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vonda drees

journaling the Spirit's stirring

highlights of my work

YogaMass by Gena Davis

Coloring Meditations

Ignatian Reflection

ELCA World Hunger – 40 Days of Giving

Mystical Hope

All Anew – Women of the ELCA Triennial

Oneing Transformation

Keep Watch with Me – Advent 2017

The Divine Dance

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“Truly, my life is one long hearkening unto my self and unto others, unto God. And if I say that I hearken, it is really God who hearkens inside me. The most essential and the deepest in me hearkening unto the most essential and the deepest in the other. God to God.” -Etty Hilliesum While jockeying for positions of greatness, James and John hear this from Jesus, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? ... whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.” -Mark 10:38, 43 Open our ears that we may hear. Only the deepest, most essential that is in us will pass through the eye of the needle. #vondadreesart

“There is no authentic God experience that does not situate you in the world in a different way.” -Richard Rohr #vondadreesart

From Carrie Newcomer’s Speed of Soul Thought - “We are not the resistance. We are the new world, the better kinder world, a world that is coming and already here. We are the world that cares for one another, cares for the earth, welcomes the stranger, extends and lives out radical and revolutionary love, the new world that doesn’t just tolerate diversity but values and celebrates diversity.” Pondering the act that is counter to resisting. #vondadreesart

Not sure what it is about this morning... I just seem particularly sensitive to the suffering. “Our pain is not just our own.” ~Richard Rohr “All we say to America is be true to what you said on paper... I don’t know what will happen now, we’ve got some difficult days ahead... I’ve been to the mountaintop... and I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the Promised Land... We as a people will get to the Promised Land.” -the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Everybody oughta hug somebody, at least once a day... And we all will rise up...” -Michael Franti & Spearhead #vondadreesart

In less than three weeks, my online journaling group through Joyce Rupp’s book “Open the Door” begins. It was this book ten years ago that introduced the spiritual practice of contemplation in my life. I’m curious to see my response this time around and perhaps even the next decade of response it influences. You are very welcome to “Open the Door.” Here’s info - https://grunewaldguild.com/events/online-journaling-course-open-the-door/. #vondadreesart

“As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame; As tumbled over rim in roundy wells Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name...” -Gerard Manley Hopkins, As Kingfishers Catch Fire Have you ever held an unlit candle closely enough to (but not touching) another candle’s flame and watched the fire jump? There is something Holy in the coming near to another as they express who they are. “Gradually through the years, we see more. We’re not experts by any means, but we do see birds where we never did before. The change has come about because we were taught to look, notice, and be attentive. And when we don’t see any birds, we know better than to complain...” -Eugene Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God “If you will, you can become all flame...” -Darlene Franz #vondadreesart

Saint Óscar Romero, pray for us. #vondadreesart

“You, darkness, of whom I am born— I love you more than the flame that limits the world to the circles it illumines and excludes all the rest. But the darkness embraces everything: shapes and shadows, creatures and me, people, nations—just as they are. It lets me imagine a great presence stirring beside me. I believe in the night.” -Rainer María Rilke Since moving to the Guild, I’ve been drawn to journaling in the darkness of the early morning. It’s been common for me to rise a couple, sometimes 3, hours before sunrise. #vondadreesart

There are some versions of Psalm 23:1 that read, “The LORD is my shepherd. I lack nothing.” The other day at a Lectio Divina circle at Faith we read part of this Sunday’s Gospel, Mark 10:17-22, about Jesus telling the rich guy that he only lacked one thing—to sell what he owned and give the money to the poor. Is it fair to say he lacked nothing? Romans 8:38 - Nothing can separate us from the love of God. “Learn how to open your hand from your very own poverty.” ~Pope Francis Open us to Infinite Mercy, to a Matrix of Collective Care. #vondadreesart

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