Reflection

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

Christmas Day may be past, but it does not mean Christmas is over.  Hope, Peace, Joy, Love the foundations of our Advent journeys and Christmas celebrations should be reflected year round.  What is it that you are being called to reflect to the world?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Christmas Blessing

A Christmas blessing for you in 

God's gift of Love come to earth

The light of Hope shining bright

A gift of Joy eternal

And Peace of Christ to you.

Possibility

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

Snow to a child is the hope of a snow day free from school, it is the possibility of endless fun and play.  What is it in this season of Advent preparation that is your possibility?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Are You Ready for Christmas

Are you ready for Christmas?
Are the presents bought and wrapped?
Cards sent?
House decorated?
Cookies made?
Christmas meal planned?

Are you ready for Christmas?
Are you finding Hope?
Experiencing Joy?
Spreading Peace?
Being Love?
Embracing the story of the greatest gift?

The first list is the list of doing
The second list is one of being
I may never get the first list completed
and that is fine
Because as long as I am focused on the second list

Then yes
I am ready for Christmas.
Are you?

Light, Snow and Ice

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

The presence of light can change how we see things.  What is it in your life that needs light to illuminate it?  How does the illumination change how you see or experience it?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
Even in the black and white photo, what colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Chronos and Kairos

The world tells me be here now, don't be late, watch the clock.

The refrain is punch the clock - in and out - 

no overtime please or maybe it's 

all your time is ours - overtime expected.

Live by the calendar, breath by the clock.

This frantic Chronos pace stifles the soul.

It sucks the energy 

causing a weary plod through the days and weeks.

But there is hope in your call to us God.
You call us to something better, more life giving in your Kairos time.
It is here you ask us to pause,
To be fully present to you.
It is here you remind us that the most important time is now.
You call us to be fully in the now.

It isn't that we are to forget our calendar or forget to be at the next place on time.
It is that you ask us not to focus there - the not yet,
But to return our focus to the now -
To those who are with us now
To you and your voice and vision now.

To live in Kairos is to adjust our vision,
To say to the world's Chronos cacophony - BE STILL.
 Kairos is to hear your words "Be still and know...."

As we live in Advent and it's time of anticipatory waiting,

We are given an opportune gift and invitation:
To journey in Kairos time

To find the vision you, God, have for us and the                                                                                          world  you have entrusted us with.

The question is...

Will we accept the invitation.

Liquid Gold

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

In colorado snow is called Liquid Gold, because without the mountain snow there would be no water. What we need can take many different forms,  just like water can be in many forms.  What is it that you need in your spiritual life right now? What form do you need to receive it in?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
Even in the black and white photo, what colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

A Seasonal Choice

My in box is already filled with adds,
Letting me know of all the stuff my loved ones "need".
The TV is awash with similar adds
As well as messages about what I need to make the Holidays Perfect.

My soul cringes at this excess noise surrounding me.
My quiet contemplative wants to scream out:
It's not the stuff that is needed most.
A perfect holiday is not what we should strive for.

Instead I would suggest that it is the presence of my
full and undistracted self that would be the perfect gift.
Instead of filling my hours and minutes with busy work to make the day perfect,
I should give myself the gift of a quiet hour with a cup of tea - time to quiet the noise of the world
so that I can hear myself, hear you God.

Either way I choose to go, it is a fact - the Holidays are here.
Do I choose to fill my month with stress and busy or
Do I choose simplicity and presence and quiet moments.

For me I am going to choose simplicity, presence and quiet
allowing my soul to breathe
and remember
what is most important about the season.
Remembering the birth of a little child
who later chose to give us the greatest gift of his life.
Remembering Jesus who really just wants of me to be present
to his Love and Grace.
So that I can shine it forth to all who need to know it too.

What will you choose?