ordinary, day 6

Come to Stillness:
Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 98

Scripture for the Day: Genesis 28:10-22

Reading for Reflection:

You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.

Something you have seen a thousand times you

suddenly see as if for the first time. (Telling the Truth

by Frederick Buechner)

Our mundane experiences contain all the stuff of holiness and if human growth in grace.  Our world is rife with messages and signatures of the Spirit.  Our encounters with one another are potential sites of awakening and energizing that characterize the Spirit.  But so much goes unnoticed.  We fail to recognize the light that shines through all the chinks and the dusty panes of our daily lives.  We are too busy to name the event that is blessed in its ordinariness, holy in its uniqueness, and grace-filled in its underlying challenge. (Every Bush Is Burning by Joan Puls)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Take My Life and Let It Be

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love;
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee,
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee,
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold;
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as Thou shalt choose,
Every power as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart; it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.

Closing Prayer:

Our Father, help us to see you today in all that we come into contact with, knowing that you use ordinary things to give us an extraordinary sense of your presence in our lives. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)