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Give Me More, Lord

If it can be verified, we don’t need faith…

Faith is for that which lies on the other side of reason.

Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and

ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.

– Madeleine L’Engle

  I pulled up my knees to my chest, sitting on the window seat. The light was slowly moving across the valley but yet the sunrise was still minutes away from coming over the mountain. Give me more light. I smiled about my obsession with morning light. I poised my camera on the mountain peak, ready. Not yet. How slow the minutes passed. The sun was sure. it would come, it had for the past 63 years. And yet I wait.  

                        Give me more faith, Lord

 I have been writing with the Five Minute Friday Group for more than two years and I really enjoy the talented writers who share themselves each week.

Nurturing Reality- Problem Solving

I would always choose a life without problems

       Friday started out to be a glorious day. I wanted to see the sunrise. As the light was just coming over the horizon I jumped out of the car to catch the glow on camera. After some minutes of feeling nurtured I returned to the car to find the keys locked inside. I think I walked around the car three times before I allowed reality to fully permiate my mind. 

      

         

I am nurturing reality this month. What a perfect  exercise. Too far to walk home, I called my daughter for a ride. She was not thrilled to be a awakened at 6:00 am. Once back home I started problem solving. I could call AAA and renew my membership and then they would come unlock my car. But, earlier in the week my account was hacked at Amazon and so I canceled my credit card. I called my husband to get the info on his card but he was not available for a while. I was curious how my mind kept going to the place of not believing that this happened. A wash of shame interfered with my ability to take the next step. How could I let this happen? Eventually all resolved itself and to my shock it was only 8:00 am. In a short amount of time the world was right again. The perception of my reality changed several times in two hours. 

Can I nurture the resilient spirit within me to stay centered on what is now and let go the craving for all to be well?

To go to the overview of My Year of Nurturing click here.

Sing

Some experiences in life bring us to sing in praise.

While visited my brother in Utah last week I made a trip to the Thanksgiving Point Ashton Gardens. Quite to my surprise I found a new installation which, honestly, is a miracle. The miracle is not that I found it, but that it exists. A sculpture garden entitled "The Light of the World" was installed in the Fall of 2016. 

John 4:4-42

 Amongst the most beautiful natural settings, the life of Christ sits in bronze. There are 35 statues in 15 different settings, all larger than life. 

Luke 7:36-50

 I saw it's profound effect on little children. The sculptor, Angela Johnson, almost always placed Jesus on eye level or lower with those he ministered. Children found his lap irresistible.

Matthew 8:1-4

The detail in the faces and clothes was amazing. I could feel the movement of each statue. As he touched the blind man with his hands it was as if he touched me, too. 

John 12:1-34

 Great boulders were brought in to create backdrops for the bronze statues. The tomb of Lazurus was especially dramatic. He lay at the bottom looking up through the archway at his sisters and Jesus. This event fore-shadowed his own rising from the tomb.

Mark 14

While looking at him dragging the cross, a little girl sang. She was praising with words she learned at church. Tears rolled down my cheeks.

John 20:11-34

When Mary found her Lord resurrected, hovering above the ground, I sang, too. He is risen!

   The artist, Angela Johnson, made these bronze statues in six years, having only started this art form a decade earlier. I felt the closeness she had to divine help. This garden truly is a miracle.

 I have been writing with the Five Minute Friday Group for more than two years and I really enjoy the talented writers who share themselves each week.

Nurturing Monday- Testing My Ability

"Eyes wide open, I zoomed out and refocused on the reality beyond fear's tunnel."
Issac Lidsky

Part of nurturing is letting go. Nurturing reality means testing myself in situations that are scary. I stepped beyond thinking and writing and took a trip out of my comfort zone. You see, I don't like flying. Planes, airports, weather worries, all raise my anxiety levels. I am happy to report that my focus on reality has improved.

    The most helpful tool in my tool bag was looking around and being aware of my surroundings. In the airport I looked at faces and tried to see what others were doing. I noticed the mother trying to help her son find more bandwidth for his computer game. I watched a handsome business man re-adjust his baggage and don his cool sunglasses. I wondered if he was nervous, too.

   On the plane I listened to conversations, watched how others helped their neighbor. When faced with going down a steep decline to disembark the plane, I graciously accepted the offer of a kind gentleman to carry my bags. I tried to look him in the eye and worry less about being incompetent to do everything by myself. 

   The carousel of life can seem out of control and reality can become hazy but I feel a tiny bit more secure that I can hold what is real. I'm back at home and on familiar ground. 

To go to the overview of My Year of Nurturing click here.

Nurturing Monday- Why do I ignore reality?

   Perception is reality.

                                   Dr. Phil McGraw.

   Which hands look more real? The sun-washed hands or the reflection? April is a month to nurture my sense of reality. Why do I need to nurture it? Because I am guilty of ignoring the truth. From pushing tax day out of mind to seeing the work my yard needs, to entertain family, I often refuse to see the truth. Why? 
    When Issac Lidsky, blind, found himself lost in his neighborhood in D.C. he panicked. He was in fear and dread. His sense of reality closed in around him as if he was in a tunnel. 
    "When I expanded my view and focused on the external realities of the situation, however, seeing beyond the distortions of my internal emotions, I confronted a minor practical problem. There was a simple solution, and with thought and proactivity, successively better ones emerged. " (Eyes Wide Open)

  Fear is a reality warper. It tempts us to ignore the inklings of what is real. Fear of too much work, fear of making mistakes, all these fears need an expanded view of what is true. So how do I expand my view? Can't answer that today but I am definitely open to find answers.

To go to the overview of My Year of Nurturing click here.

  
   

Enough

Are we enough? Is there power in being enough?

I first encountered the phrase "I am enough" in an online class based on Brené Brown's book, The Gift of Imperfection. When I wrote those words on my hand it felt strange. Deep down I felt a great lack. There was relief in thinking I was okay as I am. 

But, even as I believed that I did not need to walk around feeling flawed and broken, I knew there was a wider view. You see, I believe in The Fall. Going way back to Adam and Eve I believe it was important to the Plan of Salvation that our first parents come to a mortal planet, where they made mistakes. But, sin does not exist in our Heavenly Father's home. So, Adam and Eve were stuck, unable, by their own power, to make themselves innocent again. We are stuck, too. 

     Thus the atonement of Jesus Christ is essential. The Creation and The Fall would be of naught without the redeeming and sanctifying power of our Savior. 

    What do I want to be enough for? If my view extends to the heavens then I want to be enough to be in the presence of God. I believe he desires that for me. Jesus marked the path and led the way. I am enough when I am fully yoked with him in this life. True, his virtue pulls more weight than mine. He doesn't ask for equality. He asks for my heart.

 I have been writing with the Five Minute Friday Group for more than two years and I really enjoy the talented writers who share themselves each week.

Nurturing Monday- Nurturing Things As They Really Are

It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.

Bill Watterson

This quote is funny and so true. In the month of April I intend to explore how to nurture my understanding of reality. I find myself in dis-ease and most often I am aware that I am seeing things wrong. The pushing up against fiction confuses my thinking.

   Today I am unable to answer these questions but maybe as I invest time and thought, some answers will come. I recognize that I have a resource for finding truth. The Holy Ghost can assist me in this endeavor. 

For the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls.

Jacob 4:13

I am most interested in finding actions that will nurture my sense of reality. 

To go to the overview of My Year of Nurturing click here.