The Created Order as Sacrament

The Created Order as Sacrament

When God took on flesh in Jesus Christ, the uncreated and the created, the eternal and the temporal, the divine and the human became united. This unity meant that all that is mortal now points to the immortal, all that is finite now points to the infinite. In and through Jesus all creation has become like a splendid veil, through which the face of God is revealed to us.

This is called the sacramental quality of the created order. All that is is sacred because all that is speaks of God's redeeming love. Seas and winds, mountains and trees, sun, moon, and stars, and all the animals and people have become sacred windows offering us glimpses of God.

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These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey

Keeping It Together

Some days I need a reminder of this, especially when anxiety feels as if its pulling me apart...

Keeping It Together

How can we not lose our souls when everything and everybody pulls us in the most different directions? How can we "keep it together" when we are constantly torn apart?

Jesus says: "Not a hair of your head will be lost. Your perseverance will win you your lives" (Luke 21:18-19). We can only survive our world when we trust that God knows us more intimately than we know ourselves. We can only keep it together when we believe that God holds us together. We can only win our lives when we remain faithful to the truth that every little part of us, yes, every hair, is completely safe in the divine embrace of our Lord. To say it differently: When we keep living a spiritual life, we have nothing to be afraid of.

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These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

Learning day-to-day

I went for a walk/jog today in my neighborhood. On my way around the park, I started noticed these spiky green balls all over the ground…and then I saw it:

A little piece of home to greet me :)

I’m amazed at how much I’m learning here every day about life and culture in the UK. You would think it was fairly similar to life in the states, wouldn’t you? A few small pieces of wisdom I’m acquired lately…

1. Today I found a little red post box pillar around the corner on my way to the park. I think these are much cuter than our big blue boxes in the states.
2. All the Brits keep telling me the weather has turned ‘autumny’ which confuses me. The windy, drizzly, chilly weather we’re having seems quite similar to the weather I experienced in June here… Now if they claimed the crunching of dead leaves under my feet were the sign, I’d have to agree.
3. I get to use words now like ‘blimey’ and ‘crackin’ which is just plain fun.
4. I’ve never lived in a multi-cultural place. Though I’ve lived in Africa, usually there’s only one or two races other than mine that I’ve come across regularly. Here I’m surrounded by faces, clothing, and languages that are completely new. It is rare that I walk down the street or sit on the bus and hear the same language twice or hear English for that matter. And I love it!

Now back to my day of laundry, unknotting a skein of yarn, and waiting for my husband to come home from work! I’m already wishing that buckeye was made of peanut butter and chocolate…but it’s a blessing from heaven that its not! ;)

Meeting God in the Poor

Meeting God in the Poor

When we are not afraid to confess our own poverty, we will be able to be with other people in theirs. The Christ who lives in our own poverty recognises the Christ who lives in other people's. Just as we are inclined to ignore our own poverty, we are inclined to ignore others'. We prefer not to see people who are destitute, we do not like to look at people who are deformed or disabled, we avoid talking about people's pains and sorrows, we stay away from brokenness, helplessness, and neediness.

By this avoidance we might lose touch with the people through whom God is manifested to us. But when we have discovered God in our own poverty, we will lose our fear of the poor and go to them to meet God.

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These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

Our Poverty, God's Dwelling Place

Our Poverty, God's Dwelling Place

How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves: "What is my poverty?" Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence? Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place where God wants to dwell! "How blessed are the poor," Jesus says (Matthew 5:3). This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty.

We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity to discover God, who dwells in it. Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden.

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Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

A blanket made with love :)

Mark & I just received a wedding gift in the mail - an amazingly creative & beautiful afghan crocheted by our friend, Kristi Pearson. Thanks Kristi - we love it! 

Choosing Life

Choosing Life

God says, "I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

"Choose life." That's God's call for us, and there is not a moment in which we do not have to make that choice. Life and death are always before us. In our imaginations, our thoughts, our words, our gestures, our actions ... even in our nonactions. This choice for life starts in a deep interior place. Underneath very life-affirming behaviour I can still harbour death-thoughts and death-feelings. The most important question is not "Do I kill?" but "Do I carry a blessing in my heart or a curse?" The bullet that kills is only the final instrument of the hatred that began being nurtured in the heart long before the gun was picked up.

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Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

{ampersand} � jennie and mark

{ampersand} � jennie and mark

Our Wedding Stationary!!!

Please check out Ampersand - these ladies do incredible work and are creative geniuses. Plus, they're just really fantastic people!

I loved how they incorporated our long distance relationship into the design. Our favorite piece was the Save the Date.

Do you have a favorite?

A new look, a continued journey

I'm officially settled with Mark in Manchester now. Such a long way from my last post in mid-May! We finished up our time in Africa, traveled to the UK & visited friends and family, then onto the US for more visiting and to plan our wedding!

On August 1st, we vowed our lives to each other witnessed by a small group of family and friends in Genesee, Colorado. It was a fabulous day of celebration! We had so much fun and enjoyed sharing Joy and Love with our community. Following the wedding we spent a week in the Rockies, then drove away from Colorado with my car packed to the brim, saying farewell (at least for now) to my home-base for the past 8 years. We enjoyed a road trip through South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, & Chicago where we enjoyed quality time with new and old friends and Mark about wore out the camera with his constant snapping!

After a week of time with my family in Ohio, we flew off to Manchester - our home! Now I'm job searching while Mark starts his first day at the Boaz Trust today. I thought updating here was good and necessary, especially after such a long hiatus. 

I look forward to updating more on here. Though not at exotic as Africa, there is still much to be shared here, I hope you'll still follow along on our journey! The adventure continues, and as we journey with God it is definitely never going to be boring!