“God comes to us disguised as our life.” – Paula D’Arcy.
“God comes to us disguised as our life.” – Paula D’Arcy.The past two weeks I’ve been battling a cold. Well that’s an understatement I got something that was a cold, but turned into something which required me to “rest my voice” so it could heal. Not the easiest for someone who teaches multiple fitness classes and, to put it simply, really enjoys people.
So these two weeks meant a lot of being quiet. A lot of canceling plans for nights in and early bedtimes. Fortunately, I love resting. So I made the most of it with reading and cooking and cleaning, catching up on the DVR and exercising.
But by halfway through the second week it got tougher. I wanted to talk already! To catch up with friends face to face, talk to people over the phone… just do something! I had one of those antsy nights in. The nights where it felt the same, unproductive, unnoticed, un… you get the picture.
It wasn’t easy, but it was a good teacher. The wrestle gave me a reason to dig deep, to see what was really going on. I was thankful then for the gentle reminder from the word I picked for the year: Savor.
Savor this night. Yes, even this. Don’t resist. Savor.
When it comes to Savoring our lives, I think that means every aspect, every moment, every element. It’s all our life. To fully live, would be to fully embrace all of it. The quiet moments as much as the loud ones. The unglamourous as much as the facebook worthy. Life will never be all perfect. It will never be all “highlight reel” which social media does such a great job of making us forget and making us feel “less than” there is nothing post-worthy.
But the reminders of our real truth, The Truth, will tell us that the feeling of insignificance is a lie.
Are your lungs moving up…and down? Is your heart beating? Then this moment is as sacred as all the rest. Our breath. Our heart beat. These constant reminders that God is with us. That God is in us, choosing us. Again. And again. And again. And… Each breath a reminder that this is good. This is sacred. Each breath a gift.
No matter how we feel the Truth will always remain. When the moments arise – the antsy ones, the ones that whisper hauntingly “this isn’t enough” “this isn’t worthy” “you should…” “you aren’t…” – take a deep breath and remember: God is in this. Even this. He is choosing me. This is sacred ground.
It’s not going to be an overnight awakening. But with practice I think we will be able to better see the Presence that was always there claiming each moment as sacred.
So in time, with practice, may we walk with eyes more open, more aware, of the significance that’s present in each moment. May we Savor the moments of our lives whatever they happen to hold.
Extra Musings and Random Thoughts
That little pic up top is from the PA Farmshow. (Only pic I had from my last few low-key weeks.) The first of roommate excursions for 2016. Bunnies and the strawberry milkshake were the highlight.
The skies lately have been beautiful! Sunrises and sunsets. Thankful for things like this during the cold dreary months.
Loving rereading Scary Close by Don Miller. It is one of my favorite books that came out in 2015 and I’m excited to talk about it with some friends over brunch soon. If you’ve not read this one, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. It is excellent. Right down the alley of all the themes I write about here.
If you want to learn more about the Incarnation themes in this post, I’ve really enjoyed Richard Rohr’s daily e-mail meditations lately. He’s had some beautiful ideas in there. I liked this one sentence from recently that goes right along with this post: “We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.”
Week two of the new year and fully enjoying the daily devotional book Savor by Shauna Niequist. It’s like she knew exactly what I wanted to focus on this year!
That’s all for now. 🙂
