We hope for this world to be better. We work for this world to be better. But, along the way, we realize: it does not all depend on us. “Awake to Wonder,” digital painting with collage by Lisle Gwynn Garrity, A Sanctified Art LLC, SanctifiedArt.org.
Jesus comes to change the current of the river.
Like Hannah, the people are now crying out to God, and the Gospel of Mark is providing them the assurance: God remembers us. Hope is not lost. Love never ends. Grace is from everlasting to everlasting. Painting: “Hannah at Prayer” by Wilhelm Wachtel (1875-1942)
God’s Love is found in unlikely places. It shows up in the shadows. It is there in the valley. It has the same Grit as Ruth’s commitment, and it has the same Grace as the widow’s faithfulness.
We all need to name our sadness and loss, because the gift of Love is the burden of grief—and the other side of grief is Grace.
Bartimaeus — who was living with blindness — saw something that others did not.
We need to practice inconvenience regularly, as a way to honor the people around us, to cultivate the Community of Faith, to serve the needs of others, and — most of all — to experience the Joy of God.
When we look over the fence at somebody else’s life, it sometimes makes us feel like there is a deficit in our own—like something is missing. But, gratitude is different. Gratitude focuses our eyes on what is there in our lives—thankful for all that is present. And, our giving is rooted in our gratitude.
Because God is mindful of us, we can find God — and God can find us — wherever we are. We are never alone.
The Grace of God, which gave Life to Creation and has the Power to Transform our lives — and that Sustains us each and every day — can be found in small tasks.