Scripps Sunday #88- Ushuaia/Antarctica Edition

 two reflections for you today as you go on this grand adventure and soak up so much wonder....

For Beauty in the Mundane God of every beautiful thing, make us people of wonder. Show us how to hold on to nuance and vision when our souls become addicted to pain, to the unlovely. It is far easier to see the gloom and decay; so often it sings a louder song. Attune our hearts to the good still stirring in our midst, not that we would give ourselves to toxic positivity or neglect the pain of the world, but that we would be people capable of existing in the tension. Grant us habits of sacred pause. Let us marvel not just at the grand or majestic, but beauty’s name etched into every ordinary moment. Let the mundane swell with a mystery that makes us breathe deeper still. And by this, may we be sustained and kept from despair. -Cole Arthur Riley, Black Liturgies   The sun was too intense. I could not take in the view without raising my hand to block the disc of the sun. Now I could continue to praise the God who made the light, which, reflected on the water, appeared like a million diamonds. The sun hidden behind my hand was still dominant and strong, with its rays dancing on the sea’s surface. My heart filled with a sense that God was right there with me. And that’s when I became aware of God’s voice within.  I heard not exact words but experienced more of an immediate insight: “I am your Creator, too powerful for you to comprehend. Just as you cannot look directly at the sun, you are not ready to look directly at me. But you see me reflected in myriad ways all around you.” All I could do was marvel and rejoice.  —Loretta Pehanich, "Reflecting God”