The Introduction of A Tree Full of Angels - 1

"If you can live by the best inside yourself, the worst outside yourself will crumble at your feet." ~ Laura Teresa Marquez

Before I can delve into Macrina's book, I am curious about these "beautiful places" that help to nurture creativity that she mentions in the Acknowledgments.

Chapel at Desert House of Prayer

The Desert House of Prayer of Cortoro, Arizona

"for the desert hills, where I found enough solitude to remember my childhood

for the poetry of the cactus - from thorns to blossoms

for the silence of my cell, which taught me more than I could hold

for the vision and courage of Father John Kane, who believed that seeds could grow in the desert."

Serra Retreat of Malibu, California. This site has a wonderful video of the drive into the retreat complex.

...for the wordless prayers of the mountains and the music of the ocean

for the dolphins with their constant reminder that life is a festival"

Hesychia House of Prayer in Arkansas

"for the wide-opened meadows and the rolling hills

for the bluebirds and the goldfinches and every winged thing that fills the day with song

for the whippoorwill - its lonely call and its faithful night watch..."

~~sigh~~ I can only imagine the sounds, the scents, the feel, and the overwhelming beauty of these places. All so different, yet each with bountiful gifts for those who step into their presence. I wonder if I might learn to write like some of these wonderful spiritual teachers if I soaked my soul into these places? HA!

Like many others, Macrina has observed there is a spiritual awakening taking place in the world today.  Have you stopped to check out the "spiritual/faith/Christian/religion..." magazines at Barnes and Noble? If not a magazine, go look at the abundance of books on spirituality...  Out of curiosity I typed in "spirituality books" on Amazon and received 134,871 hits!  There does indeed seem to be a yearning rising up to, as Macrina writes, "touch the depths of who we are...people to seek out ways to rekindle the soul."

Macrina then writes that everywhere she goes, she hears people talking of angels.  Now, that I have not  picked up. However, going to the ever faithful Google I discovered this movie from 2003...that I totally missed! Angels in America with Al Pacino and Meryl Streep. This show was based on an award winning production from the 1990's...so maybe I've just not been paying attention!

Still, angels or not, I do appreciate Macrina's concern that people today are lured by the sensational.

"The fast pace of our lives makes it difficult for us to find grace in the present moment, and when the simple gifts at our fingertips cease to nourish us, we have a tendency to crave the sensational." (Macrina Wiederkehr, A Tree Full of Angels, p xi)

That is Macrina's first concern...and like I said, it speaks to my heart.  Her second concern is that as we seek the sensational, "the angels", that we are missing a precious aspect of Christianity.

Word Made Flesh - by C. Shreve

"We are an incarnational people. The Word was made flesh in our midst...Here on this good earth we have become flesh with the seed of God hidden in us. The greatest of all visions is to see Christ, indeed, to see God, in the frail and glorious human family of the world." (Ibid)

Macrina writes that her book is for people who long for spiritual depth and have the courage to struggle with the eternal questions that rise in their hearts. "Although I have never seen an angel, I am surrounded by a sacred presence I cannot explain." (Wiederkehr, p xii)

The other day a man asked me what I thought was the best time

of life. "Why," I answered without a thought, "now." D.Grayson

A Facebook Friend shared, "...angels are not my thing. I will move forward accepting the difficulty of putting aside my preconceptions and enjoying the journey."


At this point, I think Macrina seems to use "angels" as a kind of metaphor for the "sensational."  Again, at this point in my reading, I believe Macrina's purpose is going to be more an awakening of my heart to the present moment that I am living ...now...and finding the grace that awaits me here...now...in my ordinary life and its ordinary moments.

"You are to gather up the joys and sorrows, the struggles, the beauty, love, dreams and hopes of every hour that they may be consecrated at the altar of daily life." (Ibid)

"At the altar of daily life." I'm a blue-blooded Presbyterian who only knows about the Table and very little about the Altar.  I've read in scripture about altars.  The first one that comes to mind is Abraham taking Issac to be sacrificed on an altar.  Other passages from the ancient Hebrew texts contain stories of an altar. I "think"  the early church, pulling from their Jewish roots, used an "altar" instead of the "table."

stir up the gift that is within you

Casting Crowns has a great song: The Altar and The Door There is one verse in this song that speaks to me today:

I’m trying so hard   --- there's that image of my illusion of control

To stop trying so hard  ----to admit my helplessness and lay my pride on the altar

Just let you be who you are  ---so that I can become what God created me to be

Lord, who you are in me ----God dwells within me as me

The altar of daily life is one image for me to ponder, the second image is Macrina's statement, "We live under the eye of God." Now...I don't think either of these images are "new" for me, they are just a new way of thinking about what I already believe. Yesterday I used the familiar blessing of "Christ beside you, in front of you..." which I think is saying the same thing as living under the eye of God.  God is here...all around me in creation...within others that I meet with and talk with...within the words and images of songs, art, and poetry....God is within me, because God's seed is within everything he has created. But, that is a lot for my little mind to absorb!

Macrina thinks the closer we become to God here on earth, we can also become uneasy.  She writes, 

"We are strange and lovely creatures. We can ache for God tremendously yet find ourselves getting nervous if God gets too close. After all, the closer God gets, the more we hear the call to be divinized...we prefer to keep the comfortable masks that we know rather than to go through the purifying process of becoming like God." (Weiderkehr, p xiii)

WHOA! She's right, the idea of "going through a purifying process of becoming like God" sounds way more than I am capable of doing.  Yet, I believe that God lives within me...as me.  I journaled before I have that insight taped to my monitor.

I do not believe God wants to change "me", because he created "me" as "me"! This brings to mind that idea of "God-ness" that Joyce Rupp spoke of in The Cup of Life.

God Hunger

I do believe though that I can be more of "me" when I let go and trust God to lead me through this life. In this way, I do ache for God in my heart. I yearn for something more, a relationship that I believe is not only possible but yearned for as well by the one who created me.  I think about my relationships with my children, my parents, and my grandchildren...how much more intensely God must feel.

Abbe de Tourville is quoted as saying, "Say to yourself, "I am loved by God more than I can either conceive or understand." Let this fill all your soul and all your prayer and never leave you. You will soon see that this is the way to find God.

So many thoughts running through my mind...God, yesterday I said that sometimes it seems hard to know you, to sink into your Word into your Truth.  I think it is hard because I live within this world and it is difficult to sometimes accept the fact that you are HERE in the midst of all this stuff! Lord, again I ask that you bless me with your Holy Spirit as I seek to find you more and more within the ordinary moments of my life. For when I do, I will have a taste of heaven, here on earth. Praise God! AMEN.

A prayer and praise to end this posting: I Know You're There

Many Blessings ~ Sandi

Week VI - The Blessing Cup

After a weekend of emotional highs...followed by emotional highs, I am surprised to be surprised by something new this morning.  Honestly?  I did not think my tired head had the capacity to become curious so early on the Monday morning following Easter. Yet, that is what Joyce has done by introducing me...broadening my perceptions...of "the" Cup.

Each step...leaving a blessing.

Once again, Joyce turns to the 13th century Muslim poet, Rumi, quoting him:

"Wherever you place your foot, there rests a blessing."

In today's world I hear so much about my carbon footprint and the impact of that footprint on the world, I am feeling a bit confused and amazed by considering each of my footprints as a blessing.  Yet, the expanding of my mind and perceptions does not end there.  Joyce continues:

"Perhaps the best known 'cup' in the scriptures is that of the blessing cup in 1 Cor 10:16: 'The blessing cup that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?' The cup of blessing is a term derived from the Jewish Passover rite, meaning not only that the cup is blessed, but that the cup itself holds a blessing. It holds the gift of life." (Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Life, p 131)

Blessings. 

What are they, Joyce asks on this Monday morning after Easter.

How do they come?

What do they do for us?

I checked several sites and after defining "Blessings" as prayers, Blessings are also defined as: "to consecrate or to hallow by a religious rite or words; to make or pronounce holy or sacred."

"To bless is not so much to 'make sacred,' however, as it is to acknowledge the sacredness that is already there. All creation is sacred because it was made by God.To bless anything of creation, be this a person or an object, is to acknowledge the touch of the Creator upon that person or object." (Ibid)

Joyce continues to stretch my heart by suggesting that wherever we (I) place our (my) feet - wherever we are - can be a blessing IF we are aware of the inherent sacredness and beauty of that place.

WOW!

That 'place' she says, might be the heart of another person or the limb of a newly budded tree or a fuzzy caterpillar climbing a drainpipe.

"Attentiveness to the present moment is essential for a blessing to truly communicate the life and beauty of God to us. 'Calling forth' a blessing is actually a naming of the goodness that is already there." (Rupp, p 132)

Jackie Nowak

Some times I have to hear a message three times...and often in three different ways to really get it! Such is the case with "Blessings."  I have heard this before and was moved and energized by the learning!  But, then the daily work within my church...my new learning became pushed back into one of the dark closets of my mind. Still, the learning was there, stored, ready for the next invitation.  I have heard this before from Jackie Nowak of The Blessing Center in Dayton, Ohio.

But, for now...to continue with Joyce:

"In the Hebrew scriptures a blessing is perceived to be something that communicates divine life. With this life comes strength, stamina, and inner peace. Blessings or berakahs ( Original Word: בְּרָכָה) were often shared by the Jewish people. When they prayed 'blessed are you, O God...' they were acknowledging with gratitude all that God had done for them." (Ibid)

I THINK this is new for me because it has always seemed strange that "I"...me....would bless GOD the creator of all I am and see!!!  I thought I was acknowledging with gratitude...yet it always felt funny to do that as a "blessing."

Now, this is more familiar to me:

"Blessings were given for a variety of purposes: to invoke divine care; to pray for someone; to regard another with favor; to bring happiness; to guard, preserve, protect, and to keep safe; to give good fortune or satisfaction; and to approve or encourage another. Whenever God blesses, there emerges bounteous life and an abundance of goodness." (Ibid)

As an old man, God blessed Abraham
with descendants, more than stars in the sky.

Joyce names one of the first examples that comes to my mind, the blessing/s of Abraham within several chapters of the book of Genesis.As I write this, I thought how Abraham laughed at the suggestion of some of God's blessings, yet the character in the story remains faithful to listening to God, to living out of relationship with God...and the blessings follow.  The blessings were given and then follow through faithfulness AND not always as Abraham's human mind could perceive happening.

Held in God's Embrace

"Anyone and anything that brings good or God-ness into our lives is a blessings. To bless is to bring the touch of God, the touch of love and goodness, to another by our presence as well as by our actions. Blessings are a greeting from God, saying 'I care about you. I desire what will be for your good. You are dear to my heart. I want your life to be filled with love." (Ibid)


I like the image of "God-ness."

SQuire Rushnell has written When God Winks, stories of "coincidences" that are so unbelievable, they must come from a powerful source... An interview with a wonderful story/God Wink about Emmett Kelly's daughter upon his death...

SQuire shares that God Winks are to give us "hugs" to give comfort when life is difficult.

"Blessings are not always immediate, 'feel good' sorts of things. Sometimes these blessings come disguised in the pain, struggle, and hardship of the unwanted parts of our lives. It is only later, with hindsight, that we look and see what a gift those times and events were for us." (Ibid)


Can you tell I do not read Joyce's entire reading AND then go back and journal?  "Blessings are not always immediate..." It is nice when the ah-ha comes and is then reinforced. I am learning that if I read and journal in small pieces, my learning/my ah-has are richer and deeper than if I read the entire lesson and then go back.  But...what works for me...is for me.  I know others have a different way of working through Joyce's readings that work for them.

"Blessings sometimes come disguised..." I have written in past postings about the "blessing" of the last car accident.  HOWEVER, the realization that my brokenness was a blessing, only came in hindsight....much/much/later. All the stories I have read and shared within worship over these past several weeks of Lent and Holy Week...the blessing within those encounters and events were not seen as blessings at the time!  It was only in hindsight that the disciples understood all that Jesus had told them...and given.  And they were receiving "God-ness" in the flesh....and it was still in hindsight that they recognized the blessing.

"As you pray though these days with the 'blessing cup,' may you grow in awareness of the countless blessings that are yours. May you become much more aware of how you yourself are a blessing in the lives of others by the loving quality of who you are and what you do. Mos of all, may your love and appreciation of the Giver of all Gifts, the best of all blessings, continue to grow and be enriched." (Ibid)


I've just received a wonderful blessing, that even though it was written several years ago in a book AND many have read the same blessing...at this moment I claim this blessing.  Prayerfully, as I remain faithful...it will  come in ways....perhaps ways I have not considered..

A wonderful way to begin a new day...a new week!  The Blessing Song.

Gifting God,


Tie a ribbon of remembrance around my heart,
so that I can often recall those sacred places
where you have made yourself known in the hidden recesses of my life.


Stir up my memory-cup, let me look deeply within it, seeing all the people and events that have led me to you.


Refresh the photographs of my mind where the vivid traces of your love are etched in our relationship, and marked upon my memory.


As I gaze into my personal history unlock the storage spaces of my soul,
reveal the truth of your bountiful love, fill my heart with awe and gratitude.


God of Beauty, the blessings of your loveliness astounds my being,
the power of your presence enriches my every moment.
Blessed are you. Blessed are you. ~ Joyce Rupp (Rupp, p 133)


Many Blessings ~ Sandi