A New Start
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for sure. After a week in the green, rainy, cool Stony Point, NY, we headed to the hot, dry, not-so-green, but fascinatingly beautiful Tucson, AZ. We’ve unpacked our things, biked, settled into our in-need-of many-repairs home, biked some more, been to Southside Presbyterian Church, spent some time biking, and started our new jobs. Oh yeah, and did I mention we bike everywhere?
As I spent some time reflecting I thought about what I expected to feel in my return to Tucson. I expected to be reminded of painful things. I expected to be overly contemplative. And I expected to be forcing myself to stay present. But, God has blessed me incredibly as I have been here. I have been reminded of the incredible community of people that make up this culturally diverse place and the joy it brings me. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be present in this place once again. I pray that through my work and life I will learn to spread a rose-like fragrance….
“A rose does not need to preach. It simply spreads its fragrance. The fragrance is its own sermon… if it could engage a number of preachers it would not be able to sell more roses that the fragrance itself could do. The fragrance of religious and spiritual life is much finer than that of the rose…”fool don’t you see that I got it from my maker.” -- Gandhi
As I spent some time reflecting I thought about what I expected to feel in my return to Tucson. I expected to be reminded of painful things. I expected to be overly contemplative. And I expected to be forcing myself to stay present. But, God has blessed me incredibly as I have been here. I have been reminded of the incredible community of people that make up this culturally diverse place and the joy it brings me. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be present in this place once again. I pray that through my work and life I will learn to spread a rose-like fragrance….
“A rose does not need to preach. It simply spreads its fragrance. The fragrance is its own sermon… if it could engage a number of preachers it would not be able to sell more roses that the fragrance itself could do. The fragrance of religious and spiritual life is much finer than that of the rose…”fool don’t you see that I got it from my maker.” -- Gandhi
What a wonderful description of who we should all be! Fragrant. Interesting when you think of the idea of asking the Holy Spirit to "breathe" on us... Love you so much!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful perspective from a lovely young woman who, like a rose, is open to the life-giving light of God's love. Proud of you.
ReplyDeleteLMG!