Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wrestling

A friend of mine put up this post the other day. We’ve talked about it several times since. Every time I look at the picture, and read the post, I cry, or feel like crying.

I’m inhabiting a space with few words right now. Few words and lots of wrestling.

I’m wrestling as I watch friends find healing, and take steps towards God dreams in their lives. I find myself wondering if I’ve been forgotten.

I’m wrestling with the overwhelming full and loud silence.

I’m wrestling with loving, and being loved.

Jacob wrestled with the Lord until He was blessed.

I’m praying for that blessing to come.

Because I find it oddly amusing

Attack by... blackbird?

Other Voices...

A few other voices that are catching my attention this morning:

We all blossom in the presence of one who sees the good in us and who can coax the best out of us.- Desmond Tutu (from an email from Sojourners)

Lord, we don't pretend to understand the complexity and precision ofyour ways. But we put our trust in you and your Son, Jesus Christ, tokeep us safe through the hard times to come. Amen. (From the Moravian Daily Texts)

A Courageous Life - Henri Nouwen

A Courageous Life

"Have courage," we often say to one another. Courage is a spiritual virtue. The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, which means "heart. A courageous act is an act coming from the heart. A courageous word is a word arising from the heart. The heart, however, is not just the place where our emotions are located. The heart is the centre of our being, the centre of all thoughts, feelings, passions, and decisions.

When the flesh - the lived human experience - becomes word, community can develop. When we say, "Let me tell you what we saw. Come and listen to what we did. Sit down and let me explain to you what happened to us. Wait until you hear whom we met," we call people together and make our lives into lives for others. The word brings us together and calls us into community. When the flesh becomes word, our bodies become part of a body of people.