For gardening enthusiasts, Spring is a time of year to plant seeds:
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Potatoes
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Lettuce
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Carrots
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Beets
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Peas
But like any seasoned gardener will tell you, not every seed you plant produces a harvest.
Some seeds die from incompatible soil conditions. Some are prematurely eaten by animals passing by. And some never see the light of day due to obstacles in its path.
But like any seasoned gardener will also tell you, planting seeds with an attached outcome will only lead to disheartenment. You plant seeds for the love of it, so you can be filled with sheer wonder and delight at whatever emerges.
Love, too, is a lot like planting seeds.
Everyday we make some small drops of investment into the lives of those around us.
If we attach to specific outcomes of what the harvest should be, we’ll be let down by the frailty of the human condition.
But if we faithfully and intentionally plant out of loving response to and for God, then regardless of the outcome, we will reap a harvest of plenty.
“He is Himself our human love’s occasion … His love both opens up the way for ours and is our love’s reward.” [1]
As you explore the prompts in today’s intermission, and as we continue exploring the soul work of love this month, take time to consider one person with whom you feel invited to sow greater seeds of love into.
What one seed do you feel nudged to plant daily?
“We love him, because he first loved us.” —1 John 4:19, WEB
-With Joy (and love)
Spiritual Director
Co-Founder & Content Director
cindy@joyover.com
Pause for Thought
“Only in love can I find you, my God. In love, the gates of my soul spring open, allowing me to breathe a new air of freedom and forget my own petty self. In love, my whole being streams forth out of the rigid confines of narrowness and anxious self-assertion, which make me a prisoner of my own poverty and emptiness. In love, all the powers of my soul flow out toward you, wanting never more to return but to lose themselves completely in you, since by your love you are the inmost center of my heart, closer to me than I am to myself.” [2]
Pause for Practice
Loving-kindness prayer is a prayer practice of intent. By setting aside time to pray words of health, wellness and wholeness into someone else, you allow God to mold the intentions of your heart toward greater postures of love, service, surrender and kindness. Your prayers become acts of sowing seeds.
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Take a few moments to quiet yourself.
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Ask the Spirit to bring to mind someone you can pray for.
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When you have someone in mind, pray the following prayer phrases over them:
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May you be safe.
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May you be healthy.
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May you be happy and at peace.
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May you be filled with God’s loving-kindness.
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To expand and deepen this practice, pray the following prayer over someone you may be having a difficult time loving.
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When ready to close, take a moment of silence to ask God if there is any response or action you are being invited into.
Pause for Examination
Take time to consider one person with whom you feel invited to sow greater seeds of love into. What one seed do you feel nudged to plant daily?
- [1] JBernard of Clairvaux, On the Love of God. A.R. Mowbray [1950] 1961, p.38.
- [2] Karl Rahner, ‘God of My Life’ in Encounters with Silence, Newman 1966.
- The story behind this month’s theme — the soul work of listening by Dustin Heigh.
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If you would like to share this issue of PAUSE – via text, social media, or email – just copy and paste this link: https://joyover.com/pause/may-22-2024
- To explore free artwork for the practice of “Visio Divina—The Sacred Art of Seeing,” visit our library » previous month’s art offerings
P.S. These cool cats have the act of shared love down to a tee 😹!
