Thursday, January 10, 2008

Key Moments

"I discovered that if you really keep your eye peeled to it and your ears open, if you really pay attention to it, even such a limited and limiting life as the one I was living on Rupert Mountain opened up onto extraordinary vistas. Taking your children to school and kissing your wife goodbye. Eating lunch with a friend. Trying to do a decent day's work. Hearing the rain patter against the window. There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly. If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." ~~~ Frederick Buechner



Lacy snowflake alights on a friendly nose. (Click photo for better view.)







Early morning breakfast. Good man. Hearty grains. Simple is true.








Spanish homework. Practice. Practice, practice.







Hmmm...the mysteries presented when one stick, wet sand, and a teenage girl combine.




"...because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the first photo....the kids are great, too, of course; but the first one is enough uniquely its own that it stands out.

Cherie said...

Thanks, Patti. I thought that photo turned out cool, but wasn't sure if, on its own with no explanation, people would know what it is, or find it interesting. I appreciate you letting me know that you enjoyed it.

Ann said...

Such a lovely post, Cherie. I love the Buechner paragraph. What a gentle, yet essential, reminder. Thanks, as always.

Cherie said...

You're welcome, Ann. Very much so.

Anonymous said...

Somehow you read my needs Cherie. All moments are key moments and life is grace. I needed this today. Thank you!!!

cecily said...

This... this... this is mystery, this is truth, this is the secret to contentment.

Is this from Buechner's sermons? (I think it's called something about dark places)... I saw it on Amazon last week and since then I've stumbled upon three or four quotes from it in various places. Hmmm, beginning to think I should maybe invest in it because all the quotes have been seriously good.

tshsmom said...

I can almost smell the friendly steam rising from your early morning kitchen!

Wandering Coyote said...

Nice...

Cherie said...

Annie, as you know it was God who met your needs here; I am only a weak vessel who likes to type up good quotes. :D So glad it helped! Words, so often, are gifts.

Cecily: From your comment here I sense that you had the same sort of response to Buechner's words as I did. Awe and revelation. I gleaned this nugget from his book entitled: Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner. I don't know if it came from a sermon or not. From the context it appears to have come from a larger work. If you find it, will you let me know? Thanks.

Tshs and WC: Wish you were here!