Day 29

Meditation is not merely the intellectual effort to master certain ideas about God, or even to impress upon our minds the mysteries of the Christian faith.  Conceptual knowledge of religious truth has an important place in our lives.  The spiritual life needs strong intellectual foundations, and reading theology helps us understand faith experience.  But meditation itself is neither study nor intellectual activity as such.  Its purpose is not to acquire or to deepen our speculative knowledge of God or of revelation.  Rather than seeking to know about God, we are seeking to know God directly, beyond all the objects which God has made.  We are seeking to experience God's presence with the awareness of loving faith.

A suggestion for your prayer and meditation:

Seek out a quiet place.  Find a comfortable, upright position in which you are relaxed but alert, with your eyes lightly closed.  Remain as still as possible.

Silently, begin to say interiorly a single word or phrase selected from the context of Christian faith.  Listen to it as you say it gently but continuously with faith and love.  Do not think or imagine anything, spiritual or otherwise.  If thoughts and images come and your attention strays, as soon as you become aware of this, return to saying your word.

(all of the above is taken from Prayer of Heart and Body by Father Thomas Ryan)
Pastor Patty Fox 40 Days with 40 Christian Mystics

I worry that the way we live our lives means we're turning away from contemplative practices. I'm guilty myself of attempting to fill every minute of every day, not taking time to pause, to be quiet; to just be.
Sometimes we just need to stop, which can be really scary as we don't know what we might find in the space when we do, but it could be something transformative.

Day 10

Today's short reflection comes from Patty Fox herself, I don't feel I need to add to this today:

"Fresh sap has a certain enigmatic character to it, sterile yet vibrant with a hint of mysticism. Its crystal clarity gives it this sense of eternalness... and it can be deceiving how ephemeral in fact it really is. At room temperature, it lasts only around 48 hours. It can be frozen but in the past when this was not an option, the way of letting it live beyond its season was, like with many raw materials, through transformation."

(From Nordicfoodlab.org)

Rather than quote an established mystic today I have chosen to post this commentary, along with my own  thoughts, on sap. Lisanne and I spent two hours Saturday afternoon helping a team of people collect sap from tapped maple trees. It's been so cold that the sap has not been flowing but yesterday temperatures reached over 40 so it was a perfect day for collecting.

I like how the author of this quote from nordicfood.org says "the way of letting [the sap] live beyond its season" is "through transformation".  It reminds me that in order to survive - thrive - live, more often than not, change of one sort or another is necessary.  And change requires effort. Trudging through snow carrying Home Depot-like buckets of sap is exhausting. And beyond the collecting it must go through a lengthy process of being cooked down before becoming maple syrup. Like most transformations, that of turning sap into something sweet requires tremendous work.

A suggestion for your prayer and meditation:

Consider any life changes you may be facing be they relational, spiritual, vocational or something else. Cup your hands together and imagine that you hold that experience in your hands. How heavy does it weigh? What color and shape would you give it if you could?  Are the contours of it smooth or sharp?  Do you feel like you hold it alone or are their other hands beneath yours helping you manage it?

Bring your hands to your heart, and taking a deep cleansing breath, whisper these words "may I walk carefully as I carry this treasure.  May I endure all that it requires of me, and may the resulting transformation be shaped and blessed by God.  Amen "
Pastor Patty Fox 40 days with 40 Christian mystics

Be More creative

Something that has greatly suffered since I began ordination training is my creative hobbies. I love the bake, crochet & make cards but there's very little time for any of it- so to have a day when I can do something creative feels very indulgent.
I didn't have much time with working so decided to complete a colouring meditation I began in January.
If you've never seen a colouring meditation it's usually some scripture, or religious image such as a cross or dove, presented in an artistic way that you can colour in and meditate upon. The one I chose was a Celtic Christian prayer:

"I bind my mind to the mind of the Creator God that I may worship completely.
I bind my body to the will of the Saviour Christ that I may serve freely.
I bind my spirit to the Holy Spirit my helper that I may love joyfully."

My son made a Lego model (same as every day!) but my daughter had a beautiful idea. She decided to make fimo models to represent the seeds she planted on Saturday growing.

I think that it's our ability to create things that makes us made in God's image, rather than a physical likeness (how many other species make things simply for beauty or enjoyment?), and that by creating, rather than destroying, we can find a deep spirituality.

Isaiah 44.24: Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by myself spread out the earth.