Tag: creation

The Fields Preached Me a Sermon

October 21, 2016 /

In the predawn dark I see twinkle lights have dressed the trees on the square outside my Starbucks, but the fountain will be on for a few more days.

We’ve had a frost, but half the leaves are still holding on for dear life, like a climber dangling from a rocky cliff precipice, desperately clinging. They share one final gasp of color – a last hurrah.

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It’s that in-between time when change is coming and it may seem dark and ominous like that spooky abandoned house, or maybe to you it’s an invitation to comfy hibernation – a soft place by the fire while the wind howls in the dark outside.

Creation is my spiritual pathway. I love seeing more of God and myself through His hand in nature. When I walk I love to ask, “Lord, what do you have to show me about yourself and myself today?”

The other day this line struck me from my morning reading

The fields preached me a sermon. Proverbs 24:33 MSG

Isn’t that great?

One of the things I love about waking early in the morning is that when I walk to Starbucks, the stars are still bright and are such a powerful reminder that I did NOTHING to put them there, or keep them there, or guard them through the nighttime hours. They were there yesterday, and will be there tomorrow. Because God.

I breathe deeply and relax in His sovereignty. I am not the boss of the stars, or the leaves, the fields or the streams. They will keep growing, waking, sleeping, flowing. Because God.

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William Bebe was a friend of Teddy Roosevelt’s. He said the two of them would go out on the lawn at night and search the skies for a certain spot of star-like light near the lower left-hand corner of the Great Square of Pegasus.

Roosevelt would say: “That is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.” Then Roosevelt would grin and say, “Now I think we are small enough! Let’s go to bed.”

Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26

When our eyes look up, our anxiety goes down.

What sermon do the fields, or the stars, have to preach us today?

Why we Need the Discipline of Looking Up

January 19, 2015 /

Have you ever thought about what down-lookers we are?  Everyday I get stuck looking down.  Down at my to-do list, and at the pairs of feet in line in front of me. Down the city street at traffic holding me up, down at my computer screen, down at the veggies I’m cutting up for dinner, and down at my shoes striking the pavement as I run, dodging ice or slush.

That changed for awhile this week when I had the incredible joy of joining a friend for a play date in Florida.

And in addition to all kinds of play and laughter and good conversation, we took time to look up.  A lot.

We looked up, towards the stars and the sun and the horizon and the magical rhythmic dance of day and night and day again.

We watched the sunset every night and marveled at the shape and color of the clouds and the crazy pelicans above, who in one moment can glide gracefully in formation over the water like the Blue Angels, and in the next minute plop straight down onto the water to catch a fish in the most UNgraceful mini cannonball move. IMG_9214 IMG_9222

As I was watching the sunrise this morning, and thinking how it was nighttime for my friends on the other side of the world, I also thought how this looking up is one of the most important disciplines of my life with God.FullSizeRender-2 Continue reading

Finding Your Own Walk

July 23, 2014 /

In the summertime I feel like a thirsty person at the end of a long run, standing in front of a gushing fire hydrant, mouth open wide to receive big gulps of sparkling, cold water as fast as I can.  In Minnesota summer is short, so we have to drink quickly!  It’s the DELIGHTFUL season of barefoot and bike rides, corn-on-the-cob and birdsong, pink sunrises and living large outdoors. All of the time.

A friend went strawberry picking and made shortcake for our small group.  Another divided his Hosta to share with me (my yard bunny thanks him 🙁 ).  I got fresh vegetables at the Farmer’s Market Saturday.  Today I’ll celebrate a friend’s birthday lunch outside on the lake.  A baby robin, Roberto, rescued from our window well, has become like a member of our family.

Summer, you are so good.

This past week I had the added gift of getting away to a retreat home in Virginia – tucked in between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Alleghany mountains.  It is a place that has been built with love and prayer and attention to every detail.IMG_7524

I wanted to share some excerpts from a poem, written by our host, Anne Grizzle, in hopes that you might find your own walk with God this summer and “join in the applause”. Continue reading

How Do You Picture Choosing Life?

April 18, 2014 /

As I’ve been traveling I’ve not been able to post very consistently and I’ve really dropped the ball on our One Word Fridays.  Sorry about that.

Like I wrote the other day, it’s been a week of living back into real life.  And part of that has been letting my heart and mind catch up with the rest of me.  Doing a kind of  Examen.  Celebrating places of Life, and mourning places of Death.

The main thing that drives me to write this blog is the conviction that we don’t just drift into becoming more like Jesus.  We have to pay attention.  When we do, maybe we end up saying with Jacob, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

So…today I’m paying attention to the “patches of God-light” or instances from the past two months that shouted, “This is what it looks like to choose LIFE!”.  Here are 6 of them:

1.  Hospitality  We had the delightful privilege of staying at the guest cottage belonging to some friends in Charlotte NC while we met with some mentors.  We had dinner with our friends and some different topics of interest came up in our conversation.  The next morning (one when rain was predicted), here’s what our hostess left outside our door.  The books are about the topics we had discussed the night before.

Choosing life = paying attention to the way I can serve others.

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2. Relationships  A week in one of my favorite cities, reconnecting with friends in ministry at National Community Church and spending time with daughter Katy!

Choosing life = learning from everyone everywhere.

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3. Travel in Israel/Palestine, Telos Conversations and at the International Justice Mission Global Prayer Gathering

Choosing life = partnering with God in His work of bringing justice around the world.

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4. Creation Life emerging from death, even in Minnesota!

Choosing life = noticing the smallest gifts.

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 5. Words

Choosing life = choosing to share life-giving words that build up rather than tear down.

Bob Goff (@bobgoff)
God doesn’t look for typos in our lives; He’s a creator, not an editor. We’re all rough drafts of who we’re becoming.

6. Random Acts of Kindness Twice in the past two months – once here and once in Florida, people have surprised us, paying for our dinner!

Choosing Life = looking for opportunities to delight others.

photo-102What are some places you’ve experienced Life over the past two months?

 

How do You Right-size?

July 6, 2012 /

I love the story of Teddy Roosevelt who used to take his friends outside at night, look up at the stars and recite the wonders of God’s creation.

Marveling at the Milky Way, the searching out the spiral Galaxy of Andromeda…

After awhile he would say, “Now I think we’re small enough.  Let’s go to bed!”

Continue reading

Three Minutes of Wonder

May 4, 2012 /

When I saw this it blew me away.

Who knew?  How did God create that tiny creature and teach him to do...that???

Last night John and I were eating dinner on the patio and he said “Isn’t it cool the way the sunlight is hitting the leaves of that tree?”  Not a typical remark from him, but it was just another reminder of how we usually rush by the tiny sparkling bits of God-wonder revealed even right in front of us.  Not hidden underground even.

Today is alive, twirling like a little girl in her glittery  candy pink dress-up gown and tiara, just waiting for us to notice.

May you have a weekend of noticing and hearing the holy whisper of God in creation say, “Here I am.”

What of God’s creation are you “wondering” at this weekend?

Stretching the Muscle of Right-Sizing

October 7, 2011 /

Last week I wrote that I’m going to try suggesting a creative spiritual experiment or resource on Fridays.  If you’re like me it’s easy to read stuff like this and say, “Oh, great idea.” but not do anything about it.  My hope is that a bunch of us in this blogommunity (yes, I made up that word) might say, “YES!  I’m in!” and give these things a shot over the weekend.  I asked Katy and Maggie for an idea of what to call this and Maggie suggested “Spirit Stretch Fridays”.  But if any of you have other ideas share!!  Put ’em in the comments!

Here in Minnesota we have had the most delightfully bizarre week of summer weather right smack dab in October when we’re usually worried about when the first snowfall is going to come.  I’ve written before (rather obnoxiously) about how I’m sure Jesus is just like me in my preference for being outdoors. http://laurac-payingattention.blogspot.com/2011/08/jesus-is-just-like-me.html

But in some ways I really do think getting outside and paying attention can be a spiritual discipline for a bunch of reasons:

– If spiritual exercises are about stretching spiritual muscles, this one stretches our humility, praise, and perspective muscles because we stop doing work and focus on something other than ourselves.

– It right-sizes our problems.  It’s a reminder that regardless of anything else, God is in control – the seasons will change, the leaves will fall, the snow will blow, everything will die, and then, miraculously, (especially in Minnesota it seems!) He’ll do it all over again!  Spring WILL arrive again and the earth will be reborn.

– It right-sizes US.  It’s a reminder of the power and majesty of God.  How big He is and how small I am.  The world will not stop spinning if I take time out to rest.

– It prompts us to do what we were made to do! “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Psalm 150:6

I love this quote:

Every human being is “formed to be a spectator of the created world and given eyes that he might be led to its Author by contemplating so beautiful a representation.” John Calvin

So maybe get outside and walk or ride or play this weekend!  Here’s a little of what I’ve been seeing…

Psalm 73:18 Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.  Praise be to His glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory.

If you want to see some REALLY spectacular pictures, check out Anne Voskamp’s :

And don’t forget to post ideas you have!

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