Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

  • Home
  • About
  • DISCLOSURES
    • Amazon Affiliate
    • Book Reviews
  • Published
  • Contact
  • Blog
    • Commit Poetry
    • Dared

still saturday: slow down enough to notice

September 6, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

slow down

“I think Brother Lawrence was a man other men usually miss, typically dismiss. Which is too bad. His quietness was thoughtfulness. And in his quietness, Brother Lawrence discovered one of life’s deep secrets, and he was happy to tell others about it for the asking: God is everywhere. God hovers in the air just behind you. God slips in, furtive and alert, among your comings and your goings. God listens, and watches, and–yes–speaks. Only, you need to slow down enough to notice. But so often we, like Martha, become distracted by many things and miss Jesus sitting right there in our kitchen.” ~Mark Buchanan in The Rest of God

Still slowing,

Sandy

Welcome to Still Saturday where we pause after a busy week, move in quiet pilgrimage, maybe linger a while in some still place, and soak in the beauty of images and words. We’d love for you to join us. Get the details on the left, grab your favorite button, and link up below. We all love to hear if something especially speaks to your heart, but please don’t feel pressured to comment. Simply take some time to gaze long and drink deep.



Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: stories and reflections

Comments

  1. Sheila Seiler Lagrand says

    September 6, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    We’re on the same wavelength tonight, Sandra.

    This is beautiful. Like you. Thank you.

    And thanks, as always, for this wonderful space. xoxo

    • Sandra Heska King says

      September 6, 2013 at 10:21 pm

      Love riding the same wavelength with you, Sheila.

      • Sheila Seiler Lagrand says

        September 6, 2013 at 10:55 pm

        me too. Me too.

  2. Elizabeth says

    September 7, 2013 at 2:20 am

    I love that quote!

    • Sandra Heska King says

      September 7, 2013 at 10:02 am

      I like the part about Him hovering in the air…

  3. Sylvia R says

    September 7, 2013 at 6:18 am

    Thanks, Sandy, for this truth that I needed so much to be reminded of today, this potentially over-the-top busy day. I love that quote illustrated with that photo. The urge it evokes in me is to take that top table off again and sit at the bottom table in the quiet of a summer’s-end abandoned picnic place, in stillness with Him!

    • Sandra Heska King says

      September 7, 2013 at 10:06 am

      I love how the photo inspires you, Sylvia! I thought of arms raised in alleluias. 🙂

      I hope you find some quiet moments today.

  4. Patricia @ Pollywog Creek says

    September 7, 2013 at 7:19 am

    It appears that I’m riding that wave with you and Sheila today. God is good. His grace and mercy are never-ending. Much love to you this day, dearest Sandra.

  5. jean wise says

    September 7, 2013 at 7:43 am

    Just read a book called Noticing God by Richard Peace that had many of these same thoughts. He calls noticing God one of the spiritual disciplines. I really liked that. Great quote and reminder for today!

  6. Michelle DeRusha says

    September 7, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    A blessed weekend to you, Sandy.

  7. Barbie says

    September 7, 2013 at 1:03 pm

    So good! I’ve been distracted by many things lately. I don’t want to miss Him!

  8. Kris says

    September 7, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    Thank you, Sandy for the reminder to slow down. It seems I can always use the nudge. XO

  9. Shelly Miller says

    September 7, 2013 at 2:36 pm

    I completely forgot to link up last night. ack. Anyway, I read this exact same portion of Mark’s book and used another quote from the same chapter in my post today for Sabbath. I’m now reading Practicing the Presence of God by Lawrence because he inspired me. This was a sacred echo for me, thanks.

  10. Jason Stasyszen says

    September 7, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    I’m certainly guilty of missing Jesus in the kitchen, but what a beautiful picture and reminder this is! Thank you, Sandra.

  11. Beth says

    September 7, 2013 at 4:40 pm

    I love this quote! Really, really love. Thank you for sharing. Many blessings.
    Beth

  12. Laurie Collett says

    September 7, 2013 at 6:03 pm

    Beautiful quote.. may we invite Him to sup with us. Thanks for hosting & God bless.

  13. Joanne Norton says

    September 7, 2013 at 6:14 pm

    I was given the book by Brother Lawrence about 1-1/2 years after I came to the Lord, so the summer of ’67. It hit me then, I kept it for years and then gave it to someone else who was special. Now I have another one. Don’t read it often, but have read it a number of times. Seeing how he started very, very basically, with very few high expectations, and then becoming a God-oriented, appreciated monk, just doing his job, was a very special opportunity for him and his contacts/friends/co-servers. I always like it when it’s shared in our present-day world, b/c , in some ways, it’s a reminder that life truly doesn’t change a whole lot. People are people. I need that reminder on a daily basis now.

    Good to “see” you. Always is.

  14. Joanne Viola says

    September 8, 2013 at 6:04 am

    I love the quote but then I loved the book 🙂 I had similar thoughts for today. This morning is my turn in children’s ministry so I am glad for the reminder to look for & notice Him in there today!
    Have a blessed Sunday,
    Joanne

  15. Nina says

    September 8, 2013 at 3:53 pm

    Silence and awaiting is not popular in this time and age – yet it’s what we need and long for … In order to hear and see Him!

  16. Kristen says

    September 8, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    So happy to find your blog, Sandra. What a needful reminder to slow down and what a fitting quote. Thanks for using your pen to encourage and give glory where its due.

Trackbacks

  1. Weekend Reflection: No Lines says:
    September 6, 2013 at 10:11 pm

    […] Around here we remove our shoes and tour the stillness. Start with Sandra Heska King’s Still Saturday. You’ll join us, yes? We’ve saved you a […]

  2. Waking Up to a Going World | Kelly Sauer Blog | La Joie, La Vie says:
    September 7, 2013 at 11:30 am

    […] am sharing a quiet Saturday morning with my friend Sandra Heska King. It has been a while, but it is so good to me right now… […]

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

Get updates from the stillness by email

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Archives

Categories

Instagram Inspiration

sandraheskaking

Cutting tonight’s walk short. Stupid blue jay. N Cutting tonight’s walk short. Stupid blue jay. Not this one. A different one. But still. (My niece believes blue jays are a visitation from Grandma—my mom.) 
My shirt says “Walk in love. But I’m not feeling very loving. And if it WAS my Mom AKA Mother Mary Esther of the Order of Perpetual Birdwatchers, I’ll bet she’s having a good laugh. A passerby said she heard it was good luck and I should buy a lottery ticket tonight. In other news, I also banged my hip bone against our bed’s footboard and gave myself a mighty bruise. Then I burned my arm on the top of the grill. I did manage to wash all the knives without cutting myself and didn’t start any fires. So how was your day?
And now… “From the rising of the sun to the pl And now… “From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.”
The world’s a mess, but His mercies are new. The world’s a mess, but His mercies are new.
When we were in Israel last month, we visited @yad When we were in Israel last month, we visited @yadvashem - the World Holocaust Center in Jerusalem. There wasn't enough time to spend nearly enough time. 

The Valley of the Communities was very moving. It's a labyrinth of stone from which there seems no way out. Our guide said It gives an idea of the endlessness of the horror. His parents emigrated from Vilna (the Jerusalem of Lithuania), before the Holocaust. In 1935, thirteen of his family members still remained there. By 1945 only one--an uncle--had survived. He wrote a book about them from a bundle of old letters. "One story out of millions."

"This memorial commemorates the Jewish communities destroyed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, and the few which suffered but survived in the shadow of the Holocaust."
#Israel2022 #HolocaustRemembranceDay
“From my favorite spot on the floor, I look up a “From my favorite spot on the floor, I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, ” Anne Frank wrote in the Diary of a Young Girl. Watching the tree change through the seasons her family spent in hiding in an attic gave her hope. The Holocaust Memorial Center is one of only eleven sites in the United States to receive a sapling from that tree. I stand at “her” window and imagine hanging hope on a tree.

"It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.” ~ Primo Levi

From a post I wrote for @tspoetry after a visit to the @holocaustcenter.

https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2016/07/27/regional-tour-holocaust-memorial-center-farmington-hills-michigan/
Stunning tree I parked near at Bible study yesterd Stunning tree I parked near at Bible study yesterday. I was in a rush and failed to snap the whole tree. I need to run back before the flowers fall. I think it’s a jacaranda? I want one.
Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this a Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this afternoon. I thought he was hurt, but I think he was just trying to cool off. (Maybe it's a young one.... unless it's the light?)
Someone should do something about that dog. She’ Someone should do something about that dog. She’s yelping and carrying on like she’s in some awful pain.
“Now in the place where he was crucified there w “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.” ~ John 19:41

“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay…’”~ Matthew 28:5-6

Many wonder if this tomb, which lies just a few yards west of Golgotha could be the place where Jesus lay and rose. I wish we could have lingered longer here in this garden and in the tomb itself. It was easier for me to imagine the events of that weekend happening here than in the heavily incensed, decorated, dark and crowded Church of the Holy Sepulchre… though my hairdresser said her old boyfriend “got chills”’when he entered that tomb. We did not go inside that one because the line was way too long. 

At any rate, the most important thing is that he tomb is EMPTY and HE IS RISEN!

HAPPY EASTER!
#Israel2022 #GardenTomb #Easter
 “Peter said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to g 
“Peter said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me.’” ~ Luke 22:33-34

The Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (rooster crowing) built over what tradition says was the house of Caiaphas where Jesus was brought after he was arrested. Perhaps he was imprisoned in one of the underground crypts while awaiting trial. 

“On top of the church, higher than the cross—I loved this—stands a golden rooster! I’ll never look at a weathervane the same again. How would you like to have a church commemorate your weakest moment?” ~ Wayne Stiles in Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus

#Israel2022 #GoodFriday
The olive trees here are ancient… some carbon da The olive trees here are ancient… some carbon dates to the 12th century, according to my Eyewitness book on Jerusalem. “DNA tests have shown that eight of the trees grew from cuttings from the same mother tree—perhaps taken by Christians who believed the tree to have witnessed Jesus’s agony.” 

Gethsemane means “olive press.” Jesus was pressed to his very depths that night.  He knew what was ahead. He could have run far away. But he went where he knew Judas would look for him. 

“And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” ~ Luke 22:41-44

Garden of Gethsemane and Church of the Nations

#Israel2022
A "blue preacher" right outside my door, nearly as A "blue preacher" right outside my door, nearly as tall as I am. I wonder what he's wondering. Is he finding the answer blowing in the wind?

"Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness." ~ Mary Oliver in "Why I Wake Early"
Food truck night. Food truck night.
Looking east from the Mount of Olives at the Templ Looking east from the Mount of Olives at the Temple Mount and Rock of the Dome. And then the Eastern (Golden) Gate, currently sealed where Jesus might have entered the city after riding down the hill.
Tristram’s starling - named after the Reverend H Tristram’s starling - named after the Reverend Henry Baker Tristram—seen in Masada. #Israel2022
Owl? Owl?
Food truck night and a supper guest. Food truck night and a supper guest.
Been a while since I've posted a gator. This guy ( Been a while since I've posted a gator. This guy (gal?) has been cruising one of our neighborhood lakes the last few days.
Ibex (wild goat) 🐐 “The high mountains belong Ibex (wild goat)
🐐
“The high mountains belong to the wild goats” Psalm 104:18
🐐
David may have hidden from King Saul in this area. If we ever get to go back to Israel, I hope we can explore this this place. On the day we visited, there was concern for flash flooding, so we only got in a few steps.
A crow for @meganwillome #crow #greycrow #israel A crow for @meganwillome  #crow #greycrow #israel #jerusalem
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Get the Mug

Embrace the life you have t s poetry mug

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy is available HERE.

I Read Light

TSP-Red button

bibledude-net



Sponsor a Child

Join the Compassion Blogger Network

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2022 Sandra Heska King · Site by The Willingham Enterprise, LLC on the Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.