How apropos for me that this is the first reflection on the first day of Lent at explorefaith.org. Just reading "be still" created a stillness within me. How powerful can be one image or one word.
I don't like giving things up for Lent, I like adding things on. I plan on adding more stillness, more soaking in God, steering myself a little from the chaos that I use as an excuse not to spend time with him. I want to try and love others more. I want to love big, and to make room for God to be visible in me. I have some stuff to shovel out in order to let him in.
I want to keep learning how to listen when people need to share things with me, even horrible things. The detective wouldn't let my sister's kids see her body because she was beaten so badly. I'm learning that sometimes you need to hold things in stillness, let the pain speak without marginalizing it with words, let silent love and compassion flow from your heart and eyes and envelope the torment, as you envelope and embrace someone in your arms.
2 comments:
anne, thank you so much for this website. i have never heard of it. i love it. i love today's (2nd) entry - rainer maria rilke is so awesome. i love the simplicity of these entries. and thank you for sharing your thoughts on lent. this is the first time we've even thought about it, so it's all new to us. we didn't really "give up" anything tangible, i.e., coffee, candy, etc., but rather we focused on "giving up" something that is broken within us, something we want to be healed. the girls are doing it with us... in fact, it was my older daughter who initiated it.
i want to love big too! BIG LOVE WINS! :)
love ya!!
Darla, I'm so glad that you like the web site - it's one of my favorites. (gratefulness.org is another) I think in the Catholic church they now encourage people not to give up things like sweets, but to focus on doing something for others instead. Giving up something broken would certainly be of great value to God and others as well, wouldn't it? How incredible that your daughter was the one who initiated this; I don't even think that I've mentioned it to Carman! BTW, you already DO love big. :)
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