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Chapter One
Section One
Moments of Everyday Life
When God created the earth, it was a magnificent ecosystem for all the life He placed there. For the creatures that dwelt in the oceans. For those that dwelt in the skies. And for those that dwelt on the land.
As a dwelling for man, the masterpiece of creation, God designed a special place. A garden. It was an architectural triumph of both form and function, for it not only provided food and shelter for the body, it provided beauty and refreshment for the soul.
But the garden was designed to be more than a place to meet man's physical and spiritual needs. It was designed to be the ideal environment for God to cultivate His relationship with man. It was designed not only to be a bountiful place and a beautiful place, but a quiet place.
A place conducive for reflection.
Like an art gallery.
The garden was a place through which the man and woman could leisurely stroll, stopping to note the intricate design of a leaf ... then moving on until another display stopped them, this time the exquisite colors in an orchid ... then strolling a little farther until they came upon the branching grandeur of a tree.
The displays must have prompted questions. Who is the Artist responsible for these things? What is He like? How can we know Him?
The psalmist says that the heavens continually reveal the breathless artistry of God, that "day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge" (Psalm 19:1-2). Yet, as the psalmist informs us, the style of the revelation is subtle. "There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard" (v. 3).
Like an art historian walking us through the gallery, the psalmist tells us the beginning principles for understanding what we see. Whatever it is the Artist is trying to say, He is saying it through pictures not words.
If that is true, it stands to reason that the garden where man was placed was full of pictures that revealed something of who God is, what He values, how He works. Looking at some of the pictures, we can see a few of those things.
He is an artistic God, whose palette ranges from the most muted of colors to the most magnificent. His panache can be seen in the peacock. His plainness, in the sparrow.
He is a powerful God, who created tall and stately redwoods. He is also a gentle God, who delicately dotted the backs of ladybugs.
He is an orderly God, who values process--first the stalk, then the leaf, then the blossom, then the fruit. Yet within the creative order, there is an almost playful spontaneity. You see it in the wind that tussles a towheaded dandelion. You see it in the whimsical twitch of a squirrel's tail. You see it in the prism of colors that sparkles from a dewdrop.
In the same way the creation reveals knowledge, so do the circumstances of our lives. The moment-by-moment events of our lives fall into the soil of our understanding like seeds. Our responsibility, like that of our first parents, is to work the garden. To prepare the soil. To tend the growth. And to take what is offered from its branches as nourishment for our soul.
Date Oct. 10, 1997
Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of invisible and visible winged seeds, so the stream of time brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them.
Thomas Merton
Seeds of Contemplation
Reflecting on Your Life
Reading the Moment
Sports page of USA Today. Cover story headline reads: "Smith ignores pleas, tearfully steps down." It was the press release of Dean Smith's retirement from college basketball. At 66, he is ending a 36-year career. In those 36 years, he amassed 879 wins, 2 NCAA championships, 11 trips to the final four, and a graduation rate for his players of 97.3%. The article included quotes from his players and other coaches and fans, but it was a quote from his that caused me to pause and reflect. While watching Larry Brown running the 76er's training camp at the North Carolina Dean Dome, Smith said: "Larry Brown always fires me up. I used to be like that. If I can't give this team that enthusiasm, I said I would get out. That's honestly how I feel.
Reflectingon the Moment
I've always enjoyed basketball, whether it's playing the game or watching it. No matter how busy my schedule is, I always make room for the final four at the end of March. Many of those final four games features North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith. Like his fans, I was sorry to see him leave, but the reason he left made me respect him all the more. He didn't leave because the basketball program was in shambles and would take years to rebuild. He lefty because the passion he once had for the game had left him. And he knew that without the passion, he couldn't give his best. His players deserved better, he thought. So did the fans. He left, to everyone's surprise. But he left with everyone's respect.
Is there any passage of Scripture that comes to mind that sheds light on this moment?
A good name is to be more desired than great riches (Proverbs)
Responding to the Moment
Reaching up prayerfully
Father, please help me to have passion for what I do as a writer. And when the passion is gone, give the courage and strength and integrity of a Dean Smith to make the decision to step aside son room will be made for someone who has that passion.
Reaching out personally
I'm feeling my passion waning lately. Too many commitments. Too few passes in my life. I can't do much about it right now, but I am determined to be more careful about my schedule, because what gets crowded out in the end is my passion for living, for writing, for other people, and for God. Judy and I have set aside Sat. mornings to go out for breakfast & talk. That's been good and something I look forward to all week.
In humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. ( James 1:21 )
Date
Redwoods are the largest and tallest living creatures. The trees among which I live sometimes reach three hundred and sixty feet to sweep the sun's rays from the sky. They are babies at a hundred years, adolescent at five hundred and mature around a thousand years of age. The rings on fallen trees reveal that some of them have lived twenty-five hundred years.... The most astounding fact of all is that these trees spring from seeds so tiny that it takes three to six thousand of them to weigh an ounce.
Morton Kelsey
Prayer & The Redwood Seed
Reflecting on Your Life
Reading the Moment
Reflecting on the Moment
Is there any passage of Scripture that comes to mind that sheds light on this moment?
Responding to the Moment
Reaching up prayerfully
Reaching out personally
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds; but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. ( Matthew 13:31-32 )
Date
Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders. Henry David Thoreau The Dispersion of Seeds
Reflecting on Your Life
Reading the Moment
Reflecting on the Moment
Is there any passage of Scripture that comes to mind that sheds light on this moment?
Responding to the Moment
Reaching up prayerfully
Reaching out personally
For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. ( 1 Peter 1:23 )
Date
The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road; and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the air ate it up. And other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it, and choked it out. And other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great. (Luke 8:5-8)
Reflecting on Your Life
Reading the Moment
Reflecting on the Moment
Is there any passage of Scripture that comes to mind that sheds light on this moment?
Responding to the Moment
Reaching up prayerfully
Reaching out personally
Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. And those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they may not believe and be saved. And those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. And the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. ( Luke 8:11-15 )
Date
A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth . If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.
Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts.
James Allen
As a Man Thinketh
Reflecting on Your Life
Reading the Moment
Reflecting on the Moment
Is there any passage of Scripture that comes to mind that sheds light on this moment?
Responding to the Moment
Reaching up prayerfully
Reaching out personally
I passed by the field of the sluggard, and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense: and behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles, its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest," then your poverty will come as a robber, and your want like an armed man. ( Proverbs 24:30-34 )
Date
All creatures live by the hand of God. The senses can only grasp the work of man, but faith sees the work of divine action in everything. It sees that Jesus Christ lives in all things, extending his influence over the centuries so that the briefest moment and the tiniest atom contain a portion of that hidden life and its mysterious work. Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, surprised the disciples when he appeared before them in disguise, only to vanish as soon as he had declared himself. The same Jesus still lives and works among us, still surprises souls whose faith is not sufficiently pure and strong. There is no moment when God is not manifest in the form of some affliction, obligation or duty Everything that happens to us, in us, and through us, embraces and conceals God's divine but veiled purpose, so that we are always being taken by surprise and never recognize it until it has been accomplished. If we could pierce the veil and if we were vigilant and attentive, God would unceasingly reveal himself to us and we would rejoice in his works and all that happens to us. We would say to everything: "It is the Lord!" Jean-Pierre De Caussade The Sacrament of the Present Moment
Reflecting on Your Life
Reading the Moment
Reflecting on the Moment
Is there any passage of Scripture that comes to mind that sheds light on this moment?
Responding to the Moment
Reaching up prayerfully
Reaching out personally
But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she beheld two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"
She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." When she had said this, she turned around, and beheld Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?"
Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away."
Jesus said to her, "Mary!"
She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher).
Jesus said to her, "Stop dinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren, and say to them, `I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her. ( John 20:11-18 )
Copyright © 1998 Ken Gire. All rights reserved.
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