"The glory of God is in the human being fully alive." (Sloan Coffin) Isn't that a beautiful thought? When you are fully alive, you are reflecting God's glory.
Do you feel fully alive?
How does that feel? If not yet, how might it feel?
What would it take to make you feel that way?
Blessings-Penny
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
awe
I am rereading a book by Sloan Coffin entitled "Letters to a Young Doubter." I thought it might be appropriate for my teenage grandson with his own doubts but I find it somewhat beyond what he is ready for. However,I am enjoying the book again for my own doubts.
And certainly in the past week, there seem reasons for doubt. By that I mean the earthquake and tsunami and deaths in Japan are really beyond my understanding. In this book Sloan Coffin says that if we have yearning along with awe and wonder at the natural world we are in prayer. Well, I certainly have awe and wonder but maybe not in the way God meant for me to have awe and wonder.
But then this morning there were 5 robins around my bird feeder while we were having another March snow shower. I surely don't "get it" sometimes-but I know there is a spiritual yearning. So I will remain in doubt about some things and remain in awe and wonder about others.
How about you? Does the yearning remain even when there are doubts?
Blessings-Penny
And certainly in the past week, there seem reasons for doubt. By that I mean the earthquake and tsunami and deaths in Japan are really beyond my understanding. In this book Sloan Coffin says that if we have yearning along with awe and wonder at the natural world we are in prayer. Well, I certainly have awe and wonder but maybe not in the way God meant for me to have awe and wonder.
But then this morning there were 5 robins around my bird feeder while we were having another March snow shower. I surely don't "get it" sometimes-but I know there is a spiritual yearning. So I will remain in doubt about some things and remain in awe and wonder about others.
How about you? Does the yearning remain even when there are doubts?
Blessings-Penny
Friday, March 11, 2011
a sign?
The driving turned out to be as stressful as I feared. The map going through a mid sized city was confusing. I turned the GPS off because it had too much information-yak, yak, yak. Sunddenly, in the middle of this very dark part of the city, the road sign said "End of Rt. 61." Just as I feared from looking at the map. We really had no idea of which way to turn. As we had approached this city, we had laughingly said, "Well let's hope God has set up a sign that says, "Joe and Penny,turn here to get on Rt. 10 to Newark, Delaware"-our destination. (Doesn't this all sound like the very end of addiction and the beginning of recovery? You pray for a clear sign)
Well we drove for several more miles, turn right, turn left looking for a gas station to stop and ask directions. No gas stations--don't these people need gas?? (Early recovery-wrong turns-no direction) Suddenly there was a Sunoco. We pulled in. I waited in line to ask the cashier directions-Joe went over to get us some coffee. As I looked over at him, he was talking with a cashier who was making more coffee. She gave us clear directions--"go 10 stoplights, watch for the NMT bank and turn right. It will put you on I76 and go to Rt. 10." (Isn't that again like early recovery? We finally find someone who gives us clear directions about how to move into longer term recovery-where to go for help, how to redirect our thinking and our lives, how to progress to our destination-long term peaceful recovery.)
And those directions were absolutely correct. We got on Rt. 10. It was not easy-speeding traffic to merge into-confusing headlights. Even Rt. 10 had its own concerns of dark turns, speeding cars, unmarked intersections. (Middle recovery)But we knew we were on the right road.
Now the hoped for sign that we laughed about earlier-the one that would say "Joe and Penny turn here" did not appear. But the woman at the gas station gave us precise directions. Was she our "sign?"
Isn't it true that sometimes we miss "the sign" because we think it should say or be something we specifically asked for? Are we open to signs that are different from what we expect? When we open ourselves to the new sign do we smile in relief?
Are we open to God's promise that He will always be with us--even when we are lost?
Blessings-Penny
Well we drove for several more miles, turn right, turn left looking for a gas station to stop and ask directions. No gas stations--don't these people need gas?? (Early recovery-wrong turns-no direction) Suddenly there was a Sunoco. We pulled in. I waited in line to ask the cashier directions-Joe went over to get us some coffee. As I looked over at him, he was talking with a cashier who was making more coffee. She gave us clear directions--"go 10 stoplights, watch for the NMT bank and turn right. It will put you on I76 and go to Rt. 10." (Isn't that again like early recovery? We finally find someone who gives us clear directions about how to move into longer term recovery-where to go for help, how to redirect our thinking and our lives, how to progress to our destination-long term peaceful recovery.)
And those directions were absolutely correct. We got on Rt. 10. It was not easy-speeding traffic to merge into-confusing headlights. Even Rt. 10 had its own concerns of dark turns, speeding cars, unmarked intersections. (Middle recovery)But we knew we were on the right road.
Now the hoped for sign that we laughed about earlier-the one that would say "Joe and Penny turn here" did not appear. But the woman at the gas station gave us precise directions. Was she our "sign?"
Isn't it true that sometimes we miss "the sign" because we think it should say or be something we specifically asked for? Are we open to signs that are different from what we expect? When we open ourselves to the new sign do we smile in relief?
Are we open to God's promise that He will always be with us--even when we are lost?
Blessings-Penny
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