Friday, January 08, 2010

Daily 5 - Day 149

Today's Daily 5:
  1. GST refund cheque - love when money from the government arrives the night before a planned shopping trip to refurbish one's wardrobe
  2. Got to have the house to myself tonight
  3. Thankful for Friday, a smooth day at work, and wearing jeans
  4. A treatment from mom to hopefully help the ongoing pain from my fall earlier this week
  5. knowing I am loved

Mish Mash, Part 2 - From Henri Nouwen

Quite a number of great thoughts from Henri Nouwen have been collecting in my inbox, and I thought I'd share them all in one mega mish-mash post of Henri's writing goodness!

Being Safe Places for Others


When we are free from the need to judge or condemn, we can become safe places for people to meet in vulnerability and take down the walls that separate them. Being deeply rooted in the love of God, we cannot help but invite people to love one another. When people realise that we have no hidden agendas or unspoken intentions, that we are not trying to gain any profit for ourselves, and that our only desire is for peace and reconciliation, they may find the inner freedom and courage to leave their guns at the door and enter into conversation with their enemies.

Many times this happens even without our planning. Our ministry of reconciliation most often takes place when we ourselves are least aware of it. Our simple, nonjudgmental presence does it.

Letting Go of Old Hurts


One of the hardest things in life is to let go of old hurts. We often say, or at least think: "What you did to me and my family, my ancestors, or my friends I cannot forget or forgive. ... One day you will have to pay for it." Sometimes our memories are decades, even centuries, old and keep asking for revenge.

Holding people's faults against them often creates an impenetrable wall. But listen to Paul: "For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see. It is all God's work" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). Indeed, we cannot let go of old hurts, but God can. Paul says: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's fault against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). It is God's work, but we are God's ministers, because the God who reconciled the world to God entrusted to us "the message of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:19). This message calls us to let go of old hurts in the Name of God. It is the message our world most needs to hear.

Expecting a Surprise


Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let's not be afraid to receive each day's surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy. It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.

Our Spiritual Parents


Joy and sorrow are never separated. When our hearts rejoice at a spectacular view, we may miss our friends who cannot see it, and when we are overwhelmed with grief, we may discover what true friendship is all about. Joy is hidden in sorrow and sorrow in joy. If we try to avoid sorrow at all costs, we may never taste joy, and if we are suspicious of ecstasy, agony can never reach us either. Joy and sorrow are the parents of our spiritual growth.

Fruits That Grow in Vulnerability


There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another's wounds. Let's remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness.

Living the Moment to the Fullest


Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happens over which we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the resolution of a conflict. Patience is not a waiting passivity until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later and somewhere else. Let's be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand.

Spiritual Choices


Choices. Choices make the difference. Two people are in the same accident and severely wounded. They did not choose to be in the accident. It happened to them. But one of them chose to live the experience in bitterness, the other in gratitude. These choices radically influenced their lives and the lives of their families and friends. We have very little control over what happens in our lives, but we have a lot of control over how we integrate and remember what happens. It is precisely these spiritual choices that determine whether we live our lives with dignity.

The Gift of Friendship


Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or common histories. It is a bond stronger than sexual union can create, deeper than a shared fate can solidify, and even more intimate than the bonds of marriage or community. Friendship is being with the other in joy and sorrow, even when we cannot increase the joy or decrease the sorrow. It is a unity of souls that gives nobility and sincerity to love. Friendship makes all of life shine brightly. Blessed are those who lay down their lives for their friends.

Enough Light for the Next Step


Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, "How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?" There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let's rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.

Mish Mash, Part 1

Various bits and pieces have been collecting in my email inboxes over the last while that I've been wanting to share.  In the interests of cleaning up my inbox a bit, and sharing these various things that are fascinating or challenging me or even just amusing me, you can expect a number of mish mash type posts over the next little while.

This article in the newspaper caught my attention this morning.  Turtle Mountain and the Frank Slide have been on my radar for a while, and I spent a memorable day walking and praying and taking photos in the slide field last summer.

I loved Dana's thoughts on healing from depression at Of Wool and Water today.  Reminds me to be grateful for my own healing.

A few different people have posted this "Fat Map" and accompanying text this morning, but I saw it first at Brian's "Curious in Ibiza".

Still in that space

I'm still in that space of discomfort, and discontent that I described late last night.

In the midst of that space, I'm making the choice to be thankful.

Thankful that in my workplace, jokingly nicknamed by my roommate "the soap opera", it's been an incredibly calm and boring week.  No explosions.  People in good moods despite being busy.  Tasks on my list that I've really enjoyed.  A full week like that is an incredibly rare occurrence, and I'm thankful for it.

Thankful for the colors of sunrise lighting the sky outside my office window.  Moments like that, the simple things, remind me in the midst of discontent that God is never changing.  The sun will rise, day after day, with new starts, and God's creative hand guiding the day.

Thankful that it's Friday, that the weekend is coming, and that I'm wearing jeans at the office.

Thankful for little things that signify healing.  The scarf I'm wearing today took a long time for me to be able to wear after it was gifted to me.  It was a symbol of shattered relationships.  I've worn it several times recently, and realized just last night that it is no longer so bittersweet a gift.  It, like so many of my scarves, is now simply a reminder to pray - for the friend who gifted it to me, and for the country and continent in which it originated.  (Many of my scarves come from different spots all over the world...)

Thankful for some fun plans for the weekend.

I'm still in that funny, odd, discontent space, but today I'm going to try to choose to be thankful.

Thankful that God is working in my heart and has me in this funny, odd, discontent space.