Week Three, Day One Love

I invite you into the prayer practice of Visio Divina by focusing and framing your breath.

Breathe in to the count of three...exhale to the count of six or seven.

Breathe in the One whose grace refreshes, renews, and restores...exhale that which causes you to feel stuck or stymied.

Breathe in the sun shining on the snowy mountains...breathe out the clouds that hover and hang in the stormy parts of your soul.

Look at the image and let your eyes stay with the very first thing that you see. Keep your attention on that one part of the image that first catches your eye. Try to keep your eyes from wandering to other parts of the picture. Then, let your focus slowly survey, surf from the big parts of the photo to the smallest details.  Breathe deeply and let yourself gaze the full image for a minute or so.  Make a list of all that you see in the photo and dive deep into the question of why you might have noticed those parts?

Consider the following questions:

What emotions does this image evoke in you?

What does the image stir up in you, bring forth in you?

Does this image lead you into an attitude of prayer? If so, let these prayers take form in you. Write them down if you desire.

Reflections

Standing on the deck of the cruise ship, my winter hat hugged my ears, gloves wrapped around my hands, my hood was up to shield the wind from my face, I was wearing three - no make that four – layers, and with each exhale my breath was for a moment suspended in the air.  Yet, it was one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever beheld.  As the quote from Richard Rohr offered a few weeks ago pointed toward, I felt in that moment like I was both beholding and being held by the beauty of this moment.  The cruise ship slowly crept forward, closer and closer to the glacier.  Small ice bergs floating silently passed by, which totally doesn't make you think of the Titanic, I thought sarcastically to myself.  Inch-by-inch we came closer and closer.  As we did, over the intercom system, a naturalist was sharing with us some information about the glacier.

Glaciers are always moving.

They are constantly being fed by fresh water.

The Hubbard Glacier (pictured above) is one of the few that is still growing day-by-day.

What you see on the surface of an iceberg really, truly, is just the tip of a vastness of what lays under the surface.

If you listen closely you can hear caving, when parts of the glacier fall off.

Maybe it was the chill of the morning air.

Maybe it was because it was the last day on the ship and my motion sickness medicine was wearing off.

Maybe it was just standing in the still in the sacredness of that moment where I felt held by the holy.

But this moment made me think of love.

Like the glacier, love needs to be constantly fed by what is fresh so it can daily be renewed and restored.

Like the glacier, love, especially today when other parts of the world are shrinking back in fear, needs to keep on growing.  How might love in your life, like the Hubbard Glacier be an outlier to what people think is normal or natural?

Like the glacier, love, is what we share and show to the world.  Love is usually just a part or piece of what is in our hearts.  We often only show the tip or bits of love in the metaphorical iceberg of our life.

Like the glacier, love, if you listen closely, makes a sound you might not hear in the cacophony of the chaotic world.

Jesus entered and still enters the world on a silent and holy night in ways that can make new our souls.

Jesus entered and still enters the world because Mary was willing to be renewed by a love that filled her with courage to say, "Yes" to be the God-bearer.

Jesus entered and still enters the world in a time of, “might makes right,” to show us love is more profoundly powerful.

Jesus offered and still offers us glimpses of God's grace and love made flesh, made real in the form of healing, teaching, preaching.

Jesus’ beautiful entry, even in a stable, like beholding a glacier on a sunny, chilly Alaska day can truly take our breath away.

May such moments of God's moving, growing, renewing, and resounding love be encountered in your life this day.

Blessings ~~