Dear Reader:

One of my favorite authors, Madeleine L’Engle, kept a forty-day journal about learning to listen to God in prayer and then had it published. At the end of the fortieth day, she wrote a thought-provoking piece of prose entitled simply “Word.”

I read, re-read Madeleine’s last entry…her conclusion to her forty-day journey with God in prayer…her epiphany was that words break down when trying to communicate with God…only silence and adoration remain.

So many times I find myself thinking that I don’t need to try to over-talk or out-talk God because He already knows what my mind and heart know and feel…words are unnecessary in spiritual communication. Thoughts become words in prayer. The key to contemplative prayer is listening and watching for God’s response.

And that’s where the God Winks enter my world. It never fails that whatever was left unanswered in prayer will show up in God’s Time…and in His creative way…the God Winks we receive continuously from Him.

Haven’t we all heard the expression….”It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop” and in most of these scenarios…it is perhaps a piece of music that sends us soaring in exhilaration or a piece of poetry, pottery, painting or another form of art…dance, movement, song or reading? The experience provided that moment when our “words did end” and we were “wordless”  in an aura of awe and glory.

For one precious moment (before a standing ovation and/or thunderous applause fills a room)…”All language does turn to silence and that silence is joy, is adoration.” 

Remember this sage school quote: “A wise old owl  sat in an oak…the more he saw, the less he spoke, the less he spoke, the more he heard…shouldn’t we all be like that wise old bird”?

My epiphany of late is that I find God in spots of beauty…anything that makes me stop, pause, and ponder the miracle of God’s world. Simple scenes, in my home,  like these:

Yellow roses, fresh red tomatoes, and a turn-paging summer mystery read.

Beauty, taste of summer, and reading delight…three of my favorite things that ended up together on a little round kitchen table… all provide a moment of gratitude to God for all He provides.

A new houseplant that makes me smile with the diversity of the color green amid beautiful textures as morning creeps through the blinds..

Early morning light , yellow flowers and blue/green designs of beauty-all say “Thank you.”

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” John 1:14.

Think about it…the “Word” (being a metaphor for Jesus) is perfect because Jesus was filled with glory, grace, and truth that he has shared with all of us for eternal life. No “Word” tops that.

Except on a lighter note…I remember Walsh relishing one slang expression that popped up in his teen to  young adult years….“Word Up”  which basically meant saying “hello.” Every time I was with him and he saw a friend he knew…out popped “Word Up Man” and sometimes just simply “Word.” This expression was always followed by a “fist bump.”

Most of the time it was just a ‘cool’ hello greeting…though it could be used to indicate agreement with another’s comment…. as “Let’s go to the Riverdogs game tonight“….”Word” (okay.)

So until tomorrow…Since God has been around since man first made audible sounds into words and then words into sentences and finally complete thoughts…a greeting “Word Up God” (Hello God) probably works as well as any greeting in any language. God knows us through and though and needs not words to know our every need.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Oh goodness! Something quite miraculous took place late yesterday afternoon …in between thunder storms. My third moon flower began opening right before my very eyes as I was ending this post.

*I was initially a little sad to notice one spent moon flower that had opened Monday night while I was away. I drove to Mt. Pleasant so I could go with Mollie to her 18 weeks ultra-sound at MUSC yesterday morning. (Walsh was in Ohio!) Baby girl Dingle is doing a great job and got all A’s on her “report card” for forming all body parts perfectly/ everything right on schedule! Yeah! Go little Eloise!!!

 Look how beautiful moon flower #3 is!

*And speaking of beautifully awe-inspiring… look what I got in the mail from Anne…an original watercolor postcard that will serve as a special memento for the August 21 total eclipse of the moon! How exciting is this!

*On the back of the card is this line of scripture: “The heavens declare the glory of God…” Psalm 19:1

Anne put the heat-sensitive historical postage stamp on…so I am covered from top to bottom and side to side and eye to eye! Thank you so much Anne! What a wonderful surprise to get in the mail yesterday!

Today, Wednesday August 9…I would truly appreciate you offering up prayers to Patty Knight’s (my fellow social studies teaching buddy) daughter, Kristen Gault, who starts chemo today for breast cancer. She is like her mother, small but mighty, especially in her faith, so I know she is up to the challenge…but I, also have experienced the power of prayer…and it is dauntingly dominant against “little c”…so let’s get Kristen off on a good start today!