Standing on Holy Ground

For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life. ~ William Blake

I couldn't decide what to journal about this morning.  I've too many ideas and thoughts rambling around in my heart. I had decided to simply journal on Macrina's book, that would keep me focused! Imagine my surprise when the first page seemed to be another puzzle piece of my rambling thoughts.

I wonder if God enjoys watching me sort through all the thoughts, questions, images, insights that are a part of my heart's reflections.

Holy Ground video.....

Chapter 7, Macrina writes about a time that a walk took her further than planned:

"...It is just dawn. Standing still for a moment, I see the first rays of sunlight shimmering through a silver maple tree...Suddenly I am uncertain whether those golden arms swaying in the morning sunlight are tree branches or angel wings. Such shining I find overpowering. My wondering heart is filled with joy..."So what do I do? What do I do with this vision that heaven has blessed me with? If I am an adult I keep very quiet about this vision, carefully guarding my reputation.  I tell no one. If I am a child, or if  I have a child's heart, I cannot contain the vision. I shout it from the rooftops. I say, 'Listen, everybody! I saw a tree full of angels shining like stars in the night." (Macrina Wiederkehr, A Tree Full of Angels, p 83)

There have been times I have forgotten I am an adult and cry out in awe, excitement, marvel when something strikes my soul.  It can be nature, or it can be something really dumb (by the world's standards).

William Blake (1757-1827) was a child who was not inhibited by what adults could or could not see.  Story goes that one day, while rambling over the hills of Dulwich he saw a tree full of angels. He ran to his parents to share what he had seen.  His father was about to punish young William for telling lies (notice the era), but his mother, more able to see the depths of things, saved him from his father's blindness.

"It is so like adults not to be able to tell the difference between a vision and a mirage. Artists are those who have visions.There is something of the artist in each of us. Artists have hungry eyes and hungry hearts, and on some days when they are purifying their eyes and hearts for deeper seeing, they choose to have hungry stomachs as well. Fasting empties them so that they can see the truth more clearly." (Wiederkehr, p 84)

Macrina shares that a wonderful example of this is Thornton Wilder's play Our Town. It has been a long time since I have seen this wonderful play.  Thankfully, Macrina refreshes my memory.

"Emily, who has died, wants to come back to the land of the living and relive one day of her life. The stage manager knows the heartache she will experience and is not enthusiastic about her request, but Emily is determined. She chooses her twelfth birthday to return. It is indeed a heartache as she sees how myopic human beings really are, how they simply do not have time to look at one another. At one point she pleads with her mother to look at her for just one moment with undistracted eyes." (Ibid)

Tearfully, Emily asks to return to her grave.  She asks if any human beings ever fully realize life while they live it. The stage manager gives a sad "No," and then as if remembering the redeemers of the human race, he suggests that the poets and saints came closest to tasting the fullness of life.

Macrina writes:

"In this section of my journal that I share with you in this chapter [Chapter 7], I am praying with the saints and the poets. I am feeding on their vision, their questions, and their dreams."I have never been one to limit God to the Scriptures, though the Scriptures have nourished me well. My God is not imprisoned anywhere, not in the Bible nor the tabernacle. Real Presence is everywhere, and those with the hearts of children revel in it. So much that I do not blush to call divine is revealed to me each day. The Word and the Bread! That's all there is. They continue becoming flesh. A crumb at a time." (Wiederkehr, p 84-84)

I am smiling with delight!

A Child's Delight

I have felt a little guilty, not staying focused, by adding pages to my blog and including pictures of things that don't really have anything to do with journaling through a book.  Yet, as I have journaled through The Cup of Life and A Tree Full of Angels, God has been bursting out all around me and I did not know what to do with all those moments of delight.

Once again, I have fallen prey to what I am supposed to do or be.  I have tried to inhibit the delight God has set in my heart by twisting it in a way that is "acceptable."

Many weeks ago I journaled about a woman in my congregation that was undergoing dialysis.  Honestly, I never expected to see her ever smiling her relaxed and happy smile again in this life.  Yesterday, I was blessed with a miracle.  When I went to see her...there was that wonderful smile greeting me as I walked into the room!  And...she is going home today!

When she was very ill and tired of the battle, Pat saw what she thought were angels.  She has described them to me in detail several times.  Yesterday, she was more subdued about this vision, contributing it to her illness, medication... I stopped her and said, "Pat, these angels you saw gave you a sense of hope and a sense of peace. Do not discredit the gift God has given you simply because the rest of us did not see them! Because we did not see them does not mean they were not there!"

She responded by a moment of stillness and then her face literally lit up like the angel light she has described. "Thank you, Sandi!"

My pictures of growing corn, flowers, rocks, Indians, my parents and grandchildren...are all images of God...of angels dancing through moments in my life! Joyce Rupp talked in The Cup of Life about stepping on this earth and leaving a blessing with each footstep.

I have at times wondered how people could not see what was before them when the living God was incarnate...right here on this earth in the form of Jesus!! Yet, I suffer the same blindness, missing the holy that is within my midst, much like the characters of Thornton Wilder's Our Town.

These thoughts give me the courage to share such a moment from a few days ago.  Walking into a local post office an elderly gentleman handed me a DumDum sucker. "Would you like my sucker? I really shouldn't eat it."

I was surprised, but thanked  him, and went in to get the proper postage on my packages.  Once back in my car I looked again at the sucker....


Ummm, I don't think I've ever seen this flavor before....ooooooohhh!

Instead of biting into that blueberry dum dum, I savored every lick, and I felt like a blessed child.  I even put the wrapper in my Gratitude Journal that evening as a reminder of that wonderful moment that I simply sat in pure enjoyment without a care in the world.

Yet, later, I placed a judgement.  "You can't journal about that San, its dumb!"

How different would my life be if I carried the notion with me through out all my day that every place I find myself is holy ground?

Sitting here at my computer, I'm on holy ground.

Walking my dog around the yard, I'm on holy ground.

Doing my stretches or riding my bike to nowhere, I'm on holy ground.

Visiting someone in their home, hospital, nursing home, I'm on holy ground.

Picking green beans in the garden, I'm on holy ground.

Helping to deliver projects or walking along the County 4-H Fair, I'm on holy ground.

The ordinary things of an ordinary day...I'm on holy ground!  With this openness, I wonder what I might discover within the ordinary! Things that the world is too distracted to see?

Hummmm, I might even notice a tree full of angels!

Another version of Holy Ground

"I know there are angels all around...Let us praise Jesus now...we are standing in his presence on holy ground."

Many Blessings ~ Sandi

Gather Up the Crumbs - Just another ordinary day....

Wonderful and Creative God, I'm hitting the road early this morning to take a lo-salt casserole to my folks and then to head to VBS.  After VBS...a trip to the hospital to visit my lady on dialysis. Writing about these things, I know between my parents, the kids and volunteers, Pat and the nursing staff I will have many opportunities to soak in your presence if I only stay awake. AMEN.






Music and Videos:
Sarah Mclachlan has a wonderful song that reminds me I am surrounded by miracles.  Another individual has done a wonderful job putting images to Sarah's words. Alone, music and images speak to my heart and bless my soul. They are nourishing crumbs that sustain me when I am feeling strong and when I am discouraged or sad.

While I have long been aware of how much I enjoy both these gifts of God [music and art], I had not thought of them as manna...as crumbs to feed me, as crumbs to give me strength, as crumbs that connect me with God.

Sarah Mclachlan

I'm headed out.  I hope you enjoy this video Ordinary Miracle...

God of surprise and beauty, by your Spirit help me to see you within my day.  Help me catch some of your miracles within the ordinary settings of my life.  AMEN.


Many Blessings ~ Sandi

Day 5 - Evening Review

We do not want to be just ordinary!

Today, we were to notice something ordinary and to learn from it. This is a challenge, because we have a tendency to overlook things we consider to be ordinary. It is easy to overlook that which seems insignificant.

Not that mothers are ordinary, far from it!!! However, until someone is nolonger physically with us we can take that relationship for granted. Because we all are/have/had a mother and because this is the week of St. Patrick I offer you this simple and beautiful Irish blessing...The Blessing: Celtic Woman

Late this afternoon I had to make a CVS run. I admit, I did a terrible job of parking as I pulled into the lot, but I knew I would only be a minute and I was the only car parked along the south side of the store. When I came out, an SUV was parked VERY close to my passenger side. The woman, angrily began giving me "what for" when she looked up to see me standing in front of my car. I was a bit confused, because there were two empty spaces to the left of my car and five empty spaces to her right.She could have walked the few extra feet and parked in the next spot rather than straining to get out of her door!

But still, I had not parked well.

I silently watched as she worked to squeeze away from her door enough to shut it, all the while loudly berating me for my incompetence. When she paused to draw a breath I quickly told her, "I'm sorry. You are absolutely right, I parked to close to the line. I'm sorry."

There was...






which was almost eerie...

But then the most amazing transformation, the woman smiled and quietly said, "Oh, that's okay." and walked past me into the store!

I was baffled, and it was several moments before I realized my short apology consisted of a few very ordinary words, but yet they seemed to have been responsible for a complete turn around in another individual's mood.

What did I learn from this encounter with ordinary words?

• Maybe the woman just needed to be "heard".  
• Maybe by not reacting and responding with "I'm sorry" instead of "You idiot, why didn't you park in one of these other spaces...." I shocked her into silence.
• Maybe...

But then, Joyce's suggestion today was for "my" learning, not to try and figure out someone else's mind.

• I learned that I don't have to be "right". 
• I learned that I can breathe and remain calm within absolute craziness.
• I learned that two ordinary words may be more effective and carry more grace than any well thought out and well articulated reasoning or logic.

Joyce suggested we approach each person, event, creature, with two questions today. How are you my teacher? What am I meant to learn?

San, don't you feel silly when you
look like this...all puffed up...

Sometimes I feel like the woman at CVS was acting when I am trying to juggle too many balls or keep too many plates spinning. Sometimes I feel like that woman when I am worried how I am going to keep everyone happy - when I want there to be peace within my family, community, church...  Sometimes I feel like that woman was acting when I carry another's burden by trying to think how "I" can fix their situation. Sometimes....gosh I hope and pray I never look like that woman!

Sometimes I forget that God has not put me in control, that he does not expect me to fix all the problems I encounter through out my day. Sometimes I forget "I" may not KNOW what is good or bad. Sometimes I forget that God didn't give me the wisdom of Solomon. 

Sometimes I forget I can hold a situation/problem in open hands, knowing that God is within that situation/problem because God is "dwelling with us everywhere...We can draw closer and deeper in our relationship with God through every situation, depending on our attitude, our openness, and our awareness." (Joyce Rupp, Cup of Life, p 36)

Something else I remembered through today's exercise; there really is no such thing as "ordinary."  I can sit here, looking around me in my living room...I have glass canisters full of shells I've picked up along the ocean. I have books with varied colored jackets...and thoughts. I have a hand hooked rug and satin pillows. I have pictures of all those I love. And, I have a roll of scotch tape, some pencils, and post-it notes...all things that I touch in some way nearly every single day. I honestly cannot sit here and see anything "ordinary."

How often have you referred to a day as "ordinary"?

I have more than once, even KNOWING that each day is a gift from God and that we are not promised another such gift! If/When we awake tomorrow, that is a new gift to be opened and enjoyed. 

How often do you see a maple leaf, green grass, or a ladybug and see God?

That is the blessing of the Celts to us, a reminder that God is of everything. 

Even those places and situations where we question, "Where is God?" God is there. God is within the beautiful and within the pain. 

God is.

I wonder how many pages I could fill if I spent an entire ordinary day listing all the things I saw, smelled, touched, heard...

And then if I realized that record of all those things I noticed is only a small snapshot of that which is God.

Mysterious and Awesome God, what an amazing day this ordinary day has been! I thank you and praise you for the blessedness of this day. Amen.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi