The 60-Second Sabbath

Happy Halloween!

 

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All Hallow's Eve

When creeping vines crawl up your leg,
    when parasites deposit eggs,
when ghosties play at mumblety-peg,
    oh, my, it's Halloween!

When rattling bones awake at night,
    when unseen hands turn off the lights,
when rising mists obscure your sight,
    dear me, it's Halloween!

When witches gather in the park,
    when waning fires shoot out last sparks,
when bare-branched trees grab in the dark,
    hooray, it's Halloween!

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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List

 

Things I'm handling well today:

1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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For Whom Are You Looking?

In John's version of the Jesus story,
    immediately following the resurrection,
the risen Christ's first question--
    posed to Mary Magdalene--
is:

    Why are you weeping?

Christ's next question:

    For whom are you looking?

For me,
    this time in our history
(as a nation, as a world)
    brings profound sorrow:

    I grieve our deep divisions,
        our hateful rhetoric,
    our failure to address injustice,
        the slow erosion of freedom,
    lost innocence,
        trampled values,
            forgotten ideals.

And Jesus says to me:

    Why are you weeping?

For all of this loss, loving Lord.
    For the heart-crushing absence of hope.

And then Christ asks me:

    But for whom are you looking?

For whom am I looking?

    Yes,
        for whom do you turn for hope?
            for deliverance?
                for transformation?
                    for life?
        to world and national leaders?
            spiritual and church leaders?

I have given up looking.

    For whom was Mary looking
        that morning when all of creation
    pivoted from death to life?

She sought you.

    And why, do you suppose?

Because therein lies life,
    hope,
        meaning,
            a future.

    Here, now, in this moment?

Yes, here, now, in this moment.

----

Are you, reader, also grieving?

Jesus asks you, as well:

    Why are you weeping?

And further:

    For whom are you looking?

For all who weep,
    whether we realize it or not,
we are looking for the risen Christ--
    here, now, in this moment.

And Christ is here to be found,
    closer than our own breath.

And therein lies life and light.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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Unsolicted Advice

Slow down.
    Breathe.
        Be.

In the slowing,
    in the breathing,
        in the being,

regain focus,
    know peace,
        feel Presence.

Slow down,
    Breathe.
        Be.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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On Being Perfect

"Be perfect, therefore,
    as your heavenly Father is perfect."
                                    (Matthew 5:48)

This line,
    spoken by Jesus,
is the summary statement
    for a host of collected teachings of Jesus,
including the Beatitudes.
    So, with this context in mind,
what does it mean to be perfect like God?

    Act with humility.
        Love.
    Speak honestly.
        Forget about getting even.
    Make peace.
        Extend grace.

In other words,
    display these God-like qualities,
and "be perfect."

"Be perfect" isn't a call to sinlessness
    (as we've often thought,
and which we know, as humans, is impossible),
    but to carry God's compassion everywhere.

This may bring a sense of relief--
    I could never have been perfect!--
but it also removes the excuse--
    Since I could never be perfect, why even try?--
and leaves you with the doable challenge--
    Hard as it is, I can be more honest,
        more compassionate,
            less vengeful,
        more generous,
            humbler,
        kinder...

So go out there and be perfect today,
    just like God...

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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Cockwomble

Every now and then
    a word comes along
brilliantly articulating
    what I could not.

    Cockwomble.

"A person, usually male, 
    prone to making
        outrageously stupid statements
        and/or inappropriate behavior
   while generally having
        a high opinion 
        of their own wisdom and importance."
                                    (Urban Dictionary) 

The term is Scottish
    and was popularized recently
when Donald Trump
    congratulated the Scotts
on voting for independence,
    when, in fact,
they voted to remain in the EU.

"Cockwomble," they said.

----

How to keep from becoming a cockwomble?

It's pretty simple:
    practice the highly regarded,
biblical virtue of humility.

Don't be a cockwomble.
    Be like Christ.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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Autumn

The wind
    rearranges the leaves
        in our driveway.

It gathers them in a line
    against the garage door.

It rushes them out to the sidewalk.

A pause...
    they return,
        a scratching, skittering whirlpool
            beside my parked car.

And they're off again,
    an arc of fall color
        flowing up and into the street,
            under and around a privileged, passing pickup.

And then the whole lot of them--
    all drama and joy and wonder--
        lift up and over the neighbor's lawn,
            disappearing beyond their roof.

Ah, autumn!

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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Courage

What is courage?

Do you have it?
    Do I?

Doing the right thing
    in the face of difficulties.

That's courage.

Speaking the truth
    when others do not want to hear it.

That's courage.

Offering love and compassion
    when it can't be returned.

That's courage.

Moving forward with boldness
    when the outcome is uncertain.

That's courage.

Persevering
    when others fail to share your vision.

That's courage.

Following God's leading
    when you have no inkling of the destination.

That's courage.

Being fully and transparently you
    in a world that wants you to be something other.

That's courage.

Stepping off the cliff
    into the holy, unknown abyss.

That's courage.

Do you have courage?
    Do I?

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

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God's Imagination

God has a marvelous imagination.

Just think of a butterfly...
    a giraffe...
    a wombat...

Or how about the humble amoeba...
    a fiery volcano...
    an immense galaxy...

God's imagination
    outreaches ours;
we cannot imagine
    what God imagines.
God's imagination
    dumbfounds us.

All of creation--
    an expression of God's marvelous imagination.

Which means, of course:

    You are an expression of God's marvelous imagination.
        God imagines you into being.
    In this very moment.
        Wonder of wonder.

Imagine that!

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Have you ordered your copy of Contemplative Vision: Photography as a Spiritual Practice? 
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