RevGals Friday Five: Touching Holiness

Sally over at RevGals posts this Friday Five Meme: How about you, where do you find God's peace and presence, is there:

1. A place that holds a special memory?

This is a photo of the view from my backyard of a monsoon rain over the Santa Rita mountains. In the desert, rain is sign of God's grace. This place will always hold a special memory for me because of the panoramic view.

2. A song that seems to usher you into the Holy of Holies? Taize: sung prayer with candle light, plants, and an icon or two, especially:


3.A book/ poem/ prayer that says what you cannot?
The Summer Day
Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver
from New and Selected Poems, 1992
Beacon Press, Boston, MA


I love poetry, Mary Oliver in particular, has a wonderful way of bringing a deep faith into the ordinary.

4. How do you remind yourself of these things at times when God seems far away? I blog. Really. God has seemed so very far away for so long. Blogging connects me to people who are not in the same void I feel I am in, and by the love and grace of those I blog with, I continue to be reminded of God's abiding presence.

5.Post a picture/ poem or song that speaks of where you are right now in your relationship with God...

I'm in the desert and it's a little barren at the moment...

Comments

Diane M. Roth said…
(((MP))))

even in the desert, lovely answers.
i believe i read the mary oliver poem before at your place... "one wild & precious life" that phrase had ruminated in my brain for days on end. weeks... maybe more.

the color will come to the (interior) desert... it just takes a while to arrive. but you're gifted at paying attention to those things... you'll see it, i have no doubt.
Sally said…
love the Mary Oliver poem...

prayers for fresh spiritual rain bringing life to the desert places for you
Jennifer said…
In the desert, yes,but I know that there's a fountain that will refresh that wild and precious life of yours.
altar ego said…
Oddly enough Mary Oliver and the desert are bringing to mind the words of Julian of Norwich: all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

Continued prayers for sustenance, and the refreshment of rain on your face.
Barbara B. said…
I love that last picture... beautiful! (And I think there will be a refreshing rain for you soon.)
Jan said…
Very descriptive. Love the view from your home. So glad you blog to experience the presence of the Holy One.
May your higher power lead you out of the dessert and to a welcoming and appreciative place. And some good peeps who will love you as you deserve to be loved!

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