Potent Paul 5/19/09

A subscriber contributed this poem from Emily Dickinson: They might not need me - yet they might -I’ll let my heart remain in sight -A skill so small as mine might bePrecisely their necessity - I find this strangely compelling, and a reminder that it’s not about my skill but about remaining available and trusting that somehow what I have may be enough for the moment it’s needed. —————————————————————Your contributions are also welcome. in Christ’s love,rosie b

Potent Pause 5/13/09

Earth’s crammed with heaven
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes -
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, excerpted in inwardoutward.org

Potent Pause 1/28/09

potentpause: a weekly invitation to re-center

“Actually the silence is already in you, waiting. It’s good to really sink into it. Slowly the scariness goes away; you discover a whole new land within. Under your anxieties and fears, underneath the noise, away from your iPods, cell phones and e-mail messages, there’s a pool of silence. When you look into that pool you see the face of God.

If you go to that place often you will be anointed with joy.

Joy, I’ve noticed, can persist even in the darkest times. Novelist Eugenia Price wrote: ‘Joy is God in the marrow of our bones.’ It’s a deep well, in other words. It’s more than just fleeting happiness but a presence that keeps company with you even in the midst of your sorrows.

So I invite you just as I daily invite myself: Remember to pause.”

- Macrina Wiederkehr in an interview with NCROnline.