The 60-Second Sabbath

A Thought about Sin

There is one good thing about sin.

It's often the gateway
    to grace and mercy,

which in turn lead to
    reconciliation and healing,

which in turn lead to
    connection and true presence.

Where would we be without sin?

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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On the Ego

Ego will,
    in the name of religion
(Christian or otherwise),
    keep us from honest self-discovery
(which is part of the journey of faith).

Ego is a narcissist.
    The last thing ego wants
is to see the self with its warts and weaknesses.
    Ego likes to maintain the illusion
of perfection and control.

Therefore, the ego,
    fed by religion,
finds others at fault,
    demonizes other faiths,
projects evil from self onto others,
    and disenfranchises those who are different,
those it doesn't understand.

Protected in its fragile bubble of
    compartmentalized, unexamined beliefs,
surrounded by similarly inclined egos,
    the ego rests secure--
contentedly, dangerously secure,

until it runs up against the Christ.

Then....POP!!!

God is the opposite of ego.

God is the POPosite of ego.

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

Jesus came as a human being
    to demonstrate what it means
        to be a human being.

He didn't come
    as some sort of super-angel.

He didn't ride in on clouds
    tossing out religious pamphlets,
        then swooping back up to heaven.

He didn't set up shop
    like the great and powerful Oz.

No, he came as a human being,
    under remarkably humble circumstances,
        to show us how to be
            truly, peculiarly human.

Was his focus,
    "Here's how to get to heaven"?

No, over and over he modeled,
    "Here's how to be human--
        to love and serve others--
            here and now."

You're already all the spiritual being you need to be,
    now learn to be a human one.

They may just be one and the same.

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

Growing in the life of faith?

Then you've discovered
    the joy and freedom found in

        unlearning,

letting go of religious beliefs and behaviors
        that block your path to the Divine,

shedding the accretion of delusions and half-truths
        that blind you to God's beauty and grace,

scraping off the barnacles 
        stuck to the hull of your soul.

Unlearning returns us
    to simple encounter,
        wonder,
            trust
                and gratitude.

Growing in the faith, in turns out,
    is more about unlearning
        than learning.

Unlearning invites us
    to simply be with God,
        basking in pure, unfiltered presence.

What might you unlearn today?

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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Holiness

Stop trying to be holy.

You already are holy.

The Divine indwells you,
    so of course you are holy--
not perfect, mind you
    (because who would want to be?),
but definitely,
    infinitely,
beautifully
    holy.

Your essential self:
    holy,
at peace,
    enough.

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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Friday Prayer

God,
    take my scattered, small life,
        my battered, broken body,
            my jumping, monkey mind,
                my aching, yearning heart,
    and wrap me in your Divine Comforter.

    Draw me into that endless circle
        that is Love,
            that is you.

Amen.

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? 
Follow this link: https://www.churchpublishing.org/contemplativevision

Friday Prayer

God,
    take my scattered, small life,
        my battered, broken body,
            my jumping, monkey mind,
                my aching, yearning heart,
    and wrap me in your Divine Comforter.

    Draw me into that endless circle
        that is Love,
            that is you.

Amen.

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? 
Follow this link: https://www.churchpublishing.org/contemplativevision

Suffering

We suffer
    when we are not in control.
Loss of control = suffering.

Suffering hurts, of course,
    and we typically rail against it.

But is there an upside to suffering?

There is when it knocks us off center,
    out of the safety
of our ignorance and complacency,
    out of that place
where we are sure we are correct and justified.

Suffering offers the potential
    to change us,
and we all need changing.

We all need changing.

Or, one might say,
    we all need transforming,
perhaps even redeeming.

Now, I'm no fan of suffering.
    I feel, at times,
overwhelmed,
    not only by my suffering,
but that of those around me,
    around our nation,
around our world,
    certainly in the suffering
of the last year...
    so much pain, loss, anger, judgement,
ignorance, intolerance, selfishness,
    confusion, fracturing.

And while I don't feel comfortable
    justifying the suffering of others,
I am comfortable acknowledging
    the redemptive possibilities in my own.

Being knocked off my ideological pedestals,
    being shoved out of the circle of self-righteous arrogance--
how is this not a good thing?
    Suffering accomplishes this.

Here I am,
    once again flat on my face,
humbled and helpless.
    I look up and see the extended hand,
the hand of God.

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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The Crack

A crack appears in my soul.

I welcome this.
    I have been waiting.
It is time.

From that crack
    a trickle of water begins to flow,
bubbling up,
    pure and cold,
crystalline.

What was dry and dying
    greens again.

It runs down my parched throat.
    It quenches.
Ah, to swallow again,
    to no longer taste dust.

Cells plump.
    Blood, thinned, pumps once more
through vein and artery,
    heart and mind.

It heals.
    What was red, crusty, tight,
calms, loosens, smooths.
    It soothes.

It breaks through clogs,
    washes away blockages,
carries off what burdens and constricts.

It sloshes and burbles,
    hisses and plashes--
such jubilant sound!

A crack appears in my soul.
    May it ever widen.
May I drown in its torrent,
    this Water of Life.

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? 
Follow this link: https://www.churchpublishing.org/contemplativevision

Love...

Love
    be the song
        that sings
            in and through me.

Love
    be the fire
        that burns
            and consumes me.

Love
    be the pain
        that refines
            and reveals me.

Love
    be the light
        that shines
            from within me.

Love
    be the joy
        that delights
            and renews me.

Love
    be the song
        that sings
            in and through me.

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? 
Follow this link: https://www.churchpublishing.org/contemplativevision