Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 10-New

New is a word that speaks of “just discovered” or “just acquired.” Something old can be new. Something worn can be new. Something previously used can be new. New is something not previously had, or known, or owned.

Today, we acquired a new used sofa. As it sits in our living room, it seems new. It gives the living room a “new look.” Its colors are new to our décor. It doesn’t quite match; but despite that, it looks good. It offers a change. Something different.

That is what new does. It offers a change. Something different. As a reflective person who desires transformation of my soul, I invite new. If I am to give the Spirit permission to change me, new must be a word in my vocabulary.  I must welcome what is new. New insights. New understandings. New self-revelations. New awareness.

Sometimes the new might not match with what already is, but that is what makes new a good thing. New rearranges and shifts the internal person. New gives the soul a different look. It adds the necessary change for a transformed life.

Here is my reflective question for the day: “What is “new” in your life and how are you making it welcome?”

Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 9-Slow

Slow is a word that says “take your time.” It’s not fast, not in a hurry, not rushing to go anywhere, be something, or do anything.

Today, I was slow. I have been slow for the past week. It feels odd, but not out of place. It feels right. I am still recovering from a virus I had, so my slowness is the right speed. It is a necessary slow speed.

I’ve been thinking about slow. It actually feels quite nice. It feels even, balanced. It feels purposeful. I am not rushing to make decisions or to get some piece of work done or to be somewhere in some hurried fashion. I am “taking my time” to eat, to drink, to put something away, to read, to dress.

And the slowness makes me pay attention. I actually notice the slowness which is quite the opposite of when I am moving fast. I don’t ever recall noticing the fastness of my activities when I am in full speed mode. Being slow has heightened my awareness of the way slow feels. And in my speedy future, intentional slowness will find its purpose.

Here is my reflective question for the day: “What does slow feel like to you?”

Photo:http://www.reptilesweb.com/reptiles-section/tortoise-world/leopard-tortoise.html

Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 8-Breathe

Breathe is a word that speaks of rhythm. It is taking what is out in and letting what is in out. It is the rhythm of inhaling health and exhaling toxins. It is the rhythmic balance between life and death.

Today, someone said to me that the only necessary thing to do in a day is to breathe. Odd that the only necessary thing should be something that I do without conscious thought. I do it without a plan and without a list. I simply breathe because it is necessary. It sustains my body, my soul, my spirit.

But I want a deeper breathing. One that purges my soul of sickness and refreshes my spirit with wellness. I want the rhythmic breathing of the Spirit. When I have this, then I have what is truly necessary. And all I need to do in a day is to breathe.

Here is my reflective question for the day: “How would you describe the rhythm of your breathing?”

Forty Words for Forty Days:Day 7-Quiet

Quiet is a non-noise word. It is a word that stills sounds and softens loud. Quiet is a mood, an attitude of being, an aura of stillness that can be sensed. It is a moment in that seems to exist in time and yet is a timeless moment. Quiet cannot be measured by the ticking of a clock. Quiet is.

Today, I experienced quiet. Measured by time, it was a brief moment. But the memory of it lingers in my soul like a tidbit of eternity. It was tangible. It was solid. It was real. In that moment, it seemed more real than any material object within sight. It was as though I could see quiet, hear quiet, smell quiet, taste quiet, and sense quiet.

It was as though quiet were a living being, and I was one with it. I became as quiet is.

Here is my reflective question for the day: “ What in me is not quiet, and how might it become as quiet is?”

Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 6-Care

Care is a word that tugs on something deep in the soul. It pulls and reshapes “what is” into something that “will be.” It rearranges the heart, the mind, and the will.

Today, I took my cat to the vet for care. The vet’s care was different than my care. Her care involved an exam and x-rays and a prescription. My care involves fourteen years of body caresses, nose touching, ear scratching, fur petting, and head kisses.

Her care reshapes the “what is” into a healthy future that “will be” for my cat, and I am sure that her soul is a bit rearranged by her knowing that she was able to make my cat more comfortable.

My care reshapes the “what is” into a future that “will be” eventually sad for me. But I embrace this kind of care because the rearranging of my soul that has been done by this kind of care has made me a more complete and whole person. With gladness, I say that I care for a cat.

Here is my reflective question for the day: “How has care rearranged your soul?”

Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 5-Cry

Cry is a word that makes a sound. It may not be a sound that can be heard by the physical ears of others, but it makes a sound nevertheless. Today, I made the sound of a cry because my cat is old. Part of my cry was heard by others, but another part was heard only by the ears of God. There is the out loud cry heard by all those within hearing range, and there is the soundless cry heard only by those who have ears on the inside.

What makes you cry and who hears it?

Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 4-Sleep

Sleep is a tired word. It is a not-awake word. It’s a word that makes me think of being groggy and sluggish. A word that speaks of comfort for a worn-out body. It speaks of eight hours of virtual nothingness. Non-awareness. Unconscious.

One of the problems with sleep is that it can get too comfortable. I get annoyed with myself when I lie in bed too long in the morning. I get the feeling that I am missing something the early morning has to offer. Sometimes I feel that I am wasting away morning pleasures in a lethargic state—a state somewhere between alertly awake and total unconsciousness.

This kind of sleepiness seems to affect even my waking hours. Sometimes I go through the day as if in a lethargy. Not fully awake to what is present. I get comfortable with routines. I sluggishly walk through the day doing my normal activities without much thought, or seeing, or hearing. I am a daytime sleep-walker. I miss what the day has to offer and waste the pleasures of it in lethargy.

Here is my reflective question for the day: “What keeps me sleep walking and lethargic to the pleasurable offerings of the day?”

Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 3-Pain

Pain is a something-hurts word. It is a dull achy word. A sharp stabbing word. A hard pounding word. A kick-in-the-knee word. It is a word we don’t want lingering too closely. Richard Rohr in his book, Everything Belongs, says that the best way to deal with pain is to learn from it.

Last summer, I endured a couple of migraines. I lay in the dark. Quiet and immovable. For two days, an invisible band constricted my head, upset my stomach, and made me cry. At the time, the only thing I learned was that I did not like pain. Now, I take some precaution to avoid future migraine pain. 

But as I reflect on that pain, I can say that I learned a few things. First, I am vulnerable to pain—all pain. Physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain. I must acknowledge my weakness when exposed to pain. I must greet it and let it do its work.

Second, I learned that some pain must be endured until it has run its course. Avoidance only postpones the inevitable, or it gives the pain permission to show up in some other place.

Third, the pain eventually subsides and life returns to a somewhat normal state. However, when one is vulnerable to pain and endures it to its end, there is a small or large transformation that takes place. And the pain-bearer is never the same as before the pain.

Here is my reflective question for the day “Where is pain in my life, and what can I learn from it?”

Art: http://research.unc.edu/endeavors/spr2005/pain.php

Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 2-Sick

Sick is a something-is-wrong word. A word that says something is askew. Out of place. Not quite right. Unwell. The body can be sick. The mind can be sick. The heart can be sick. And the spirit can be sick.

The truth is that much of what we do, think, feel, and say is sick. Not quite right. Often askew. We’d like to believe that we are a well and healthy people. But national and global news tells me otherwise. Something is wrong.

The world is sick. Our minds are sick. Our hearts are sick. Our bodies are sick. And our spirits are sick. We are soul sick. One of the problems with being sick is that there is no self-cure. We need something outside of ourselves to get well. We need a healer. Jesus is that healer.

My reflective question for the day is “What is sick in me and will I invite the healer to make me well?”

Icon: http://www.fisheaters.com/sickcalls.html

Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 1-Dust

Dust is one of those dead words. It’s a dried up word that begs for water. Dust makes me think of inhaled talcum powder, of finely crushed saltines in the mouth, of following behind another vehicle on a dirt road, of the Dust Bowl, the desert, a dry, dead, barren, easily-blown-away place.

To know that I am a fashioned-dust being is somewhat unsettling. It reminds me that in the end, I am dead. I am a bit of powdered talcum. Short-lived in the scheme of things. I, along with the rest of humanity, am of one formation—dust.

I can dress my dust-doomed body in stylish clothes, groom my dust-doomed hair into an attractive style, and color my dust-doomed face with a flattering palette; but ultimately, my final dressed and groomed color will be ashen.

So my reflective question for the day is “What are the matters of concern for a person created of dust?”

Photo: http://www.weru.ksu.edu/new_weru/multimedia/dustbowl/dustbowlpics.html