Sunday Reflection – Page 2 – movingforwardslowly

Have Faith

This is another AI generated image. This one was prompted with the words “sea witch”.

This summer I have read books about dragons and witches. I discovered the writing of Ursula K. Le Guin and her EarthSea books. Most recently I finished reading her book, Lavinia. I revisited the writing of Kelly Barnhill. A few years ago, I read her book, The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Since this is “the year of the dragon”, I had to read her book, When Women Were Dragons.

I have come a long way since I started writing for therapy. I used to read mostly nonfiction. Now I read mostly fiction. Historical fiction is good, but to truly escape reality you need to read fantasy.

Once I set the books down the reality of my life always comes back to me. The themes in my real life are persistence and resilience. My real life requires me to have faith. Having faith that the sun will rise and set each day is an easy faith. Having faith that humans can work together for a better world requires a stronger and more active faith.

I start back to work tomorrow. I need to have faith that I can make a positive impact on the lives of middle-schoolers by helping them to grow stronger and smarter, and to have faith that we can all work together for a better world for all of us.

Sunday Reflection– Ready for Renewal

The sun was shining through our kitchen window this morning.
I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye.
Something was outside in the evergreen next to our dining window.
Upon closer inspection, I spotted a young blue jay.
The thought of a peanut search went through my mind since blue jays covet these.
This was my inspiration to go outside. I looked at our indoor weather station.
The weather outside was warm enough to venture out and explore.

"Kiss of the sun for pardon.
Song of the birds for mirth.
You're closer to God's heart in a garden
than any place on earth."
(written by Dorothy Frances Gurney)

My garden needs work, though my focus was not on this.
I opened my metal container filled with peanuts and took out several handfuls.
The blue jays and others should be happy now.
Going outside was a brilliant idea.
I spotted the first crocus for 2024.
My heart filled with joy, and I was inspired to go get my old Nikon.
The corner where the Lenten Roses grow was packed with blooms.
We are in the season and Easter will be here at the end of the month.
My daughter's first birthday was on Easter Sunday, and this year it falls again
on her special day.

Thoughts of my family were guiding me today.
Recently I found my parent's fraternity and sorority pins from their college days.
When I went to retrieve my old Nikon out of my old camera bag I noticed a connection.
I think my interest in photography was inherited from my father.
Today it struck me that I must have been subconsciously aware of this when I chose my bag.
Can you see the connection?

My dad’s old fraternity pin. Delta Tau Delta at University of Kansas (KU)

My garden looks ready for spring. I feel ready for spring.
Renewal is bursting out all around me and I feel the spirit of God is with me.

A Sunday Reflection

Some morning are filled with gray light.
The sky and clouds lack the warmth you want.
A morose mood shrouds your vision.
Prayers do not come readily to mind.
It might take a coffee or two to shake off this mood.
Lifting yourself up for the tasks ahead of you
Will take a little longer on mornings like this.
It is days like these when you need prayers the most.
Pessimism is knocking.
Do not open that door of grief.

Saying Prayers

Many of us say a prayer at some point in our lives.
Many of us say them regularly as a habit of humility.
Many have different religions and different words.
We know that in the moment it is a one way conversation.
We know we will not get an immediate answer back to a question.

Some say the same words over and over again.
Some use prayer as a conversation with oneself,
and a way to get some heavenly guidance.

All prayer is a way to reinforce the good within us.
It encourages us to fight against the forces that want
to derail us from doing the right things.

Some of us need prayers more than others.
We all need to be saying prayers for our world.

Some people think they are God and have no need to pray.
We should all pray for these people that one day they will see the light.

The Spin is All that Matters

I ran across a bag of wooden spools the other day. They were in a box of odds and ends that had made it into our garage when we were cleaning out my mother in law’s house of forty years. She has been gone for many years now, and yet her memory is still alive in various things we still have around.

The wooden spools are all bare now. All the thread was used up in antique wares. I’m sure they were saved in hopes of being made into future crafts. They could be used since their simple beauty was still apparent. The wooden spools had been made from dead biological life, and thus they still had value.

Long before the wood was cut and shaped, it pulsed with life and color, and with a continuous exchange of gases from within and without. These spools are cylindrical in shape with a hole that runs from end to end. They can be linked together to form a chain. They can be made into decorations, and strung around a living tree, still breathing and growing. They can be assembled with other materials to make a vehicle since all spools can roll.

There is a big hand in all of this, coordinating, designing, and engineering all of it. A mind is needed to oversee it all. I call this mind, God, and I like to sit and contemplate his intentions. I think God is the original, the first and the ultimate one to recycle and reuse. To him the Blue Planet is a woman, and she is still a work in progress for him. His mind has become entangled with hers, and he cannot let go of her, at least not yet. His death will be her death and vice versa.