Place in Time

Autumn leaves (10.24, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


On the same spot I sit today
Others came, in ages past to sit.
One thousand years, still others will come.
Who is the singer, and who is the listener?

Nguyen Cong Tru

Place

Blue & Yellow, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     A place will express itself through the human being
     just as it does through its wild flowers.

        Lawrence Durrell

Blessing

RIC_9434-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Be bold in doing justice,

be generous in loving tenderly and

be prayerful in walking humbly with God

Ted Dodd,

Courage to Love: Liturgies for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community,

compiled by Geoffrey Duncan

Opening Yourself

Camp Fire, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


      Absence disembodies
     so does Death
     hiding individuals from the Earth.

        Emily Dickinson

Heart beat

RIC_0688-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


A single beat from the heart of a lover
is capable of driving out a hundred sorrows.

Naquib Mahfouz

Beginning in Possibility

Clouds87, Cedar Point, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     In the beginning was the dream. In the eternal night where
     no dawn broke, the dream deepened. Everything had its beginning
     in possibility.

        John O'Donohue, Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections On Our Yearning to Belong

Real Journey in Life

By the Light House 7, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Our real journey in life is interior;
it is a matter of growth, deepening,
and of an ever greater surrender
to the creative action of love
and grace in our hearts.

Thomas Merton, The Asian Journal

Be Still

Cedar Point, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     In the rush and noise of life,
     as you have intervals,
     step within yourself and be still.

        William Penn

Shelter

KRUMEN 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.

Irish Proverb

Pilgrimage

Raga Concert 10, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The most profound pilgrimages are made by those
     with homes which they have voluntarily left and to
     which they can return. 

        Bonnie Thurston

Challenge

Burnt Tree, Christian Island 3, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The challenge is to take life as it really is.

Marian Lovene Griffey, Chasseurcistic

See the history of the Other

Table for two, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Unless you actually saw the history of the other,
     no matter what your perspective is, you couldn't
     really understand where we are (and) how we got
     here.

        Sandy Tolan, author of The Lemon Tree

Sanctuary

RIC_8136-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


May you never
feel alone or
lose sight of the
sacred seasons of your soul.

Paula Timpson, Let Your Soul Create a Sanctuary

Transformation

HVUC 14, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The great metaphors from all spiritual traditions – 
     grace, liberation, being born again, awakening from
     illusion – testify that it is possible to transcend the
     conditioning of my past and do a new thing. 

        Sam Keen

Genuine Presence

"Nella Fantasia 3," reproduction of the original Chiapas Mural, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite
their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster. 

James Baldwin

Spiritual Maturity

Sunday School, KRUC, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Spiritual maturity is an acceptance of life

in relationship.

Jack Kornfield

Wonder

Sky's the limit., a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


To pray is to take notice of wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all our attainments.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Poetry

Wet Day 1 (9.14, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Poetry is what makes the invisible appear.

Nathalie Sarraute

Shadow

Stone 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


To honour and accept one's own shadow is a profound spiritual discipline. 

Robert Johnson

Art

Candle, Taste of Thailand, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

All art that really draws us to look at it deeply is spiritual.

Wendy Beckrtt

Seed

RIC_9204-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


In each of us is a seed of understanding. That seed is God.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Agent of Hope

Offering Plate, Christian Island, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Perhaps faith is only created in the doing, happiness
     in the giving, and meaning in the courage to take
     risks for the sake of an ideal. All I know is that the
     greatest achievement in life is to have been, for one
     other person, even for one moment, an agent of
     hope.

        Jonathan Sacks, To Heal a Fractured World

Creativity

HVUC 19, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Creativity is God's gift to us.
Using our creativity is our gift back to God.

Julia Cameron

Remembering & Celebrating

Window frames, KRUC, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     In the desert of the heart
     Let the healing fountain start,
     In the prison of his days
     Teach the free man how to praise.

        W. H. Auden, In Memory of W. B. Yeats

Mysteries

Blue Light., a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Those who are willing to be vulnerable
move among mysteries.

Theodore Roethke

Love in this life

Stained Glass Window, FAUC 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Most individuals have found God most clearly in
     and through others. The love of others is the love
     of God experienced in this life.

        Wendy Wright

Poems

Fallen 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Poems come out of wonder, not out of knowing.

Loucille Clifton

A goodbye

RIC_0040, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

I have also learned that a goodbye is an opportunity for kindness, for forgiveness, for intimacy, and ultimately for love and a deepening acceptance of life as it is instead of what it was or what we may have wanted it to be. Goodbyes can be poignant, sorrowful, sometimes a relief, and, now and then, an occasion for joy. They are always transition moments that, when embraced, can be the door to a new life both for ourselves and for others.

Roger Housden, Ten Poems to Say Goodbye

Oneself

Vestige 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The final mystery is oneself.

Oscar Wilde, De Profundis

Knowledge

Shadow 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Knowledge implies ignorance of what lies beyond
     what is known. Knowledge is always limited.

        Sri Ramana Maharshi

Secret Destinations

Shirway Gardens 5, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. 

Martin Buber

Life

Reflection (9.16, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Life is a mystery to be lived,

not a problem to be solved. 

Soren Kierkegaard

Emptying

Door Knob, Clarion Tower, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


In my search to see reality in myself, I may come
to the door of perception. But it will not open,
truth will not be revealed, so long as I cling to
what I know. I need to have empty hands
to approach the unknown. 

Jeanne Salzmann, The Reality of Being

Books

Books 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     One should only read books which bite and sting
     one. If the book we are reading does not wake us up
     with a blow to the head, what's the point in reading?
     A book must be the axe which smashes the frozen
     sea within us.

        Franz Kafka

Poetry

Crucified Wiman, Emmanuel College, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Poetry can tell us what human beings are.

It can tell us why we stumble and fall and how,

miraculously, we can stand up.

Maya Angelou

Wonder

Sunflowers 5, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Observe the wonders as they occur around you.
     Don't claim them. Feel the artistry
     moving through, and be silent.

        Jelaluddin Rumi

The Metropolis

Wet building (9.14, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


By its nature, the metropolis provides what otherwise
could be given only by travelling; namely, the strange.

Jane Jacobs

Writing

Shadow on Brick Wall (9.16, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Write what disturbs you, what fear, what you have not been
     willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.

        Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

How to See

CN Tower and buildings (9.14, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


One of the mistakes religions made was
to emphasize "what" to see, instead of "how" to see.

Richard Rohr

Joy

HVUC 16, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Joy is not incidental to your spiritual quest.

It is vital.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

Gratitude

Sunset & Power Lines 5 (9.16, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Gratitude is heaven itself.

William Blake

Memories

Phoenix Rising 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Memories remind us
how our love continues to eternity.

Richard C. Choe

Blessing

Wall mural, Totonto, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Just to be is a blessing.
Just to live is holy.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Joy

Water Fountain, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything.

Julian of Norwich

Outgrown

Evening Sky, September 13, 2012, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


The greatest and most important problems of life are fundamentally unsolvable. They can never be solved, but only outgrown.

Carl Jung

Spiritual literacy

Shadow on a sidewalk 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Spiritual literacy is the ability to read the signs written in the
     texts of our own experiences.

        Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life

Choice to make

RIC_8758-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Live then or now.

It's impossible to be

in two places at once.

Mary Anne Radmacher,

Honey in Your Heart

People

Stones and shadow, Five Oaks, Paris, Ontario, Canada, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     People are like stones:
     they are so beautiful, even with all their imperfections.

        Michael George Skibinski [October 21, 1930 - September 1, 2012]


        In Memory of the Rev. Dr. Michael George Skibinski. Mike was a brilliant man with an assuming
        smile and twinkling eyes. I remember him as someone who was always open to new and different
        possibilities. I miss your gentle inquisitive questions, Mike. May you rest in peace.

Embracing Darkness

HVUC 11, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


We do not spring into life perfectly formed. We each have our fault lines, and it is not by turning away from them that life suddenly takes on its full glory. No, I believe that we come to our fullness not in spite of our darkness, but in the embrace of it. 

Roger Housden, Risking Everything

Joy

RIC_8622-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Joy moves at the speed of acceptance.

Mary Anne Radmacher,

Honey in Your Heart