WHEN ISOLATION is GOOD for YOU

  A tree is not only a tree, it is a gift, a miracle, and a delight from God.

 

 SOLITUDE IS GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL 

Your soul partakes of the beauty found in quietness.

 
We may not like being in isolation, having so much time away from others, but the simple ways have extra benefits in unseen ways. 

We hear better when we aren't so busy or distracted.

When we take moments of quiet reflection while in-tune with God, nature, and our surroundings, God creates something extraordinarily beautiful in us. God's presence speaks peace, love, and truth to all who seek Him.

To live simply is good for a person. I read about a young man who left his well-to-do family to join a monastery. Through this he learned the value of having less. He speaks about it to others.

The young man was a participant in the monastery for almost two years. He found what it is to soak in the light of God’s presence. He took that practice with him back to the outside.

There are times now when he finds himself staring at a tree, contemplating in the silence. Rarely is he angry. He is a changed person; he’s at peace on the inside. This presence is a gift to his soul.

What do we make of such a thing? He tasted something sweet that endures within him. His inner being absorbed meaning as it gave life to his soul. Something lasting in beauty took hold in him.

Those who meditate become aware of peaceful presence. Their mind, spirit, and soul partake of meaning beyond the physical. A tree is not only a tree, it a gift, a miracle, and a delight from God.

Seeing the sublime in the ordinary changes the ordinary into something extraordinary. Take a wildflower, for instance. Look at its intricate lines, its magnificent hue and its delicate design.

Let the simple overwhelm and you will go away changed in your sensitivities.

MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY and the CHURCH

FURTHER STILL
God takes us further still.
 Our beliefs inform our actions. Beliefs evolve as well. A decade ago my faith journey was shaken and shaped by unexpected events that initiated my search across the church divide. 

I found what I wasn't looking for, and I began to see why we hold fast to Christ alone as our true truth. As I turned my gaze on Christ, He began to show me what I had not seen before because I had blinders on and had some mistaken beliefs.

FORWARD HO
God says to follow Him.
In 2009 the Lord was guiding me to another level of spiritual understanding. Holy Week took on greater significance as I attended my first Maundy Thursday service and my first Stations of the Cross at a liturgical church and later, in 2014, at a Trappist monastery. 

My beliefs were birthed in traditional Evangelical Protestantism but have found a measure of community with other faith groups that follow Christ as the head of the church and believe in Christ for salvation. We are one in Christ, one at the cross of Christ, and one as beloved children of God.

WHERE TO
God says to love one another.
Christianity is represented in three predominant groups: Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant. Within those three groups are a myriad of branches, each with their own strong church biblically-based doctrines which link to their Christian theology, based on interpretation of the Hebrew and Greek of the sacred text. The Christian fold, um, family, has too much in-fighting and dysfunction, and has in some ways lost its first love. Christ is the answer.

Though that is a rather simplistic statement--it is much more complicated than I have stated--it somewhat explains the broad tent of Christianity. According to the Word, unity is found in Christ. We in the Church are to follow Christ, first and foremost. To do that we must follow the teachings in the Word of God. Other sorts of beliefs aren't rooted in biblical teachings. We must look to Christ. 

What I found that I wasn't looking for is people of God and historic writers not of the Protestant tradition that love God with the same fervor as I do. And that makes Easter extra special. I can celebrate Christ's resurrection with them and with my church tradition. 

Hallelujah! Christ has risen. He is alive!

*Photo by Tony McLachlan on Unsplash

THE LOVE OF MYSTERIOUS OCEAN

OCEAN BLUE

The ocean is restless.

The ocean never ceases its movement. In ripples and waves of frothy bliss, it's either coming in or going out. The ocean is both wild and tame. She is either reacting or subdued by natural forces.

The mariner knows the ocean in a way the rest of us do not. We find ourselves mesmerized by the ocean; its beauty pulls us in. Salty wet air brushes mist on our faces as we stand on the shore.

Driftwood pieces, sea creatures, sea weed, sand, rocks, and grit rest on her beachhead. The ocean's sand-strewn perimeters reveal colorful agates worn smooth by the ocean’s ever-ceaseless activity.

Boats prowl the ocean’s surface and comb its depths to discover what is above or below: liners, sail boats, submarines, speed boats, fishing trolleys, carriers, barges, cruise ships, and ferry boats.

The mysteries of the sea will continue to capture our imaginations as we capture her rhythm through the expressive works of poets, writers, painters, photographers, adventurers, and lovers.

Embrace the romance of the sea.

*Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash

 

THE GIFT OF WONDERMENT

Wonder delights the senses.

To wonder is to delight in the simple and complex mysteries in nature; we love the sights, sounds, their tastes, touch, and scents. They touch our thoughts, the unknowns with their complexities and much more than one can take in.

Children have a gift of wonder. They delight in watching an insect alight on a leaf, a pill bug roll in their palm, a lizard doing push-ups, a snail on the sidewalk, and a snake slithering in the dirt.

Children ask many questions that originate from their innate ability to wonder. How do things work? Why do they do that? How are they made? What do they eat? Why are they that way?

I like to wonder as I wander especially out in nature. I see much that fascinates me. I open my eyes to see the unusual in the usual. Mysteries abound. Everywhere you look you find them.

My brother and I share this love of wonder. I remember being in second grade and he in first grade, how after school we wandered the alfalfa field while looking at the sheep and talking.

A few years later he and I scrambled to a distant corner of the farm acreage to look at a bed of wildflowers full of California poppies and violet lupine. Luscious, they were. He and I, content.

I have an outlet for my sense of wonder. I view as I write. My words describe the beauties as they touch me. I act like a conduit sharing the mystery of wonder with my quite willing pen.

Artists understand wonderment.


*photo by Katie Rodriguez on Unsplash