Remembering to Breathe

My facebook status today reads, "Lisa is remembering to breathe."

That's how I feel. This has been an incredibly intense week, full of people, and deep, emotional, mental and spiritual things. I am exhausted.

This morning a daily reflection email that I receive from the Moravian church contained the following verse:

God alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. Psalm 62:6

I've been looking at that off and on all day, and feeling encouraged.

I'm reminding myself to slow down, to seek perspective, to not become lost in the things that seem overwhelming right now - in the swirl of my own thoughts.

I'm reminding myself to breathe. To breathe in life, and breathe out death. To breathe in peace and breathe out confusion and uncertainty. To breate in love and acceptance and breathe out hatred and rejection.

It's helping.

To Write Love on Her Arms

I've been following these guys from a distance since I first read the article with the same title as the post and the video and the organization. Go to their website, and read the story for yourself. SO POWERFUL!

Meeting God in the Poor - Henri Nouwen

Another great email from the Henri Nouwen society today...

Meeting God in the Poor

When we are not afraid to confess our own poverty, we will be able to be with other people in theirs. The Christ who lives in our own poverty recognises the Christ who lives in other people's. Just as we are inclined to ignore our own poverty, we are inclined to ignore others'. We prefer not to see people who are destitute, we do not like to look at people who are deformed or disabled, we avoid talking about people's pains and sorrows, we stay away from brokenness, helplessness, and neediness.

By this avoidance we might lose touch with the people through whom God is manifested to us. But when we have discovered God in our own poverty, we will lose our fear of the poor and go to them to meet God.