A major obstacle to creativity is wanting to be in the peak season of growth and generation at all times . . . but if we see the soul’s journey as cyclical, like the seasons. . . then we can accept the reality that periods of despair or fallowness are like winter – a resting time that offers us a period of creative hibernation, purification, and regeneration that prepare us for the births of spring. -Linda Leonard, from Call to Create : Celebrating Acts of Imagination One of the greatest gifts of the seasons to me as a writer and

If You Want If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say… “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, My time is so close.” Then, under the roof of your soul, you will witness the sublime intimacy, the divine, the Christ taking birth forever, as she grasps your hand for help, for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us. Yes, there, under the dome of your being does Creation come into existence eternally, through your woman, dear pilgrim – the sacred womb of

*The invitation of the first week of Advent is to awaken (click the link to read last Sunday’s reflection)* © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

Every year for the first Sunday of Advent we read a version of Jesus’ description of the end of days.  In the Gospel reading from St. Luke this week, Jesus’ language is filled with apocalyptic images of fear and trembling and signs “in the sun, the moon, and the stars.”   The word apocalypse essentially means revelation and is from the Greek for “uncovering what has been hidden.” In other words, apocalypse is about the revelation of a new truth in our lives.  And Jesus’ reminder to “beware that your hearts do not become drowsy” is well-heeded in a time when

* * * * * And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. -Gospel of St. Matthew 2:9-12 * * * *