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THE SCALLOP: Reflections on the Journey

Created To Be

PHOTO: unknown
Death was not God’s doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living. To be – for this he created all; the world’s created things have health in them, in them no fatal poison can be found, and Hades holds no power on earth; for virtue is undying. Wisdom 1:13-15

Taken from today's afternoon reading (None)

Yesterday, I shoveled the driveway twice. After working from one end to the other, I looked toward the garage where I had started and saw already another inch had accumulated there. Snow stopped sometime during the night and this morning the white stuff is sparkling under bright sunlight. Even the streets are white, an indication of temperatures too cold for salt to do its work.

Perhaps this verse from Wisdom was more striking being read in the midst of winter. The words made me think of lush spring and early summer when blooms stand atop thick green stems that snap and ooze sappy juice if they are broken. Creation is "juicy" with what sustains it flowing through xylem and phloem, arteries and veins.

And spirit. Or soul. Or whatever we name that which holds the Divine spark that animates us and feeds our deepest selves. Read More 
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Lonely Spring Rain

Spring rains pour down from the night sky soaking the earth and pounding against the roof making a familiar sound. Rainy nights often send me to a good book and a cup of tea, content to spend time quietly, but tonight rain sounds sink into my heart and remind me that I am alone with my book, computer, and thoughts. My stomach aches and my heart is empty as I finish another game of FreeCell.

I have not been alone all day. In the late morning I drove to my new part time job only to discover that the orientation had been canceled. I used some of the unexpected free time to find a pair of dressy black slacks, fifty-percent off. After a year of writing a book on my own schedule and then almost another year looking for work and moving, my wardrobe is tired and faded, not suitable for work.

Around two-thirty I headed home. As I approached the exit near my daughter’s house, I called and offered to pick her up and treat her to a late lunch, thinking we could buy cheap food, return to her place, and visit for a while. Read More 
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Broken but Beautiful

WOMAN'S HEAD, BY KATHRYN HOLT, PHOTO MARY VAN BALEN


Years ago, my daughter sculpted a woman’s head for an art class but forgot to make a hole in the base to allow the escape of heated air. The piece exploded in the kiln, and she was irritated at her oversight. Her instructor, ceramicist Tony Davenport, had a different opinion.

“Don’t worry,” he said as she glued together large pieces that remained. “This may be the best thing that happened to it.”

Kathryn wasn’t sure how to take his remark. Did the hours painstakingly dedicated to creating the head count less towards its artistic merit than the accidental explosion?  Read More 
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My "Yes"

PHOTO: MARY VAN BALEN- Morning Market


This day the Lord, your god, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the Lord: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the Lord is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own.
Dt 26, 16-18a


This morning, when my feet touched the floor and I took a deep breath, I once again entered my sacred agreement with the Holy One: I say “yes” to the gift of my life, whatever it brings, “yes” to God. Today I am making an agreement with God to use my life for good, to follow the example of Jesus, and to avoid actions that allow evil and discord to seep into the world.

The Holy One makes an agreement too: Infinite Love makes me a unique child of God, and we will walk together.

Tonight, when I crawl into bed and burrow under blankets, I know I will have done less good than I might have done and failed more often that I had hoped I would. Yet, I can lay my head on the pillow and rest, assured that God has been faithful to our agreement. I will sleep knowing that despite failure to live up to my end of the bargain, I remain “peculiarly God’s own." When the sun rises I will be offered the agreement once again that day and every day I take a breath.

© 2010 Mary van Balen

e.e.cummings poem i thank You God for most this amazing
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