Friday, January 31, 2014

january twenty-fourteen

welcoming twenty- fourteen 
 
“Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”

Trust the past to God's mercy,
The present to God's love,
and the future to God's providence.
-St Augustine

 The future is as bright as the faithfulness of God. –Ann Voskamp

Isn't that what faith is?  
Walking right up to the edge of our present circumstance, closing our eyes,
seeing the bright-red sparks of possibility dance beneath our lids, feeling the embrace of a God who wants ever greater and greater and greater things for us, whispering as silent prayer; then, we leap.  And the heavens open.  
Dear God, let me write the first line.  Make the first move.  Speak the first word.  Love newly, radically.  Let me leap, and let the heavens unfasten, and open.  Amen.
-Joshua Dubois   ‘The President’s Devotional’

Let's go invent tomorrow instead of worrying about what happened yesterday. -Steve Jobs 




Love of animals is a universal impulse, a common ground on which all of us may meet. By loving and understanding animals, perhaps we humans shall come to understand each other. --Dr Louis J.Camuti (1893-1981)

 Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happens over which we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the resolution of a conflict. Patience is not a waiting passivity until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later and somewhere else. Let's be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand.  
–Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey


Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. James 1:2-3

To Thee I run now with great expectation
To honor You with trust like a child
My hopes and desires seek a new destination
and all that You ask Your grace will provide.
-Sandra McCracken 
The next morning dawned bright and sweet, like ribbon candy.  -Sarah Addison AllenGarden Spells

(Yes, there are lots of pictures this month of our beloved bunny given to us from our dear friends the Haileys... what can I say? We are smitten!) 

sweet times as we run a couple days a week to get ready to run a 5K together in March
note to self... 


I am so grateful for an email my sister-in-law Tracey sent me earlier this month that shared some writing that builds on the house blessing and chalkingof the door that we did for Epiphany.  It offers beautiful perspective in this new year, no matter what comes our way. 

Jan Richardson writes, "At the same time that I’m thinking of (and praying for) a physical dwelling that we will inhabit and bless, I also find myself imagining the coming year as a house—a space in time that is opening itself to all of us. How will we inhabit the coming year? How will we enter it with mindfulness and with intention? How will we move through the rooms of the coming months in a way that brings blessing to this world?
With these questions in mind, I offer this blessing for you.

The Year as a House: A Blessing
Think of the year

as a house:

door flung wide
in welcome,

threshold swept
and waiting,

a graced spaciousness

opening and offering itself
to you.
Let it be blessed
in every room.

Let it be hallowed
in every corner.

Let every nook
be a refuge
and every object
set to holy use.
Let it be here
that safety will rest.

Let it be here 
that health will make its home.

Let it be here
 that peace will show its face.

Let it be here 
that love will find its way.
Here
let the weary come

let the aching come

let the lost come

let the sorrowing come.
Here
 let them find their rest

and let them find their soothing

and let them find their place

and let them find their delight.
And may it be
in this house of a year

that the seasons will spin in beauty,

and may it be
in these turning days

that time will spiral with joy.

And may it be
that its rooms will fill

with ordinary grace
and light
spill from every window

to welcome the stranger home.

Wherever you make your home, may it be blessed, and may you enter this coming year in peace."   http://paintedprayerbook.com/2009/12/31/epiphany-blessing-the-house

a few other posts from the month to share: 


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