Sally Weaver Glick
  • Home
  • Spiritual Guidance
    • What is spiritual guidance?
    • When should I seek it?
    • Individual or group?
  • Groups
    • Inklings
    • 2020 - 2021 Schedule
  • Individuals
    • Spiritual guidance for individuals >
      • Locally
      • At a distance
  • Sparks of Light blog
  • Martha Mary Mosaic
  • Writing
    • In Tune with God: the art of congregational discernment
    • Resources
  • About me
  • Contact

Sparks of Light

Tulip Poplar Praise

5/15/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Our neighbor's tree is in bloom and fits well with these lines I read Sunday in a psalm by Thomas Merton:
    Today, Father, this blue sky lauds you.
    The delicate green and orange flowers of the tulip poplar
        tree praise you.
    The distant blue hills praise you, together with the sweet-smelling         air that is full of brilliant light.
                            p. 47, in Book of Hours
Picture
Unfortunately the blue hills are indeed distant, as are some of the other praising images Merton offers.

And in the past few weeks, I've heard from three friends that their parents recently learned they have cancer. Another friend is in the throes of chemotherapy and side effects, after surgery for breast cancer. Pastor Heidi is in the midst of her own struggles with the side effects of treatments. And the young teenage son of a cousin was hospitalized after ingesting muratic acid, a side effect to a school bullying situation.

And yet the sun shines, and the spring flowers keep opening, and the bees buzz their praise. And the toddler grandson of another friend has had a successful heart transplant, the cousin's son is responding well to medication, and those with cancer are receiving the best help that the medical world can give them.

Life is always such a mix of joy and sorrow.

So, with awareness of that mix of sorrow and joy, I'll join in with Merton's later lines in the psalm:
    I too, Father, praise you, with all these my brothers [and sisters],
    and they give voice to my heart and my own silence.
    We are all one silence, and a diversity of voices.

    You have made us together,
    you have made us one and many,
    you have placed me here in the midst as witness,
        as awareness, and as joy.

    Here I am.                p 47, Book of Hours
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    My approach to contemplative photography --
    "Pay attention.
    Be astonished.
    Tell about it."

    Mary Oliver in "Sometimes"

    Enter your email address to receive email updates:

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Alberta
    Babies
    Bee
    Berries
    Birds
    Branches
    Bread
    Broken And Blessed
    Buds
    Butterflies
    Calendar Garden
    Calendar Garden
    Cancer
    Candles
    Canning Jar
    Caterpillars
    Children
    Clouds
    Color
    Colors
    Consolations
    Darkness And Light
    Dawn
    Dawn Mist
    Death
    Deer
    Dewdrops
    Dried Plants
    Dried Plants
    Family
    Fence
    Fire
    Fishslippers
    Flowers
    Frogs
    Frost
    Gestalt Pastoral Care
    Glory
    God As Potter
    Grasses
    Heidi
    Hildegarde
    Holy Week
    Icon
    Ignatius
    Insects
    Julian
    Lament
    Leaves
    Lent
    Light
    Light And Shadow
    Light And Shadow
    Mary
    Moon
    Mountains
    Names
    Ocean
    Pathways Retreat
    Patterns
    Peace Lamp
    Plants
    Poetry
    Prairie
    Prayer
    Rain
    Raindrops
    Reflections
    Retreat
    Retrospective
    Rosebuds
    Roseleaves
    Rose Leaves
    Sandhill Cranes
    Seasons
    Seeds
    Shore
    Snow
    Song
    Spring
    Stones
    Sunrise
    Sunset
    Sunshine And Shadow
    Sunshine And Shadow
    Tesserae
    Transitions
    Trees
    Turtles
    Vegetables
    Water
    Winter

Website thanks to Weebly -- all rights reserved
  • Home
  • Spiritual Guidance
    • What is spiritual guidance?
    • When should I seek it?
    • Individual or group?
  • Groups
    • Inklings
    • 2020 - 2021 Schedule
  • Individuals
    • Spiritual guidance for individuals >
      • Locally
      • At a distance
  • Sparks of Light blog
  • Martha Mary Mosaic
  • Writing
    • In Tune with God: the art of congregational discernment
    • Resources
  • About me
  • Contact