Wednesday, December 9, 2009

hands



Colleen just put this picture up on facebook today, and when i looked at it i was immediately taken back to the moment that she took it. She and i were having a serious conversation about something, and all of the sudden she just stopped and told me to hold still, and she started snapping away with her camera. It's funny how seeing a picture can make you feel what you were feeling in that moment. It happens to me all the time when i look at my pictures from Italy. But this picture especially made me feel something that I had forgotten about. That weekend we spent in Iowa was one of the best weekends i had all semester. So much joy, and so much genuineness. I felt like every single person i came into contact with that weekend was so willing to share, and give of themselves, and that had been the first time in a long time that i was willing to do the same. Looking at this picture helped me to remember how important it is, when that perfect shot, or a beautiful moment comes along to just stop and be taken in by it. To hold it, and let it be, even just for a minute. This past Sunday at the interior life seminar we were talking about the difference between meditation and contemplation. Sr. Loredana explained that meditation is like a botanist looking at a flower. In order to better understand it he disects it and looks at each part, using all of the knowledge that he's acquired to really understand it. This is meditation- it is primarily in our minds. Contemplation on the other hand is when a poet looks at a flower. He doesn't analyze, he doesn't break it down- he is TAKEN by the flower. He lets it BE in it's beauty, and he is captured by it. When we are led into contemplation by God, we are taken by Him, and his beauty. looking at this picture is a challenge to me to live in that way daily. Instead of passing by the beauty that God places before me, instead of breaking it apart to try to understand, i need to be okay with letting myself be taken in by it. I need to be willing to be stopped in my tracks by the beauty of the Lord- to rejoice in the gift of even the smallest moments, like this one. A beautiful day to walk in the cold, in a field, in Iowa, with a friend who listens.

I love my life.

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