Scripps Sunday #98- Ushuaia Edition

I wanted to pass back a few of my favorite pictures from your South American album that you’ve shared, hoping they will inspire you to take some time as you wrap up your time there to feel grounded and to continue to soak it up. Look around. Remember those things that give you life. Breathe. Love the world deeply. (Mary Oliver's poem below will help you lean into this!) 

As I looked at these again, I am struck with how you have literally plunged into this experience with your all. You have soaked up and shared with us the beauty of the ice, the family, the movement, the food, the sunshine, the mountains, the colors, the water, the penguins (including the hilarious juvenile emperor penguins), the exploration. You have developed new skills in language and learning about yourself and the world around you. You have shown kindness and thoughtfulness and love (Mickey Mouse!), and you have made time to talk about lizards.... 

Mindful

by Mary Oliver

Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

and one more thing.... 

I wrote this in my journal today from my spiritual direction this week and have a hunch that some of this might resonate: 

Généreux- a word that means open-handed, lavish, big-hearted, kind, generous, bounteous, and ungrudging.

Such generosity begins with God, as Psalm 51 calls out: “Generous in love, God give grace.”

1 Chronicles 29:14 rightly humbles me reminding me of this truth: “Everything comes from you, and we have given only what comes from your hand.”  

Such generosity is not a lesson to be learned but a wisdom and a freedom to be lived into.

Such generosity is a response to God’s amazing grace.

May I wake up each morning with a greater capacity to grow in generosity.

May I find opportunities for generosity towards others and myself.

Whatever comes to mind that brings anxiety or regret or uncertainty,

may I first remember God’s generosity and open my hands.

Rather than clinched fists holding on tightly to my own expectations or perfectionism,

may I be ready to receive the grace that is before me.

May I take a deep breath and exhale to express letting go…

and then pause to remain breathless for a moment to express letting be…

and finally inhale to express letting the Spirit come to fill me up.

May I see that life is no longer a thing to be fixed or managed but instead a response to the généreux love of God.