Revelation of Love

From The Revelation of Love by Julian of Norwich:

I understood this revelation to teach our soul to cling fast to the goodness of God. At the same time, I remembered all the different ways we are accustomed to pray and how busy we become when we lose sight of how God loves us. For I was persuaded at this time that what pleases God, what delights him most, is when we pray simply trusting in his goodness, holding on to him, relying upon his grace, with true understanding, rather than if we made all the means that heart can think. Even when we summon all such skills, we are bound to fall short; all we need to do is trust in God's own goodness, for this will never fail us...

For just as the body is clad in clothes and the flesh in skin and the bones in flesh with the heart in the breast, so are we, soul and body, clothed and wrapped around in the goodness of God. Yet it is even more intimate than this; because they all disappear once they decay. But the goodness of God is always whole and more near to us without any comparison. It is true that our Lover desires the soul to stay close to him with all its strength, clinging ever more tightly to his goodness. Of all things the heart may think, this pleases God the most and affords us much progress. Our soul is loved so preciously by him, our highest good, that it is beyond all human understanding. In truth, no human alive can fathom how much, how sweetly and tenderly, our Maker loves us. And so we are able by the help of his grace to stay beholding in prayer this lofty, surpassing, and immeasurable love that almighty God has toward us of his goodness.

Woven Together?

For months I've had this thought running around my brain, and I've been waiting for some cute and poetic way to say it...but I'll just ramble a bit to help myself find a succinct way to communicate in the future...

Why do we so frequently separate any emphasis on knowing that we are loved by our Creator and finding our value and security in Jesus from any emphasis on integrating our beliefs with daily life, or apprenticeship to Jesus? It's like we always think we can only have one or the other, so we pick one and roll with it and become suspicious of the other. Is it because most of us only read Jesus or Paul, one or the other, and even then focus on one aspect of the teaching? Is it because we are always reacting to our past and the ineptitude of our previous teachers and leaders to adequately focus on a holistic Gospel message? Does it have something to do with our personality types, our family backgrounds, etc.?

Perhaps I'm feeling it today because of all the people I intimately know who desperately need to feel that they are loved and cared for and special in the eyes of God, no matter what their previous mistakes. These same people also desperately need to find way to integrate their spiritual beliefs into a way of life. The more I ponder it I believe this applies to all of us.

Shouldn't the one drive the other? Knowing we are loved driving our daily practices? When does this break down?

It does seem that one major avenue of intersection is silence and solitude. When we pause to hear the voice of God and rest in the embrace of the Father, we are following the example of Jesus, and we at least give ourselves a chance of hearing the loving voice of God.

So, if an angel would just appear at the house today and watch the kids for the next few days, I'd love to take a silent retreat with my wife...

Quotes of the week...

I've had a hard time posting lately, although I've had plenty of things I thought about writing about...perhaps I'll blog about them as the thoughts grow more coherent.

In the meantime, I feel the need to share some of my favorite quotes from Kayla. She is 3 now and I figure blogging about her is easy and fun for me and may get me back in the swing of things...

KAYLAISMS...

"Oh I love Jesus oh so much, Daddy!" When asked why she replied, "Because he's just such a cute little baby."

While looking through my Bible and telling me she wanted to tell me a story, "Jesus got poopoo all over the place. It was all messy with poopoo everywhere, and then his Mommy had to give him a bath it was so messy. Then people didn't like him anymore."

When asked why she couldn't sleep during her naptime, she pointed to the living room, "It's just such a mess with so much stuff on the floor out here, I couldn't sleep. We have to clean it right now, Daddy."

Kayla on policemen: "Policemen hit people. " When asked where she learned that she replied, "That's just what they do. They hit people. That's what policemen do."

My personal favorite comes whenever she sees a picture of the skyline of San Francisco or we drive down the hill with our view of the Mission District. She states, "There's my City!"