June Twenty-Nineteen

June Twenty-Nineteen 

Some of the quotes this month are taken from Christine Sine's book The Gift of Wonder which has been a wonderful companion on our trip at the end of this month to the Galapagos Islands.  June has indeed been a month of much awe and wonder as we have had the joy of wrapping up the school year and celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. 

“Awe and wonder, imagination and curiosity connect us to the God who is present in every moment and everything in a way that nothing else can.” -Christine Sine The Gift of Wonder

"Dance invites you to transform into the most majestic version of yourself." –Damara Vita Ganley 

"Let God’s love speak to you, of the wonder of who you are, the beauty of who you are created to be. Let God’s love speak to you of loyalty and generosity and compassion, of tenderness and caring and trust. Let God’s love speak to you of fun and food and fellowship, and what it means to be a child of the living God. Let it remind you that God’s love is so wide and deep, so all embracing that nothing can separate us from it." 

-Christine Sine The Gift of Wonder

"Take time to notice the markers of God’s abiding presence and rejoice in God’s enduring acts…

Hold on to the signs that nudge us onward along the path that leads into the loving heart of the One who is making all things new." 

-Christine Sine The Gift of Wonder

A television show about amphibians featured a Japanese woman who had devoted her life to researching giant salamanders. Holding up a huge, brown, slimy blog with fierce teeth, she said with a shy smile, “I know many people find them ugly, but I find them beautiful.  I love these creatures and I feel lucky that I get to study them.”  Reflecting on the woman’s comments, Christian author Brian McLaren writes,  “At that moment I thought: maybe God allows each of us to join God in loving some special aspect of creation, from weather to stars to dinosaurs to rocks to antique cars to songbirds to lions to electricity to wines to motorcycles to giant salamanders. If that’s the case, I get the honor of joining the Creator in appreciating turtles. You might think my Japanese counterpart and I are strange, but we actually feel quite lucky.”

-Brian McLaren Generous Orthodoxy

"How delightful it is to live in a place of beauty, to share the joy of life with the great I AM.

How delightful it is to see the birds hovering overhead, and hear the whispering wind rustling through the trees…

I dance for joy surrounded by God’s grandeur and open my senses to wonder and awe." 

-Christine Sine The Gift of Wonder

"Everything that is—every tree, bird, star, stone and wave—existed first as a dream in the mind of the divine artist. Indeed the world is the mirror of the divine imagination and to decipher the depths of the world is to gain deep insights into the heart of God. The traces of the divine imagination are everywhere. The beauty of God becomes evident in the beauty of the world." 

-John Donahue

"When you regain a sense of your life as a journey of discovery you return to rhythm with yourself.  When you take the time to travel with reverence, a richer life unfolds before you. Moments of beauty begin to braid your days.  When your mind becomes more acquainted with reverence, the light, grace and elegance of beauty find you more frequently. When the destination becomes gracious, the journey becomes an adventure of beauty." 

-John Donahue

"All is a gift from God. Let us receive with wonder and awe." 

-Christine Sine The Gift of Wonder