Cross and Yarn

Disappeared from my blog again. An awful lot going on that I won't write about. Stressful time.

But the week some call Holy Week is ahead, and I wanted to put something here to reflect on that.

I came across this photo from a few years ago, when a friend (Joyce, the one speaking) and I planned this evening for the women at church. I don't even remember exactly what we did, but we borrowed this cross from a friend's church, and we used yarn, and we had people move around in some kind of symbolic way that showed how the various generations were connected by the cross and that we were all interwoven with each other.

As I recall, it was a pretty powerful evening.

And these days I'm thinking often of how grateful I am for friends, sisters, from various generations and various paths of life. Some are my actual blood relatives, some are not. Some of them know each other, some do not, but they are all important in my life, and the cross of Christ is what connects us all.

Like strands of yarn, we are woven together, and they help hold me together.

And except for my blood relatives, all the women I'm thinking of would not even be in my life except that our shared faith in Christ and his cross--the suffering, death, burial, and resurrection that we will remember and celebrate in special ways this week--brought us together.

And I am thankful.

Eyes to See

I love it when I just happen into a room at the right time to catch something like this. And it lasts only a moment, which makes catching it that much more special.

....Okay, this is almost twilight zone-y. I wanted to say something profound about how we so often don't see beauty, or meaning, or just something special, because we aren't looking for it. Because we are in a hurry, or because we are so focused on other things.

Not feeling terribly inspired, I turned to Google, hoping to find some appropriate quote to help me out. I was thinking of Jesus' occasional comments about having ears to hear, and I knew he had spoken about seeing, as well. I entered "eyes to see," wondering what I might find.

The seventh entry (skipping images) that came up was from my own spiritual director's blog, and it was an entry that I had not "caught" back when he posted it. But it says so well what I was thinking about.

I share most of it here:

The tragedy is how often we fail to "see" what we see. Our eyes and hearts cannot penetrate the mystery. we are weary and distracted. Our senses dulled and our spirits diminished. There is a glorious reality which our sight does not penetrate. O for the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the heart to know and worship and obey. Reading Chapter 4 of the Revelation (literally, "the unveiling") was a reminder that we live in a world much richer than we can imagine. In praying and opening ourselves to God the heavenly worship going on all around us can be discerned.

We modern people live in an age of radio and tv. We know, even if we do not think about it, that programs are swirling all about us at every moment of each day. Right now the room in which you sit has songs which cannot be heard, games which cannot be watched, programs which cannot be enjoyed, because you are not tuned in. With a radio or tv you can suddenly enjoy these and more. Our faith and spirituality work the same way. we can hear the unheard angel choirs with faith, we can understand the voice of God by listening, we can know the truth, that God is in His heaven and all is (will be) right with the world.

Today I am more aware. As my son said in class, "Church is boring when we aren't paying attention." Wisdom! When we are attentive and giving ourselves, we might catch a peak into the glory that surrounds us. I pray that all of you had that sort of experience today in your place of worship. Now we begin a new week, a chance to pray, to study Scripture, to serve in His Name---a chance to prepare again for the Sunday gathering!

(And it even happens to be Sunday as I write.)

You can find the rest of it, and other great things to read, here