His Creation

"The creation is not a study, a roughed-in sketch; it is supremely, meticulously created….Even on the perfectly ordinary and clearly visible level, creation carries on with an intimacy unfathomable and apparently uncalled for."  Annie Dillard,  Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek    I love that phrase, "uncalled for."  How can we doubt that a loving, purposeful God indeed created us for Himself? Mt_Emily, La_Grande, Union_County Anthony_Lake_OR

Hearing the Word

If we believe God spoke our universe, our world, our selves into existence, then how do we listen to Him?  Here is what Henri Nouwen says:

"The Word of God is not a word to apply in our daily lives at some later date; it is a word to heal us through and in, our listening here and now.

The questions therefore are: How does God come to me as I listen to the word? Where do I discern God's healing hand touching me through his word? How are my sadness, my grief, my mourning being transformed at this very moment?  Do I sense the fire of God's love purifying my heart and giving me new life? These questions lead me to the sacrament of the word, the sacred place of God's real presence."  Henri Nouwen