innocent moment

no one blushes anymore

innocence seems to be lost

leading moment

the difference between ambition and true leadership is this:

ministry is not a call to lead,

but to die.

Francis Frangipane

hearing moment

Once there was a man who dared God to speak.
Burn the bush like You did for Moses, God. And I will follow.
Collapse the walls like You did for Joshua, God. And I will fight.
Still the waves like You did on Galilee, God. And I will listen.
So the man sat by a bush,
near a wall,
close to the sea
and waited for God to speak.
And God heard the man, so God answered.
He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a church.
He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin.
He stilled a storm, not of the sea, but of a soul.
And God waited for the man to respond.
And God waited………
And God waited……….
And God waited………
But because the man was looking at bushes, not hearts;
bricks not lives,
seas not souls,
he decided that God had done nothing.
Finally he looked to God and asked, 'God, have You lost Your power?'
And God looked at the man and said, 'Man, have you lost your hearing?'

author unknown

beholding moment

By being filled with the Spirit we are transformed,
and by beholding we become mirrors.
You always know when a man has been beholding the glory of the Lord,
you feel in your inner spirit that he is the mirror of the Lord's own character.
Beware of anything which would sully that mirror in you;
it is nearly always a good thing,
the good that is not the best.
Oswald Chambers

love moment

there is a silent "being with"

an absence of whir

a stillness of waiting, resting

a leaving behind of all words

a remaining with God alone

in an act of love

hand moment

this has been an interesting week
filled with the unexpected
filled with tender fragile moments
filled with powerful revelation
filled with opportunities to flee or to stand
filled with questions
I wish I could say filled with answers
but they too are starting to come ...........

in the bitter cold of yesterday
there was such a warm sight ......
the deer poked her head through the trees
and this time she had her young one with her ......
they carefully, tentatively entered the yard
the young one staying very close to the side of its mom
they broke the trail together ........
entering new territory together
finding food together

that is sort of how I feel .........
there is a young fragile part of me
entering new territory
hand in hand with my Father
the breaking of the path is tender
but there is food to be found
food that will enable growth ....
and I am not alone
there is a hand holding me ...

ordinary moment

Jesus invites me to come to His table
at the very moment He comes to my table
in all its ordinariness
to break bread
and drink wine
bringing radiance to the ordinary by His Presence
and I can only speak His name in a whisper
lest the earth should tremble
my soul offering a quiet loving glance toward Him

love walks a straight line from this moment to the cross

caritas

interesting moments

yesterday was an interesting day

a day of testing
being poked and prodded
pushed and invaded
and I am grateful
despite the discomfort of the invasion
but was struck by the appearance of the day

I realize I am somewhat old school
of another generation than most
and I am glad we are far removed from the starched, stand up by themselves, uniforms
and perfectly shaped caps set just so on top of perfectly shaped hair
but there is something about how one dresses
that filters down into how one feels about oneself
about what it is we do ........

and to be surrounded by jeans
topped by not so clean looking sweaters
hair falling all over the place
scruffy boots
heavy sighing
unhappy faces
sharp voices
weary attitudes
it all just made me want to open a window
spruce the place up
pick up the files that had fallen off the cabinet onto the floor
empty the overflowing trash
change the sheet on the exam table ..........

I know everyone is overworked ....
and yet ....
something is out of whack here .......

where is the professionalism
the pride in the work of our hands

it is very very good the white coat idolizing is over
but frankly
a white coat would have been a comfort yesterday

however
I truly am grateful for their help .........

living moment

in order to live the life God yearns for us to have,
we must let go of where we are now
and what we love
in order to live into the bigger place
to which God is calling us.
We have to be willing to endure chaos
and not know where it will all end
in order to experience new life.
-
Valerie K. Isenhower and Judith A. Todd
Living into the Answers

moment moments

our whole life consists of a series of moments

in His Presence

we live a moment at a time

but only some moments we live fully

and that is sad

for each moment

is filled with Him

His power

His breath

His life

He alone knows the numbers of our moments

His hand holds them

we alone waste them

listening moment

long ago

an ordinary man named John

laid his head

upon the breast of Jesus

and listened

to the heartbeats of God

Emmanuel moment

Emmanuel

God-with-us

God hidden in the mud

and the pain of each day

God answering the cry of our hearts

giving moment

there is one thing that we alone can give God

and that is our personal love

no one else

can give God

our personal love

for this

is our great significance

Basil Pennington

light moment

Let the Star of Morning Rise by Ted Loder

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Isaiah 9:2

Lord God,
in the deepest night there rises the star of morning,
of birth,
the herald of a new day you are making,
a day of great joy dawning in yet faint shafts of light and love.

I hear whispers of peace in the stillness,
fresh breezes of promise stirring,
winter sparrows chirping of life,
a baby's cry of need
and hope --
Christmas!

In the darkness I see the light
and find in it comfort,
confidence,
cause for celebration,
for the darkness cannot overcome it;
and I rejoice to nourish it in myself,
in other people,
in the world
for the sake of him in whom it was born
and shines forever,
even Jesus the Christ.
Amen.

prepared moment

God had prepared a stable
before man started shutting the doors

Vanier moment

I am sensing a yearning for solidarity,

a cry coming from people for togetherness and for love.

For too long we've been walking on the road to independence.

We're beginning to feel our loneliness.

We're beginning to see that we can only live if we're together.

We have had enough of loneliness,

independence

and competition.

Jean Vanier

eagle moment

A man found an eagle's egg and put it in the nest of a barnyard hen.
The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them
All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did,
thinking he was a barnyard chicken.
He scratched the earth for worms and insects.
He clucked and cackled.
And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.
Years passed and the eagle grew very old.
One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky.
It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents with scarely a beat of his strong golden wings.
The old eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" he asked
"That's the eagle, the king of the birds," said his neighbour.
"He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth - we're chickens."
So the eagle lived and died a chicken for that's what he thought he was.
Tony de Mello
Song of the Bird.

Habakkuk 3:17-18
though the fig tree should not blossom

and there be no fruit on the vines

though the yield of the olive should fail

and the fields produce no food

though the flock should be cut off from the fold

and there be no cattle in the stalls

yet I will exult in the LORD

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation

mystery moment

perhaps it is we are not to know the answers

but live in the part of self where the question is born

live with an attitude of listening

of awareness of presence

of an openness to mystery

piano moment

playing the piano

I got lost today

and didn’t want to come back