tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257992952024-03-23T15:17:01.799-03:00Redemption Junkie"She couldn't go back and make the details pretty, she could only move forward and make the whole beautiful." - Terri St. CloudHeidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.comBlogger583125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-55869095147796680152015-10-24T13:55:00.002-03:002015-10-24T13:55:19.437-03:00Hiding<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 21.44px;">HIDING</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 21.44px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 21.44px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 21.44px;">is a way of staying alive. Hiding is a way of holding ourselves until we are ready to come into the light. Even hiding the truth from ourselves can be a way to come to what we need in our own necessary time. Hiding is one of the brilliant and virtuoso practices of almost every part of the natural world: the protective quiet of an icy northern landscape, the held bud of a future summer rose</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: 21.44px;">, the snow bound internal pulse of the hibernating bear.<br /><br />Hiding is underestimated. We are hidden by life in our mother’s womb until we grow and ready ourselves for our first appearance in the lighted world; to appear too early in that world is to find ourselves with the immediate necessity for outside intensive care.<br /><br />Hiding done properly is the internal faithful promise for a proper future emergence, as embryos, as children or even as emerging adults in retreat from the names that have caught us and imprisoned us, often in ways where we have been too easily seen and too easily named.<br /><br />We live in a time of the dissected soul, the immediate disclosure; our thoughts, imaginings and longings exposed to the light too much, too early and too often, our best qualities squeezed too soon into a world already awash with too easily articulated ideas that oppress our sense of self and our sense of others. What is real is almost always to begin with, hidden, and does not want to be understood by the part of our mind that mistakenly thinks it knows what is happening. What is precious inside us does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence.<br /><br />Hiding is an act of freedom from the misunderstanding of others, especially in the enclosing world of oppressive secret government and private entities, attempting to name us, to anticipate us, to leave us with no place to hide and grow in ways unmanaged by a creeping necessity for absolute naming, absolute tracking and absolute control. Hiding is a bid for independence, from others, from mistaken ideas we have about our selves, from an oppressive and mistaken wish to keep us completely safe, completely ministered to, and therefore completely managed.<br /><br />Hiding is creative, necessary and beautifully subversive of outside interference and control. Hiding leaves life to itself, to become more of itself. Hiding is the radical independence necessary for our emergence into the light of a proper human future.<br /><br />...<br /><br />Excerpted from ‘HIDING’ in CONSOLATIONS: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words.<br />2015 © David Whyte:<br />Now Available<br /><a href="http://davidwhyte.stores.yahoo.net/newbook.html" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>davidwhyte.stores.yahoo.net<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>/newbook.html</a><br /><br />Aphrodite Born from the Sea Foam<br />Ludovisi Throne: Palazzo Altemps<br />Rome: October 2015<br />Photo © David Whyte</span>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-56884682933171069212013-04-15T06:17:00.000-03:002013-04-15T06:17:56.482-03:00And you’ll do harm. <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, calluna-1, calluna-2, times, serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">“[Jesus] has a lot to say about self-righteousness, which he compares, not very tactfully, to a grave that looks neat and well cared for up top, but is heaving with ‘corruption’ down below. Maggots, basically. And the point of this repulsive image is not just that the inside and outside of a self-righteous person don’t match, that there’s a hypocritical contradiction between the claim to virtue and the actual content of a human personality: it’s also that, for him, being sure you’re righteous, standing on your own dignity as a virtuous person, comes precious close to being dead. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, calluna-1, calluna-2, times, serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, calluna-1, calluna-2, times, serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">If you won’t hear the bad news about yourself, you can’t know yourself. You condemn yourself to the maintenance of an exhausting illusion, a false front to your self which keeps out doubt and with it hope, change, nourishment, breath, life. If you won’t hear the bad news, you can’t begin to hear the good news about yourself either. And you’ll do harm. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, calluna-1, calluna-2, times, serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, calluna-1, calluna-2, times, serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">You’ll be pumped up with the false confidence of virtue, and you’ll think it gives you a license, and a large share of all the cruelties in the world will follow, for evil done knowingly is rather rare compared to the evil done by people who’re sure that they themselves are good, and that evil is hatefully concentrated in some other person; some other person who makes your flesh creep because they have become exactly as unbearable, as creepy, as disgusting, as you fear the mess would be beneath your own mask of virtue, if you ever dared to look at it,” - </span><a href="http://www.mbird.com/2013/04/the-radicaly-optimistic-pessimism-of-jesus-and-the-merciful-impasse/" style="background-color: white; color: #2a5db0; font-family: Georgia, calluna-1, calluna-2, times, serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Francis Spufford</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, calluna-1, calluna-2, times, serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">, from his recent book,</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, calluna-1, calluna-2, times, serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; word-wrap: break-word;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0571225225/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0571225225&linkCode=as2&tag=thdi09-20" style="color: #2a5db0; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Unapologetic</a>.</em>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-24741425878291107122013-04-14T07:43:00.001-03:002013-04-14T07:43:49.069-03:00The biblical God is a starter kit<br />
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<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/religion/2013/03/god-dead-long-live-our-souls#KarenArmstrong" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The biblical God is a starter kit</a></h2>
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Karen Armstrong</em></div>
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Most of us are introduced to God at about the same time as we hear about Santa Claus, but over the years our views of Santa mature and change, while our notion of God often gets stuck at an infantile level.</div>
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As a result, “God” becomes incredible. Despite our scientific and technological brilliance, our religious thinking in the west is often remarkably undeveloped, even primitive, and would make Maimonides and Aquinas turn in their graves. They both insisted that God was not another being and that you could not even say that He (ridiculous pronoun!) existed, because our experience of existence is too limited. God, said Aquinas, is Being itself (<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">esse se ipsum</em>).</div>
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The biblical God is a “starter kit”; if we have the inclination and ability, we are meant to move on. Throughout history, however, many people have been content with a personalized deity, yet not because they “believed” in it but because they learned to behave – ritually and ethically – in a way that made it a reality. Religion is a form of practical knowledge, like driving or dancing. You cannot learn to drive by reading the car manual or the Highway Code; you have to get into the vehicle and learn to manipulate the brakes. The rules of a board game sound obscure and dull until you start to play, and then everything falls into place. There are some things that can be learned only by constant, dedicated practice. You may learn to jump higher and with more grace than seems humanly possible or to dance with unearthly beauty. Some of these activities bring indescribable joy –what the Greeks called <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ekstasis</em>, a “stepping outside” the norm.</div>
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Religion, too, is a practical discipline in which we learn new capacities of mind and heart. Like premodern philosophy, it was not the quest for an abstract truth but a practical way of life. Usually religion is about doing things and it is hard work. Classical yoga was not an aerobic exercise but a full-time job, in which a practitioner learned to transcend the ego that impeded the <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ekstasis</em> of enlightenment. The five “pillars” or essential practices of Islam are all activities: prayer, pilgrimage, almsgiving, fasting and a continual giving of “witness” (<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">shahada</em>) in everything you do that God (not the “gods” of ambition and selfishness) is your chief priority.</div>
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The same was once true of Christianity. The Trinity was not a “mystery” because it was irrational mumbo-jumbo. It was an “initiation” (<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">musterion</em>), which introduced Greek-speaking early Christians to a new way of thinking about the divine, a meditative exercise in which the mind swung in a disciplined way from what you thought you knew about God to the ineffable reality. If performed correctly it led to <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ekstasis</em>. As Gregory of Nazianzus (329-90) explained to his Christian initiates: “My eyes are filled and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me.” Trinity was, therefore, an activity rather than a metaphysical truth in which one credulously “believed”. It is probably because most western Christians have not been instructed in this exercise that the Trinity remains pointless, incomprehensible, and even absurd.</div>
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If you don’t do religion, you don’t get it. In the modern period, however, we have turned faith into a head-trip. Originally, the English word “belief”, like the Greek pistis and the Latin <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">credo</em>, meant “commitment”. When Jesus asked his followers to have “faith”, he was not asking them to accept him blindly as the Second Person of the Trinity (an idea he would have found puzzling). Instead, he was asking his disciples to give all they had to the poor, live rough and work selflessly for the coming of a kingdom in which rich and poor would sit together at the same table.</div>
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“<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Credo ut intellegam</em> – I commit myself in order that I may understand,” said Saint Anselm (1033-1109). In the late 17th century, the English word “belief” changed its meaning and became the intellectual acceptance of a somewhat dubious proposition. Religious people now think that they have to “believe” a set of incomprehensible doctrines before embarking on a religious way of life. This makes no sense. On the contrary, faith demands a disciplined and practical transcendence of egotism, a “stepping outside” the self which brings intimations of transcendent meaning that makes sense of our flawed and tragic world.</div>
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Karen Armstrong is the author of “The Case for God: What Religion Really Means” (Vintage, £9.99</em></div>
Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-58904556132927567922012-08-28T08:41:00.003-03:002012-08-28T08:41:49.335-03:00Kickstarter for a blogger friend<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/614675953/keeping-the-feast-the-book-tour/widget/video.html" width="480"> </iframe><br />
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Our friend <a href="http://www.donteatalone.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Milton</a> has gotten published and is raising funds to promote his book - which is much more than a book - it is an experience - will you consider supporting him?<br />
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/614675953/keeping-the-feast-the-book-tour" target="_blank">Keeping The Feast Book Tour Kickstarter Project</a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-59275898239375932312012-06-14T12:51:00.001-03:002012-06-14T12:52:48.720-03:00Living with both armsIt costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have the enlightenment or the courage to pay the price.... One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to embrace the world like a lover. One has to accept pain as a condition of existence.
One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying.<br />
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Morris West, The Shoes of the Fisherman<br />
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Via <a href="http://www.inwardoutward.org/2006/11/13/be-full-human-beieng" target="_blank">Inward/Outward </a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-15051378285479390002012-05-03T07:58:00.001-03:002012-05-03T07:58:25.514-03:00God's math"God doesn't go by the kind of arithmetic that you and I go by. God has never learned to deal in fractions. God didn't get that far in school. I think he's like my father who had ten children, and many a time I thought, "Well, my goodness, with a family this big, Daddy can't love me very much. I can only claim one tenth of his love." But my father loved me with all of his love. It's just that way with
love. There is no fraction in it. You can't break it up into pieces. And God wants the whole human race. He just can't deal in fractions.<br />
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And so Jesus is saying to these people who were griping and mumbling and grumbling about the fact that he was taking in all kinds of people, bums and drunks and the poor folks and everybody, he was saying, "Well, I just can't help it. God just has a sentimental attachment for his people. And, whether you like it or not, God loves 'em, and it does seem to me that if they're precious in God's sight, they ought to be precious in yours, too."<br />
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Clarence Jordan, <i>Cotton Patch Parables of Liberation</i>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-68624798265265061562012-03-16T15:02:00.001-03:002012-03-16T15:02:10.787-03:00Brene Brown - Vulnerability and Shame @ TED"Empathy is the antidote to shame. If you put shame in a petri dish it needs three things to grow exponentially, secrecy,silence and judgement. If you put the same amount of shame in a petri dish and dose it with empathy it cannot survive. The two most powerful words when we are in struggle is "me too."<br /><object height="374" width="526"><br><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf">
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<br><br><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="526" height="374" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2012/Blank/BreneBrown_2012-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/BreneBrown_2012-embed.jpg&vw=512&vh=288&ap=0&ti=1391&lang=&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=brene_brown_listening_to_shame;year=2012;theme=master_storytellers;event=TED2012;tag=brain;tag=culture;tag=psychology;tag=self;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"></embed><br></object>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-66026578471696805562012-02-22T16:09:00.000-04:002012-02-22T16:09:02.567-04:00Everything changesThe process of conversion begins with genuine openness to change--to be open to the possibility that just as natural
life evolves, so our spiritual life is evolving.... Each time you consent to an enhancement of faith, your world changes and all your
relationship have to be adjusted to the new perspective and the new light that has been given you. Our relationship to ourselves, to Christ, to our neighbor, to the Church--to God--all change. It is the end of the world we have previously known and lived in.<br />
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Source: <b>Thomas Keating</b> <i>Contemplative Outreach News (Winter 1988)</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.inwardoutward.org/2012/02/22/end-world" target="_blank"><i>via: inward/outward </i></a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-38842099105067003582012-02-16T13:10:00.002-04:002012-02-16T13:10:47.942-04:00Lie back and the sea will hold you<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQouyrYsglIN0MR_DUcWd5hpMRTJbsFUi-4zOMG109P9y8z6y_dOHqWaexXE66r-p4oMSisMaeC3Fiv1rTHGnNPYzmMheAa9Q9bPzVaAm9-jHADIpffmfZ12Tpr93XvFmjhMpNww/s1600/Old+Computer+24845.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQouyrYsglIN0MR_DUcWd5hpMRTJbsFUi-4zOMG109P9y8z6y_dOHqWaexXE66r-p4oMSisMaeC3Fiv1rTHGnNPYzmMheAa9Q9bPzVaAm9-jHADIpffmfZ12Tpr93XvFmjhMpNww/s320/Old+Computer+24845.JPG" width="320" /></a>Lie back, daughter, let your head be tipped back in the cup of my hand. Gently, and I will hold you.<br />
Spread your arms wide, lie out on the stream, and look up, laugh at the gulls. A dead man's float is face down. You will dive and swim soon enough where this tidewater ebbs to the sea.<br />
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Daughter, believe that when you tire on the long thrash to the island, lie up, and survive.<br />
As you float now, where I held you and let go,<br />
Remember when fear cramps your heart what I told you: Lie gently and wide to the light-year stars,<br />
Lie back and the sea will hold you. ~<b>Phillip Booth</b>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-53918661246874545562012-02-15T11:21:00.000-04:002012-02-15T11:21:41.162-04:00It talks to me in tiptoes<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bnsCaSfEXe0" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<b>"All This And Heaven Too"</b><br />
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And the heart is hard to translate<br />
It has a language of its own<br />
It talks and turns and courts sighs and present proclamations<br />
In the grand days of great men and the smallest of gestures<br />
And short shallow gasps <br />
<br />
But with all my education I can’t seem to command it<br />
And the words are all skipping and coming back all damaged<br />
And I will put them back in poetry if I only knew how<br />
I can’t seem to understand it<br />
<br />
And I would give all this and heaven too<br />
I would give it all if only for a moment <br />
That I could just understand the meaning of the word you see<br />
‘Cause I’ve been scrawling it forever but it never makes sense to me at all<br />
<br />
And it talks to me in tiptoes<br />
And sings to me inside<br />
It cries out in the darkest night and breaks in morning light<br />
<br />
But with all my education I can’t seem to command it<br />
And the words are all skipping and coming back all damaged<br />
And I will put them back in poetry if I only knew how<br />
I can’t seem to understand it<br />
<br />
And I would give all this and heaven too<br />
I would give it all if only for a moment <br />
That I could just understand the meaning of the word you see<br />
‘Cause I’ve been scrawling it forever but it never makes sense to me at all<br />
<br />
And I would give all this and heaven too<br />
I would give it all if only for a moment <br />
That I could just understand the meaning of the word you see<br />
‘Cause I’ve been scrawling it forever but it never makes sense to me at all<br />
<br />
No, words are a language that doesn’t deserve such treatment <br />
That all of my stumbling phrases never amounted to anything worth this feeling<br />
<br />
All this heaven never could describe such a feeling as I’m here<br />
<br />
Words were never so useful ‘til I was screaming out a language that I never knew existed beforeHeidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-25309725589893378412012-02-03T10:09:00.001-04:002012-02-03T10:09:16.905-04:00Still driven to try<div color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="16px" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin: 1em 0; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3o6JWVh9SFg/TssuaQgQFNI/AAAAAAAAAws/UiiNPdvJW-E/s1600/IMG_4469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3o6JWVh9SFg/TssuaQgQFNI/AAAAAAAAAws/UiiNPdvJW-E/s320/IMG_4469.JPG" width="320" /></a>"In
order to arrive at the second half of life, one has to realize there
is an incurable wound at the heart of everything. Much of the conflict
from the age of twenty-five to sixty-five is just trying to figure this
out and then to truly accept it. A Swiss theologian, Hans Urs Von
Balthasar (1905-1988), said toward the end of his life: “All great
thought springs from a conflict between two eventual insights: 1) The
wound which we find at the heart of everything is finally incurable. 2)
Yet we are necessarily and still driven to try.” (Think about that for
an hour or so!) </div>
<div color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="16px" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin: 1em 0; text-align: left;">
Our
largely unsuccessful efforts of the first half of life are themselves
the training ground for all virtue and growth in holiness. This “wound
at the heart of life” shows itself in many ways, but <i>your holding
and “suffering” of this tragic wound, your persistent but failed
attempts to heal it, your final surrender to it, will ironically make
you into a wise and holy person</i>. It will make you patient, loving,
hopeful, expansive, faithful, and compassionate—which is precisely the
second half of life wisdom."</div>
<div color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="14px" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 2em; text-align: right;">
Adapted from <i> <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=isz87kdab&et=1109182323884&s=35855&e=001DGMQvX2tYBQ9aY5xr9penDRVGwo9MEFUXDXy8dZtcAXS84ZQi_W_5LwruDOxGhUQVuRzinJGVVl33FGZPuFF92lVa9YzX3jqzEdgM94DufMTue94HIW0pqJRXWsNmYlEUHapE1IPqvXc9unF-D9mfhRNGIs7HDm0djnD3ZAeqCpaiBKwZSY6B_TLrhPkLUwP0ZEqYsA1nu2Mg-bolDEx51LMGZrUuwym_0GWO6RL8OGMB1yDTk2ZrCCrzsLHzjbNrwRON1luDDI=" target="_blank">Loving the Two Halves of Life: The Further Journey</a></i> <br />
(<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=isz87kdab&et=1109182323884&s=35855&e=001DGMQvX2tYBQ9aY5xr9penDRVGwo9MEFUXDXy8dZtcAXS84ZQi_W_5LwruDOxGhUQVuRzinJGVVl33FGZPuFF92lVa9YzX3jqzEdgM94DufMTue94HIW0pqJRXWsNmYlEUHapE1IPqvXc9unF-D9mfhRNGIs7HDm0djnD3ZAeqCpaiBKwZSY6B_TLrhPkLUwP0ZEqYsA1nu2Mg-bolDEx51LMGZrUuwym_0GWO6RL8OGMB1yDTk2ZrCCrzsLHzjbNrwRON1luDDI=" target="_blank">CD</a>/<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=isz87kdab&et=1109182323884&s=35855&e=001DGMQvX2tYBTSxbn9SjwiVenKz6nhJoSYya4XXZ9N7ZNlWnbkY-90LMf-cGe6Pjkp-Ys3aZOGoRfeo9ets-uEuPPy-kBDmHw-vy2m2X6-C4EoYu_w09LqIr4joYwzcI52Ofhw9nYqRMJkQxRshxboFNYq6rlX1CV20q8RoIYPydFbHD9wxoKUmzfyfb_uoNt1CWkz4yOU-XIjw2WY6d4md9_r41Oyspynd1i95d82lCdYcsMIi3NGs4yy135ybk5xVbR7Neiyri0=" target="_blank">DVD</a>/<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=isz87kdab&et=1109182323884&s=35855&e=001DGMQvX2tYBT1Z4O-mf-Z2KQ-dsor9gOQilobpZFiyYnkTGxsv_ivQLBkuKdigNtNlD3nG2P9D9syIOdZFOwREL5F4CJJh-x1J0YaoVFbD2rG3zsTUspT8OSwJlvYK-jIPuXbFJZQuE_PyTgL20sy9i8cRMM6_JGz4u5fBUyvuUy7d3f0LUdcbP_LeQshWMg1lnOSzvzupp8icXW0bvR5AbHe2YPzk7XI7nGLV-WFEN8c-uiWTGbiE_OT5qxe-idnl_SmcFOKjKA=" target="_blank">MP3</a>).
See also Fr. Richard’s latest book,<br />
<i>
<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=isz87kdab&et=1109182323884&s=35855&e=001DGMQvX2tYBQM0S2DCeAkmVnF0X4pKTgm-km-cutftWrwqkzo_H5GIcnPwMO5MqrYzGOS0Wv3EHK0BqMEtU2lE6juRNACFDq1AUUhlCuK6a95rcnlPFPEvQ==" target="_blank">Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life</a>
</i></div>
<div face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 2em; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal;">Starter Prayer:</span><br />
<b color="#7F3931" size="16px" style="color: #7f3931; font-size: 16px;"><span style="color: #333333;">Help me grow up by going down.</span></b></div>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-87576975117880982872012-01-26T07:56:00.001-04:002012-01-26T07:57:55.540-04:00How does a seed give thanks?<a href="http://weed-science-classes.wikispaces.com/file/view/seed-sprouting.jpg/201659746/seed-sprouting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://weed-science-classes.wikispaces.com/file/view/seed-sprouting.jpg/201659746/seed-sprouting.jpg" width="171" /></a>To give thanks is to recognize what has come to
you.... How does the seed give thanks? It flowers. You take what you
have, who you are, and you respond to the gift of that beingness with a
course of action that aligns with it. You do what is in your nature.<br />
<br />
<br />
Source: <b>Patrice Vecchione, </b><i>Writing and the Spiritual Life</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.inwardoutward.org/2012/01/26/respond-gift" target="_blank">Add your thoughts at inward/outward</a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-23393928511914737872012-01-25T12:20:00.005-04:002012-01-25T12:20:58.552-04:00Purity"I did a study recently of how Jesus understood the ideas of purity or
cleanliness. He never applies it to the body or the physical world, but
only to motivations (Matthew 23:26) and to the heart (Matthew 5:8). In
fact, he declares “all foods clean” (Matthew 7:19) in strong
disagreement with his own Jewish tradition. Purity seems to be
singleness of heart for Jesus, when I am not split, when I am “all
here”. Impurity is mixed motivation, denial of parts of the picture,
and self delusion. How different from most religion which has been
preoccupied with purity codes, based in physical touching, eating wrong
foods, seeing bad things, sexuality, and avoiding of “UnChristian”
people and places. Again, Christian tradition has not followed its own
teacher, and he was indeed a master teacher here." - <a href="http://richardrohr.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/purity/" target="_blank">Richard Rohr - Unpacking Paradoxes - Purity</a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-5385512449487188722011-12-20T08:04:00.000-04:002011-12-20T09:20:16.625-04:00i am of apolloI have grown weary and worn and discouraged and even hurt by the dividing that happens in this "kingdom of God". Wheat or tares, sheep or goats... Driscoll or Bell... in or out... weren't we told by Jesus that was a job for the angels???<br />
<br />
I am far from the place I began my journey sitting with my head covered, silent in that little Bible Chapel on Walworth Street in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.<br />
<br />
I have felt the sorting. The dividing, the parsing into clubs that so many need to feel safe. I have been made to feel many times that I have stepped off that straight and narrow path I was raised on... how tragic it is that for me personally this path I tread now has lead me deeper and farther into my own heart and the heart of God than I have ever had before.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.jesustheradicalpastor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/broken-bread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://www.jesustheradicalpastor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/broken-bread.jpg" width="320" /></a>I found at a time, when everything tasted like dust, words and thoughts that very few in the kingdom would dare to utter. They were life to me. A clarion call through the fog that my spiritual life had become. Creativity and soul and poetry and art were supposed to be a part of this journey, not a trivial waste of time or effort?!?! I found those words in the mouth of a boy named Rob Bell... he was a punk kid at a conference I attended, in a little room at a big hotel, late at night while rock concerts were going on in the big room. He had made a movie, it was like 6 minutes long... and nobody knew who he was. He was humble, quirky and deep. I liked him instantly. There were only about two dozen of us in the room. He talked about his idea to tell the truth, but tell it slant (not his words, but mine...errr. well Emily's) And I have followed him since.<br />
<br />
I never really had a pastor before that time, mostly they were my husbands bosses, or back in the old days pastors were not "biblical"... so Rob Bell became a pastor to me, far away, words listened to through my computer, films watched on dvd... words read on pages of quirky weird postmodern books, but they fed a part of my soul that had been starved since I was a child. Life became much more full, I became much less morose and God incarnated within me and gave birth to a soul that I never dreamed could be possible.<br />
<br />
Is this the path everyone should be walking? I don't think so, but for me I honestly can say it changed everything. It may have even saved my life. I have felt great shame for my emerging soul. I have kept much of my writing and passion to myself because of that severe judgement and wrath sent upon the heads of those who stuck their necks out. I have lost friends, family and relationships because of my journey.<br />
<br />
My word for 2012 is BRAVE. As a part of embracing that word I have decided that I'm going to let the chips fall where they may. I'm tired of feeling ashamed for something that brings me great joy and life - and I'm done hiding my self, silencing my voice and folding myself into tiny little pieces to keep others mollified. I will not argue. I will not debate. But I will not be silent any more. More light than heat is what I long for. I'm weary of that age old division, that snide looking down the nose of those who hold their faith in exclusive clubs. I don't belong, I never have, but I have found a place where I have community, and deep conversation and inspiration and real life. I am of Paul... I am of Apollo... I am finished. I am beginning.<br />
<br />
This morning I was pushed by the words I read, again, by Rob Bell in his farewell to his church, many of them have had to sit with the same judgement and disdain that I have felt - his response and encouragement to them took my breath away. <br />
<br />
"i write this to you because of how many of you have been<br />
challenged about your participation in the life of this<br />
church, often with the accusation: but what do they believe<br />
over there at mars hill?<br />
as if belief, getting the words right, is the highest form of<br />
faith. Jesus came to give us life. a living, breathing, throbbing,<br />
pulsating blow your hair back tingle your spine roll the<br />
windows down and drive fast experience of God right<br />
here, right now.<br />
word taking on flesh and blood.<br />
and so you've found yourself defending and explaining<br />
and trying to find the words for your experience that is<br />
fundamentally about a reality that is beyond and more than<br />
words.<br />
so when you find yourselves tied up in knots, having<br />
long discussions about who believes what, a bit like<br />
dogs doing that sniff circle when they meet on the sidewalk,<br />
do this:<br />
take out a cup<br />
and some bread<br />
and put it in the middle of the table,<br />
and say a prayer and examine yourselves<br />
and then make sure everybody's rent is paid and there's<br />
food in their fridge and clothes on their backs<br />
and then invite everybody to say<br />
'yes' to the resurrected Christ with whatever 'yes' they<br />
can muster in the moment and then you take that bread<br />
and you dip it in that cup in the ancient/future hope and<br />
trust that there is a new creation bursting forth right here<br />
right now and<br />
then together taste that new life and liberation and<br />
forgiveness and as you look those people in the eyes gathered around that table from all walks of life and you see the new<br />
humanity, sinners saved by grace, beggars who have<br />
found bread showing the others beggars where they found it<br />
remind yourselves that<br />
this<br />
is<br />
what<br />
you<br />
believe.<br />
remember, the movement is word to flesh.<br />
beware of those who will take the flesh and want to turn it<br />
back into words"<br />
<br />
Beware of those who will take the flesh and want to turn it back into words... <br />
<br />
I welcome you to break bread with me - to find the common in and amongst
our uncommon ways. I bless you on your path, and know that mine is
mine alone - and I walk with those limping, misfit, rag tag bunch of
ragamuffins I adore.<br />
<br />
You can find the complete farewell here: <a href="http://sojo.net/blogs/2011/12/19/rob-bells-parting-epistle-mars-hill-grace-peace" target="_blank">Rob Bell's Parting Epistle to Mars Hill: Grace + Peace</a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-32701664223215379452011-12-08T09:31:00.001-04:002011-12-08T10:20:56.146-04:00Fair Trade Christmas Gift Links<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://krochetkids.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Oroma-Catharine_Label-212x158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://krochetkids.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Oroma-Catharine_Label-212x158.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A friend posted a plea for help in finding fair trade Christmas gifts as their family gift exchange requirement was that all gifts be fair trade. It's a great idea and I offered to help with the links that I have culled over the years - and instead of posting 15 different facebook updates I thought I'd put them all here so that she and anyone else looking can have this reference. I will be happy to update the list if you leave me links in the comments with your favorite products and sites. These are in no particular order and I am not affiliated or associate or benefiting from any of these links:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.saintscoffee.com/" target="_blank">Saints Coffee</a> - fair trade coffee - support Orphan work done by Tom Davis and <a href="http://hopechest.org/">hopechest.org</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.beadforlife.org/" target="_blank">Bead for Life</a> - jewelery and beads to diy your own jewelery made in Uganda</li>
<li><a href="http://www.solerebelsfootwear.co/" target="_blank">Sole Rebels Footwear</a> - shoes, slippers and boots - all hand made, sustainable and fair trade, made in Ethiopia </li>
<li><a href="http://www.krochetkids.org/" target="_blank">Krochet Kids International</a> - hats, hoodies - one of my favorites - college boys make good - must just go and look around the site</li>
<li><a href="http://www.equalexchange.coop/" target="_blank">Equal Exchange</a> - fair trade coffee, tea, chocolate, nuts</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pantstopoverty.com/" target="_blank">Pants to Poverty</a> - undies for men, women & kids (British term PANTS means bad or rubbish and underwear -so the pun is intended) </li>
<li><a href="http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=homepage" target="_blank">10,000 Villages</a> - Stores, online and traveling markets - tons of beautiful products from all over the world - a store in Columbiana, Ohio in Das Dutch Haus mall (friend lives close by)</li>
<li><a href="http://tradeasone.com/" target="_blank">Trade as One</a> - like 10,000 Villages -nice Christmas items</li>
<li><a href="http://31bits.com/" target="_blank">31bits</a> - Fair Trade Jewelery - really beautiful pieces</li>
<li><a href="http://www.atradeforatrade.com/" target="_blank">A Trade for Trade</a> - fabric, stamps (for Mom Laryssa!) and recycled Sari linens - so beautiful</li>
<li><a href="http://www.greenheartshop.org/" target="_blank">Green Heart Shop</a> - lots of products - toys are cute</li>
<li><a href="http://www.littlefootprintstoys.com/store/LookupCategory/5FC259" target="_blank">Little Footprints Toys</a> - sweet toys</li>
<li><a href="http://www.onemangotree.com/" target="_blank">One Mango Tree</a> - clothing, accessories, jewelery </li>
<li><a href="http://www.naturalcandystore.com/" target="_blank">Natural Candy Store</a> - some fair trade candy and lots of more organic non-additive candies</li>
<li><a href="http://modernhomesteading.ca/blog/best-green-gifts-for-the-eco-conscious-on-your-list" target="_blank">Modern Homesteader Green Gift List</a> - list of some fair trade, but lots of sustainable, green items and products</li>
</ul>
These are not necessarily "fair trade gifts" - but support great work on the ground in locations where these NGO's are located:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.compassion.com/catalog.htm" target="_blank">Gifts of Compassion</a> - Compassion International</li>
<li><a href="https://catalogue.worldvision.ca/Gifts/Forms/Home.aspx?mc=4267225&lang=en" target="_blank">World Vision Christmas</a> - World Vision</li>
<li><a href="http://www.oxfamunwrapped.ca/?utm_source=oxfam.org&utm_medium=Banner&utm_campaign=Unwrapped" target="_blank">Oxfam Unwrapped</a> - Oxfam International</li>
</ul>
Hope that helps - by no means exhaustive - but will give you a good start :) (again, will gladly add any links to other fair trade items left in the comments)<br />
<br />
<ul>
</ul>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-4182063428611606492011-09-14T06:17:00.000-03:002011-09-14T06:19:33.261-03:00WonderstruckI love Brian Selznick's original book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Invention-Hugo-Cabret-Brian-Selznick/dp/0439813786/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315991726&sr=8-1">The Invention of Hugo Cabret</a>
so much and cannot wait for the movie this Christmas - his second work
Wonderstruck just released yesterday and I am excited to get my little
hands on it. Selznick not only authors the works, but uses the most
detailed pencil sketches.<br />
<br />
This book weaves two stories,
one told in text, one told in illustrations together until they become
one. I cannot wait to read it. Here is the beautiful teaser Scholastic
put together for his new work. Enjoy!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9K2YaVxeTiM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Don't miss the great article in Brain Pickings - <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/09/13/wonderstruck-brian-selznick/">Wonderstruck: Remarkable New Work from Brian Selznick</a>
Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-47989382193325692492011-09-05T07:15:00.003-03:002011-09-05T07:19:28.337-03:00September resolutionsIt seems to me that January resolutions are about will; September resolutions are about authentic wants.... The beauty of autumnal resolutions is that no one else knows we're making them. Autumnal resolutions don't require horns, confetti and champagne. September resolutions ask only that we open to positive change.<br />
<br />
Source: Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance via<a href="http://herondance.org/"> herondance.org</a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-42915984060514900432011-08-13T10:57:00.001-03:002011-08-13T10:58:12.247-03:00Real<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/horse.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/horse.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real."<br />
<br />
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.<br />
<br />
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real, you don't mind being hurt."<br />
<br />
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"<br />
<br />
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. <i>That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.</i> Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."<br />
<br />
Source: <span id="goog_2106774106"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">The Velveteen Rabbit<span id="goog_2106774107"></span></a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-11428835398717037322011-08-10T15:13:00.001-03:002011-08-10T15:13:43.334-03:00The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris LessmoreA small gift of a film landed in my lap today. I found myself feeling melancholy about the loss of my fall position as librarian and caretaker of the stories at the elementary school I have been working at for the past couple of years. Most of the time I don't dwell on it, but with the dreary rain today and the smell of fall in the air already my heart began to break again for the loss of those small wee faces upturned to hear me read to them my favorite stories and to help them find their own.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://morrislessmore.com/images/splash/splash01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://morrislessmore.com/images/splash/splash01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I can't even re-create the steps that brought me to <a href="http://morrislessmore.com/">Moonbot Studios website for morrislessmore.com </a>but I was instantly enchanted. I poked through the site, watched all of the vimeos available and was hooked enough to lay down real money to download the short award winning film. It is stunning and heartfelt. Have not been so moved by film since the first 30 minutes of Pixar's Up.<br />
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It begins in New Orleans and tells the story of the hurricane stealing everyones stories. Miraculously no words are spoken but hope is restored for this community as Morris finds his own story again. Watch for the little red head at the end of the film... she too was a keeper of stories, even for a short time.<br />
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Please make sure to click through this link to watch a tiny preview - it won't let me embed it here - you won't regret it, promise.<br />
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<a href="http://morrislessmore.com/?p=film">The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore </a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-71197585436035106742011-07-18T13:47:00.000-03:002011-07-18T13:47:38.347-03:00Humpback whale says thank you to the people who saved herThis is so moving - an incredible metaphor for freedom - the joy with which she explodes from the water afterward is magical.<br />
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<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EBYPlcSD490" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-42336281182567477962011-07-13T15:34:00.000-03:002011-07-13T15:34:27.329-03:00Don't turn your back on the possibilityTo embrace one's brokenness, whatever it looks like, whatever has caused it, carries within it the possibility that one might come to embrace one's healing, and then one might come to the next step: to embrace another and their brokenness and their possibility for being healed. To avoid one's brokenness is to turn one's back on the possibility that the Healer might be at work here, perhaps for you, perhaps for another.<br />
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Source: Robert Benson, Living Prayer<br />
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<a href="http://www.inwardoutward.org/2011/07/13/embracing-brokenness">inward/outward</a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-36878390166729643062011-07-04T11:35:00.001-03:002011-07-04T11:36:13.048-03:00Soul Gardens<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://scvine1.com/images/stories/monet1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="100" width="100" src="http://scvine1.com/images/stories/monet1.jpg" /></a></div>Here's the link to the talk I gave last week at church - I was really happy with the way it all came together:<br />
<a href="http://scvine1.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=578:2011-07-01-13-45-21&catid=1:audio-teachings&Itemid=6"><br />
Soul Gardens</a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-91682922631226861542011-07-01T08:55:00.000-03:002011-07-01T08:55:42.499-03:00The spaces in betweenWhat makes a fire burn<br />
is space between the logs,<br />
a breathing space.<br />
Too much of a good thing,<br />
too many logs<br />
packed in too tight<br />
can douse the flames<br />
almost as surely<br />
as a pail of water would.<br />
<br />
So building fires<br />
requires attention <br />
to the spaces in between,<br />
as much as to the wood.<br />
<br />
When we are able to build<br />
open spaces<br />
in the same way<br />
we have learned<br />
to pile on the logs,<br />
then we can come to see how<br />
it is fuel, and absence of the fuel<br />
together, that make fire possible.<br />
<br />
We only need to lay a log<br />
lightly from time to time.<br />
A fire<br />
grows<br />
simply because the space is there,<br />
with openings<br />
in which the flame<br />
that knows just how it wants to burn<br />
can find its way.<br />
<br />
<b>Judy Brown</b> <br />
Source: <i>Teaching With Fire</i><br />
<a href="http://www.inwardoutward.org/2011/07/01/fire" target="_blank">Add your thoughts at inward/outward</a>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-55449312428606001042011-05-25T09:47:00.001-03:002011-05-25T15:19:55.621-03:00Don't even know where to startI have been such a negligent blogger as of late - mostly just putting quotes in place so that I can reference them at a future time... on the bright side my life outside of the internet is lovely. We played host to University students as they prepared for their Europe term, they are traveling now and our home is much quieter and we miss them dearly.<br />
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On the sculpture front we realized in April that the idealism of fall - doing a major outdoor project before May - was naive at best. We informed the head of the competition that we would still be very interested in participating, but we would be unable to make the end of May deadline as the weather has just not been our friend this year. I guess growing up in Southern Wisconsin & Ontario gave us a false sense of what spring could be - and this spring here in New Brunswick has been non-existent. So glad we made that call, and that we have been invited to participate in next years competition - so we will be using the summer months (if we ever really get a summer) to create the sculpture and enter in next years competition. Good news all around.<br />
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I am heading to a 3 day silent retreat tomorrow and really looking forward to it. It is sponsored by my spiritual director and while I am a bit anxious the idea of silence and solitude, harvesting my journals and being creative without words will be special, maybe even sacred.<br />
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We are making good progress on our yard and hope to have the stone patio in place in a few weeks and then we can begin to focus on making the outdoor brick oven we hope to have in place by the end of summer. So hard to accomplish any of this with all of the yucky weather we've had, but when you look at the flooding, tornadoes and wild fires others are dealing with I guess grey, rainy days should be the least of our worries.<br />
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Hope this finds you all well, miss the heydays of blogging we used to have. But I guess that season helped us all get to where we are now. Doing a lot of writing off line now... maybe one day I'll be back to a regular blog, until then I guess it will just be random updates and interactions. Take care!Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25799295.post-61486878424420190002011-05-15T09:45:00.002-03:002011-05-15T09:58:01.576-03:00Note to self<span class="quote">…gradually you come under the right influences, picking and choosing, and being selective, and then maybe your voice is the combination of 6 or 8 other voices that you have managed to blend in such a way that nobody can recognize your sources. You can learn intimacy from Whitman, you can learn the dash from Emily Dickinson…you can pick a little bit from every writer and you combine them. This allows you to be authentic. That’s one of the paradoxes of the writing life: that the way to originality is through imitation.</span><br />
<span class="quote"> </span> <br />
<div class="source">— Billy Collins, at the <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/05/11/poetry-student-workshop-white-house" target="_blank">White House’s Poetry Workshop</a><br />
</div><div class="source"></div><div class="source">Watch the broadcast Heidi!!! </div><div class="source"><br />
</div><div class="source"><a href="http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/5429100195/gradually-you-come-under-the-right-influences">again from Austin in Austin</a></div>Heidi Reneehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01769414906479026143noreply@blogger.com1