Observing Creation: A New Spiritual Practice to Help Us Live in the Present Moment

Observing Creation: A New Spiritual Practice to Help Us Live in the Present Moment

Mary Anne Seibert

"Here's a suggestion for you today. At some point, stop. Gaze at something God has created. Take in its shape and form, color, movement, and intricacies. It could be a single bud on an autumnal flower, an animal or bird, a shapely fruit, or flowing water. Gaze at it long enough to see through it to its source: God—so majestic, infinitely creative, and miraculously generous in sharing these traces of God's glory with us."—Br. Curtis Almquist, Society of Saint John the Evangelist.

Brother Almquist offers us a new spiritual practice. He invites us to gaze at something in creation: a tree, a flower, a bird, a river, the rain, the snow, until we see the Creator in it. We might call it Observo divina. This will be a new practice for today. It all started yesterday when we saw two fawns of similar ages with a single doe in our backyard. We were mesmerized by the fawns' awkward gait, curiosity, and their seemingly delighted exploration of a new world at every turn.

This practice is another way to learn to live in the present moment. This is where God meets us, in the present moment.

Today, as I write, a lone male deer with huge antlers passes by my window. He takes my breath away. Once, multiple deer passed by my window, but now visits are infrequent. The buck is probably headed across the street to join many other deer living in the woods behind our son and his wife's house. There, I know he will be just as welcome as he was here. In fact, all the images were taken by our daughter-in-law, Mary Anne Seibert. As he walks by majestically, I think of a scene from the movie The Queen, when Elizabeth II encounters a beautiful deer. They simply look at each other and admire one another. They seem to see the beauty of creation in the other.

mary anne seibert

This is also what we do for each person we meet today. We look into their hearts to see Christ, God, and the Spirit within them. Our task is to see the Creator in all creation and to praise and give thanks for it.  

We start with lovable things until we can finally see creation in those with whom we have difficulty. Take heart. Sometimes it may take more than a lifetime. But God never gives up on us, living beside us in the present moment and placing so much beauty before us that we cannot help but stop, notice, and give thanks. 

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

We Celebrated the Early Risers Yesterday on August 3rd: The Myrrh-Bearing Women Who Came to the Empty Tomb

We Celebrated the Early Risers on August 3rd: The Myrrh-Bearing Women Who Came to the Empty Tomb

Myrrh Bearer Uncut Mountain Supply Icon Company

"Wisdom is radiant and unfading,

and she is easily discerned by those who love her,

and is found by those who seek her.

She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.

One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty,

for she will be found sitting at the gate."—Wisdom 6:12-14.

Many of my spiritual friends are early risers. Early morning is their time to read, meditate, or write before the day's business begins. I once walked around our neighborhood in the early morning before heading to the hospital to work. Now I look out a floor-to-ceiling picture window, watching and waiting for the sun to rise and for cardinals, blue jays, and woodpeckers to appear at my feeder. 

Joanna ES Campbell

At the beach, I like to sit outside and feel night give way to day. I look forward to the Gulf breeze and to watching the water creatures gather to begin their day. The Gulf is their home. They are local. We are visitors. The lone osprey circles high above the waves. The single blue heron swoops in and slowly struts on his stilts toward the early-morning fishermen at the water's edge, hoping to receive their small rejections. The pelicans fly in military formation, so close to the waves that they must constantly get their feathers wet. 

Sunrise Montana. Sally Klein

The early risers are like the myrrh-bearing women at the empty tomb on Easter morning, whose feast day we celebrate on August 3rd. They rise early, living in the present moment, unaware of what they will find. Each new morning offers the possibility of a resurrection experience, a new beginning—and they will find it daily as the sun rises majestically above the horizon with its color guard, especially on Sunday mornings.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

The Odyssey: When Hospitality to Strangers Is Forsaken

 The Odyssey: When Hospitality to Strangers is Forsaken

Guest Writer: Larry Burton

Have you seen Christopher Nolan’s new movie based on The Odyssey? We are going, but we haven’t seen it yet. However, I’ve read a batch of more philosophical articles about the film and am captivated by a theme that runs through several of them, namely what happens when virtue—especially hospitality to the stranger—is forsaken.

Much is made of the ancient virtue of hospitality and civility toward the stranger. This was attributed to Zeus—though Nolan doesn’t make much of the gods—and served as a way of managing intergroup relationships.

David French, a columnist for the NY Times—and a Christian—raised the issue yesterday: What happens when there are no moral norms or virtues? Peter Werner, in the Atlantic, references Nietzsche on this, then continues, “But Nietzsche was at least honest about the cost of the revolution he heralded. With God dead, he warned, the morality built on God might collapse as well, and into the gap meaninglessness, fanaticism, and substitute faiths could rush in. Nietzsche declared, with some sorrow, the death of God. Many of his heirs gleefully practice their cruelty in God’s name.”

We have a few Atheist friends—mostly scientific—who, despite the lack of God, nevertheless hold to certain virtues, like honesty and trust. I guess what bothers me most is not atheists but people who claim to be Christian yet whose primary “virtue” is might makes right. As one who taught Aristotle, Kant, and the utilitarians, I recognize there are secular options, and though there are issues with each of these major approaches, each still has a grounding in human dignity and respect.

If you see the movie, I hope you’ll find some friends with whom you can chew on its moral message…if you think there is one.

Hoping you are not under the heat dome.

Love, blessings, and peace,

Larry Burton

Joanna joannaseibert.com