"At heart I am lazy, yet I find such peace and delight in it that I believe it is a natural state, and in what looks like my laziest periods I am closest to my center."
- Andre Dubus, "A Father's Story", The Substance of Things Hoped For

"If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents - the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else's. But if their thoughts - i.e. of materialism and astronomy - are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It's like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milk jug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset."

C. S. Lewis

A man may go into the field and say his prayer and be aware of God, or he may be in Church and be aware of God; but if he is more aware of Him because he is in a quiet place, that is his own deficiency and not due to God, Who is alike present in all things and places, and is willing to give Himself everywhere so far as lies in Him... He knows God rightly who knows Him everywhere.
-Meister Eckhart, 1260-1328

"Preach the gospel always. If necessary use words." ~ St. Francis of Assisi

Darkness falls in shades of blue,
A deep cold gloom you sink into.
A descent familiar into the pit,
And there is no end to the depth of it.
Who's there to hear the silent plea,
"Why have you forsaken me?"
And where is hope? Have you left it behind?
Or does it exist someplace you may yet find?

Only One knows our fears for all our tomorrows:
Familiar with suffering, and famous for sorrows.
One who conquered death and the sting of pain
Has power to bring you to peace again.
May the One who has power to bring you through
Make Himself known and be found by you.
May those of us who love and care
Be your strength until you find your way there.

HJ Feb. 20, 2009

Do not speak unless you can improve upon the silence. -Quaker saying

Driveby sunset, Hwy 59 South of Winnipeg

Dark are the branches reaching for light
High is the path of the hawk in its flight
Turning and gliding greeting the night
Why do we hunger for beauty?

Moon hanging lonely there in the sky
Looking so holy; a host held up high
Off in the distance train going by
Why does it move us cause us to sigh
Why do we hunger for beauty?

Frost on the window never the same
So many patterns fit in the frame
Captured in motion frozen in flame
And in the patterns is there a Name
Why do we hunger for beauty?
Why do we hunger for beauty?

Jim Croegaert
©1989 Meadowgreen Music Co./Heart of the Matter Music
Sung by Steve Bell, "Deep Calls to Deep" album

Intercession

A thousand thousand ways to choose,
A million million methods to use
To reach a searching human mind,
To burst through lost and into find.
Unbearably lovely musical strains.
Unforeseen rainbow even as it rains.
Fireworks streaming in a night deathly dark.
Redwinged blackbird's bright note. Or a lark.
A radiant blossom with deeply-hued petals.
Exquisite snowflakes as they drift and they settle.
A cloud. A smile. Or the colour of a skirt.
One hand of comfort on a shoulder of one hurt.
Mysterious are the ways of the dove:
Oh, Spirit, come touch the hearts that I love.

--Hermina Janz, Feb. 15, 2009

I would like to have seen David dancing.

In joyous abandon, just chancing
whether choreographed worship be worthy,
and suitable praise to confer Thee.

Bodily, thought, sung, or spoken,
or moans from a heart that is broken:

What form can the most worthy prayer sing?
...I'd like to have seen David dancing...

- written Feb 20, 2007 after waking up with the words running through my head and I HAD TO WRITE THEM DOWN.

Oh Lord, my Lord,
I have been forgetting that I am your child
and so I run to you now in tears,
so full of fears.
I bring you my hurts for only You can tend them,
You heal and mend them.
Take from me this heavy load, and carry it for me,
Soothe and restore me.
Forgive my forgetting.
Renew my remembrance of your continuous welcome
whenever I need you.
And I always need You.
And You are always there.

-spring 2008

Winter Echo

Snow on snow,
All the world below,
Silence the only crop to grow.

Days are slow,
Sun not far to go,
Darkness is the light we know.

Frost and blow,
Clothed in crystal glow,
Cold for comfort as a throw.
-HJ

At all times there is something saddening mixed with the sweetness of fulfilled wishes; for never, till then, do we realize their insufficiency to make us as happy as we have expected.
-Mrs. Alfred Gatty, The Hundredth Birthday.

After hearing a gentle rain falling all night, this is what we woke up to: a treacherous layer of ice on sidewalk, yard, driveway, and highway.

I have seen the land that few eyes see;
If thou know it not, I'll tell it thee.

The land to seek, the road to know
Is naught but having the will to go.
For those with a strong and single will
The eternal land is waiting still.

A land so fair and full of grace
It's light shall linger on my face
And so shine out on those I meet
They shall join me on that narrow street.

Its song shall ring ever in my ear
And tune my heart to only hear
The distant strain that calls to me
And bids me ever true to be:
True to the life I am called to live,
A life of service I am willing to give
Devoted to telling until life cease
Of the land where all may dwell in peace.

-Hermina Janz, inspired by St Augustine, Confessions, Book 8, Chapter 8, pt 19.

"Humans, having special abilities, are responsible to the rest of the earth, not superior to it." Sue Monk Kidd, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter