A few quotes to ponder...

My friend Meredith gave me the book, Shattered Dreams - God's Unexpected Pathway to Hope, a few months back. It's deep, profound and yet sometimes simple in an earth shattering sort of way. It's like the coolness of a fresh breeze that hits you in such a way that you have to take notice. It's the kind of book that I have to take in small doses, too much at once and I might be overwhelmed. I read a few chapters during a 2 day prayer retreat I took Monday and Tuesday. Since I've been sharing about what God has been teaching me thus far in Lent and these quotes are in line with my Relentless Acts of Justice devotionals, I thought I'd share a few for you to ponder...I also thought I'd have a few of the pics that I took while there.

"A profound encounter with pain brings us to make a choice. Either we change or we sink into bitterness, despair or hedonism. Either we accept the fact that life is not all about us and how we feel now and what happens here, or we push back the pain by living for satisfaction of lesser dreams that might come true."

"We are to become aware of better dreams and live for them, not only the better dreams of heaven but the better dream available now of drawing close to God. When we discover our desire for God, we can live for nothing less."

"The search to discover God requires that we abandon ourselves, that we give up control of what matters most and that we place our confidence in someone (God) we can not manage."

I'm so struck by these quotes. For me the connection between them and what I have been reflecting on in terms of the poor is that the poor are connected with their pain. They aren't trying to ignore it or push away from it, but instead have found a deeper connection with God. I'm rich. I have privilege and I have been blessed. But, these past months have been painful and losing family, friends, relationships have caused me to grieve and mourn. I've stepped into pain and this time I am choosing to change and not just push it back for the satisfaction of lesser dreams. My hope is, in that, I will encounter my desire for God in a deeper and more profound way than ever. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the Kingdom of heaven is theirs. I'm learning to embrace my spiritual depravity.