“If we could make our house a home, and then make it a sanctuary, I think we could truly find paradise on Earth.” –Alexandra Stoddard
It’s been a little more than a year since I have published a blog page on 365Missional Practice. Does that mean I took a vacation? Did I find some other way to express my creativity? My last post contained these words of Fernando Sabino:
“In the end, everything will be okay. If it’s not okay, it’s not yet the end.”
How many time have I said these words to myself throughout the past year? Did I give up on the importance of Missional Practice in my daily life? Where have I been? Here’s the answer: I have been on a journey, experimenting with living a deeper expression of daily mission in my life. I, along with the enormous help from my dedicated husband, Max, have been creating GraceStone Sanctuary, a home that promotes the mission of haven, hospitality, and refuge in today’s world. In the past year we unexpectedly sold our home and moved across the state of Virginia into our new very old house. We have deconstructed and reconstructed our new home with a mind toward creating a sacred space that promotes a community of love, joy, hope, and peace. So far, it has been a faith journey of discovery and creativity. Each day grants glorious options, as well as obstacles to be surmounted, as we continue to discern what God has in store for this remarkable place in which we find ourselves.
It has been clear that this is not an endeavor for self-satisfaction, but a joyful journey meant to be shared. I want to share with you the continuing story of our expression of God’s love and care for the soul through GraceStone Sanctuary, a place we have only begun to create! My prayer is that as I share the story of our home and community, you may also be encouraged and inspired to join us in our pursuit of God’s peace.
“I trust that God has made the plans to finish the good work He has already begun. He will continue constructing the life He knows I’m meant to lead as I travel freely in my journey of “becoming.” ―Michelle Aguilar
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away. -Proverbs 11:30
“Use a tree (or trees) as your only material or inspiration today.” -from 365 A Daily Creativity Journal by Noah Scalin
“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.” ― Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam
“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“In the morning light, I remembered how much I loved the sound of wind through the trees. I laid back and closed my eyes, and I was comforted by the sound of a million tiny leaves dancing on a summer morning.”― Patrick Carman, The Tenth City
“Make a meal that doesn’t look like what it actually is and serve it to friends.” -from 365 A Daily Creativity Journal by Noah Scalin
OK…So I didn’t actually make the hamburger, but I did serve it to one of my best friends…my dog Mojo. In this picture he is brand new, only a few weeks old. We didn’t know each other very well yet. I didn’t know that he and I would have wonderful snuggles during afternoon naps on the couch, or that he was so smart he learned thirty five tricks. (Well maybe not thirty five…but a whole bunch!) I also didn’t know that I would stay up all night worrying and watching over him after his surgery on his back leg. My husband and I carried him a lot while he was healing, too…up and down the stairs, outside and back in…to his dinner and water dishes. I did that because I love him. When we took this picture I didn’t know yet that, although he is very smart, he has a problem with his brain…he has seizures and has to take medicine everyday…twice.
What I did know on this day was that there had been a little puppy born in the midst of madness…a puppy mill in West Virginia….and that he needed a safe home, some food, and lots of love, all of which were abundantly available in my house and heart. And I also knew I needed him, too. He had wonderful love to give and willingly received all that I offered…even a giant rubber hamburger. He is always ready to forgive with a wag of his tail if I forget or make him wait. I forgive him when he doesn’t remember his “good puppy manners.” We give each other grace.
Mojo is a great teacher showing me everyday how to be in good relationship with the people that come into my life. He reminds me to share what I have whether it be food or love or time together. He teaches me to be forgiven and to forgive quickly and move forward. He shows me how to give and receive God’s Grace without question or demand.
Isn’t that what we are called to do as Missional Communities? Aren’t we to go to the people born into a world of madness and offer them a place at the table and a room in our hearts? And when we find their broken parts that need healing or the stinking parts that need forgiving are we not asked to offer those things as well? And the beauty of these relationships is that in our giving we find our own healing, forgiveness, and God’s wonderful grace filling our lives with joyful celebration.
Thank You God for all your creatures that reveal to us your nature and teach us how to live. Amen!
“Who can map out the various forces at play in one’s soul?” -Saint Augustine
“Make a map of (or to) a… place. Bonus: Use it and see where you end up!” -from 365 A Daily Creativity Journal by Noah Scalin
“A map does not just chart, it unlocks and formulates meaning; it forms bridges between here and there, between disparate ideas that we did not know were previously connected.” ― Reif Larsen, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” -Earl Nightingale
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. -Luke 12:7
Use hair as your inspiration today. – adapted from 365 A Daily Creativity Journal by Noah Scalin
“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” -Khalil Gibran
And she knelt at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and she wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the costly ointment. -Luke 7:38
The glory of youths is their strength, but the beauty of the aged is their gray hair. -Proverbs 20:29
“Butterflies are self propelled flowers. ” ― R.H. Heinlein
Butterfly of Joy
“Make something with your lunch before you eat it.” -from 365 A Daily Creativity Journal by Noah Scalin
“I tell of hearts and souls and dances…
Butterflies and second chances; Desperate ones and dreamers bound, Seeking life from barren ground, Who suffer on in earthly fate The bitter pain of agony hate, Might but they stop and here forgive Would break the bonds to breathe and live And find that God in goodness brings A chance for change, the hope of wings To rest in Him, and self to die And so become a butterfly.” ― Karen Kingsbury, Oceans Apart
“Well, I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
“It is the still, small voice that the soul heeds, not the deafening blasts of doom.” -William Dean Howells
“Make something quiet today.” -from 365 A Daily Creativity Journal by Noah Scalin
Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. – I Kings 19: 11,12
“My hope for my children must be that they respond to the still, small voice of God in their own hearts.” -Andrew Young
“Laughter is magic that dispenses clouds and creates sunshine in the soul.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich
“Yellow magic. Work only with yellow materials today. Try working on a yellow surface for a real challenge.” -from 365 A Daily Creativity Journal by Noah Scalin
I really just want to be warm yellow light that pours over everyone I love. Conor Oberst
“Laughter is a sunbeam of the soul.” ― Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” ― Joseph Addison
“Use a skyline of your hometown or another city as inspiration today.” -from 365 A Daily Creativity Journal by Noah Scalin
God Bless America, Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam God bless America, My home sweet home.
“Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” -Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller written in 1955.
It’s been a little more than a year since I have published a blog page on 365Missional Practice. Does that mean I took a vacation? Did I find some other way to express my creativity? My last post contained these words of Fernando Sabino:
365MissionalPractice 
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