One way to combat egocentrism… is to focus on everything that God has made and done for us. Because it’s all His. Our time, our talent, our visions, our gifts, our children, they’re all “ours”, but borrowed, for a while. Everything is ultimately His.

So I’m using this space today to celebrate His gifts, that He’s seen fit to share with me. Thank You, Lord.

Nino

Eggs

Snow

Sunset

Migi’s Artwork

Birds

Clouds

Aisa’s Hair

Fr. Dubay talks about the symphony of truth, of divine revelation, of splendor. It brought to mind this poem:

“To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not rich;
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart;
to study hard;
to think quietly,
act frankly,
talk gently,
await occasions,
hurry never;
in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common –

this is my symphony.”
–William Henry Channing (1810-1884)

Recognize to whom you owe the fact that you exist, that you breathe, that you understand, that you are wise, and, above all, that you know God and hope for the kingdom of heaven and the vision of glory, now darkly as in a mirror but then with greater fullness and purity. You have been made a son of God, co-heir with Christ. Where did you get all this, and from whom?

Let me turn to what is of less importance: the visible world around us. What benefactor has enabled you to look out upon the beauty of the sky, the sun in its course, the circle of the moon, the countless number of stars, with the harmony and order that are theirs, like the music of a harp? Who has blessed you with rain, with the art of husbandry, with different kinds of food, with the arts, with houses, with laws, with states, with a life of humanity and culture, with friendship and the easy familiarity of kinship?

– from a sermon of St. Gregory of Nazianzen, Bishop, 18 Feb 2013 Office of Readings