0
0
was successfully added to your cart.

Cart

Category

Words of Encouragement

Feb 14
0

A word of encouragement: Love

By | All Blog Posts, Words of Encouragement | No Comments

Today is Valentine’s Day, and I wish all of you a day filled with live-giving, healing, transformational love. Let none of us be satisfied by the saccharine over-sweetness of infatuation or the self-serving pungeance of lust; let us only be satisfied by unconditional, pure, and abiding love.

I profess the religion of love,
Love is my religion and my faith.
My mother is love
My father is love
My prophet is love
My God is love
I am a child of love
I have come only to speak of love
– Jalaluddin Rumi

Nov 18
0

A word of encouragement: Gratitude

By | All Blog Posts, Words of Encouragement | No Comments

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.  ~Thornton Wilde

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am mindful of all that I am grateful for.  As I ask myself who and what my treasures are, I see the faces of loved ones, I remember the support of my colleagues and mentors, and I think of the small and large delights of living that I savor every day. I think the following image illustrates my treasures pretty well:

pi symbol written on a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream

It was my sister Kim who used whip cream to put “pi” on the pie, my sister Kristine who snapped the photo (low res, because it was a cell phone several years ago) and the rest of us joined in at laughing at their antics.

Delicious food and laughing with my family, now those are some of my dearest treasures.

What are your treasures?

Let’s all practice a heart-consciousness of our treasures during this season of gratitude.

…

And enjoy the pie!

Aug 15
0

A word of encouragement for those who need to forgive

By | Words of Encouragement | No Comments

A Fresh Act
Douglas V. Steere

Forgiveness is a condition in which the sin of the past is not altered or its inevitable consequences changed.  Rather, in forgiveness a fresh act is added to those of the past, which restores the broken relationship and opens the way for th eone who forgives and the one who is forgiven to meet and communicate deeply with each other in the present and future.  Thus, forgiveness heals the past, though the scars remain and the consequences go on.  These keep the sinner humble.  But now the past can no longer throttle.  It is taken into the fresh act of outgoing renewal and there it is healed.

from Forgiveness: Perspectives On Making Peace With Your Past

Jul 04
0

A word of encouragement for the oppressed

By | Words of Encouragement | No Comments

A scripture reading: Isaiah 61:1-3 (NRSV).

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.

The King James translates that eleventh line as “beauty for ashes,” which tends to be a well-known (and oft-sung) phrase in Christendom precisely because it is so comforting. The idea that God will bring us beauty for ashes—give us a garland—brings joy and hope out of a situation that often leaves the oppressed angry or depressed.

Jun 02
0

A word of encouragement for those who are grieving

By | Words of Encouragement | No Comments

From the Mystic Odes of Rumi:

Our death is our wedding with eternity
What is the secret? “God is One.”
The sunlight splits when entering the windows of the house.
This multiplicity exists in the cluster of grapes;
It is not in the juice made from the grapes.
For he who is living in the Light of God,
The death of the carnal soul is a blessing.
Regarding him, say neither bad nor good,
For he is gone beyond the good and the bad.
Fix your eyes on God and do not talk about what is invisible,
So that he may place another look in your eyes.
It is in the vision of the physical eyes
That no invisible or secret thing exists.
But when the eye is turned toward the Light of God
What thing could remain hidden under such a Light?
Although all lights emanate from the Divine Light
Don’t call all these lights “the Light of God”;
It is the eternal light which is the Light of God,
The ephemeral light is an attribute of the body and the flesh.
…Oh God who gives the grace of vision!
The bird of vision is flying towards You with the wings of desire.