I will fill that feeder. For now, birdies, it is seed and suet for y’all!

Do you ever wonder where they all sleep at night?

26 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? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? Matthew 6: 26-27

Which of you by worrying can add one more beat to his heart? No, the heart issue is not resolved and never far from my mind. I am trying to take the advice of my LORD and rest in His care.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Nature, Surrender, Thanks, Worship

Torn Up!!

We have totally dismantled the office. My computer and the printer will be the last things to go this evening. We will lose our Wi-Fi for a bit also!! Oh the joy of moving and not moving. We are excited about the new flooring (all 9 boxes) but not the need to reassemble everything.

Does anyone know how to keep pill bugs out? Evidently they find a space where the carpet meets the wall. I found dozens of dead ones in the office closet where storage tubs have been stacked. I do not want to hire an exterminator.

I suppose we will live without the Wi-Fi and the luxury of our computers set up and ready to go. At least for one day! Not like we are in a storm ravaged part of the country where all belongings are gone. Not complaining, just musing how spoiled we are.

It has been above freezing for a few days here, yet plenty cold at night. Have terrible black ice to our front door. Still almost solid yards of snow from yard to yard in the subdivision. The sun came out and I under-dressed when I went outside. The wind is still cold! Oh right! Winter is still here.

Bob can walk across the top of this snow on the deck. It stormed snow, then ice. Then gradually thawed and refroze and we now have a permanent block until it gets warm enough to melt it all! Even the beagle was flummoxed what to do out there! She had about 2 feet next to house where she could sit. She gave up and came back in.

Last year we had practically no snow at all. This year has been the opposite. Just weeks ago people were asking if I thought this heat would ever end!

Stay warm! Rejoice that winter does not last 10 months! We will enjoy the daffodils and new leaves even more after all this!

“Bless the Lord, all rain and dew;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
65 Bless the Lord, all you winds;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
66 Bless the Lord, fire and heat;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
67 Bless the Lord, winter cold and summer heat;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
68 Bless the Lord, dews and falling snow;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
69 Bless the Lord, ice and cold;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
70 Bless the Lord, frosts and snows;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
71 Bless the Lord, nights and days;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
72 Bless the Lord, light and darkness;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
73 Bless the Lord, lightnings and clouds;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.

74 “Let the earth bless the Lord;
    let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.” Daniel 3:64-74

We people need to bless the Lord even with rain and dew, winds, fire and heat, ice and cold, frosts and snow, nights and days PRAISE HIM AND HIGHLY EXALT HIM FOREVER!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Faith, Music, Special Event, Thanks

Yes, Again

Gratitude places you in the energy field of plentitude. Glow with gratitude and see how awe and joy will make their home in you.

MICHAEL BERNARD BECKWITH

The above quote is from Grateful.org. https://grateful.org/ I am so impressed with this organization that I am going to take their training to lead a gratefulness group. Hoping that is a way to reach others in 2025.

On Sunday afternoon, January 12, 2025, Bob had purchased tickets for us to hear the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #3 at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. This was the second time he made a way for us to hear it in person! This man spoils me!!

This is the view from our seats in the first balcony.

Only a few musicians warming up

The first piece was described some where as the “most beautiful awful piece you would ever hear.” As the man next to me said it was mercifully short.

Then they set the stage for the Rach 3, rearranging chairs and rolling out the grand piano. The excitement in Music Hall was palpable!

Special piano placed next to the conductor step.

Bob got this photo of the pianist, George Li, as he took one of his many bows.

Two encores and he blessed us with the melody below.

I had never heard his encore in my life! I tried the music app Shazam and it could not identify the score. It was so moving, and I was so grateful to be included in this performance, I just closed my eyes, listened, and let tears run down my face.

Evidently Yuja Wang played this at the encore of one her performances. Now if I was totally unfamiliar with it, how did I find out what it was? Well, I was parched after the first half of the symphony and stood in line to get a bottle of water. It was a very long line as only one counter was open and only one woman was working it. So I struck up a conversation with the two guys in line behind me. One young man had waited 20 years to get to hear the Rach 3 in person. He was as ecstatic as I was. I made him promise he would not wait another 20 years before he attended a performance of the Rach 3. Eventually I asked them if they knew what George Li had played at the encore. These guys had put it into their music app and the title above showed up. (This technology fascinates me!) None of us could pronounce it so I asked if I could take a photo of the phone screen and look it up later. They said certainly! So that is how I can share it now with you!

The last half of the symphony was Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3 . Cincinnati has a love affair with Copland. I was delighted with the varied instruments in this piece. The program lists them as 3 flutes (incl. 2 piccolos), 3 oboes (incl. English horn), 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, anvil, bass drum, chimes, calves, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, ratchet, slapstick, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tenor drum, triangle, wood block, xylophone, 2 harps, celeste, piano, strings.

Those men in percussion were SO busy! Some of the instruments were actually played with real hammers and mallets! One of the drums looked as if it was played with a club topped off with red tennis balls. And I wondered how the orchestra members hearing tests came out after years of sitting near the percussion section or even playing in the percussion section!

I do not remember ever having seen a contrabassoon! It is so large it actually sits on the floor on a skinny little leg. Watch closely in this very short, fast video and you will see how it rests on the floor.

I had a delightful time on that Sunday afternoon. Knowing I was to face the Cardiologist in just a couple days deepened my gratitude. The music still haunts and calms me. What a treasure to get to go witness all of this in person.

If you are totally unfamiliar with the Rach 3 here is a link!

You might recognize the melody from the film and Broadway musical Shine! Wikipedia summarizes: Shine is a 1996 Australian biographical psychological drama film directed by Scott Hicks from a screenplay by Jan Sardi, based on the life of David Helfgott, a pianist who suffered a mental breakdown and spent years in institutions.

Posted on in Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Obedience, Poetry, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Rumi and Church

During a church discussion this theme arose without the poem below being read. Bob and I had not yet watched the movie in reference.

One woman mentioned how the movie Moana in 2016 was a guide to her when in a distressful situation, again I was convicted with the certainty that God will use anything to help and guide us. I spoke of the power of Radical Acceptance, a book by a Buddhist psychologist. When I read portions of the book later in the week and this poem, the pieces fell into place.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Radical acceptance, can mean entertaining unexpected visitors. Rumi says I am to meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Things happen to all of us that are unforeseen and can knock us out of our orbit. Do we resist like a stubborn donkey? or yield to the reality of what is and move forward? I cannot say I am able to meet the unexpected at the door and laughing, let them in. But I will learn to with God’s help!

At this website https://fivefortheroad.com/lessons-learned-disneys-moana/She writes the theme of Moana is self discovery and finding your way. She goes on to say family is so important, it’s okay to fail, follow your heart, and be brave.

I would add that whoever or whatever shows up at your door, do as Rumi says and entertain them all! Find your way through any upheaval with the help of the Lord. He is a Good Shepherd and knows every situation before we do, and He is not surprised or taken aback by anything.

Unlike me, I have an unruffled Father!

“In returning and rest I am saved, in quietness and trust will be my strength.” Isaiah 30:15a adapted. Keep still.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Braiding Sweet Grass

Ever since we traveled repeatedly to the areas of New Mexico I have been interested in American Indian life and lore. Actually, as a child my parents took us to Carlsbad Caverns National Park and that began my fascination. As we passed through Oklahoma and the plains states I became more aware of the Native Americans.

I recently came across this book Braiding Sweet Grass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. To me, she has such impressive titles to her credit! She is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. This is her second book. I saw it first in a national park bookstore. I was able to obtain it recently through our local library.

When we were in New Mexico I bought some braided sweet grass. It has several ceremonial uses. I have started to use it in the house only during spring and summer when we can have the windows open. I think it would be such fun to grow my own sweet grass and braid it. Have not explored that yet.

This section of the book links the lore to the science discussed in the video segment below. It just delights me!

In the old times, our elders say, the trees talked to each other. They’d stand in their own council and craft a plan. But scientists decided long ago that plants were deaf and mute., locked in isolation without communication. The possibility of conversation was summarily dismissed. Science pretends to be purely rational, completely neutral, a system of knowledge-making in which the observation is independent of the observer. And yet the conclusion was drawn that plants cannot communicate because they lack the mechanisms that animals use to speak. The potentials for plants were seen purely through the lens of animal capacity. Until quite recently no one seriously explored the possibility that plants might “speak” to one another.

There is now compelling evidence that our elders were right – the trees are talking to one another. They communicate via pheromones, hormonelike compounds that are wafted on the breeze, laden with meaning. …. The trees in a forest are often interconnected by subterranean networks of mycorrhizae, fungal strands that inhabit tree roots. Robin Wall Kimmerer

Once on a PBS show I learned about this fungi in the soil that makes it possible for trees to communicate with one another. https://www.pbs.org/video/fungi-help-trees-talk-pyxfdv/

The printed book, Braiding Sweet Grass, is 380-some pages long. I am not likely to finish it right now, but I wanted to bring it to your attention. Perhaps this sort of reading appeals to you, too? Maybe I will read it in full at a later time.

I think it would be absolutely delightful if communication between humans happen this way! Perhaps they do? There are times I will see a car that reminds me of someone. Sometimes I see that same sort of car 4 times in a single day. The first time I likely just think of that person. The second time I pray for them. The third and fourth time I am likely to text and ask if they are okay, letting them know I am lifting them in prayer. I firmly believe that God can use anything to further His kingdom. anything to get my attention and propel me towards obedience. Perhaps this a supernatural root system created between people through the power of the Holy Spirit? The Creator of the Universe could do that!! A supernatural root system between humans.

Irregardless of proof or no proof, yield to the Lord and do not neglect when the Holy Spirit puts someone on your heart or in your mind. We likely will never know this side of heaven the power of such obedience!

Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. James 5:16