Week Two, Day Six Peace

I invite you into the prayer practice of Visio Divina right here and now.

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

Breathe in the One who moves with traces of grace...exhale the constant need to prove God as if God was a mathematical formula.

Breathe in a beautiful fleeting movement of the holy...breathe out that which wants to grasp, cling, and even control the mist of God's peace and hope.

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. Breathe deeply and let yourself gaze at that part of the image for a minute or so. 

Now, let your eyes gaze at the whole image. Take your time and look at every part of the photograph. See it all. Make a list of what you see and ask yourself the deeper question of why?  Ask yourself, when was the last time you thought you'd missed something?  Reflect on the image for a minute or so.

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.

Reflection

Ugh, I thought.  I missed it!?!

Like Charlie Brown when he would call himself, "Blockhead" in that moment I felt like I resembled that remark.

We were on a whale watching tour.  It was a cloudy, rainy day.  The water was a bit chaotic and choppy.  The boat was rocking.  The lens of my camera kept getting rain drops on it.  Remember, I am not the world's best sailor and I get seasick on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney!

And now the whales won't properly pose for a photo!

I mean is it too much to ask for these whales to wave at me?

Is it too much to ask for my finger to be fast enough on the button of the camera to capture one tail of the whale?

Is it too much to ask for the boat to stop rocking so much?

So often...too often...in my life the moment of peace passes by just about the time I finally realize I am in the middle of a moment saturated in shalom.

Peace, often for me, is the mist of the whale breathing out.

The Hebrew word, shalom, means more than peace.  The word means fullness and wholeness.  It is inter-connectedness that gives us strength.  80 miles Mary and Joseph walked to Bethlehem from Galilee, what did they talk about?  How did they support each other to keep on keeping on?  What moments of chaos were replaced, if even briefly, with peace?  What moments of shalom, the sacred tethering them together, were experienced?  Can you write that story in the imagination of your mind and heart this day?

There is a peace that does not always need to be captured or contained.

There is a peace that doesn’t always need to be communicated.

There is a peace, shalom, that I don’t craft or create, but comes as pure gift from God.

Sometimes it is enough that there was an unmistakable and undeniable peace I experienced and encountered. I may not have the photo to prove it. But that wasn't the point.

There is a whale there just beneath that spray of water.

And there is a peace within and around us which is more than a trace of God's grace.

Blessings~~