Balance and stillness

"Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find..." Matthew 7:7

Cremaster spiny little protuberance at the end of the abdomen of caterpillar, it fastens the pupa in the cocoon and holds it in place. It's the anchor point, from which the caterpillar hangs. p.126 When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd

Evidence of spiritual maturity in our lives is expressed in the fruit: 

Frozen 2 was delightful :)

Genesis 21:1-22:18 recommended for Week 4 Day 3 of Core52  in my mailbox this week... perfect timing

"If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words' (Romans 8:25-26)." p.135 When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd

"Joy is a deep and enduring state of the soul that no circumstance, event, or human can steal away from us. It's delighting in God and choosing to rejoice in all things..." YouVersion "Fruit of the Spirit"

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you... and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

"Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties." ~ C.S. Lewis

Mark 9:23 "Jesus said unto him. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth"

"On Waking" by John O'Donohue: "I give thanks for arriving / Safely in a new dawn / For the gift of eyes / To see the world / The gift of mind To feel at home / In my life / The waves of possibility / Breaking on the shore of dawn / The harvest of the past / That awaits my hunger / And all the furtherings / This new day will bring."

"Pride" and "Patience" are words the keep popping up for me lately

"Quiet core where God's Spirit dwells in us. 'Do you not know that ... God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16)." p. 127 When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd

"Rest is just as holy as work." p. 136 When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd

"Spiritual journeying" with Sue Monk Kidd "God guides us the long way round." p. 152

"T.S. Eliot wrote about a still point, a spiritual place where there's no going forward or going backward. A point within us where we're fastened, and around which everything turns... The still point is our cremaster. Without it, there's no dance of Transformation."  p. 127 

"Ultimately, we don't heal, transform, or create ourselves . We posture ourselves in ways that allow God to heal, transform, and create us... Ultimately, waiting is letting God be God." p. 136

Virginia O'Hanlon reading the Editorial "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" listen here

Wu wei Chinese attitude of expectant beingness p. 37 When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd

"eXcept for the point, the still point, there would be no dance." T.S. Eliot qtd. p. 127

Yielding ourselves to God's Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5

Zazzle package came and Logan opened it. I would have loved to have seen his face, but it warmed my heart to see his text  message: "I think I just opened a birthday present, can I use it now?" :)

here it is:

Noticing the Golden Threads

"Am I being asked to enter a new passage in the spiritual life-- the journey from the false self to true self? Am I being asked to dismantle old masks and patterns and unfold a deeper, more authentic self -- the one God created me to be? Am I being compelled to disturb my inner universe in quest of the undiscovered being who clamors within? p. 8 of Sue Monk Kidd's book re-reading Jan 2020 

"Birthing an 'I' that is not yet."

Called to live the life of Christ within each of us, Coincided, for me with

Day 2 of "Deeper into Scripture : James" a YouVersion Bible plan I am practicing

"Entering the Question" p. 7 of this book by Sue Monk Kidd

"First Reading: Enter. As you read this passage of scripture for the First time you are simply 'entering in' or Familiarizing yourself with what 

God is saying..." ~ YouVersion Bible plan: "Deeper into Scripture : James" 
Holy quaking: "When order crumbles, mystery rises." John Shea Stories of God: An Unauthorized Biography
"It's anguish to come to that place in life where you know all the words but none of the music..."
"Jolting moment, something we call an 'eye-opening' experience, comes along and sharpens our vision...Jesus' life was a balanced rhythm of waiting on God and expressing the fruits of  that waiting. "
"Kept wishing for a 'Wendy' - some wise, loving helper - to come and gently stitch it back" p.11
"Live the question, God whispered, which hung in the winter like and upside down question mark"

More than a decade has passed since I read those words in Nov 2009... now I am ...

Noticing the Golden Threads

"One day, while I was reading the Gospels, it occurred to me ... Opening to a deeper spiritual realm

"Quickened by the moment. I knew. Dear God, I knew. I must enter the chrysalis." p. 13

Reading the Bible with Reverence, and Core 52 by Mark E. Moore as well

"Spirit needs a vessel to pour itself into... Stayed-ness of waiting we find everything we need in order to grow. Suspended upside down in the heart of the question, we 

Touch the sacred spaces of becoming real." p. 17

Upside-down question marks have lately been littering text messages from a friend, and then I read this: "I stood at the window watching the cocoon, which hung in the winter air like an Upside-down question mark" p. 13

"Vortex of the soul where we touch God's transformative powers. But we have to be patient...

We have to let go and tap our creative stillness. Most of all, We have to trust that our scarred hearts really do having Wings." p. 20

eXpectant beingness p.37

"You're doing the most important thing there is . You're allowing your soul to grow up If you can't be still and wait, you can't become what God created you to be." p. 22

Z? not "finding" one in my re-reading this morning, so I'll just put this out there, ask God, and see what is meant to go here :) - update: I asked for one, He gave me at least 4 - that I noticed:
as it turns out, "Zazzle" may have been first, yesterday (a return on my Google search for a gift for Logan's birthday), but that one didn't "click" until a few minutes ago. However, this morning it was "Zuckerberg'd" on this elephant journal Instagram post, and then while trying to find something else posted by Governorghahghah on Instagram I noticed "author of Zadok: The New Old Order. And, as if these were not enough, I noticed that the next video after the one I was watching about the Book of James by Francis Chan was "Zac Poonen: Lord Let Me See Your Glory." Now, these may seem disconnected, or silly, or trivial to some, but to me they demonstrate God's willingness to answer in EVERY way possible until I finally notice He is right here with me waiting for me to: Ask and it shall be given. Knock and the door shall be opened. (Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9)

January 4, 2020 thru early am Jan 12, 2020

Ashwagandha is an adaptogen (helps our body manage stress), provides numerous benefits: boost brain function, lower blood sugar and cortisol levels, and help fight symptoms of anxiety and depression - which also means both more energy and better sleep. I add the powder to my coffee, tea, and golden milk, so that could mean 3x in one day, but at least once a day. 12 Health Benefits info

"Beauty appears when something is completely and absolutely and openly itself. ~ Deena Metzger

 ~ Image by Florian Smit

Carla Ross shared this beautiful "ABC" story on Facebook recently.

"Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say,  but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world awaits in darkness for the light that is you." L.R. Knost

"Faith doesn't always take you out of the problem, Faith often takes you through the problem. Faith doesn't always take away the pain, Faith gives you the ability to handle the pain. Faith doesn't take you out of the storm, Faith calms you in the midst of the storm." thanks for sharing, Donna Duty

Greek for 'return' is nostos. Algos means 'suffering.' So Nostalgia is the suffering caused by unappeased yearning to return." ~ Milan Kundera

"Hang on to your hat. Hang onto your Hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day." ~ E.B. White from Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience compiled by Shaun Usher

i carry you in my heart... it hit me again this morning... God, thank you, for being in this poem, and in my heart. Amen

Keeping Christ first in all things... Casting Crowns' video here "While You Were Sleeping"

 thank you for sharing this on Instagram, April 

Michael Mish, thank you for sharing this:

. "O'Lord O'Lord I know You hear my cry / Your love is lifting me above all the lies / No matter what I face this I know in time / You'll take all that is wrong and make it right...Your strength is found At the end of my road / Your grace it reaches to the hurting" I've been singing this while walking Misty and thought she was singing: "Your love is found at the end of my rope :)

"Patience is everything." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Quoted at the beginning of Chapter 1

Re-reading

Sue Monk Kidd's book: When the Heart Waits

Tibetan proverb: "The secret to living well and longer is: eat half, walk double, laugh triple, and love without measure."

 from min 3:19 of a video created by GregoryD57 "While You Were Sleeping - By: Casting Crowns with Lyrics Rev."

Vern McLellan : "What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year."

 thank you, John Kincheloe, I love it!!

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." ~ Jawaharlal Nehru

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perpleXed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NLT, second edition)

Yes, I know that is a big stretch for the "X" but an important thing to remember, so I wanted to include and emphasize somehow. :)

 Zest - now that I'm not working every Saturday and Sunday, maybe I'll get back there soon... I did, after all, finally find my way back to Macondo yesterday...

It's a new day...

A new day dawns each and every day...

Christmas Card Correspondence Continues into the New Year :)

"Desiderata" is an early 1920s prose poem by the American writer Max Ehrmann... distributed the poem in the form of a Christmas card in 1933... source

"First" by Lauren Daigle  

"Good tidings of Great joy" ~ Luke 2:10

"Human beings are members of a whole, since in their creation they are of one essence. When the conditions of the time brings a member(limb) to pain, the other members(limbs) will suffer from discomfort. You, who are indifferent to the misery of others, it might not be fitting that they should call you a human being." ~ Saadi (Persian poet from city of Shiraz)

"I am loving awareness"  Ram Dass

Jubilant (feeling or expressing great happiness and triumph.) p. 93 The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg

Kiddush, literally, "sanctification," is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. see page 18 of The Handmaid and the Carpenter

Laws of Leviticus... Living waters of the mikvah p. 115 The Handmaid and the Carpenter

New word for me: oneiromancer (a form of divination based upon dreams) p. 64 The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg

Prophecy... Power but also a great gentleness" p. 127 Peace be with you." p. 130

"Quieter you become, the more you can hear." ~ Ram Dass

Ram Dass: spiritual teacher, psychologist, and author of Be Here Now,

Skirtao: leap for joy, and Elizabeth's baby (John) did when Mary entered, conceived with Jesus

"Trust in her and the love you share." Anne, Mary's mother p. 134 The Handmaid and the Carpenter

Ululating : howl or wail as an expression of strong emotion, typically grief. p. 102 The Handmaid and the Carpenter

Valerie Lorimer Contemporary Arts: 

"We're all just walking each other home." ~ Ram Dass

"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us." ~ Hal Borland

Zora Neale Hurston: