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Angels for Others…

“May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us. ” – St. Thérèse of Lisieux

 

I have this quote posted on my office cubicle wall and often share with others. I always find comfort in the words: peace, trust and possibilities. One particular line that always stands out to me is “Let this presence settle into your bones.” It encourages me and reminds me that God is always present. Whether in time of joy or sadness, confusion or doubt, God’s love, mercy and kindness shows up through others.

 

Many years back I experienced a period of deep sadness that was unexplainable and difficult to shake off. I prayed day and night for God to lift what felt like a cloud and pressed forward. During that period, God showed up through a good friend. Margaret connected with me daily simply checking on how I was feeling and offering encouragement. After three weeks, the cloud lifted. I still cannot explain it, but what I learned and will always carry in me is that God never leaves us and often sends angels to walk with us during difficult times. I was never alone.

 

I pray during this Lenten season that we may allow God’s spirit of love, mercy and kindness “settle in our bones” allowing us to be angels for others­­­­.

 

Sandy Diaz

 

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All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Ecclesiastes 3:20

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

 

This is the first day of the Marble Women’s Ministry Lenten Blog, a daily reflection to help you reconnect and recommit to your faith.  It is also a time to remember and reflect.  Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, there is a place at the table.

Join us on the Lenten journey.  If you are not a follower of our blog, please click follow and you will be able to sign-up for the daily email sent at 6am, so that you can start your day spiritually.  Feel free to share this special site with your friends and family by emailing the page to them by clicking below.

Marcie Doll, Curator of the Marble Women’s Ministry Blog

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Previewing our Lenten Blog 2020…

Good Afternoon!

Our Lenten Blog will start on February 26th this year.   We are hoping to provide a daily time for you to be inspired and provide you some hope to share in the world.  This is our 4th year of collective prayer during Lent and we are excited to share our theme.

Our theme this year is based on a quote from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as “Little Flower.”

She says, “May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.”

The quote sometimes gets attributed to others, but the quote is a collection of the Saint’s journal writings…

Do you like to write?  We are looking for contributors this year to our blog.  Will the spirit move you to write a post for our Lenten Blog?   Each blog post is 400 words or less and can be a poem, prayer, story, song….

Please email me at doll.marcie@gmail.com for all of the information on how to write a post.

Lent is coming, are you ready?

Blessings to all!

Marcie Doll and the Marble Women’s Ministry Team

 

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Gratitude for all on our Trail

Thank you for taking this journey with us for Advent in 2019.  We hope you were inspired to take time out of your busy schedule and to reflect on the importance of Advent.  So many of the stories shared with us expressed gratitude, even as the world around them brought unwelcome change, struggles, and courageous journeys of discovery.  I wanted to share this quote with you today:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough.  And more.  It turns denial into acceptance.  Chaos to order.  Confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast.  A house into a home.  A stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past.  Brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”    Melody Beattie

If you have thoughts to share with us or would like to contribute to our Lenten Blog, please email me at:  doll.marcie@gmail.com.

 

Our Upcoming Events from the Marble Women’s Ministry:

Women’s Open House/Coffee Hour       January 12th right after church

Spa Day for the Soul                                  February 1st from 9am to 2pm

Women’s Retreat                                        March 6th-8th

 

With much love and gratitude,

Marcie Doll, Curator of the Marble Women’s Ministry Blog

 

 

 

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Bit by Bit

Winter Tree

 

I am blessed to live on the Hudson River and look out on a beautiful park filled with glorious trees.  I watch the seasons come and go, buds form, leaves bloom, colors turn, leaves fall until the barrenness arrives.

It always comes as a surprise, stark and surreal those barren branches.  The very same tree that only a few months ago was filled with glory and beauty, was green and alive, is now filled with gaping holes and not a smudge of green to be seen.

In my heart I know this will not be forever.  My task right now is to watch and wait.  To sit patiently near the window and wait as, bit by bit, day by day, the green comes back again.  New buds will form.  New life will emerge.

I must be patient and wait for it because what seems right now to be persistent barrenness will not be that way forever.

Today the hope of a newborn child is born into the world.  Christ comes to bring green to the barren places.  Christ comes to show us the way.  Christ comes to sit with us at the window waiting, watching for the new life that is to come.  Hope has come.  Christ is born to the world.

A blessed Christmas to you all.

Reverend Dr. Elise Brown, Executive Minister, Marble Collegiate Church

 

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Make a Trail

Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;  God’s the one who will keep you on track.

Proverbs 3:6

All too often we follow the path that others have set for our lives. As we grow up, our peers tell us how we should dress and how we should act. Our parents tell us where we should go to college and what our major should be. Our employers tell us what our career path should be, and on goes the list of paths others set us on. For too many people, life is about following other people’s paths, not our own.

Against this, I think of the birth of Jesus. We can become so used to hearing the story we easily forget just how surprising it is. An unmarried couple had a baby in a barn, and those who would come to follow this child would go to unexpected places and do miraculous things. In other words, they got off the path everyone else had put them on, and they followed God. One thing is clear: when you follow God, you are guaranteed a spiritual adventure in which you’ll discover how to live more fully into who God created you to be.

I think Ralph Waldo Emerson captured this well when he said, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” My prayer for us all is that as we encounter God through the birth of Jesus, we will be open to leave our paths and make a trail.

Reverend Dr. Michael Bos, Senior Minister, Marble Collegiate Church

 

 

 

 

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Advent or Adventure?

Advent

The arrival of a notable person, thing or event

Waiting, preparation, coming

A coming into place, view, arrival

Anticipation

Something important

One who is awaited

A starting or coming into existence

 

Adventure

Suffix -ure

Forming nouns denoting an action, process, or result

Forming nouns denoting an office or function

Forming nouns denoting a collective

 

Advent is an Adventure

Of waiting

Of preparing

Of coming into view

Of coming into place

Of anticipation

Of something important

Of arrival of a notable person

Of arrival of a notable event

Of coming into existence

Of starting

An action

A process

A result

A function

That forms a collective.

 

What’s your definition of the Adventure of Advent?

Mary Window

 

Shared by Susan Ceeley Phillips