Love song for God

As I am out in creation – was just outside playing in the dirt – I am drawn to the Creator. The awakening of spring and sprouting of seedlings reminds me of the smile of God. I’m thinking he must love it when we enjoy His wild world, and delight when we enjoy and need and love Him. Reminds me a love poem that a friend wrote:

Love Song for God
Could this desperation be called love?
like lungs love air ~ like tongues love water ~ like my skin loves touch
without you
I die.
You speak my name and I exist
You see me and there is light for seeing.
You smile on me and
the seas swim with fish
the air flutters with birds
the ground thunders with hooves.
Your live is my wild world and
I am Eve
walking in the brightest
light that has ever shown through unsmeared air
Into all that leaping, laughing, living earth.
Eyes full of your blue sky
hair moving in your wind fingers
feet deep in your lush green.
Oh, this Eden of being yours
believing what you said
filling with your desire
breathing your goodness
always naked when you look at me
my breast full
my belly round
my thighs soft
And I,
unashamed.

- Jonna Fantz

Frankincense

I recently returned from a retreat where I got to lead in prayer using frankincense. I love aromas and the many benefits essential oils impart! Here's a piece I came across a few days ago about some good of frankincense, even apart from its spiritual applications which are oft acknowledged.

(The following is from www.aromaconnection.org March 21, 2009)

"Frankincense Oil may be a treatment for bladder cancer: according to a study published this week in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2009, 9:6.

'Frankincense oil derived from Boswellia carteri study induces tumor cell specific cytotoxicity” scientists at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center have found in vitro evidence that frankincense oil (probably its constituent boswellic acid) can kill bladder cancer cells without affecting non-cancerous cells. In order to determine that frankincense was the effective oil, they compared it to sandalwood, fir, palo santo and hemlock oils which did not differentiate between the types of cells.' [They used a commercial frankincense oil that was not specifically controlled for origin and constituency, and the authors suggest that future studies should be more rigorous in determining these details.]

The study references numerous other studies that have found that frankincense has potential in treating cancerous cells.

[The abstract can be accessed at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/9/6/abstract and a PDF of the full article is at http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-6882-9-6.pdf]"

If all you can see

We all have a picture of God. Most of them are not the same. Hold on to your picture loosely. Not only because it isn't all that right, but because you may not recognize God when he does show up if all you can see is your own little picture. - Palm Sunday sermon.... Iona Abbey (passed along via Carl’s great quotes)

“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

–Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past, 1923

Prayer of hope

My daughter, in her blog, shares some profound thoughts via a prayer written by Oscar Romero. On this Mother's Day it reminds me too of the dreams and intent of the parent. We parents get to witness some of the flowering of seeded potential as our kids grow. But we will never see it all, no we may never see the end results, and we cannot do everything.

Still, the beauty is that while I as parent work and minister, I get to trust the master builder to be messiah and grace, doing whatever s/he desires to build his/her kingdom – in my kids, and in this wide world.

A Prayer of Hope
by Oscar Romero
It helps now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness, no program accomplishes the Church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about. We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further developments. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are the workers, not the master builders, ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.

Nature and God

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God.

– Anne Frank, author of The Diary of a Young Girl

Natural high

"While 83 percent of Americans say spending time outdoors makes them feel refreshed, healthy and excited, 61 percent admit they don't take enough advantage of the restorative powers of nature.” (a statistic from, not surprisingly but rather humorously, a Miracle-Gro survey)

Not long ago Gregg and I treated ourselves to some time in the Appalachian mountains: it was a natural high! Here’s a few statements and quotes highlighting some of the good resulting from time in the wonder-full created natural.

~~~

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." - Albert Einstein (physicist, 1879-1955)

Benefits to the body/mind

*Being in natural settings restores ability to direct our attention and increases working memory (The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework, by Stephan Kaplan. J of Environmental Psychology Vol 15, Issue 3, September 1995).

*Studies also show that nature in forms as simple as a plant at work or trees in front of an apartment complex help reduce stress, improve coping skills, and develop self-discipline. (http://www.floridagardening.org/download/BenefitofPlants.pdf)

*Even merely having a view of nature speeds recovery from surgery, improves work performance, increases job satisfaction. (Ulrich, R.S. (1984). "View Through a Window May Influence Recovery From Surgery." Science, 22, 42-421)

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." - John Burroughs (naturalist and essayist, 1837-1921)

“Wilderness to the people of America is a spiritual necessity, an antidote to the high pressure of modern life, a means of regaining serenity and equilibrium.” – Sigurd Olson, 1946 (nature writer & conservationist, 1899-1982)

Benefits to the soul/spirit

*Nature bestows a sense of connectedness, meaning, purpose.

*Observing the natural teaches that each is unique but also part of the larger whole, and contributes to an appreciation of the world as alive, fascinating, and meaningful. [A recommended article]

*And for me, pondering the created leads to the Creator, the fountain of life.

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find that gong to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” – John Muir, 1914 (early conservationist and promoter of national parks)

O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions. – Psalm 104:24

Spring in Minnesota is a lovely time to be outdoors: comfortably warm daytime temps, buds and blossoms, and no bugs!

So gaze out the window, get yourself outside, enjoy the grounding beauty of nature – treat yourself today to a natural high!

Will endure

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”

– Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1956

Dark chocolate

I latch onto any excuse to eat chocolate. I know, it needs to be in moderation - two bites pack about 50 calories - but I read in my Health May 2009 magazine that "the dark kind may help you feel fuller," says University of Copenhagen researchers. "They found that people who ate dark chocolate had fewer cravings afterward than those who ate milk chocolate. The reason: dark chocolate's bitter taste might help the body regulate appetite, or its higher amount of cocoa butter (it has stearic acid, which can slow digestion) may make the stomach stay full longer.

One of my favorite kinds of chocolates...