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| From: https://www.sparklesofsunshine.com/beauty-for-ashes-free-printable/ |
I went into a Centering Prayer time with Meditation Chapel this morning for a 25-minute sit. I want to sit twice a day this spring. I don't want to be legalistic about it, but I am reading this book, Practicing the Pause: Jesus Contemplative Practice, New Brain Science, and What it Means to be Fully Human, and reading about her excellent explanations of brain Science combined with contemplative practices and how this relates to Centering Prayer and Thomas Keating's explanation of "Emotional Programs for Happiness" are pretty concise and brilliant. I am also combining it with what I have been learning from Michael Sullivant in the course I took last summer called The Other Half of Church and the current one I am almost done with going through the book Renovated. Then thinking about Michael talking about how our amygdala leaks joy from past trauma and even current things happening. That's why the "Activating Joy" exercise has been so powerful with people and myself. I think this overlaps with the "Golden Moments" that he purports, but the Life Model Works people don't really know about Contemplative Practices that much and how people have been doing these things for centuries.
I am still figuring that all out, but today, my mind did wander during Centering Prayer (I let go of the thought, but I am coming back to it now in this freewrite), and this verse came to mind:
He gives beauty for ashes
The oil of JOY for mourning
A garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness
That we might be trees of righteousness
A planting for the Lord
That He might be glorified.
(I am more going by the words of the song from the 70s - I will look up the actual verse after this freewrite.)
Here is the actual verse in the NIV that is closest to the song above:
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:3)
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:3)
I am thinking about the "Activating Joy" exercise, and how many of my joyful moments and "Golden Memories" were encounters with BEAUTY. There is something about seeing a sunset, looking out over a lake, or seeing the moon on the water that brings me into raptures of JOY.
I think about the OIL OF JOY for mourning and think about how Michael talks about how our amygdala "leaks joy" and how we can pour joy into it by recalling memories of joy.
Then at the end of the time of Centering, she read this Mary Oliver poem (the beginning is commentary from the blog I found it on that I will link after I am done with this freewrite.):
In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left."
Don't Hesitate
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
by Mary Oliver
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
It is about living into the joy of the present moment, giving into it, and I think that this is valid and goes with the brain science and how God wired us. He wants to give us joy.
It also relates to the Order of the Mustard Seed Prayer Watch I was just in, and how we talked about Sabbath, and how the Pharisees condemned Jesus, and I think there was joy in His life that they wanted to squelch and squeeze out.
I am done and must get up!
BYE.
BYE.
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