Today marks the first day of the season of Advent in the Christian tradition and lineage. It is a season of inner preparation, waiting, vigilance and finding our own inner deep yes to once again bring forth the Christ Light into the world from the womb of our own awakened hearts. It is a time where a sweet and quiet thread can be found amidst life's demands if we allow ourselves to attune to it. I return year after year to Jan Richardson's words, "The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before. . . So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon." As we enter into the Season of Advent, I invite us all to stay connected to the subtle invitations of this season. . . to find ways to "Stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder." Advent blessings, Heather
Readings from this week's pauses:
Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address Greetings to the Natural World Thanksgiving by Rumi Thanksgiving is sweeter than bounty itself. One who cherishes gratitude does not cling to the gift! Thanksgiving is the true meat of God’s bounty; the bounty is its shell, For thanksgiving carries you to the hearth of the Beloved. Abundance alone brings heedlessness, thanksgiving gives birth to alertness… The bounty of thanksgiving will satisfy and elevate you, and you will bestow a hundred bounties in return. Eat your fill of God’s delicacies, and you will be freed from hunger and begging. "In this new positioning [of hope], the underlying sense of corporateness is physically real, for that "electromagnetic field of love" is the Mercy—and the Mercy is the body of Christ. Through this body hope circulates as a lifeblood. It warms, it fills, it connects, it directs. It is the heart of our own life and the heart of all that lives. Hope's home is at the innermost point in us, and in all things. It is a quality of aliveness. It does not come at the end, as the feeling that results from a happy outcome. Rather, it lies at the beginning, as a pulse of truth that sends us forth. When our innermost being is attuned to this pulse it will send us forth in hope, regardless of the physical circumstances of our lives. Hope fills us with the strength to stay present, to abide in the flow of the Mercy no matter what out storms assail us. It is entered always and only through surrender; that is, through the willingness to let go of everything we are presently clinging to. And yet when we enter it, it enters us and fills us with its own life—a quiet strength beyond anything we have ever known." — Cynthia Bourgeault, Mystical Hope
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