A new year brings new possibilities and new ways for growth. As soon as the new year started, my social media was filled with exercise programs and diet recipes to help with New Year’s resolutions. To be honest, I struggle to keep a New Year’s resolution for very long. It is not because I don’t want to, I try but I just can’t stay motivated to keep up with the resolution. Perhaps I need a resolution that is not solely focused on exercise and diets, maybe I need something that also focuses on spiritual health and connection to community? Perhaps some of you feel that way too?
In Gunilla
Norris’s book “Simple Ways Towards the
Sacred” she writes a poem titled To
See. As I read her poem one sentence
stuck out to me. It says, “To see with
carefulness and love is a great act of faith.”
As I pondered this sentence I thought about all the things we at St.
Mark see within a week. St. Mark is a
busy place where we worship together and serve others. As people of faith, we are often called into active
serving. But sometimes serving comes in
just simply seeing. Seeing what or who
is new. Seeing what or who is missing. Seeing who seems to be struggling.
I encourage
you to look around you with care and love.
Take in the beauty of God’s creation.
Take notice of who is sitting next to you at a restaurant, in the
library, or at church. Touch the cold
snow or the rough tree. Talk to folks you
encounter in your daily life. Check in
with folks who you have not seen or spoken to in a while. Spend time in silence listening to the sounds
around you.
January is a
time for new possibilities and growth. I
invite you to think about your spiritual life and your community life. I invite
you “to see with carefulness and love” for this “is a great act of faith.”
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Katrina Steingraeber
