my dear friend... a letter for you, from God

 

"Come to me, all you who labor 

and are burdened, 

and I will give you rest"

my dear friend [insert your name here],

Yes, come for rest. But stay for rest, too. 

Stop all feverish haste and be calm and untroubled. 

Come unto Me, not only for petitions to be granted but for nearness to Me. 

Be sure of My Help, be conscious of My Presence, and wait until My Rest fills your soul. 

Rest knows no fear. Rest knows no want. Rest is strong, sure. The rest of soft glades and peaceful flowing rivers, of strong, immovable hills. 

Rest, and all you need to gain this rest is to come to Me. So come! [all emphasis mine]

~from God Calling, A. J. Russell

daily devotional, entry for today,

September 25

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When I look over my recent posts here, it is obvious that for the past several months, my energy and time has gone elsewhere! I am sorry for the radio silence.

As re-charging as writing is to me -- and it is truly a graced avenue that God uses to fill and renew me! -- I have been in one of those moments in life where only silence and stillness could fill up the in-between times, those critical moments when we ponder what we are living. 

And there has been so much going on! 

Merely since my week-long silent retreat in early July, there has been so much...  Completing my cardiac rehab (woo hoo!); trips to connect with and celebrate milestones with family; a new Grand born!; pilgrimage to Guatemala for Blessed Stanley Rother's feast day; many doctor visits; a special visitor from Cuba; buying a new home (more on that later!); making time with the Grands -- you get the idea. 

I find that the older I get, the deeper I feel things and the easier it is to recognize how important, how life-altering each of our life moments really is--wether huge or quotidian, every-day life. 

Yet there is no substitute for time, for be-ing with God in stillness and silence. That is the one way, the only way, to really ingest this life as a grace and blessing from God. 

NOTE: all photos from our pilgrimage to Guatemala, and to Santiago Atitlán, where Blessed Stanley Rother was martyred. Want to know more about the first U.S. martyr? Check out my book, "The Shepherd Who Didn't Run: Blessed Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma" (OSV Books). 

God is calling: love and laugh

Today, a personal message for you, just you… from the One who loves you most, the One who never ceases to call you by name… the God who has known you since before you were born.

May it lift you up and fill you with confident joy on this Thursday morning!

Love and laugh. Make your world the happier for your being in it. Love and rejoice on the grey days.

There are wilderness days for My Disciples as well as Mountains of Transfiguration, but on both it is duty, persistently, faithfully done, that tells.

Be gentle with all. Try to see the heart I see, to know the pain and difficulty of the other life, that I know. Try, before you interview anyone, or speak to anyone, to ask Me to act as interpreter between you two.

Just live in the spirit of prayer. In speaking to Me, you find soul-rest. Simple tasks, faithfully done and persisted in, bring their own reward, and are mosaics being laid the pavement of success.

Welcome all who come here. I love you.

~ God Calling, edited by A. J. Russell

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”~Psalm 139:13-14

stay sober and alert

“Stay sober and alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith.”

~ 1 Peter 5: 8

I have been feeling rather melancholic lately. 

Not so much in the, “mournful, depressed, sadness, despondent,” definition of melancholy. But more like, feeling pensive, soberly thoughtful… maybe what some would describe as feeling “blue.”

It has not helped that I listened all day long to the chainsaws of two arborists as they expertly cut down one of our beautiful, majestic, 50-foot oak tree.   

When we first moved into this house 20 years ago with grade-school-age kids, its large trees mesmerized me. And this guy was impressive. His 45-50-year-old arms leaned over and shielded the backside of our house, much like a mama bird protecting and sheltering her beloved young.

I think my emotions, or at least the depth of these emotions, seems to be connected to my Lenten mantra:  stay sober and alert.

In order to stay sober I have to stop using [food, tv, alcohol, shopping, other people, etc etc etc] to distract me – to numb me!  But when I do… then I find myself in the precarious position of actually feeling things.  Feeling every thing.

And allowing myself to feel means that I am aware of things in myself that I don’t particularly like—let alone want to admit.

For example, realizing in the midst of a large family gathering that I am not enjoying myself – I am not living in joy – at least, not as I think I should be!

Or praying that I be open and real and welcoming of the present moment, as it is... yet noticing how easily I fold, get offended, gossip--and run back to eating and tv and pointing the finger at others in order to numb this, rather than hope in what could be.

Or watching – scattered all over my backyard – the pieces of what used to be one great, robust, mesmerizing oak… and acknowledging that I feel old. I feel broken, not strong as an oak, as I wish I would be.

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“Think of Me. Look at Me often, and unconsciously you will grow like Me.

You may never see it. The nearer you get to Me, the more will you see your unlikeness to Me. So be comforted My children.

Your very deep sense of failure is a sure sign that you are growing nearer to Me. And if you desire to help others to Me, then that prayer-desire is answered.

Remember, too, it is only struggle that hurts. In sloth, spiritual, or mental, or physical, there is no sense of failure or discomfort, but with action, with effort, you are conscious not of strength but of weakness – at least, at first.

That again is a sign of Life, of spiritual growth.

And remember, My Strength is made perfect in weakness.”

~God Calling, edited by A. J. Russell