TIME…Time…TIME…Time…TIME!

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Virginia

Out with the old, in with the new.  Sure, we’re supposed to to that @ New Years, but Lent is a time to get rid of old stuff cluttering up our hearts and minds & strangling our wills to do, well, new things we have been nudged to do but can never seem to get around to it.

When do we have the TIME? 

Time tends to bulldoze our lives with commitments, duties, family and WORK as we madly dash (or trudge along) just making it through each day.

If it’s important, however, we MAKE TIME for it.  Not to add any (extra) Lenten pressure, but Jesus did say:  “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for the least ones, you did not do for Me.”   Of course, we can flip that around earlier in Matthew 25 when Jesus said, “whatever you did for one of these least ones, you did for Me.”

So, maybe we are doing lots of things that help others (in our spare time, or maybe it’s our work? like a doctor or nurse or teacher or pastor or priest or relief & development worker or business owner or as a full-time mom or what what..) But how do we view time?

We sometimes look at what we do as the same old, same old stuff.  Humdrum.  What does each hour bring? More of the same.  As we pressurize ourselves to keep running from deadline to deadline without taking time to blink. Or we just do the next thing by rote.

kitchen clock“Each new hour holds new chances for new beginnings.”   Maya Angelou

So, here’s today’s Lenten challenge:  How do we view time? Can we ask God for new verve to meet each hour expectantly – that His love & grace & mercy & peace & joy may rise anew within our hearts to see & be new beginnings where we are?  Inside, outside & around us?

Quebec clockgrace, peace & (hourly) New Beginnings

     Virginia : )

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Entering the Desert (with courage!)

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Virginia

west bank st george monastery overviewToday in our Gospel reading Jesus faced temptation in the desert after a 40 day fast.  This morning Fr. Herman Katongole challenged us that: “Lent is a time to be courageous to go into the desert, to let what’s hidden within ourselves be open to God… We must put all our trust in God, like Jesus in the desert.”

Given how cold it’s been, being in a toasty warm desert sounds kinda nice right now.  But living for five years near a very hot desert in the Middle East, i can tell you it gets VERY hot. Like you-must-carry-a-water bottle-around-at-all-times hot.

So, going into the desert is not a cake-walk. Especially spiritually.  I think i’d rather hang out by the streams on the edge of the desert, keeping my feet wet?  Where there’s a water source always handy?

But you know, God doesn’t always call us to stay where water gushes.  Sometimes we must move into the desert, by faith, and let God provide dew drops when the the streams that have hydrated us spiritually in the past dry out.

Maybe as we open ourselves to God’s embrace in the desert, we will experience the touch of His love taking what we’ve hidden in our hearts out into the light – to be burned up in the blaze of His mercy & grace.

I’m a springtime kinda gal – i love flowers (Roses in the Rubble is the name of this blog?)  & green trees & green plants and gushing waterfalls. Spiritually i also love vibrant worship and special times of intense devotion & words of Scripture that jump off the page into my heart.  But i have been to the desert… & sometimes stuck there, but even in the desert God has provided.   Like these flowers @ St. George’s Monastery in the desert near Jericho.

Don’t be afraid, as Fr. Herman challenged us, to courageously enter the desert this Lent.

grace, peace & desert courage

     Virginia

p.s.  i posted this quote from Thomas Merton several years ago, but here it is for our minds to munch on, again…

“The desert is the home of despair.  And despair, now, is everywhere.  Let us not think that our interior solitude consists in the acceptance of defeat.  We cannot escape anything by consenting tacitly to be defeated.  Despair is an abyss without bottom.  Do not think to close it by consenting to it and trying to forget you have consented.

This, then, is our desert: to live facing despair, but not to consent.  To trample it down under hope in the Cross.  To wage  war against despair unceasingly.  That war is our wilderness.  If we wage it courageously, we will find Christ at our side.  If we cannot face it, we will never find Him.”    Thomas Merton (Thoughts in Solitude)

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Oh Deer!!!

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Virginia

Today while Mama & i were working on stuff in the kitchen we looked out to behold the most amazing site — deer, lots of deer, hanging out in our snowy yard.  Grabbing my handy iPhone i stuck my nose out the back door … they looked up.  And kept munching.

deer 2This posse of deer kept coming back & forth across the woods behind us – we counted at least 20 of them. Unbelievable. Observing them in the winter silence made me grateful to God, our Heavenly Creator, for the wonders abounding around us.

We had wondered during this week of sub-zero weather, how the deer would fare? we usually see 3 or 4 – sometimes 6 or 7 at a time, but we’ve never seen so many together.  As they traipsed back & forth for an hour or so behind us, they kept as a group – i saw one deer waiting for one of the littlest to catch up when the rest had gone on. Maybe that’s how they stay warm, by hanging out together?

deer oneLenten application?  Seeing these deer today made me think about our amazing Creator (like how do deer know when we’re watching? Even through the glass window when usually we run to see them, i tell you, they know we’re there — their heads turn our way, their ears perk up & they stare at us! )    Maybe the deer can’t see us, but somehow they know we’re there. It’s kind of like faith. Lent is all about faith, so here’s something for our minds to munch on tonight.

“Faith is faith is faith.  And God can only be known by faith (see Romans 3-5)… Faith is finally to stand in nothingness, with nothing to prove and nothing to protect, knowing itself in an ever-alive charity that urges us to surrender, to let go, to give away, to hand over, to forgive, to walk across, to take no offense, to trust another, to lose oneself – while being quite sure that we are going to find ourselves afterward.”  

Fr. Richard Rohr (from Radical Grace)

grace, peace & deer groupies

 Virginia : )

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Lenten Friday Quickie Quote

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Virginia

Here’s something for our minds (& hearts) to munch on this Lenten Friday:

“The call to ‘do penance’ is based not on the fact that penance will keep us trim, but on the fact that ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand.’  Our penance – metanoia – is our response to the proclamation of the Gospel message, the Kerygma which announces our salvation if we will hear God and harden not our hearts.  The function of penance and self-denial is then contrition, or the breaking up of that hardness of heart which prevents us from understanding God’s command to love and from obeying it effectively.” 

Thomas Merton (from Seasons of Celebration)

Penance can be a scary word when we know we can’t ‘earn our way’ into Heaven.  But self denial is a way to draw closer to God.   I am the world’s worst ‘faster,’ especially when low-blood sugar usually gives me a bad case of the grumps.  Lenten Friday fasting thus becomes quite challenging (how to spread out ‘one small meal’ to first, not faint, then 2nd, to keep to the spirit of self-denial?)  All this said, i like this quote. It zinged today – whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, do it unto the Lord.  (St. Paul said that!)

….& let our fasting lead us to loved-based contrition (& NOT the grumps!)

Christmas dinner Jerusalem (2)grace, peace & grumps-busters

 Virginia

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STAYING WARM!!!!!

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Virginia

snow 2 19 15It’s absolutely FREEZING here. Snow on the ground from earlier this week won’t go away. Tonight it will be 5 degrees F (-15 C).  Besides drinking copious amounts of hot tea – (i considered giving it up for Lent, but my brother said he & Mama wouldn’t make it if i did.  hmmn)  – we are actively pursuing various ways to stay warm.

Especially when the wind chill tonight will be well below ZERO DEGREES Fahrenheit.  That’s like REALLY cold.  This is Virginia (the state.) That might be the norm for the ‘M’ states (& Canada & the North Pole), but we are in the South. We don’t do cold brrizzzy very well.

Last week we traipsed about in short sleeves to a balmy 68 degrees, but the weather this week did not get the memo (to keep that spring-is-almost here thing going.)

sigh. stretching on those extra warm insulated socks & wooly sweaters & cranking up the thermostat…  to stay warm.

So here’s a Lenten application:  How do you stay warm spiritually when your heart has grown cold?

DESIRE.  (it rhymes with ‘fire’ & sounds warm, hot even…)

Every day i ask God to align my desires with HIS desires (as part of the Lord’s Prayer – you can read my how to  by clicking here.)  But i rarely stop to think about what it means.

DESIRE – DESIRING.

Like ’embrace,’ sometimes desire connotes mushy sentiment vis a viv steamy romance novels (yuck! give me mystery & mayhem…& space battles!)

OK, we don’t want our hearts to be frigid iceboxes (it’s hard to embrace an icicle!)  But what does it mean to desire what God desires?

DESIRING — to be holy?

That sounds hard.  Like something the saints-were-good-at-kind-of-hard.

God is holy. If we ask to align our desires with His desires, we want to be holy, too.

Have to confess, being holy is not my natural tendency – i’d rather whoop it up on the edges of holiness. (I ask God every day for the gift of Holy Hilarity, but that’s for another post!)  I don’t usually ask, “God, please make me holy as You are holy.” (it IS a good idea!) I tend to pray every morning (& throughout the day), “Lord please fill me with Your love anew that I might be Your love anew” – – daily divine dosing (like a morphine drip) is the only way i got thru the 8 year caregiving gig with Papa!

Guess that’s a good part about Lent- it’s a chance to check our Holiness meters.  Ask God for high-octane cleanser (powered by the Holy Spirit) to clean out the rubbish in our minds & hearts.

If we perceive desire as spiritual longing – we would want to get rid of the yuck in our lives.  Not because judgement crushes us (& makes us down on  ourselves & others) with rigid rules & regulations. (Jesus told the Pharisees of His day He desired mercy, not their sanctimonious sacrifices.)  But, because we are drawn into the Love of God & we want to become the love of God.

If God is HOLY and God is LOVE.  Then, holiness & love are part & parcel of God’s desire for us… & our desire in Him.

So, how do we stay warm spiritually?  First, we can ask God for the desire to desire… to BE holy, and to BE love… to BE mercy, grace & peace.  Then, how can our hearts remain cold when we see His Passion – Christ on the Cross, the pain on His face – filled with love for us in taking our place.

May Christ’s love empassion us & set our hearts on fire with His holy desire(s).

snow more 2 19 15

grace, peace & Spiritual Desire

               Virginia

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wide embraces vs. hidey faces

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Virginia

It’s Ash Wednesday.  And so Lent begins… Ashes. Fasting. Prayer. Repentance. Giving up stuff. Doing more spiritual stuff.   40 days may seem like a long time until we celebrate Easter (especially if it’s life without chocolate ’til then!)

Sometimes we view Lent with a hint of drudgery as something to get through.  We make checklists – give up this, that, this, this… Do more of this, more prayers, go to church more, volunteer free time to causes.  Spend more time in devotions.  Usually each year i add a stack of Lenten Devotionals to read every evening before bed (this on top of the year-around morning stack.)

All these things are good to do for Lent… certainly God can, & does, bless our Lenten efforts.  But this year i want to think about Lent a different way.  It started when i read this poem last week by Madeleine L’Engle (her Glimpses of Grace is one of this year’s morning devotional stack.)

If thou couldst empty self of selfishness
And then with love reach out in wide embrace
Then God might come this purer self to bless;
So might thou feel the wisdom of His Grace,
And see, thereby, the radiance of His face.

But selfishness turns inward, miry, black,
Refuses stars, sees only clouded night,
Too full, too dark, cannot confess a lack,
Turns from God’s face, blest, holy, bright,
Is blinded by the presence of the Light.

I kept reading & re-reading this.  Thinking about opening up my heart to ‘embrace‘ God.  To be embraced by the love of Christ – & to embrace others in & with His love.

This whole embrace idea sounds seriously ‘touchy-feely.’  Kinda scary to a non- touchy-feely kinda gal.

To embrace, we open up our arms.  The embrace of love is tender & gentle.  It’s a two way interaction.  You can’t embrace someone who’s got that defiant arms-crossed stance going on.  The embracee must open up to receive the embrace, just as the embracer opens up to give the embrace.

What does it mean to be embraced by the love of God, Who calls us tenderly BY NAME?

Virginia (insert your name.)

Precious Child… Beloved Child…

It means that we don’t need to be scared.  We can open up our hearts wide to the radiant grace of our loving Heavenly Father and to His everlasting mercy that can rekindle the darkest corners of our hearts into bright flames of love with His light.

Smoldering wicks are not snuffed out in God’s embrace.

My prayer for the beginning of this Lent?

Oh God, open our hearts to Your embrace that we may become sparks of love in Your mercy & grace.

Short and simple, but hey, it’s a start.

Valentine Rosegrace, peace & rose-ish Lenten sparks

    Virginia

p.s. Once again, Virginia (your humble blogger) will attempt to post-a-day for Lent.  Like Advent, sometimes it may be a picture, quote or book, or maybe even something totally different. Keep posted (& hopefully i’ll keep posting! : )

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(very) quickie quote…

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Virginia

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”  

Corrie ten Boom

Newfoundland Gross Morne Lobster Cove with seagullgrace, peace & faith

Virginia : )

 

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…twinkling stars & you & me & God!

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Virginia

New Years has come and gone & your humble (ever aspiring to be) blogger (aspiring to be HUMBLE, that is.) Well, she was pooped out after meeting her Advent Challenge which (by God’s grace) she managed a post-a-day (the whole of Advent.)  Sure, some days a pic did it with a few wee words, but hey, a post’s a post? right?

(YAAAY! KAZAAAM I am daMAM!! : )  … oops, back to humble blogging…

The ideas drafty-notebook has a few jottings, but alas, nothing going zip-zig-zang, so today what has zinged will hopefully wing your thoughts a little upward…

…to the stars. It’s been cloudy in these parts, so they’ve been hiding the last few nights, but they’re there. ‘Tis comforting to look up and see them twinkling.

Ah, then there’s the moon. Shining bright or just a sliver, it’s cool to see moonlight reflecting through the trees. That’s a picture in my head I’ve always wanted to paint – if only I could paint (like, with no talent? I tend to drawing stick figures & smiley faces. My nieces & family may love my little faces, but high art they are not! : )

Back to the stars. Twinkling, got it?

Now onto what zinged me yesterday (& keeps zinging today) from a fav author:

“If we look at the makeup of the word disaster, dis-aster, we see dis, which means separation, and aster, which means star.  So dis-aster means separation from the stars. When we are separated from the stars, the sea, each other, we are in danger of being separated from God…

We need to remember that  the house of God is not limited to a building that we usually visit for only a few hours on Sunday.  The house of God is not a safe place.  It is a cross where time and eternity meet, and where we are – or should be – challenged to live more vulnerably, more interdependently.  Where, even with the light streaming in rainbow colours through the windows, we can listen to the stars.”   Madeleine L’Engle  (from Glimpses of Grace)

hmmn…

Have you ever listened to the stars? or a waterfall? or a sunrise?  No, I am not a new-age, Mother-Earth, Birkenstock wielding zonkie (so I wear Birkenstocks with my MBA blazers, so what? they are very comfy shoes for battered ankles.)

Back to listening and appreciating CREATION. We build walls around ourselves, masoned with our i-gadgets, computers, media outlets… and we forget to look up. To look around.  To look down with an upward-in perspective.

We forget to listen. Sometimes we’re afraid of silence – we immediately block it out when we get in our cars or get home and blast our music, tvs, Netflix or whatever.

But, get this!?! If we can listen to a waterfall (like, notice the beauty of it) & listen to the stars (hear them twinkling in the beauty of silence) then maybe we can hear the still, small voice of God within us, calling us “Beloved” … and so become Beloved to others.

No walls. No separation. No dis-asters.

Just stars twinkling with the Light of Love (capital ‘L’) of God…

tree light stargrace, peace & Twinkling Stars

      Virginia : )

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A “Rosy” Merry Christmas!!

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Virginia

Merry Christmas from Roses in the Rubble!!!

White roses pine cone W Inn dec 14May petals of fragrant joy that stem from the Heart of Jesus give you grace to face the thorns in your life today & each day of the New Year.  Remember Christ was born & later adorned with a crown of thorns – for us.  Thorns are part & parcel of life as a rose (but roses go on smelling nice…)

And, they’re BEAUTIFUL!  Just like each & every one of us is in God’s sight.

A blessed ROSE-FILLED Christmas to all!!!

grace, peace & Christmas roses

Virginia : )

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O Radiant Dawn…

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Virginia

Christmas is upon us (almost!)  Dinner & then it’s off to Midnight Mass.  There’s just a few minutes for one last Advent post from this morning’s antiphon:

“O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.”

After night comes day…

As Christmas comes anew in our lives,  may the light of Christ lift the darkness of bitterness, despair & desolation in our hearts..

… don’t keep swallowing what tastes bad, or has gone wrong – spit it out!  Let Jesus fill our minds & hearts & spirits with the sweetness of His mercy & grace & love & peace & joy.

…and remember, after the darkness of night, comes the Light…

OBX sunrise adj (2)O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:  come & shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.

A blessed Christmas Eve to all!

grace, peace & Sonlight

Virginia

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