This evening I have been enjoying Sophronia Scott’s book, The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton.
It is a delightful conversation that I can truly relate to. This evening I was reading the section When Faith Tires. It is a topic that I can definitely relate to in my own life and ministry. She mentions how Merton spoke of joy even as he longed to explore another monastery. He was able to find the spiritual nourishment in the journey. Part of that nourishment was to find joy in life.
She shares this quote from Merton’s book, The Sign of Jonas: I think the chief reason why we have so little joy is that we take ourselves too seriously. (p. 73 in The Seeker and the Monk)
Sophronia, I needed to hear this today. Actually I need to hear it quite often. There is a tendency to take one’s self too seriously in the world of the clergy and a double whammy when you are a clergy-person and military chaplain. Yes, I am looking in the mirror!
Thank you for this gentle and humorous reminder. I can visualize you and Thomas Merton enjoying laughter and joy as stories are shared. I would love to be a part of that conversation. The picture below might just express the sort of joy that leads to Merton’s deep belly laughs!
Verse of the day
When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but dismay to evildoers.
– Proverbs 21:15
Voice of the day
Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year.
– W.E.B. Du Bois
Prayer of the day In the season of today, may we be enlivened to get to work for the sake of the future.
It’s hard to believe (at times) that I have been in my vocation as a Pastor and Chaplain for over 34 years. And 31 years ago today I arrived at my first duty station as a Chaplain, Captain in the Air Force. When I take the time to simply Be Still and reflect on this calling, I am simply amazed. Amazed that I have somehow by the grace of God maintained my sense of humor and sanity.
When your life intersects with so many people in the midst of trauma, grief, fear, loss, etc, it is difficult not to absorb some of it yourself. I know that I am not alone and that I have had the honor/privilege to walk with so many care providers and first/last responders as they wrestle with the reality of grief and loss professionally and personally. Every now and then it hits me and this past week with ministry opportunities and personal loss.
It is at times like this that I remain thankful for the calling that God has given me. When I finally responded to God’s call on the banks of the Chippewa River in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in mid-October of 1980, I had no idea where this calling/vocation would take me.
So as I sit and ponder these things tonight, Thomas Merton speaks to me in a way that only a brother, friend, and mentor can. What on earth am I doing here?” I have answered it a million times. “I belong here,” and this is no answer. In the end, there is no answer like that. Any vocation is a mystery, and juggling with words does not make it any clearer. (A Search for Solitude: Pursuing the Monk’s True Life, The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 3 — November 15, 1957) Yes indeed, by the grace of Gos I do belong here.
Verse of the day
And whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
– 1 Timothy 5:8
Voice of the day
[N]o person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended.
– Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983)
Prayer of the day May I come home to a community that embraces all voices.
“Nonviolence is first and foremost a kind of energy that resides within an individual human being. We do not need different individuals in power so much as we need a different kind of power in individuals.”—Michael Nagler
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
Today was a day of sorting through a lifetime of papers
Today was a day walking with my sweetheart, her brother, and a dear family friend
Thank you for accompanying us, dear Lord
Thank you for the Spirit’s presence
Tonight in Florence and Carrollton we pray
We pray for your strength, your grace, your presence as we walk through The Valley of the Shadows
I am also thankful for your presence in the wonder of your creation
As Thomas Merton said in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander:
When we are alone on a starlit night; when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children; when we know love in our own hearts; or when, like the Japanese poet Bashō we hear an old frog land in a quiet pond with a solitary splash–at such times the awakening, the turning inside out of all values, the “newness,” the emptiness and the purity of vision that make themselves evident, provide a glimpse of the cosmic dance.
Thank you, gracious God for your invitation to join you in the Cosmic Dance ♥️
Now as my eyelids grow heavy
I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
“The power-holder [them]self does not create power; instead, it is given to [them] by others in their daily cooperation and support. The necessary act of choice by the subordinate, the leader’s weaknesses and the possibilities of resistance are all manifested in the power-holder’s position of dependency.”—Stellan Vinthagen
“When the earth is saturated and drenched with rain, its verdancy invites us to consider the dry places of our own souls needing the gift of vigor and life through the element of water.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD,The Self-Study Online Retreat ~ Water, Wind, Earth and Fire: Praying with the Elements
How are you being invited to reinvigorate yourself? Which practices cultivate the greenness of your soul?
“The ancient desert monks knew that one day they would have to leave behind the familiar and venture out into the wilderness to seek a space of radical encounter with God.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD,Sacred Seasons: A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year – A Self-Study Online Retreat
What are the familiar and safe things in your life which you need to leave behind as you prepare to venture into the wild unknown, seeking an encounter with God?
Verse of the day
Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
– Joshua 1:9
Voice of the day
I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
– Rosa Parks, Quiet Strength (1994)
Prayer of the day Even when I’m afraid, give me courage to seek justice.
