Dear Kaleid Ladies,
Good morning to you. How are you today? It’s a hard thing we are living. A very anti-human thing. We are suffering the loss of community, touch, and work...all of which are God’s good, human gifts meant to nourish the soul and ground the feet and lift the heart. What you are experiencing is not normal, but what you’re feeling in the face of this crisis is very normal.
Psalm 61:1-3 says this:
God, listen to my cry; pay attention to my prayer!
When my heart is weak, I cry out to you from the very ends of the earth.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I am because you have been my refuge,
a tower of strength in the face of the enemy.
Seeing ourselves in this intense season is sometimes hard to do. Sure, we can see our emotions. We can see our annoyances. We can see our anxieties. We can see our cravings and addictions. We can see our weaknesses. Our hearts ARE weak, and our prayers join the prayers of many across the globe.
How do we also remember to see ourselves as rooted, whole, grounded, held, blessed, and graced?
God’s presence creates a vantage point for this seeing. It gives us a high rock of perspective...a towering overlook from which we can survey our landscape (even the landscape of our own inner chaos), held by the God of the Fruit of the Spirit. God lifts us up and helps us see.
Today we want to share a few simple morsels of soul-food to remind you that, in God’s love, you have a place on top of the rock and view from the tower that is strong. We hope these offerings encourage your heart this week.
First, A Poem:
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
- Wendell Berry
Next, a Simple Centering Practice from Exhale Atlanta:
I find my comfortable chair. I light a candle. I take three deep breaths.
I close my eyes.
I remind myself that I am in the presence of my good, kind and generous Father.
I feel my feet on the floor. I feel my bottom and back against the cushions.
I ask, “How do I come to my Father today? What do I desire?”
I simply notice my responses. I don't judge them.
When I get distracted, I gently return by listening to my breath.
“What else am I feeling?” I simply notice my feelings.
I remind myself again that I am in the presence of my good, kind and generous Father.
I remain in His presence, anchored by my breath. And I wait with expectation.
And I wait in stillness for the voice of my good, kind and generous Father.
Last, Other Perspective-Bringers We Like:
Eternal Current - A short podcast with a “Practice for a Pandemic”
Exhale - A zoom-based “Guided Time of Stillness” offered this Friday at 11:00
Daily Prayer An app that offers a liturgy for prayer, four times a day
Contemplative at Home (A Meditation for Uncertain Times) - A Lectio Divina exercise to remind us where we are rooted and grounded
And, for laughs, a cute Facebook page called “Quarantainment”
Blessings on you today,
The Kaleid Team
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