WIM 2021 - RETREAT RESOURCES
See below for the following journal pages and resources:
Contemplative Walking Meditation
Mindful Writing Practices
Imaginative Scripture Contemplation
Land Acknowledgement
Howard Thurman: How Good to Center Down!
Creating a poem from your reflection:
Underline and number 6 short phrases, then arrange them in this order:
1
2
3
4
2
5
4
6
5
3
6
1
Practice
Howard Thurman from Meditations of the Heart
How Good To Center Down!
_______________________
How good it is to center down!
To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by!
The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic;
Our spirits resound with clashings, with noisy silences,
While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment
and the resting lull.
With full intensity we seek, ere the quiet passes, a fresh sense
of order in our living;
A direction, a strong sure purpose that will structure our confusion
and bring meaning in our chaos.
We look at ourselves in this waiting moment –
the kinds of people we are.
The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives? –
what are the motives that order our days?
What is the end of our doings?
Where are we trying to go?
Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused?
For what end do we make sacrifices?
Where is my treasure and what do I love most in life?
What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?
Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment.
As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence,
there is a sound of another kind –
A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.
It moves directly to the core of our being.
Our questions are answered,
Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round
With the peace of the Eternal in our step.
How good it is to center down!
Magnificat of Grace.
My dear companion! Welcome! Welcome!
I felt you coming and I’ve been anticipating and waiting for this moment for awhile. Waiting for your arrival.
I’ve been growing and being and waiting. And now, you are here.
As I knew you would be here. As I felt it promised to me that you would be here.
Standing in front of me, beside me, before me, with me.
You are here. I look into your face. And I feel my own self stirring.
A Spirit deep within me leaps at your offered words. At your very presence beside me. I look into your loving, welcoming eyes and I wonder aloud… Who am I that you would come to me? How am I blessed that God sets your face before me?
As I opened the door, I felt the wind whip across my face, and the winter’s sun warm my skin. As I opened the door…there you were.
Here you are. A longing rises up in me with your greeting; and I respond with a Joy I was uncertain of until your arrival. Something in you draws out the hesitant in me and a new part of me begins to awaken when you are near. There is a stirring. There is movement within.
Your news, your words, arrive at my threshold and I cannot wait to invite you in. Come in. Come in. Sit and tell me of your stirring. I can’t stop smiling. I can’t keep from tears.
My soul proclaims and my spirit rejoices as I witness the Divine in you that speaks to the divine in me.
Tell me of all that is inside of you. For it speaks to me of our God.
For tales of your Fruits begin to ripen what is inside of me! For tales of your fruits begin to ripen what is inside of me.
You spark my imagination. You awaken my holy muse.
You enliven me… And I long to express what I see in you.
Your YES, your faith inspires me to say YES to a creation of my own. Come in. Come in. Sit and tell me of your stirring.
- Marilyn July 15, 2009 (renewed and expanded December 3, 2009)