It is good to sing praises to you,
Mother of all creation.
And to recognize the touch of your love…
We are in awe of your power.
When the seasons turn, the growing warmth
reminds us of your warmth
The flowing waters remind us
of the life which comes from you.
Thank you, Mother of us all, help us
to keep your love in our hearts and to love your creation.
-From Psalm 147
What is bringing you life today?
The blackberries in my garden have finished their abundant season. Until next year, there will be no more purple-stained fingers, no more tart cobbler, no more daily hunt for the ripest berries in the thicket. Their brief annual presence in my life is a marvel of summer, and a reminder that all things have their season.
-Rev. Dr. Michael Tino (CLF)
What is a seasonal wonder in your life?
“It is in the small things we see it.
The child’s first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
wallowing up the sidewalk.”
-From “Courage,” by Anne Sexton
When has an act of courage awed you?
We breathe in. And we breathe out.
With our breaths, we focus our minds.
With our breaths, we renew our intentions toward all of creation.
With our breaths, we give life to our bodies.
With our breaths, we spark our thoughts, we make possible our songs, we share substance with those around us, we connect with all beings, and we move with the wind.
With our breaths, we inspire and are inspired. Spirit moves into us. Spirit moves out of us. Spirit moves through us.
Focus on your breathing today in a way that makes you feel inspired and connected.
Science, by its very nature, includes mystery and wonder. I know this—I have experienced it myself. Many times as a graduate student, I holed myself up in a small, dark room with a very large microscope for hours as I experimented on immune cells taken from lungs. My experiments centered on the movement of those cells, and on testing whether the proteins I studied stimulated those cells to move. It was amazing and humbling to understand that the things I did on the large scale made those cells move on the microscopic one. There, in that small, dark room, looking at those very tiny cells, I could not help but be overwhelmed by my connection to a vast and unfathomable universe. I could not help but be filled with a sense of mystery, wonder and awe.
-Rev. Dr. Michael Tino (CLF)
Think about a scientific discovery that is awesome to you.
