It is a privilege to have been asked by Forward Church to facilitate their upcoming women's retreat day in October! I have found myself drawn into beautiful Scriptures and prayer exercises that help me to "Look Up"! I have been re-discovering how God first looks for me and pursues me, who He really is, his invitation for me "look up" and how that draws me to being more compassionate as I "look out" at the world.
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Loved this examen idea that my spiritual director forwarded to me! It took a couple of sittings to do, as it is quite in-depth but was so worthwhile to review the previous year in a really holistic way. It made me think through and review my health in 5 different categories: physical, emotional, relational and spiritual. Working through this helped my word for 2019 to emerge - CULTIVATE. Cannot wait to see how God enables this work to flourish in me this year!
my chest has been tight
oh for about a month now rising up to squeeze the airways and make breathing like through duct tape the old-school CD in my car makes me sing out loud vibrations work their way down down like a jackhammer breaking up concrete in my throat so I can breathe again this morning I ran with a song in my head
my eyelashes and hair grabbing drops out of the fog-weighted air I sang past the milkweed under its grey-sparkled blanket a spider's home illumined its loopy strands bridging trees across the path raspberry plants proudly sporting pendant necklaces near Floradale Road the cicada song rose to take the lead vocal and I forgot for a moment to sing until I touched my wet hair and realized I was soaked in praise I peeked in the oven to see
a hunchbacked loaf of bread being birthed too much yeastly joy to be contained by so small a pan soon sliced and shared while sloppily slouched over on the counter not an ounce of self-consciousness in its abundant belly I measure and mark with chalk
lines on fabric to guide where to sew brain stretched by numbers of inches calculating how much sun these curtains can block all the while longing for the veil that shades my heart to be lifted for faith to be uncloaked to know that I know that I know yet if faith is hope unseen I cannot measure and mark out with accuracy the depth of faith it just needs to shine like an open summer's window rain kisses earth as earth
exhales its dry, dusty breath rising to meet the life-giving drops and we inhale the scent of longing fulfilled in the throes of summer full of
red suns and drenching rain rainy benches and sandy toes ripe berries I'm afraid to crush between teeth for fear of squeezing out the life but, oh, sweet joy on my tongue this day full of promise and projects and new life bursting, sprouting everywhere like garden weeds filling all the space I savour and allow to simmer this long, slow day and soak in it and soak...it...in... to gather and guard and release and give back as praise |