Sally says at RevGals: OK I'll admit it, right now I am exhausted, there is so much going on and so much to do that I fell like I am running around in small circles, add to that the fact that there is so much that I'd like to do ....
What I need to do is give myself permission (make myself) to stop and to refocus, to breath the air and smell the roses to get perspective and to rest in God's presence, and sometimes that can be hard to achieve but I know that the harder it gets, the more essential it becomes. Somewhere deep inside I hear the Spirit whispering to my soul:
Live in me, make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself, but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined to me... (John 15: 4)
So I want to ask you:
1. How do you intentionally make a vital daily connection with God? What roots you and gives you life? I go out in the morning to pick up the newspaper, and I face the sunrise, and I say good morning to God and give thanks for yesterday, today, and tomorrow...pray for the things that are on my heart at that time. Ask that I might be God's person in the world today.
2. Do you have a favourite space/ place that you go to? outdoors and birds are the constants. I love to go outside, usually in my yard, or often I stop at a pond in a local park on my way home from Jazzercise and listen to birds. The Cornell Red Tail Hawk cam has been fascinating me lately. One of my favorite birds and it's such a gift to get to see them up close this way. I've found a whole world of bird webcams through this site, but this is still my favorite. It's a good meditation place for me.
3. Is there a particular passage, phrase or prayer that brings you immediately into God's presence? When I was a little girl, this was often used as the opening sentence as Morning Prayer began: "The Lord is in his holy Temple; Let all the earth keep silence before him." (from Habbakuk). And to me, that means, settle in; it's time to pray; God is in God's house and so am I." Conveniently, I now experience God as anywhere that I am.
(The Lord was definitely a Him when I was a girl.)
4. Music- essential ingredient or distraction- discuss
When I'm trying to pray and listen, music doesn't work. Often when I'm working, it doesn't either. But sometimes when I am working, it is a blessing. It might be sacred music; yesterday I listened to about an hour of Bach cantatas on Spotify. I'm also very fond of Pandora's Yaz channel.
5. Silence and solitude or engagement with like minded others? I really prefer to be on my own when it comes to refreshing.
Bonus, a poem, piece of inspirational prose or music that speaks to you of that vital connection...
To Live in the Mercy of God
Denise Levertov, “To Live in the Mercy of God” from Sands from the Well. Copyright © 1996 by Denise Levertov. Reprinted with the permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.
Reproduced from poetryfoundation.org