Amidst great beauty, found in poetry
tea cups, the surprise burst of a perfect orange
the anticipation of a summer strawberry
I have been thinking.
We are given every day by God the option to say
YES or NO.
I have seen more that to say YES is to say
NO to despair, to destruction,
to a belief in the world as hopeless
or that we are a hopeless case
unable to be saved by God's
love
or His Son's redemption.
The book, I have not yet read, speaks of a cat looking for
Cleo loves summer. Loves being all day by my sliding door
listening to the birds, people, cars going by.
Our door into summer must come
by repentance.
We must ask for this door to be opened; and we must walk through.
It seems that our winters often create the path towards this door;
the door's key is humility;
to know we are made of dust.
To see the door somehow we must fight despair.
My study of despair in Paradise Lost
and through reading Kathleen Norris' book on Acedia
taught me that to be in despair
is fundamentally to have a wrong understanding about reality.
It is even to deny what is true reality.
God is the Creator of the World. God's Christ is the redemption of
the world, of us. The Holy Spirit comes to infuse
to fill us
with the love and knowledge of Christ
within us, deep, opening our inner heart to Christ's light.
God is the source of all that is good. God created the world.
God is the definition of what is most real;
we live upside down
most of the time
not living in the reality of God's hope underlying the world.
To be in despair, in acedia, is to deny God; to deny God's love.
To deny the God of hope
is to deny God's redemption as the hope
that underies all beauty
all good,
all love.
2 comments:
Hi Elizabeth
Yes! Yes is a powerful word. To say Yes is to orient outselves toward something, accepting it, affirming it.
To say Yes to God is to accept the relationship and to also say no, I think to all that is not of God.
By the way, you do have a peaceful looking apartment, tea, soft lights, icons. Thank you for your honest reflection on peace. May God grant you the peace that the world can not give, that only God, in His wisdom and compassion can give.
M
Thank you M -
Yes. to learn to say Yes to God and no to all is not of God. It is what we need and it is not always easy to do.
Yes. I am really greatful to the Lord for my apartment. It is truely a gift from God.
and Amen to the prayer. Thanks be to God.
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