July 2015
Live
each day like a child digging through a treasure chest, rifling for the next
discovery. Open your arms and your
eyes to the God who stands in plain sight and works miracles in your midst. Look for him in your workdays and
weekends, in your meeting-filled Mondays and your lazy Saturdays. Search for
him in the snowy sunsets and Sabbaths, seasons of Lent and sitting at your
table. Pray for- and expect- wonder. For when you search for God, you will discover him. Live awake and aware because the wonder
awaits.
-Margaret Feinberg Wonderstruck
Don’t shine so others see
you. Shine so that through you, others can see him. –CS Lewis
When we pray for wonder and live eyes wide open to
wonder, the tone and tenacity with which we live our lives changes. We
become expectant to catch glimpses of God in ways we’ve never seen Him before. -Margaret Feinberg Wonderstruck
In
God's garden of grace, even a broken tree bears fruit. - Rick Warren
Joy
is the simplest form of gratitude. -Karl Barth
I
arise today with summer in my heart:
Fire
of enthusiasm
Burning
sun
Abundant
life
Playful
spirit
Nesting
birds
Lush
meadows
Growing
gardens.
This
is my inheritance in this vibrant new season.
I
arise today in the arms of summer. -Macrina
Wiederkehr The Circle of Life
That we can glimpse
you within creation
is a beautiful
thought,
but also tells us that
you desire to be seen,
to be found and known.
Open our eyes, Lord,
as we walk through
this world,
feel the wind and
sunshine,
see the majesty of
creation
unfolding before our
eyes.
Help us to see you
- www.faithandworship.com
Love
adds a precious seeing to the eye –Shakespeare
Not knowing when the dawn
will come
I open every door.
-Emily Dickinson
"Grow old with me!
The best is yet to be." ~ Robert Browning
(in honor of our 19th wedding anniversary this month)
Invent your world. Surround yourself with people, color, sounds and work that nourish you. -SARK
Anything,
everything, little or big becomes an adventure when the right person shares it.
-Kathleen Norris
I felt the iron weight of the pause as I grasped for the
perfect way to express what I desired from God. I took a deep
breath and plunged. “This sounds strange,” I apologized, “but I’m
praying for pixie dust.” I might as well have vacuumed all the air
out of the room. While a few stared uncomfortably at me, more than a
dozen eyes darted back and forth in an almost unanimous
expression: what have we gotten ourselves into? I kept talking. “More
than anything, what I long for is our God, the One who bedazzled the
heavens and razzle-dazzled the earth, to meet us in such a way during our
time here that we find ourselves awestruck by his goodness and
generosity, his provision and presence. I’m praying for pixie dust. I
want to leave here with a sense of wonderment as we encounter
and experience things only God can do.” One by one the members of the team exhaled, a welcome sign they were
extending grace to me. A few even smiled. Louie, a pastor whose short grey hair
and mustached framed twinkling youthful eyes, broke the silence. “Margaret, I
think what your asking for is something my boys and I pray for often. You’re
asking for the favor of god. We pray for God’s favor both in good times and
bead—that we’d sense the reality that we’re one of God’s children, one of God’s
favorites, and wait expectantly for what God will do. “ -
When I returned to my room that night, I tucked myself into bed….God
had reawakened a sense of divine expectation. Though God had been at work in my
life in countless ways- revealing so many wonders- I realized deep down inside
I still backed away from living each day with holy anticipation. Praying for pixie dust was an
invitation for God to lavish our team with his loving-kindness, and for each of
us to walk more upright, eyes attentive to what God might do next. You can’t
pray for pixie dust and maintain a dour demeanor or dreary disposition. The Mary Poppins of all prayers, asking
for pixie dust is hard to do without a frolicsome smile on your face, a playful
cheer in your spirit, a holy anticipation of how God may answer.
- Margaret Feinberg Wonderstruck
