SPRING: HOPE’s DIVINE POSSIBILITY 23.4.14

April 23, 2014February 15, 2015 ~ faith hope and cherrytea ~ 3 Comments

In the Hebrew scriptures the promise of God’s abundance is often conceived of
as blossoming in the desert.
In that harsh landscape, a flower bursting forth from the dry land is a symbol of
divine generosity, fruitfulness, and hope. *#Hope is a stance of radical openness to the God of newness and #possibility. {tweetable}
*When we #hope, we acknowledge that God has an imagination far more expansive than we do. {tweetable}
*The fertility of spring speaks of an abundantly creative God who is at the source of the potent life force beating at the heart of the world. Created in God’s image, we are called to participate in this generous creativity ourselves. Our own blossoming leads us to share our gifts in service to others.*Take time this week to meditate with gratitude on a flower, appreciating all of its qualities of beauty, how it simply is what it was created to be. Allow yourself to fill with joyful gratitude for the gifts of the earth. Open yourself to experience the fullness of this flower and all of the ways God delights in the beauty of blossoms.

Then shift your focus from the flower to yourself. Take this sense of wonder and awe at the beauty of the flower and imagine how God gazes with delight on the beauty of who you are.
*
What aspects of your being can you imagine God relishing? What are the longings inside of you God is asking you to embrace?[Tweet]

Rest in this awareness of the joy and delight of God in your own beautiful blossoming for several minutes. Notice what new longings it stirs in you.

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.~Marcel Proust [Tweet]

Perhaps you’d like to share your exploration and discoveries.
Please accept this as your personal Invitation to Poetry and/or Photography .

With April comes a new Invitation for Contemplation. In the northern hemisphere, spring is slowly arriving with birdsong and blooming. Wherever we live on this beautiful planet, we can tend to the flowering that happens within after a season of fallowness. The outer seasons become a mirror for our inner experience.
The text with which we are praying this month is from the Hebrew wisdom book the
Song of Songs, which the ancient rabbis called “the holy of holies.”
“Arise and bloom” is our theme,
tending to the ways our hearts and souls are breaking forth into blossom
after a season of fallowness and stillness.

I invite you to set aside some time this week to pray with the text below. See theseLectio Divina guidelines.

Lean into silence, pray the text, listen to what shimmers, allow the images and memories to unfold, tend to the invitation, and then sit in stillness.

For see, the winter is past,

the rains are over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of pruning the vines has come,

and the song of the dove is heard in our land.

The fig tree puts forth its figs,

and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.

Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,

and come! —Song of Songs 2:11-13

After you have prayed with the text (and feel free to pray with it more than once –

St. Ignatius wrote about the deep value of repetition in prayer, especially when something feels particularly rich) spend some time journaling what insights arise for you.

~ from Christine Valters Paintner –
Abbey of the Arts*

*Find and follow FHC online:
@_eHope – Goodreads – Facebook – Pinterest –

GFC bottom of page

*

Tweet*

SHARED WITH ~
– HollyGerth –
– Thought Provoking Thursday –
– Essential Fridays –
– Make a Difference Mondays — Woman to Woman –
– Hope in Every Season –
– Faith Filled Friday –
– Sunday Community –
– Weekend Brew –

– Natasha in Oz Say G’day –

SPRING: FRIDAY FIVE for 7.2.14

February 7, 2014February 15, 2015 ~ faith hope and cherrytea ~ 4 Comments

Friday Five: spring is ready to be sprung!

Posted by 3dogmom at RevGals

Snowdrops making an appearance at the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland

3dogmom says: Here in Nashville the annual Antiques and Garden Show is getting underway. Temperatures are more cold and windy than is typical, and the garden displays with colorful spring blooms are going to be tonic for many of the souls that visit the show this weekend. Punxsutawney Phil may have predicted another six weeks of winter when he saw his shadow, but spring is on the minds of many!

With that in mind,

1) What do you anticipate with the coming of spring?

2) Is there anything you will miss about winter?

3) Is there an occasion on the horizon to which you’re looking forward?

4) Do you have a favorite spring memory?

5) Do you have a favorite spring flower/bloom, and if so, what makes it special to you?

If you play, be sure to leave a comment with link to your blog post so others can visit you!

Ready to play? For me…
1 – Anticipating activity. Resurgence of hope and involvement with Life.Definitely new growth – around me and within me. Love the photo above – Scotland’s snowdrops I’m familiar with.Anticipating all the harbingers of Spring. Wind and rain to melt away the mounds of snow!
2- I will miss the cocooning sense I’ve had this winter in particular.
With my Mom’s passing, I have relished the closing in of storms. The days in over days out.I’ve delighted to see another ‘snow day’ and snowfalls.I will miss the sense of being sheltered.
3- If it can be seen as an occasion – Lent .Looking forward to some intentional inward journeying…Looking forward to birth from this intensive transitioning .
4- Fav Spring memory?Family travels taken in Spring. Thinking of one road trip to the Black Hills.Times that can never be repeated, except in memory. Sights and senses alive even as I reminisce.Temperatures, places, what I wore, purchased, laughter – almost grasping the scent of Spring.
5- Fav Spring flower?

Love their beauty – colour variety and cheer they bring …
*
So what is it about Spring that fascinates you?I’m always delighted to hear from you and look forward to your conversations!
Thanks, 3dogmom, for the great Hope-filled play today!

*
Shared with *

Friday 5 : Spring ‘s Anticipation…

April 26, 2013February 15, 2015 ~ faith hope and cherrytea ~ 5 Comments

Today’s Friday 5 from Rev Jan has us looking for Spring…

Jan writes
“Recently having driven from Corpus Christi to Houston to Austin and back to Corpus Christi, Texas, we saw the effects of rain and drought on the byways. South Texas is in a severe drought situation, but the route between Houston and Austin was graced with some recent rainfalls so that wildflowers were abundant. Otherwise, there were few to be seen.”

With the old adage “April showers bring May flowers,”
let’s look at the weather and vegetation in our home areas to see if any
May Flowers will be blooming.

1. What spring flowers and plants do you see?
Or will see sometime in the future?

Not seeing anything blooming here as yet, but I did notice

a sheltered section of some unknown lovely green tips
pushing their way up and into the sun!
Definitely keeping my eye on them ~

Thinking they will probably be tulips or irises…

2. What kinds of weather are you experiencing in April?

A mixed bag of lots of sun then flurries at the drop of a hat
{or temperature in this case!}

Winds are high and cold – helpful in drying up the melting snow

and muddy puddles!

3. What are the stereotypical harbingers of spring in your area?
How about where you grew up?

Definitely, melting snow!
Same for where I grew up and crocuses..

Lily of the Valley

and wee Johnny Jump Ups

VIA

4. What season do you like best in your home area?

Summer is fantastic. Tons of sun. Lovely warm temps.

Parklike trees arching over streets. Lots of green and flowers.

But then autumn… AHhh Loveliness ~
All colourful and homey warmth!

Dreaming of it now….

5. What is sprouting or blooming in your life? What do you wish for?

Ahhh… Now that’s the question of the hour.

Just when I think something is, it isn’t.

I seem to be hidden in darkness – in a period of rest –
like the plants resting beneath the soil,

waiting for their wake up call…

I wish {and pray} for acceptance and agreement of being where God has me,

rather than straining at the confines.

Wanting my own way when I know God’s plans are always best!

I haven’t journeyed this long and far to have missed that memo 🙂

So… I choose to agree to the waiting with eyes and ears tuned.

Seeking the “treasures of darkness” only God provides…

~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of
Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose
from the dreams of its wintry rest.”

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley ‘The Sensitive Plant ‘

Thanks for the post and queries, Jan!

It’s been a gift to spend time preparing my response.

Blessings on all the Revs and readers as we watch for Spring.

Find more responses HERE

<img bp.blogspot.com="" button.tif="" f5f8ii="" feet="" http:="" lu="" s1600="" src="

Leave your responses in the comments ~
I look forward to hearing what Spring looks like

in your life!

Pink for TeaCup Tuesday 2.26.13

February 26, 2013February 15, 2015 ~ faith hope and cherrytea ~ 21 Comments

Here we are at our final February

TeaCup Tuesday ~

Posting a familiar fave I grew up with at my Nana’s..

Royal Albert ‘BLossom Time’

I probably should have saved this post as a

tribute, perhaps for MuM’s Day,

to the loving woman who shared her china gifts

with a wee girl who would grow up to love them

because she did…

Ah well, those are fond memories whatever the day!

I particularly love how the squarish tea plate shape

sets off the cup and saucer..

and here’s the lovely saucer on its own ~

I would love to brew up a pot of luxury tea from Whittards Chelsea

to share with you !

Unless any of you are intending a surprise visit,

here’s a Tea Party poem that will have to do for now! ..

~ from Miss Rose Sister Violet ~

If any of you take along your fave teas when you’re travelling,

this would make tea a traveller’s treat ~

from Claire Mackaness’ Beautiful Things

Hoping your Tuesday is Tea-riffic !

Joining all the blogging Tea Cup Luvers at

Terri & Martha’s

See you for Tea Time next in March… =)

Ruth’s for both these TeaTime posts

waiting with hope…

April 13, 2011February 15, 2015 ~ faith hope and cherrytea ~ 4 Comments

I wait longingly for ADONAI;
I put my hope in His Word.

…put your hope in ADONAI!
For grace is found with ADONAI,
and with Him is unlimited redemption…
Psalm 130

spring’s hope…

March 23, 2011February 15, 2015 ~ faith hope and cherrytea ~ 21 Comments

though not in evidence here as yet,

we’re experiencing the cleansing rains

preceding spring’s

arrival of beauty…

Charles Dickens pretty much has it right for
where we are ~
“It was one of those March days
when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:
when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ”

while we have assurance of hope
For, behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing [of birds] has come…

song of solomon 2.11-12

indoors,

i’m anticipating spring
and your visit
with fresh changes to my sanctuary~