Category: Morgan, Mary Anne

Spoon Chimes

Sr. DorceeLeave a comment

Originally posted on Mary Ann Morgan’s blog:

365 PROJECT 2016

Day 91 Spoon Chimes

April 2, 2016

Singing

You wouldn’t notice them except on windy days. They are hidden in the weeping cherry, hanging by the garden and dancing on the lowest branches of the oak out front. There are spoon chimes all over our yard. He made them for me from a box a spoons leftover from a church project. He knows how much I love the sound they make.

I want to be a chime, sitting at the ready for the Spirit to move me. But I need to bump into other chimes to actually sing. A chime will never make a sound swinging solo on the most blustery days. We need each other. That’s the way God set it up. He designed us for dependence on him and for community.

I think about this on the lonely days.

There are days that this house echoes with a quiet that is hard to bear. What keeps me from the friendship I crave? Probably fear. It is strange that when we need others most, we feel the least presentable. My house is in utter chaos with 9 puppies and all the poo and pee that comes with them. I wash blankets from morning until midnight daily. On top of that the normal housework has been seriously neglected as well as our own laundry. Inviting someone into this mess feels preposterous.

This adds to the grief I am already sorting through. To surrender to this fear might bind me to a silence that was not meant for me. I was made to sing within a beautiful community, offering a song while rubbing elbows with others.

Like the spoon chimes we need each other to truly become what we were made to be.

Psalm 133 ~”How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live in harmony! For harmony is as precious as the fragrant anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head and ran down onto his beard and onto the border of his robe. Harmony is as refreshing as the dew on Mount Hermon, on the mountains of Israel.”

“broken prayer”

Sr. DorceeLeave a comment

Guest blogger: Mary Anne Morgan.  Love her blog.

broken prayer

all rights reserved Mary Anne Morgan
all rights reserved Mary Anne Morgan

To me, this is what freedom looks like. This leaf, done with gathering its own glory is the perfect window in which to view the true glory. When I found this fragile beauty in my yard last week I immediately bent down to pick it up. It held within its tender frame the similar magnetic powers of a newborn child, with vulnerability it’s greatest strength. This paradox sends me swooning and I want to be like this leaf.

Let me be like this Father. Let there be nothing in me to hold on to offense when the enemy of my soul slings it unreservedly in my direction. Let hurt pass right through me so that it never grows into bitterness and resentment, thus rotting my bones.  Let there be nothing in me that insults and injustice can stick to, only you who fills the broken spaces.

Yes Father fill the broken spaces.

You can read the rest here.

 

Some things I have learned to do

Sr. DorceeLeave a comment

Reblogged from Mary Ann Morgan:

It was one of those days. I never saw the ledge, but I surely stepped off and fell right into the darkness. I am surprised by these dark days and I am grateful that they are more the exception and not the rule anymore. For a brief period of my life, they were my normal. For a season — an awful season — I found myself swirling, spiraling into the blackness every day.

If this is something you know well, I am so sorry. Here are some things I have learned to do when these days come.

1. Rest. Sometimes I just need to pull back from the stresses of life and rest. Giving myself permission to take a nap or a walk instead of working incessantly can do wonders for me.

2. Remember. This is just a day. This will not last forever. I remember God’s goodness in my life and ask for his perspective. Mine is obviously skewed and I need to know things from his point of view. Counting gifts does wonders for the heart.

3. Reach out. When I am feeling this way, the last thing I want to do is reach out to my friends. I don’t know why we are like this. Maybe pride? Fear? I have to remind myself of the times others have reached out to me in need and how it endeared them to me. We love to help others. Why would I deny someone the joy of being my friend when I need them?

It’s days like this I miss my daddy most. I just want to call him and hear his voice again. “Hey Mary Babe” he would always say. He was always so glad to hear my voice. I loved chatting with him about the flowers. He was a gardener and we shared a love for planting things. He would always tell me what was coming up in his yard. The tulips I planted for him are coming up around my birdhouse now. I just want to tell him about them, “Dad, I planted Tulips for you. They are red, your favorite color.”

I miss my dad, and it’s okay to cry about it. I think I can finally do that.

If you have had a hard day, or a bad week, my heart aches for you. I think we  go through things sometimes just so we can be a better friend to others. Compassion sews threads of kindness into the lives of others. We cannot have it if we have not experienced pain of some sort in our own lives. Know this: God is with you and he loves you dearly. He is present with you and he will give you just what you need. You are not alone. Ever.

Psalm 34:4-7 ~

“I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
    He freed me from all my fears.
 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
    no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
    he saved me from all my troubles.
 For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
    he surrounds and defends all who fear him.”

He gave me a cowboy

Sr. DorceeLeave a comment

A guest post today: (“You need some smile today.”)

It can happen so fast, the forgetting. I forget how to laugh, how to play. I forget who I truly am. I wake up not even needing the to do list I left on the counter the night before. It is etched in my mind and weighs on me like a mountain. There is so much that needs to be done. I simply cannot remember what is important anymore. The urgent has taken over the important. I blurt out questions to my husband as fast as they come into my mind. I begin to cry. I need help with this business thing I am trying to do.

Trying. To. Do.

I put in a load of laundry, make a few phone calls, and end up back in the kitchen thinking about that endless list when my phone chirps from my back pocket. It is a text from my husband. “You need some smile today. I’m going to saddle up Sam for you.” I didn’t even hear him leave the house. Glancing out the window, I can see him down at the barn tightening the girth around Sam’s fuzzy middle. A smile edges in slightly around my worried mouth. I exhale that breath I have been holding in all day.

Read the rest here.