Reflection for May 19, 2010

Musing On the Seen & Unseen

Martha D. Peterson

March 18, 2010

Recently I had time to kill while waiting for a doctor’s appointment, so I bought a coke at the hospital lunchroom and decided to sit outside in the sun. Hovering above me was a fruit tree in full bloom. The white fluffy blossoms rested against a pure blue sky, causing me to think there was a message for me in this beautiful tableau of Nature.

Then the words came...” The seen comes from the unseen.”

Immediately I started to ponder...Where do the roots, blossoms, bark come from? I know the DNA has the plan, but what about the substance, where does that come from...to form leaves, blossoms, bark ...and all the seen objects ...and...babies...and planets. I could go on and on. The answer is: all that appears comes from the invisible. Then Bible verses started pouring through my mind. It’s all in the Bible, the Book of wisdom.

Einstein could only take his numbers so far, then arrived at the wonder of the Invisible which he acknowledged as God.

Here are the verses to ponder upon:

Hebrews 11:1, 3 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen....the worlds were formed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Isaiah 44:2 and Isaiah 49:5 Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb...

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Genesis 1:3:26 And God said, Let there be...and there was... light, firmament, waters, grass,stars, moon, fruit trees, creatures in the seas and sky, and Man, created in His own image and likeness.

Psalm 139:15, 16. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet thee was none of them.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet...

see also I Corinthians 2:9 eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Matthew 15:13. Every plant , which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

John 1:3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

It seems that the intangibles, Faith, Truth, Love the Word, have the power to bring forth whatever is needed. Those blossoms came forth from the vast Invisible Substance. Isn’t it wonderful!

So let the mind of Christ be active in you to learn the mysteries of Life.

Reflection for May 12, 2010

The Master sees things
as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go
their own way,
and resides
at the center of the circle.

Lao-Tzu. Tao-te-Ching

〄

Music from the CD 'Unwind'

Reflection for May 5, 2010

Listening to God with Taize Chants

Singing is one of the most essential elements of worship. Short chants, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character. Using just a few words they express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually permeates the whole being. Meditative singing thus becomes a way of listening to God.

From the booklet "Taize: Songs for Prayer"

Reflection for April 28, 2010

Dirge Without Music

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the

hard ground.

So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:

Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned

With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.

Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.

A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,

A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—

They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and

curled

Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not

approve.

More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the

world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.

I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Edna St. Vincent Millay From Collected Poems

Reflection for April 21, 2010

I have arrived.

I am home

in the here and now.

I am solid.

I am free.

In the ultimate

I dwell.

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Long Road Turns to Joy

Reflection for April 14, 2010

Do you have hope for the future?

Someone asked Robert Frost, toward the end.

Yes, and even for the past, he replied,

That it will turn out to have been all right

For what it was, something we can accept,

Mistakes made by the selves we had to be,

Not able to be, perhaps, what we wished,

Or what looking back half the time it seems

We could so easily have been, or ought . . .

The future, yes, and even for the past,

That it will become something we can bear,

And I too, and my children, so I hope,

Will recall as not too heavy the tug

Of those albatrosses I sadly placed

Upon their tender necks. Hope for the past,

Yes, old Frost, your words provide that courage

And it brings strange peace that itself passes

Into past, easier to bear because

You said it, rather casually, as snow

Went on falling in Vermont years ago.

“Thanks, Robert Frost” by David Ray

in Poet’s Choice, edited by George Murphy

Reflection for April 7, 2010

Northwest Indian

Memorial on Death

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there.

I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glint on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the autumn rain.

When you awake in the morning hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of birds circling in flight.

I am the stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there.

I do not sleep.

-- author unknown