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Thursday, June 23, 2011

THANK YOU GOD!!!!

I have not really taken the time to share much about my sister on this blog, because I try to respect people's privacy.

Suffice it to say that she has had a REALLY rough journey this past year and I wanted so badly to be able to give her rest, and love and comfort.I was hoping that she would be able to come visit so she could have a Florida vacation with us but it was looking unlikely to say the least.

There was the finances, the fact that she needed passports for herself and her two children, and then the fact that she needed to apply for a tourist VISA to even be allowed to get access to the US.
All these things take time, preparation, money, and quite a bit of "luck"(not really like, more like..God's help). Well...time was NOT on our side, money was not on our side, the circumstances were just not looking good. But as it turns out, God wanted to bless us, and so, against all odds, she has passports, she was JUST approved for a VISA and she has tickets. SHE IS COMING!!!!

I am very much looking forward to loving on her, having her near, laughing together, crying together, doing life together with our families. I love her so much and I will treasure having her in my home.

Thank you God....THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Paradox

Well, I've done it again....I found a new favorite author, Parker Palmer.

The man has a real gift and way with words, but beyond that, I feel so identified with his way to view and live out his spirituality.

Reading his book "The Promise of Paradox" this weekend I found that this particular passage really summed up so much of what I experience in my own journey, and so I wanted to share. Interestingly, this passage is not even written by him, but instead it's a quote from Thomas Merton:
"I have had to accept the fact that my life is almost totally paradoxical. I have also had to learn gradually to get along without apologizing for the fact, even to myself. And perhaps this preface is an indication that I have not yet completely learned. No matter. It is in the paradox itself, the paradox which was and is still a source of insecurity, that I have come to find the greatest security. I have become convinced that the very contradictions in my life are in some way signs of God's mercy to me; if only because someone so complicated and so prone to confusion and self-defeat could hardly survive for long without special mercy."

He goes on and deeper into what this paradoxical living looks like, which I am finding more and more interesting. But this passage did a great job in my opinion at setting the stage. I think as Christians we have a hard time truly accepting our whole experience on earth, because so much of it isn't black and white and straight forward. We struggle because we want concrete, definite and defined lines and boundaries and neat little boxes where our theories and beliefs can fit.
But this spiritual life is full of paradox, and though we are saved by grace, our shadow side still exists. I want to learn to live within the paradox, rather than trying to deny or hide from it. In the paradox we find God's grace, and if we can accept it, we can be freed by it.

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