Soul Food

I recently obtained a beautiful rug. It feeds my soul to have such a thing of beauty: crafted with human hands, knotted from natural fibers of wool and cotton, vibrant with color from natural vegetable dyes, creative in design with floral and geometric motifs.

Why is beauty so desirable? What about beauty draws us?
I am drawn to so much of what is 'natural' and find most created things beautiful. I wonder if it is because God had a hand in it and He is beautiful? I see the Creator God in all His creation [Well, most all of creation; I still have questions about some things - like mosquitoes that seem both ugly in appearance and function, and like any of us humans who can act sometimes with such ugliness.]

It is said that Persion rugs will almost always include intentional imperfections. "There's an old Persian proverb that says, 'A Persian Rug is Perfectly Imperfect, and Precisely Imprecise.' This notion of intentionally including slight and minor irregularities is derived from the religious belief that God is the only perfect being and that attempting absolute perfection would be claiming the position of the Almighty." http://www.persian-carpet.info/classification-of-persian-rugs.php

So, I gaze at my rug and it reminds me of both me and God. In the imperfections I am reminded that I am not God (like I need to be reminded of that!) but that God finds beauty even in imperfect me (and all human beings). And in the beautifully crafted design and color in the rug - in all beauty - I see God and my soul/spirit is refreshed.

Does beauty draw you in, or feed your soul? What is beauty to you?

On beauty

Beauty... is the shadow of God on the universe. ~Gabriela Mistral, Desolacíon

In every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty. ~Christopher Morley

Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. ~John Muir

Melting fat

Mind body connections continually fascinate me. Our thoughts generate (or are) chemicals and greatly affect our physical beings. An embarrassing moment causes some to blush. An anxious thought releases stress hormones. A belief that something will help does help (i.e., the decrease of pain seen with placebo).

I just read in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Health that if I'm convinced I'll melt fat while exercising, that thought will help me lost fat faster, due to the mind-body connection.
"In a 2007 Harvard study, participants who believed they were getting a good workout showed greater reductions in body fat than subjects who performed the same activities but didn't feel like they were really exercising."

So, you betcha, when I exercise I'm going to visualize my fat melting away and tell myself I'm giving it my all. I'm into using any advantage I learn of, especially when it's as sweat-free as a thought.

With age

Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes
age comes alone.

So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

When I grow up

I still haven't figured out what I want to be when I grow up. Unless I can just say that I wish for "wise." As far as a vocation goes though, I seem to have a tough time even dreaming up an ideal job. Or getting compensated monetarily for what I love to do.
I can identify some gifts and desires (thanks in part to some concise, easy-to use materials called LifeKeys) and have formulated a personal 'mission' statement [to nurture people to increasingly live well and love God]. But I'm still trying to live into Frederich Buechner's profound words

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness
and the world's deep hunger meet."

Though I'm embarrassed to not be farther along in my vocational decisions, maybe my calling involves more process than outcome.

Maybe for any of us what is most important is exploring that deep gladness? And being, moment-by-moment, attentive to the intersections of our deep gladness and the deep hunger among us?

What "forms" you?

Love forms us.
"There are two utterly different forms of religion: one believes that God will love me if I change, the other believes that God loves me so that I can change... Ideas inform us, but love forms us - in an intrinsic and lasting way." - Richard Rohr, The Enneagram

This basic behavior modification assertion rings true to me:
"If you reward someone for something that is good, he will give more and more in the direction of the ideal, but if you punish him for something that is bad, he will remain stagnant at the original level." - B.F. Skinner


I am motivated to do and be better when I get positive input, and quickly discouraged when I get negative. My default is to correct - self and others - so it's been a long and steep learning curve to aim to see the good, and look for what can be rewarded, which I'm convinced is what God does with us. Recently, my dear daughter orchestrated a precious gift of a scrapbook that contained many friends' and family's words of affirmation and stories about me (a thousand thanks to you who contributed!). I read those words of love from others, as from God too, and they make me want to be nobler and lovelier.
"...fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out." Romans 12:2 The Message translation

Love forms me. How 'bout you?

Really Livin'

"Those who discover these words live, really live, body and soul, they're bursting with health." -- about wisdom, in Proverbs 4, The Message translation

Some other words from Proverbs 4 that gave me hope early in my spiritual journey: "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day."
I'm no longer quite so idealistic: the reality of everyday hasn't seemed 'ever brighter' and so I've experienced discouragement plenty. I've been feeling kinda discouraged lately.
But I consciously remind myself of those things for which I am thankful, and that bring me to greater love.
- Learning, and passing along what I learn
- Looking for beauty: there are so many things that please my senses and spirit such as color, scent, blossoms, and all of nature that points me to a majestic Creator
- Listening for God: who is enormously mysterious and evasive to me, but still fascinating to attend to
- Loving: being loved and sharing love

Lately I have been looking at enneagram material; I am deciding that my number is most likely a “ONE” which is the perfectionist. I recognize my tendency to push ever harder when under stress. The enneagram suggestion is to watch for the tendency to move to the negative side of a FOUR: feeling indignant because expectations are not met, turning anger inward, becoming depressed, losing trust in self and/or feeling unloved and unlovable. Rather, ONES can cultivate the positive side of a SEVEN of being fun-loving, spontaneous, imaginative, charming, happy.
“The special gift, or fruit of the spirit, that marks mature persons of any type is always the reverse of the root sin. The fruit of the spirit of the ONE is cheerful tranquility… Many integrated ONES say that three things help them to achieve this goal: prayer, love, and nature…That is why I have to see to it that I fall in love with somebody or something every day…without nature, without love, and without God, ONES can scarcely get to the space of cheerful serenity and patience, but remain aggressive idealists and ideologues who condemn others and demand that they improve themselves and be perfect by their lights.” P 54-55, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective by Richard Rohr

That contains a good reminder for me: to be really livin' I do need to to be quietly communing in listening prayer, to be enjoying all things of nature, and to be focusing on those things I love.

What is really livin' for you?

A Happy New Year

I am thankful for a new year. A few quotes on one of my favorite subjects:

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. -- Cicero
Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies. -- Charles Jefferson
Ingratitude is the essence of vileness. -- Kant
A noble person is mindful and thankful of the favors he receives from others. -- the Buddha
...in everything give thanks... -- I Thessalonians 5:18
Gratitude fills, discontent drains.