Joy (Advent Meditation) …
By: My Soul In Silence Waits
Tags: Christianity, Christmas, Advent, Preparing For Christmas

Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland.

- Isaiah 43:18–19

I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go.

― Anais Nin from The Diary of Anais Nin

Burning Man Blessing Prayer

The world now

is too dangerous

and too beautiful

for anything but love.

I bless your eyes be so you see God in everyone.

I bless your ears, so you hear the cry of the poor.

I bless your lips so you speak nothing but the truth with love.

I bless your hands so that everything you give

and everything you receive,

is a sacrament,

I bless your feet so you run to those who need you.

And may your heart be so opened,

so set on fire

that your love,

YOUR LOVE,

changes . . .

everything.

― Brian Baker from A Black Rock Prayer Book

Awake, my dear.

Be kind to your sleeping heart.

Take it out in the vast field of Light

And let it breathe.

— Hafiz from I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

Time for Serenity. Anyone?

I like to live in the sound of water,

in the feel of mountain air. A sharp

reminder hits me: this world is still alive,

it stretches out there shivering toward its own

creation. and I’m part of it. Even my breathing

enters into this elaborate give-and-take,

this bowing to sun and moon. day or night.

winter, summer, storm, still-this tranquil

chaos that seem to be going somewhere.

This wilderness with a great peacefulness in it.

This motionless turmoil, this everything dance.

— William Stafford from Even in Quiet Places

Daily it becomes clearer to me. Gratitude is a celebration of love, just as love is the lived, ‘Yes,’ of joyful mutual belonging. Gratitude celebrates life with a joyful, ‘Yes,’ at every knot of the great network in which everything is connected to everything. As we live this ‘Yes’ with ever more conviction, love ripens ever more abundantly in the autumn sun of life. I now see it as my main task to simply allow this to happen, since we do not die from death, but from fully ripened love.

— David Steindl-Rast from i am through you so i

The Gift of Deepening

The deepest place on Earth is not a physical place, but the stillness we enter at the bottom of our pain, at the bottom of our fear and worry. The stillness we enter there opens us to a spacious state of being that some call joy. When we put down our dreams and maps of memory, precious as they are, we can feel the pulse of life. Then all we could ask for is softly between us, when too tired to deny that there’s nowhere else to go. These moments of unfiltered depth are brief. We may only experience a handful of such openings in a lifetime. But like the strong chorus of stars that watch over us, we can navigate our way through the dark by following them.

— Mark Nepo from Things That Join the Sea and the Sky

Celebration

Celebration is one of the most intense and delightful forms of human presence. It is lovely to be able to celebrate. Some people never celebrate anything. They have no time. Others are too serious ever to think of celebrating. Some feel there is nothing to celebrate. Such people are prisoners who slog away in a secure and predictable routine. There are few surprises, and no surprise is allowed to interfere with the onerous burden of endurance and commitment. There is no time out for play or devilment. Other people are wonderful at celebrating. Even a small event can be an excuse for a celebration. There is a sense of joy and happiness in celebration. It is interesting that sadness generally drives us towards solitude, whereas joy draws us together in celebration. Nothing does your heart so much good as real celebration. Laughter loosens all the tension in you. When you dance and sing, your soul lifts and the lovely light of the eternal lifts you to a new lightness…

When we celebrate, we joyfully acknowledge and recognize the presence of some person, thing, or achievement that delights us. The desire to celebrate is the longing to enter more deeply into the mystery of actuality. Longing is no longer directed away towards an anticipated future. Now, the present moment has blossomed. You really want what you have. You know the blessings and gifts that are around you. Celebration is an attentive and gracious joy of presence. When you celebrate, you are taking time to recognize, to open your eyes and behold in your life the quiet miracles and gifts that seek no attention; yet each day they nourish, shelter, and animate your life. The art of belonging in, with, and to your self is what gives life and light to your presence; it brings a radiance to your countenance and poise to your carriage. When your heart is content, your life can always find the path inwards to this deep stillness in you.

— John O’Donohue from Eternal Echoes

May Today There Be Peace Within

May today there be peace within.

May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.

May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content with yourself just the way you are.

Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.

It is there for each and every one of us.

― Saint Terese of Liseaux

Learn by little the desire for all things

which perhaps is not desire at all

but undying love which perhaps

is not love at all but gratitude

for the being of all things which

perhaps is not gratitude at all

but the maker’s joy in what is made,

the joy in which we come to rest.

- Wendell Berry from Leavings: Poems

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