I have this lovely image which I go to often where I'm sitting with Jesus in a boat on a [picturesque lake. Think Lake Jasper or Lake Louise near Banff in Canada.
Strangely, I'm not a stare-guy. But I'd like to be and it's something I'm looking forward to in in the next life.
Typically, Jesus and I are just sitting together. Sometimes we talk, often not. Sometimes we fish (I don't fish) as he shows eye how it's done. And sometime she takes me ashore and he shows me how to scale the fish we';ve caught, how to build a good fire, how to cook the fish over the fire and then we eat it, together. Talking is at a minimum.
It's lovely. And I always long to go back there ...
I love Jon's words of "burning wildly with love, while at the same time being still." Ian, your gentle picture is also beautiful...hanging out and savouring the beauty of nature with him. The stillness in each of these images draws me.
I'm always wanting a hug from the Trinity. It's a persistent desire, and sometimes I imagine being a joey in its kangaroo mama's pouch, or a penduline tit diving into its felted shoe nest, rest and intimacy at once.
The image of a flame has long held significance in my life with God, but uniquely so in the past few years in the rhythm of soul care with my spiritual director. As the candle is lit before us, there is a gift of mystery that we are ushered into as we restrain the fire of our own energy that is constantly moved to action and begin to rest, no matter how long it takes, in the flame of Trinitarian Love. It is always gift.
For me, the afterglow of this time always translates into the moments of my ordinary life by remembering and receiving that stillness as gift and, as you said, waiting… for those moments where that quiet interior flame is kindled again, startling me and sheltering me beneath a Sacred Gaze. Learning to live beneath that Gaze, growing in attunement to that Love, does feel like a dream some days, but I think the contemplatives themselves didn’t so much live beneath that Gaze in perpetual reciprocity as much as they held a perpetual expectancy for the possibility of that Flame and Gaze to break into their ordinary. That’s the space I’m learning to live.
A prayer image I was given that has guided me onto a path of that growing expectancy in my own life is of Jesus on the shores making breakfast by the flames of a fire (John 21). I’m on the boat with the disciples and Jesus is waving at me, motioning for me to come to Him. I jump overboard, fully trusting that I will be at rest in His presence and Gaze. I often return to this image knowing that though my own ability to reciprocate that gaze ebbs and flows, Jesus’ does not. He is always waiting to shelter me beneath His gaze, waiting for me by the fires of Love.
Also, just pre-ordered your book! It sounds like a wonderful companion for the journey 🕯️
I have this lovely image which I go to often where I'm sitting with Jesus in a boat on a [picturesque lake. Think Lake Jasper or Lake Louise near Banff in Canada.
Strangely, I'm not a stare-guy. But I'd like to be and it's something I'm looking forward to in in the next life.
Typically, Jesus and I are just sitting together. Sometimes we talk, often not. Sometimes we fish (I don't fish) as he shows eye how it's done. And sometime she takes me ashore and he shows me how to scale the fish we';ve caught, how to build a good fire, how to cook the fish over the fire and then we eat it, together. Talking is at a minimum.
It's lovely. And I always long to go back there ...
Thanks for the inspiration, Jon.
Go well.
I love Jon's words of "burning wildly with love, while at the same time being still." Ian, your gentle picture is also beautiful...hanging out and savouring the beauty of nature with him. The stillness in each of these images draws me.
I'm always wanting a hug from the Trinity. It's a persistent desire, and sometimes I imagine being a joey in its kangaroo mama's pouch, or a penduline tit diving into its felted shoe nest, rest and intimacy at once.
Thank you each for your thoughts here.
Sarah, are you Australian by chance. The kangaroo? I live in Sydney, BTW.
The image of a flame has long held significance in my life with God, but uniquely so in the past few years in the rhythm of soul care with my spiritual director. As the candle is lit before us, there is a gift of mystery that we are ushered into as we restrain the fire of our own energy that is constantly moved to action and begin to rest, no matter how long it takes, in the flame of Trinitarian Love. It is always gift.
For me, the afterglow of this time always translates into the moments of my ordinary life by remembering and receiving that stillness as gift and, as you said, waiting… for those moments where that quiet interior flame is kindled again, startling me and sheltering me beneath a Sacred Gaze. Learning to live beneath that Gaze, growing in attunement to that Love, does feel like a dream some days, but I think the contemplatives themselves didn’t so much live beneath that Gaze in perpetual reciprocity as much as they held a perpetual expectancy for the possibility of that Flame and Gaze to break into their ordinary. That’s the space I’m learning to live.
A prayer image I was given that has guided me onto a path of that growing expectancy in my own life is of Jesus on the shores making breakfast by the flames of a fire (John 21). I’m on the boat with the disciples and Jesus is waving at me, motioning for me to come to Him. I jump overboard, fully trusting that I will be at rest in His presence and Gaze. I often return to this image knowing that though my own ability to reciprocate that gaze ebbs and flows, Jesus’ does not. He is always waiting to shelter me beneath His gaze, waiting for me by the fires of Love.
Also, just pre-ordered your book! It sounds like a wonderful companion for the journey 🕯️