worship moment

The test and core of all life is worship.
All of us worship.
We worship!
Question is: what, who is the object of bowing worship?
The method of darkness is to instill fear --
to get worship!
What you fear you worship.
Who you fear,
there is the altar of your worship.

Martha Kilpatrick

Ruth moment

As I travel I find so many women full of spiritual potential
who feel trapped by depression, disappointment, grief, shame and physical pain.
Yet when they look to the church for help
they often find that the patriarchal attitudes of the Old Testament are alive and well.
The church has failed
when it comes to helping women discover and implement their spiritual gifts.
Women's ministry has focused on trivial things
like fashion shows and recipes
when God desires to train His daughters to win souls, disciple new believers, start and run businesses, fund kingdom enterprises and transform communities.
We have ignored the message of the book of Ruth—
and as a result many women have remained spiritually barren
when it was God's intention that they become dangerous weapons that make the devil tremble.
Women please hear me.
Jesus has included you in His plan!
Allow Him to reveal to you how much He loves you
and how He desires to use you.
He wants you to leave a spiritual legacy,
just as Ruth did.
May you be filled with the same courage, faith and determination that marked her life.
J. Lee Grady

giving moment

THE GIVING TREE - by Shel Siverstein

"Once there was a tree and she loved a little boy" -
And so begins the story of a tree being happy
because she is able to make the boy happy.
At first the boy desires nothing but to climb on her branches,
eat her apples
and lie in her shade.
But as the boy grows,
so do his desires.
Because of the tree's love
she gives her apples for him to sell for money to have real fun,
her branches that he might build a house for a wife and family,
her trunk so he could build a boat and sail away from the boredom of life.
One day the prodigal returns to the tree that loves him.
By now she has given him everything:
all that remains of her is an old stump.
The boy,
now an old man,
needs only a quiet place to sit and rest.
And the giving tree gives once more.

gift moment

How do we make our deaths gifts for others?
Very often people's lives are destroyed,
harmed,
or permanently wounded by the deaths of their relatives or friends.
We have to do whatever we can to avoid this.
When we are near death what we say to those who are close to us,
whether in spoken or in written words,
is very important.
When we express gratitude to them,
ask forgiveness for our shortcomings
and offer forgiveness for theirs,
and express our sincere desire that they continue their lives without remorse
but remembering the graces of our lives,
then our deaths can become true gifts.
Henri Nouwen

talk moment

Talk must always come from a place of silence

and not from a place of aggression and power

joy moment

Where there is no joy there can be no courage;
and without courage all other virtues are useless.
Edward Abbey

Love and joy help give us not only the will to persist through adversity,
but also to blossom,
to find meaning in life
and develop our potential as human beings

tear moment

You can draw near to God even though you cannot say a word.

A prayer may be crystallised in a tear.

A tear is enough water to float a desire to God.

Charles H. Spurgeon

Ultimately, we have just one moral duty;

to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves,

more and more peace,

and to reflect it onwards to others.

And the more peace there is in us,

the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.

Etty Hillesum

reality moment

when we idealize our community

the fall from the sky of our ideal

into the pit of reality

can be crushing

simple moment

I am more and more convinced

that the times we struggle to "find" God

are because we are not simple enough

in our approaching Him

a pastor
a tired shepherd
a weary sojourner
with bloodied feet
from the States
has spent most of this week with me .......

he needed a hidden spot
to rest
to weep
to be seen
and be heard

he spoke of many things
but one statement ripped my heart to shreds ........

he has recently discovered
that while at seminary
he was raped of his intimacy with God
by religious theology .............

knowledge had become his lover

achieving position had displaced his passion

it was only as he dared to speak those words
the well of grief
and loss
and pain
and loneliness
was uncapped ...........

tremble moment

Thus says the LORD:
"Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the LORD.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble
and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word."
(Isaiah 66:1,2; ESV)

anorexic moment

The anorexic body

Have we become an anorexic body?

Do we see ourselves as spiritually fat when in fact we are wasting away?
Have we lost the taste for temple food after years of filling up on fast food?
Is the truth no longer palatable because it might offend?

Anorexia kills slowly

One by one internal organs quietly stop functioning
The heart slows and eventually stops
Lungs become deprived of oxygen
Life sustaining blood no longer flows throughout the body
Gangrene sets in
Members are rendered useless and require amputation

Anorexia kills silently

Whose mirror are we looking into
Whose reflection do we see
Whose reflection do we seek

Anorexia kills

Have we become an anorexic body?

love moments

At the end of Jesus' life,

he was stripped naked,

scourged at the pillar,

dehydrated,

and so poor

neither the earth nor the wood of the cross

offered Him a place to lay His head.

God was homeless.

Christ had nowhere to rest His head except His own shoulder.

That's because Jesus was drunk with love.

Catherine of Siena

fog moment

I know a man who lives in Paris.
His wife has Alzheimer's.
He was an important businessman--his life was filled with busyness.
But he said that when his wife fell sick, "I just could not put her in an institution, so I keep her.
I feed her. I bathe her."
I went to Paris to visit them
and this businessman who had been very busy all his life said,
"I have changed. I have become more human."
I got a letter from him recently.
He said that in the middle of the night his wife woke him up.
She came out of the fog for a moment, and she said,
"Darling, I just want to thank you for all you're doing for me."
Then she fell back into the fog.
He said, "I wept and I wept."
Jean Vanier

church moment

during a time of prayer

with some friends

God was speaking with me about church

only

He did not call it

church

touch moment

Touch, yes, touch, speaks the wordless words of love.
We receive so much touch when we are babies and so little when we are adults.
Still, in friendship touch often gives more life than words.
A friend's hand stroking our back,
a friend's arms resting on our shoulder,
a friend's fingers wiping our tears away,
a friend's lips kissing our forehead ---
these are true consolation.
These moments of touch are truly sacred.
They restore,
they reconcile,
they reassure,
they forgive,
they heal.
Everyone who touched Jesus
and everyone whom Jesus touched
were healed.
God's love and power went out from him (see Luke 6:19).
When a friend touches us with free, nonpossessive love,
it is God's incarnate love that touches us
and God's power that heals us.
Henri Nouwen

take a moment
touch someone .........

today moment

Then there are the seasons of the body. Sooner or later, something will happen to me - an accident, sickness or disease will unfold, or I will just become weaker, slower and unable to read or write, unable to give talks.
To tell you the truth, I do not ponder too much on tomorrow. Live today well. Each season has its beauty. I have the strength for today and hopefuly too for tomorrow. Why waste time worrying or even questioning? Write me a letter when I am 86 - I'll tell you then what I feel!
Jean Vanier

80 moments

one of the persons who has had a huge impact on my spiritual life has just turned 80 ........
he is one whose dash between born and died is richly flavorful with Christ ........

Arriving at 80
I suppose arriving at 80 is more symbolic than anything else....
Of course, I'm taking care. I get up later, go to bed earlier, and sleep after lunch. So I feel pretty well. I feel happy. Yes happy to be alive, happy to be part of my community and happy to eat every day (when I am not travelling) in my home with Albert and Nathalie (who is blind), with Cariosa (from Pincher Creek, Alta.), with Monique (who speaks very little, but each word is a pearl) and with other people.
Jean Vanier

beautiful moment

I also believe that in each person
under all the hardness
the hate
the fear
and the anguish
there is a little child
waiting for the love he or she never had.
Human beings are truly beautiful
but so many do not know that they are beautiful.
-Jean Vanier