Light, truth, humility

Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God’s own nature,
do not return to your former base condition by sinning.
Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member.
Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of
darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God.
St. Leo the Great

(Black eyed Susans / Highland, NC / Julie Cook / 2021

“Once, while I was wondering why Our Lord so dearly loves the virtue
of humility, the thought suddenly struck me, without previous reflection,
that it is because God is the supreme Truth and humility is the truth,
for it is the most true that we have nothing good of ourselves but
only misery and nothingness: whoever ignores this,
lives a life of falsehood. they that realize this fact
most deeply are the most pleasing to God, the supreme Truth,
for they walk in the truth.”
St. Teresa of Avila, p. 175-6
An Excerpt From
Interior Castle

***(the Sheriff’s daycare room is quarantined so the Sheriff will be coming
for a visit during the next couple of days… so I will get back to cookieland
as fast as I can)

wants and fears

“You are asking for something that would be harmful to your salvation if you had it—
so by not getting what you’ve asked, you really are getting what you want.”
St. Catherine of Siena

(black-eyed susans / Rosemary Beach, Fl / 2019)

What really hurts is not so much suffering as the fear of suffering.
If welcomed trustingly and peacefully, suffering makes us grow.
It matures and trains us, purifies us, teaches us to love unselfishly,
makes us poor in heart, humble, gentle, and compassionate toward our neighbor.
Fear of suffering, on the other hand, hardens us in self-protective,
defensive attitudes, and often leads us to make irrational choices with disastrous consequences.”
Fr. Jacques Philippe, p. 47
An Excerpt From
Interior Freedom

revealing God

“We are placed in our different ranks and stations,
not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him.
As Christ has worked, we too have but to labor in them for Him.
As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do his work,
we must rejoice in ours also.”
St. John Neumann

(black-eyed susans / Julie Cook / 2019)

God always gives himself in a concrete sign, in an image.
The whole of creation is an image of God; he speaks in it.
The image that definitively reveals God is Christ.
Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
from God Sent His Son

being mindful of the void

“Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Victor Frankl

He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is,
or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country.
There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country,
who had not before lost the feeling of
moral obligations in his private connections.
Samuel Adams

(blackeyed Susans / Julie Cook / 2016)

“Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so too does the human soul.
As we forget who we are and where we’ve come from, a great
void is being carved out in the soul of the West—
and many other belief systems are seeking to fill the vacuum.
In the ever-expanding marketplace of ideas, it’s no surprise that
“ancient organism and idolatry are making a strong comeback in the midst
of Western civilization”
God and Churchill
Jonathan Sandys & Wallace Henley

…so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11

We choose to celebrate life

Each day holds a surprise.
But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us.
Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise,
whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy.
It will open a new place in our hearts,
a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.
Henri Nouwen

(black eyed susans / Watercolor Beach Resort / Julie Cook / 2016)

To celebrate life is not always an easy option.

For life is not always easy…

Nor is it…
perfect,
happy,
joyful,
or smooth…

Yet we find in its ups and downs, in its ins and outs, in its rhythmic breathing…
our joy.
our peace.
our hope.

We choose to live and let live.
We choose to embrace and be embraced.
We choose to go forward and not back.
We choose Grace…

We are given one more day…
Yesterday is no more
Tomorrow is not guaranteed…

We rejoice or we lament
Yet we live…
and that is the gift..

Celebrate

You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:11

My small gift to you this morning… the joy of a little color

There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
Pablo Picasso

“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”
― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

(Millennial Park, shore of Lake Michigan / Chicago, Illinois / Julie Cook / 2013)

(Open air market flower stall, Boston, Massachusetts / Julie Cook / 2014)

(Boston Massachusetts / Julie Cook / 2014)

(Millennial Park, shore of Lake Michigan / Chicago, Illinois / Julie Cook / 2013)

(Millennial Park, shore of Lake Michigan / Chicago, Illinois / Julie Cook / 2013)

(Millennial Park, shore of Lake Michigan / patch of black eyed susans / Chicago, Illinois / Julie Cook / 2013)