Contemplative Haven

A brief pause here to catch up on some bloggy-business. Although I’m not one for awards or things of that nature (a kindred spirit with Owen along these lines), I do wish to acknowledge the dear people who have thought of me lately, when some of these awards popped up.  I know the spirit in which they are intended, and I appreciate that immensely. First, a thank-you goes out to Paula, of Receiving Light and to Marie Cecile of Soulful Longings, for presenting me with a “Nice Matters” award. 

Also, a sincere thank-you to AutumnRose of Christ’s Rose, for the beautiful bouquet she recently gave me.

And a heartfelt thank-you to Ukok, of Ukok’s Place, for naming me as one of her selections for the Mathetes Award, described as follows: “It’s a brand new award being passed out. It is the Mathetes Award, created by Dan King, of Management by God, to recognize those who take to heart the Great Commission and further God’s Kingdom by creating more disciples for Him. According to Dan, mathetes is the Greek word for disciple. The rules for the award, as posted by its creator, are as follows: In the spirit of this award, the rules are simple: Winners of this award must pick five other “disciples” to pass it on to. As you pass it on, I just ask that you mention and provide links for (1)this post as the originator of the award (Dan King of Management by God), (2) the person that awarded it to you, and then (3) the names and sites of the five that you believe are fulfilling the role of a disciple of Christ.”

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“To follow Jesus in discipleship, writes Joyce Rupp in, Fresh Bread and Other Gifts of Spiritual Nourishment, means that we, too, will be a people of great love.  We too will lay down our lives for others.  This is the price to be paid in discipleship - the giving away of our very selves.  We will expect some emptying to go on in our lives, some ‘eating up’ to take place.  But it will not destroy us because we know that, like Jesus, we are about our Father’s business.  We can be sustained and strengthened by our love of God and our faith in his ever-abiding presence.  We can have problems, frustrations, difficult situations and not allow them to embitter, disillusion or destroy us.”

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I have been blessed by the discipleship of all those in my sidebar, and some who may not be there simply due to oversights on my part.  But whether they care for awards or not, I’d like to specifically mention:

• Owen, of Luminous Miseries and Terry, of The Road to Kingdom Come - two men whose faith has humbled me since I began blogging, and continues to do so;

• Kristen, of Small Treasures and Suzanne, of Blessed Among Men - two young women I don’t get a chance to visit as much as I’d like to, but who exemplify, for me, a quiet beauty and holiness of discipleship within the Domestic Church and in the world.  By now they may have already been mentioned for this award by other bloggers, but I wanted to name them just the same;

• Deacon Dan, of Deacon Dan Wright, who despite his many responsibilities as husband, father, teacher and deacon, continues to steadily nourish and edify us with his homilies and reflections.

There’s just one more little thing, and I wouldn’t feel right if I kept you in the dark about it.  So here it is, in all its glory, for all the world (well, maybe twenty of you) to see:

My blog is worth $0.00.

 How much is your blog worth?

     (Hat tip to Suzanne, of Blessed Among Men)