Scared Moment Monday

Last Monday, I invited you into some of my sacred spaces over the years. Today, I'd like to share with you one of my many little vignette's around my room that help guide my heart and mind to think on my life with God.

This is right in from of me, directly across from where I sit or lie down in my bed.

The fountain was something I purchased after realizing the lack of rain and winter around me was adding to my struggle to normalize and accept the "winters" of life. Rain and cloudy weather has come to be a powerful image in my life over the years. Something settles in me within and says, "Yes, yes. Staying in, curling, up, listening to the pitter-pat, and pausing is good. Necessary."

In San Luis Obispo, it's mostly spring year round, so bringing in something that trickles out continuously helps set my heart into those spiritual places of quiet, inwardness, replenishment. I didn't know how desperately I needed something that quietly poured out reminding me cycles of growth are valid and incredibly valuable. Pause for a moment, right here. It is good. Meet with me in this place. 

You'll also notice the angel kneeling. She reminds me that pause and stillness deepen me. The quiet and the "winters" bring me into union with Christ. The candles, of course, bring light. Not bright, beaming light, but enough light to illuminate what I need to see and settle my heart there--This is enough for now.

The cup just recently ended up there and it seems appropriate. Here I'm reminded of Henri Nouwen's words:

After firmy holding the cups of our lives and lifting them up as signs of hope for others, we have to drink them. Drinking our cups means fully appropriating and interiorizing what each of us has acknowledged as our life, with all its unique sorrows and joys.

How do we drink our cups? We drink them as we listen in silence to the truth of our lives, as we speak in trust with friends about ways we want to grow, and as we act in deeds of service. Drinking our cups is following freely and courageously God's call and staying faithfully on the path that is ours. Thus our life cups become cups of salvation. When we have emptied them to the bottom, God will fill them with water" for eternal life.

The books the fountain is placed on were purely put there for height and aesthetics.  But, hey, if we want to go there with symbols, I think Common Prayer and Pilgrim's Progress are serendipitously placed!

Images are powerful and help our soul grab hold of t r u t h and God's w o r d s  of  l i f e in ways few other things are able.  My challenge to you today is to clip a picture, grab a book, pick a photo, or perhaps head over to a thrift store and ask God, "Draw me to something my heart can grab hold of reflective of you and I right now."  Now place it somewhere prominent in your room or workplace.  I'm intrigued and excited to see what unfolds.  Please share!