Giving Thanks

There seems to be an unwritten spiritual law that if we want our good to increase, we must focus on appreciating and husbanding the good that we already experience. This can be done by writing gratitude lists enumerating the many things in our current life that are fruitful and rewarding.…We make the very best of what we have and we find that almost behind our back the Great Creator redoubles and reinforces our efforts and makes something even better. Julia Cameron Walking in This World Page 144

It is important to remember to give thanks and praise to God for what he has done for us. Sometimes we can be so busy going on to the next thing that we forget about what we have already received. This puts me in mind of my mother who constantly reminded me about saying “please and thank you”. It was so ingrained in me that I say the words readily whenever someone offers me something and whenever I receive a gift from someone.

Almost a year ago, I finished my manuscript with the working title, Highway of Holiness: Soul Journey. It was accepted and published by Wipf and Stock a couple of months after that. I was so excited to be published by a “real” publisher once again—somehow this gives more credence to the work that one has done than the self-publishing route, which I had taken several times.

I was ready to go that route once more but I was pleased to have my current book in 2010 and my first book, Prayer Companion: A Treasury of Personal Meditation, back in 2001, chosen and published by publishers who are in the business. I give God thanks for this and also for showing me that I could self-publish my work when it was necessary. This I did with three of my books.

At present, I do not feel drawn to write any more books but I continue writing through my weekly blog, Contemplative Without a Cloister: http://judith-lawrence.blogspot.com and my monthly podcast meditation on my website: www.judithlawrence.ca/monthly.php I give thanks for the opportunity to continue my writing to the glory of God.

© Judith Lawrence

Grace of Creation

Summer Pathway

When we are afraid to begin [our creativity], it is always because we are afraid we are alone. …But we are not alone. God is present everywhere. The act of making art is a direct path to contact with God, and we do not need to travel any geographic or psychic distance to experience the grace of creation in the grace of our own creating. Julia Cameron, Walking in This World Page 21

When we are practicing our art—writing, book-binding, Celtic Knotwork—whatever it may be, we are connecting to God, walking to God, on a direct path.

When we practise our creativity we experience the grace of God’s creation in the grace of our own creating.

God is the Great Creator and God gives to us the gift of creativity. God wants us to share with him and our fellow human beings, the great joy the gift of creativity affords in our lives.

Those who make heavy weather of their creativity have not fully accepted the gift of creativity given to them. God desires us to delight in our ability to create and when we take on our creativity with reluctance, misgiving, or a heavy heart it is as if we are rejecting God’s gift to us.

So lose the attitude of guilt, reluctance, or unworthiness when practising your creative gift; take up your creative bent with whole-hearted joy, reverence, and gratitude, Experience the grace of creation in the grace of your own creating.

© Judith Lawrence