I can hardly believe it has been a month since I wrote on this blog. What do I need to be more faithful? Do I need more time? Do I need more inspiration? Do I need more commitment? Do I need more prayer or silence? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Or, maybe it is something I need less of. Do I need less clutter? Do I need less obssessing? Do I need less taking myself so seriously. Do I need less ADHD? I don't really have the answers to these questions, but a few months ago I had an experience that has drawn me into doing Lectio Divina with roadsigns. I continue to be amazed at how much food for thought shows up right on the path of our daily journys. The -- 'needmore' -- 'needless' -- theme emerged in my life one day when I was packing to go away for a week of writing. As I carried all my loot out to the car I suddenly stopped and began praying with the ordeal--and indeed, it had become an ordeal. I drove away from the monastery a bit frustrated with myself. I was definitely taking too much stuff with me.
Mulling over all this as I drove South on Highway 71 (somewhere between Waldron and Y City) a road-sign caught my attention: Needmore! Automatic laughter rose up in me as I said to God, "I don't needmore! I needless!" I added to my prayer, "O God, help me to want less." Needmore! Needless! Wantmore! Wantless! Definitely material for Lectio. I've been praying about this ever since I saw that roadsign.
Needmore is not a city, a villiage or even a town. It is too small for that yet sometimes small things speak to us. That little place along the way called Needmore has spoken to me. I am sure it has a history. It has become a symbol for my prayer.
A quote from a greeting card I received many years ago still lingers in my storehouse of treasures. I offer it to you for reflection as we all consider whether we need more or less. Perhaps that would be a good journal exercise. Make two columns:
1. Needmore ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. Needless
If you aren't happy with what you have, how could you be happier with more.
--Grandma Ros
Find yourself a Lectio Roadsign and tell us about it!
Great challenge, Macrina. I travel alot- I'll be on the lookout for a lectio moment.
ReplyDeleteA fabulous coincidence, Macrina. A confirmation that I need to look at all that I do not need. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGreat message from the road!
ReplyDeleteI know I need to let go of quite a few things....Happy now, with just how things are!
Love you! Love this post...had exactly the same thought as we were driving through Needmore the other day!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you are back! I have missed you, your insights and your inspiration.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely & thoughtful Blog you have! I recently came across a quote by you and felt a connection & a breath of fresh air! It was this one: "God, why do I storm heaven for answers that are already in my heart? Every grace I need has already been given me. Oh, lead me to the beyond within" Thank you !! You help many strangers on your path...including me. ;-)Take care, Athena M.
ReplyDeleteBlessings!!! Grateful you are back and for your insights....a 'message' going thru my mind as traveled this weekend I was stressed took so much, just in case! Indeed NEED LESS!!! Ironically Need Less was theme of my spiritually direction this week."IF God wanted More for me I would know OR be content with Less.... doors opened today with MORE, abundant MORE - thank you God for all the blessings you provide. Will be looking at signs MORE:) God is ever present ~
ReplyDeleteBless you. Carol
There is a wonderful irony near the Spanish pueblo where I live -- it is a ghost town, an adobe village 800 years old that was abandoned completely about 20 years ago, and is now melting back into the earth in a most sculptural way. Its name is Villacreces... loosely translated to "Growing Town." It always brings me up short, usually when I am feeling all ambitious. Nothing lasts. All this Vitally Important Business will liley mean nothing in a couple of weeks/years/decades.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I heard you are coming to NZ! I will be overseas.. oh dear! My friend Barbara is enrolled so she will have to share with me! Arohanui.
ReplyDeleteGreetings, Sr. Macrina: Just returned from California after a month of caretaking and ultimate end of my mother's life. My brothers and sisters were so blessed by her life. Cleaning and preparing her room for closing reminded us of how much less we need. Of course she needed many things, but most were her comfort things, pictures, knickknacks, etc., the 'stuff' of her life. Forever changed by this experience, I am committed to living differently. Her death changed me in so many good ways. She was 91 and in her last days, her lectio divina was minute by minute and hour by hour. What an example! Prayers on her lips even in her sleeping made us cry. Lives well spent in prayer and evangilization, just being an example and role model of how to be Jesus to everyone we meet is the "needmore" of our lives. Thanks for all you do and do keep us inspired as always. God's blessing, my old friend.
ReplyDeleteHi Sr. Macrina!
ReplyDeleteHow about "Needles"? I don't have a photo of the sign, but something "stuck" me when I was driving through Needles, California this summer on the way to New Mexico. What are all the areas in my life that "catch" me like the thorns on a prickly weed and prevent me from being in the present moment?
Thanks for your lectio invitation on road signs, and the exercise on the continuum, needmore-needless. I will keep a look out. I saw a California license plate "Glo4God".
Sr. Macrina,
ReplyDeleteI ask myself the same Yet I have found myself with 30 plates. Why or Who do I think I am going to serve? Thanks for these thoughts. Kathy S
To Anonymous:
ReplyDeletePerhaps, you will serve 30... or 30 x 30 more... in ways you cannot imagine. Keep the plates without regret or guilt ...reminders that we are called to have Martha's hands.
And thank you for making us more aware of the need to share the wealth,
Ora