While others have been baking bread or planting gardens during this pandemic, I’ve been focused on Living from the Heart. For the past few months, our team of facilitators has been figuring out Zoom, revising lesson plans, and meeting frequently so we could finish the retreat-like courses online.
Though it was a lot of work, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. I continue to hold what the participants experienced and the transformations we witnessed with deep gratitude.
When the courses finished, life became more spacious–and more ordinary. All the less urgent things I pushed off my plate were waiting for me. My “To Do” list was long and uninspiring, but the weight of it propelled me to get on with it. So I began.
I love completing a job and crossing it off my list, but to my surprise, I noticed that I actually enjoyed what I was doing. I sensed God’s presence as I wrote letters, arranged chairs six feet apart in the church hall, and delivered the Burnaby Now.
I still had a habit of rushing through mundane moments to get to more exciting ones. But I was aware of it.
Sometimes our transformation is big and comes with a storyline and tears. Sometimes it’s so small it’s barely noticeable.
Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” –Matthew 13:31-32
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The violent events of the past week in the United States have shaken us all. I am grateful for Bishop Michael B. Curry‘s sermon given at Washington National Cathedral on Pentecost Sunday. May we be encouraged and inspired to be the change we want to see.
What love mischief are you and God doing for the world?
Let me know and I will include it in an upcoming post.
