Oh, Cameron, how can you create these beautiful meditations so often!!! I marvel at the variety of sacred. texts you know to use in your writing. Blessings on your very useful life!!
Adding to the gratitude already expressed here — thank you, Cameron!
Kurt Vonnegut, when asked why we are here used to get a kick out of saying that he asked his wise son “the doctor” about it. His wise son the doctor replied: “dad, we are here to help each other through whatever this is.”
And Vonnegut also loved to say — with a grin — “we are here to fart around”.
The tree does indeed teach us both lessons about who we are and why we are here.
As I sit this morning looking and the huge tree that welcomes me each morning whispers to me 'just to be is enough', and I am grateful. Peter Wohlleben authored the book The Secret Life of Trees it is worth a read and a way to live with one another. Bless all Trees.
This reminds of a conversation I had with my beautiful friend Ruth this weekend. We had not seen each other for 40 years. She said she was allowing herself to feel "a menopause of ambition." That stuck with me.💕
Thank you, Cameron, for reminding us that what our culture values is not always the best choice. We can choose a different way. Here is to the quiet, less traveled path!
Today's meditation reminded me of these verses from 1 Corinthians: 27 God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the [a]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.
Thank you for another amazing post, Rev. Trimble. Your writing is so thoughtful and timely. Right after I read your post, I read Kate Bowler’s Substack You Are Not Robot Yet. Is the Universe sending me a message?
I am so grateful for your work and how it makes me feel less alone in these harrowing times. Thank you!
Thank you Cameron. This comes at a moment, in the quiet of this morning, when I awoke in a cold sweat, my stomach sour and roiling. My mind is traveling the terrors of these times and what has brought us here---a transactional, money and competition driven economy vs. what you are lifting up here. I believe in a world based upon worth, intrinsic value and being. It is what a Jesus-following life calls us to. But so many of us are in survival mode these days, which makes it hard to remember the imagination you are holding out. Here in the Southwest, I am struggling as I look at my shrinking finances, and a bleak future of wildfires, a 200 mile dry Rio Grande river, bears coming into the city, desperate for food, only to get shot or hit by cars, ICE at our doorsteps and political insanity. Your words are like balm, like a breath of fresh air to begin the morning. I wrote a book called "Soul Tending: Journey into the Heart of Sabbath". I need to return again and again and again...
Good morning, Rev. Cameron. Wow! I don't even know where to begin. So much to say. First, a book suggestion: "In Praise of the Useless Life" by Brother Paul Quenon, a Trappist monk. Second, one of my favorite authors, the late, great Kurt Vonnegut, once lamented that while America is full of stories of "pulling yourself up from your bootstraps" to become "usefully" rich, it has no stories of a someone born poor but gains great wisdom and chooses to remain poor. Good point about those insidious algorithms: they find us useful. Just writing those words sounds strange. Time to find a tree full of shade!
Very refreshing way to describe the Sabbath: 'the world goes on without our effort.' Looking forward to doing things 'useless' today - and every day. Thank you.
This speaks so deeply to me. Just over a week ago I had an epiphany that deeply resonates with your reflection while I was gazing at a Northern Red Oak tree I happened to notice in a parking lot. Somehow, my eyes were prepared to see a different reality that day because as I gazed at that tree, I suddenly became aware that I was delighting in it just because it existed, not because it did anything for me. And I realized I take Joy in other beings just because they exist, like the squirrels and birds and beautiful Scots pine tree in my backyard. And in a flash, I suddenly realized that God must look at me in the same way and delight in me just because I exist. And that God sees everyone that way, and sometimes we even have the grace to see one another that way. I struggle a lot with the feeling that my worth is in my productivity and my contributions to the world, so that was a gift of Grace, which is very much along the lines of what you share in this reflection. May God grant all of us the wisdom, freedom, and grace to be blessedly useless at least some of the time!
I wish this appeared in everyone’s inbox. Thank you for this. In many ways, I’m grateful for my age, for being ‘retired.’ The world doesn’t look to me as much for gain anymore, and in so many ways, I’m invisible. I find that what I do now really matters more because I can attend to the things that further life rather than diminish it. Time to go hug a tree.
Oh, Cameron, how can you create these beautiful meditations so often!!! I marvel at the variety of sacred. texts you know to use in your writing. Blessings on your very useful life!!
Adding to the gratitude already expressed here — thank you, Cameron!
Kurt Vonnegut, when asked why we are here used to get a kick out of saying that he asked his wise son “the doctor” about it. His wise son the doctor replied: “dad, we are here to help each other through whatever this is.”
And Vonnegut also loved to say — with a grin — “we are here to fart around”.
The tree does indeed teach us both lessons about who we are and why we are here.
As I sit this morning looking and the huge tree that welcomes me each morning whispers to me 'just to be is enough', and I am grateful. Peter Wohlleben authored the book The Secret Life of Trees it is worth a read and a way to live with one another. Bless all Trees.
This reminds of a conversation I had with my beautiful friend Ruth this weekend. We had not seen each other for 40 years. She said she was allowing herself to feel "a menopause of ambition." That stuck with me.💕
Thank you, Cameron, for reminding us that what our culture values is not always the best choice. We can choose a different way. Here is to the quiet, less traveled path!
Today's meditation reminded me of these verses from 1 Corinthians: 27 God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the [a]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.
Thank you for another amazing post, Rev. Trimble. Your writing is so thoughtful and timely. Right after I read your post, I read Kate Bowler’s Substack You Are Not Robot Yet. Is the Universe sending me a message?
I am so grateful for your work and how it makes me feel less alone in these harrowing times. Thank you!
Sometimes I feel the best when someone says, “what did you do today and I reply nothing”. And, I feel really good about it…
Thank you Cameron. This comes at a moment, in the quiet of this morning, when I awoke in a cold sweat, my stomach sour and roiling. My mind is traveling the terrors of these times and what has brought us here---a transactional, money and competition driven economy vs. what you are lifting up here. I believe in a world based upon worth, intrinsic value and being. It is what a Jesus-following life calls us to. But so many of us are in survival mode these days, which makes it hard to remember the imagination you are holding out. Here in the Southwest, I am struggling as I look at my shrinking finances, and a bleak future of wildfires, a 200 mile dry Rio Grande river, bears coming into the city, desperate for food, only to get shot or hit by cars, ICE at our doorsteps and political insanity. Your words are like balm, like a breath of fresh air to begin the morning. I wrote a book called "Soul Tending: Journey into the Heart of Sabbath". I need to return again and again and again...
Another WOW. I’ll leave it at that….other than to say your insight is brilliant!
Good morning, Rev. Cameron. Wow! I don't even know where to begin. So much to say. First, a book suggestion: "In Praise of the Useless Life" by Brother Paul Quenon, a Trappist monk. Second, one of my favorite authors, the late, great Kurt Vonnegut, once lamented that while America is full of stories of "pulling yourself up from your bootstraps" to become "usefully" rich, it has no stories of a someone born poor but gains great wisdom and chooses to remain poor. Good point about those insidious algorithms: they find us useful. Just writing those words sounds strange. Time to find a tree full of shade!
Very refreshing way to describe the Sabbath: 'the world goes on without our effort.' Looking forward to doing things 'useless' today - and every day. Thank you.
Truth shines in all kinds of weather but we often miss the rainbow after the storm.
This speaks so deeply to me. Just over a week ago I had an epiphany that deeply resonates with your reflection while I was gazing at a Northern Red Oak tree I happened to notice in a parking lot. Somehow, my eyes were prepared to see a different reality that day because as I gazed at that tree, I suddenly became aware that I was delighting in it just because it existed, not because it did anything for me. And I realized I take Joy in other beings just because they exist, like the squirrels and birds and beautiful Scots pine tree in my backyard. And in a flash, I suddenly realized that God must look at me in the same way and delight in me just because I exist. And that God sees everyone that way, and sometimes we even have the grace to see one another that way. I struggle a lot with the feeling that my worth is in my productivity and my contributions to the world, so that was a gift of Grace, which is very much along the lines of what you share in this reflection. May God grant all of us the wisdom, freedom, and grace to be blessedly useless at least some of the time!
Beautiful, Janet! May we all soften the focus of our gaze and rest in delight more often. ♥️
Exactly, precisely, amazingly what I needed to hear this morning. Thank you so much, Cameron.
I believe we all need this, especially in today’s frenetic world. Thank you!
I wish this appeared in everyone’s inbox. Thank you for this. In many ways, I’m grateful for my age, for being ‘retired.’ The world doesn’t look to me as much for gain anymore, and in so many ways, I’m invisible. I find that what I do now really matters more because I can attend to the things that further life rather than diminish it. Time to go hug a tree.