ELAN Lent Series: Fourth Sunday

Sundays are meant to be set aside for a day of rest and during this ELAN Blog short series, we take a break from the self-prescribed topics to briefly recap the past week and look ahead for the coming week. Are you practicing your observation muscle? Do you find  objects or moments of beauty catching your attention? Are you recognizing episodes of personal behavior that are out of sync with the person you know yourself to be? Observation – of you, your world and how you relate to that world – is key to living a 3-D Life – Discovering your passion, Developing the tools to turn that Passive Passion into Action to Deliver it to your world, large or small. This morning I heard a chirp of a single songbird in the midst of the thousands of seagulls that delight in waking me up at first light. Yesterday I noticed bright blooms standing at attention as I drove past the houses in my neighborhood. Spring is here. The natural world is awake with new life. This time of year there is an abundance of beauty for us to enjoy – we only need look for it and focus our attention on goodness and love and hope.

Today, continue observing your world. Recognize gifts and abundance – name them, claim them and give thanks for them. Pay attention to what images form your own dream of your own world. Are they flickering, digital images blasting forth from a box in your living room or are they smooth and flowing scenes of nature? Think of the origin of those images and thoughts. Pause to imagine how a small change of  scenery (where you focus your attention) could change your outlook. Tomorrow we will continue thoughts on what it means to “Make Things Happen” and then we will move on to “Observe Our World” in more detail. Until then, may this day be filled with rest, comfort and peace.

“Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he had put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” Genesis 2: 8,9a