Light of the World

God you are the light of the world.
Out of darkness you created light.
You created us in your image,
so it must be that your light is in us.

If you are light,
and we are light,
Why does it seem so dark?

Why can't we seem to find
our God give light
and let it shine.

Why can't we get beyond
our own selfish "me first"
to help the most in need
find their God given, internal light
and help it to shine.

When are we going to learn that it is
your light of love, unity and peace
that will change the world.

Help me to shine my light and
encourage the light of all other
to shine also.

AMEN.

Needs tending or is resilient?

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.

Does this path need tending or is there beauty and resilience in this path? What is it in your life that might be influencing your perspective?

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.

Words

"Remember you are loved and
to love you shall return."

Words spoken to me,
to my lent journey.

Words I speak to another,
to their Lent journey.

Words that can surround
as we grieve yet again
death that comes
from senseless acts of violence.

Words that hold us
when nothing else makes sense.

Words that center us
in our belovedness
and
calls us to
doing better,
doing more
to act in ways that embrace
our belovedness
but also to
treat all others as beloved.

For it is belovedness that will
counter hate and violence.

Or so it that my heart must believe.
AMEN

Light and Dark

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.

Light and dark - where is it in your life you experience these two things?  Where in your life would you like more light?

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.

Seeing

How am I seeing?
Am I seeing with eyes of self-interest?
Or
Am I seeing with eyes of compassion?

Do I see first the differences of others?
Or
Do I see first the common threads that unite us?

Do I see things as either/or?
Or
Do I see things as both/and?

I hope that my sight sees first
with compassion
the common threads that unite
the both/and.

Lord, help me to see with eyes
that look outward into the world.
To see with eyes that look for
ways to heal the deep divisions.
To see with eyes that show me
how to live a life that embodies seeing all
as beloved.
AMEN

Paths

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.

Two paths - the same yet different.  What is the same yet different in you?

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.

Breathing in Joy

Breathe, pause, Breathe
Repeat

Dance, play, laugh
Repeat

Not necessarily to be happy
But to remember there can be joy
in even the difficult stuff.

Be present fully
Give yourself the gift
Of not being so busy
that the little things go unnoticed.

Because

So often it is in the little things
That so much joy can be found.

AMEN.