The Best We Can Do

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answer, blessings, happiness, health, loving care, Meg Wheatley, perseverance, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, treasures

Looking out and seeing one more snowfall in this third quadrant of the month that is supposed to bring us May flowers, I once more reached for the book called Perseverance for an encouraging word. (Meg Wheatley is good at providing solace in down-to-earth terms when everything looks bleak.) I shouldn’t complain; look at the destruction on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kauai and other serious weather disasters around the world. And that’s just the beginning of what people are enduring in their lives.

As I pulled the book toward me, a bookmark fluttered out and landed on my lap. It was the answer to my need for help, of course. It was familiar – “a blast from the past” – and reminded me of all the singsong prayers in my childhood that made up a treasure chest full of meaningful messages that always seemed an answer on days like this. It also brought to mind the beautiful, giving friend from whom it came and whose example I try to follow. Perhaps you will find it meaningful today as well.

I said a prayer for you today and know God must have heard. I felt the answer in my heart although God spoke no word. I didn’t ask for wealth or fame; I knew you wouldn’t mind. I asked God to send treasures of a far more lasting kind. I asked God to be near you at the start of each new day, to grant you health and blessings and friends to share your way. I asked for happiness for you in all things great and small, but it was for God’s loving care I prayed the most of all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Close to the Brokenhearted

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brokenhearted, healer, loving care, Lynn Bauman, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, troubles

The refrain used this morning for the psalm response in the lectionary readings is very poignant and comforting. Verse 19 says that God is close to the brokenhearted and Lynn Bauman’s commentary says that it is at the level of the heart (deeper than the intellect) that the psalmist speaks this prayer and gives this guidance. He titles this psalm “The Healer of Shattered Hearts” and his translation of the lectionary section provides beautiful images of this healing God who can be counted on to enfold us in the confidence that love brings. This one deserves to be read aloud – more than once.

Indeed God hears the voice of those who cry in pain, drawing near to them with tender, loving care. God comes so close to those who live with brokenness, to heal those with the deepest inner wounds. God is healer of our shattered hearts. Yes, it is true, the troubles that plague humanity are vast and deep. But it is God who frees us from them all. God guards our hearts, our core, our very bones, the inner frame of those who serve the good. And nothing there is ever truly broken or destroyed. (vs. 17-20)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Dwelling Place

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birdfeeding, birds, care, God, Lord, loving care, psalm 84, sparrow, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Lately I’ve been watching the birds on our deck; we sometimes have breakfast together. This is the season of big bags of birdseed in the kitchen and suet cakes hanging on a pole outside – necessary in the winter and safer for us to offer the birds who haven’t migrated because the bears are hibernating now. It’s amazing to notice the varieties of coloration, size and shape of our visitors, especially the different woodpeckers who hack away at the suet with a vehemence that would surely give me a headache. Clearly the word is out there that this is the best place to get a good meal because they grace us with their presence every day. From the tiniest finch and titmouse to the graceful flocks of mourning doves they know they’ll find a welcome here.

I smile this morning at Psalm 84, one of my favorites, in part because of the birds. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord! My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord…Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest in which she puts her young…Blessed are they who dwell in your house! Continually they praise You. Even in the winter when berries and other delicacies are hard to find, when the trees are stripped of their leaves and the wind makes flying a challenge, the birds find crevices and bird houses and the dried grasses for shelter. Such is the care offered the birds by humans and their land. So tender and loving is the care of our God for us.