Daily Riches Book Notes: Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices by Brian McLaren

As the subtitle says, this book calls us to remember and put into practice forgotten ways of the ancient church – ways or practices we need to embrace again if we are to “find our way.” The book introduces an impressive new series The Ancient Practices Series, edited by Phillis Tickle, where many of the traditional spiritual disciplines will be covered, one per book. The plan for succeeding volumes is for books devoted to prayer, the sabbath, fasting, the eucharist, the journey, the liturgical year, and tithing. Besides touching on these, in this first book McLaren includes insights on suffering, stillness, secrecy, simplicity, slowness, simplicity, fixed-time prayer, hospitality, memorization and others. I really liked his discussion of St. Francis.

I found the book to be a rare treasure – heart-stiriring, and hope-giving – always challenging the reader to to move from the head to the heart. A short and easy read, the book deserves to be lingered over and savored. McLaren has a beautiful ability to take the seemingly stuffy, theoretical, tedious or unfamiliar, and make it interesting, easily accessible, and patently relevant. I found the wideness of vision in the book (see chapter 20) surprising, even stunning, and worthy of the living God. The final chapter alone is worth the price of the book, and the Notes at the end make for a valuable treasure trove of other important, related resources.

I’m late discovering McLaren, but I’ll definitely be digging into his other books. If you’re also not familiar, be sure to take a look at this book. I don’t think you’ll come away unchanged.

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Book Notes are a new addition to my blog Daily Riches. Notes will be posted sporadically, and only to subscribers to the blog – just to keep it simple for me. (If you’re connecting to Daily Riches through Twitter or Facebook, you will have to subscribe to richerbyfar.com to receive Book Notes.) As always, thanks for reading – and please, share your thoughts and opinions on these books! Thanks much – and thanks for joining me on what reader has called “this wobbly journey.” –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Held Fast by the Bonds of Love (Albert the Great and Thomas Merton)

“Therefore, banish from your heart the distractions of earth. Turn your eyes to spiritual joys so that you may learn at last to rest in the light of the contemplation of God. Indeed, the soul’s true life and repose are to abide in God, held fast by love and refreshed by divine consolations. …Little by little as you abandon baser things to rest in the one true and unchangeable Good, you will dwell there, held fast by the bonds of love.”  Albert the Great

“… monasticism aims at the cultivation of a certain quality of life, a level of awareness, a depth of consciousness, an area of transcendence and of adoration which are not usually possible in an active secular existence. This does not …mean that worldly life is to be considered wicked or even inferior. But it does mean that more immersion and total absorption in worldly business ends by robbing one of a certain necessary perspective. The monk seeks to be free from what William Faulkner called ‘the same frantic steeplechase toward nothing’ which is the essence of ‘worldliness’ everywhere.” Thomas Merton

“There is noting to live for but God, and I am still full of the orchestras that drown His Voice.” Merton

 “This is what the Lord says:
‘Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,
and you will find rest
for your souls.’”
Jeremiah 6:16

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you learning to “abide in God, held fast by love and refreshed by divine consolations?”
  • Are you able to rest in God who is Good, and “dwell there, held fast by the bonds of love?”
  • Have you become a victim of the “frantic steeplechase toward nothing?”
  • Can you offer yourself up to God as you are, including any “baser things” or distracting “orchestras” – asking him for a deeper experience of his love? Can you do that now?

Abba, help me to turn from the distractions of earth, and put away baser things – including any frenzied living – that keeps me from experiencing the consolations of your love.

 __________

For More: The Lives of the Saints by Bert Bhezzi.

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Detachment: “Just Step Away” (Peter Scazzero, Thomas Merton and The Virtues Project) *

“Detachment is experiencing our feelings without allowing them to control us. We step back and look at things objectively. We let go and accept what we cannot change. We detach from others’ choices, knowing that their spiritual work is not ours to do. We choose how we will act rather than just reacting. We step away from harmful cravings. …We can listen without losing ourselves. …we see our mistakes honestly, make amends and start afresh. Detachment allows us to be in the world but not of it. It frees us to lead our lives with grace.” The Virtues Project

“…When we put our claws into something and we don’t want to take them out, we are beyond enjoying them. We now must have them. …God’s purpose for us is to have a loving union with him at the end of the journey. We joyfully detach from certain behaviors and activities for the purpose of a more intimate, loving attachment to God. We are to enjoy the world, for God’s creation is good. We are to appreciate nature, people, and all God’s gifts, along with his presence in Creation–without being ensnared by them. It has rightly been said that those who are the most detached on the journey are best able to taste the purest joy in the beauty of created things.” Peter Scazzero

“We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God.” Thomas Merton

“Instruct those who are rich in this present world
not to be conceited or to fix their hope
on the uncertainty of riches, but on God,
who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.”
1 Timothy 1:17

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you able to detach when you should?
  • Is detachment helping you to “be in the world but not of it?” to “taste the purest joy and beauty of created things?”
  • What would help you to “enjoy all things” without “fixing your hope” on them? How can you “step away?”

Abba, help me to “step away.”

__________

For More: Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero

_________________________________________________

This blog is for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow it, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

 

Daily Riches: The Constant Purification of Motive (Richard Rohr and Thomas Keating) *

“Whenever you perform a religious action publicly, it enhances your image as a good, moral person and has a strong social payoff. Jesus’ constant emphasis is on interior religiosity, on purifying motivation and intention. He tells us to clean the inside of the dish instead of being so preoccupied with cleaning the outside, with looking good (Matthew 23:25-26). The purifying of our intention and motivation is the basic way that we unite our inner and our outer worlds. (Please read that twice!) All through the spiritual journey, we should be asking ourselves, “Why am I doing this? Am I really doing this for God, for truth, or for others? Or am I doing it for hidden reasons?” The spiritual journey could be seen as a constant purification of motive until I can finally say, “I have no other reason to do anything except love of God and love of neighbor.” Richard Rohr

“In the Near East, centuries ago successive cultures built new cities on top of the last ones. … The ruins of these ancient cities built one on top of the other are called “tells.” The spiritual journey is like an archaeological dig through the various stages of our lives, from where we are now back through the midlife crisis, adult life, adolescence, puberty, early childhood, infancy. What happens if we allow that archaeological dig to continue? We feel that we are getting worse. But we are really not getting worse; we are just finding out how bad off we always were. That is an enormous grace. … What happens when we get to the bottom of the pile of our emotional debris? We are in divine union. There is no other obstacle.” Thomas Keating

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness
in front of others
to be seen by them.”
Jesus in Matthew 6:6

Moving From Head to Heart

  • “Am I really doing this for God, for truth, or for others? Or am I doing it for hidden reasons?” Do you regularly ask yourself these questions?
  • Have you experienced the “enormous grace” or sifting through your “pile of emotional debris?”
  • What practice can you adopt to help you focus on “interior” religion?

Abba, may all that I do be only for love.

__________

For More: The Human Condition by Thomas Keating

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In these “Daily Riches”  my goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. Thanks for your interest. When you find it useful, please share!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

 

Daily Riches: The Primary Work of the Christian Leader (Gordon MacDonald, Henri Nouwen and Parker Palmer) *

“The forming of the soul that it might be a dwelling place for God is the primary work of the Christian leader. This is not an add-on, an option, or a third-level priority. Without this core activity, one almost guarantees that he/she will not last in leadership for a life-time or that what work is accomplished will become less and less reflective of God’s honor and God’s purposes.” Gordon MacDonald

“Before we can conquer the world we must conquer the self.” Oswald Sanders

“Self care is never a selfish act. It is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have – the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.” Parker Palmer

“The goal of education and formation for the ministry is continually to recognize the Lord’s voice, his face, and his touch in every person we meet.” Henri Nouwen

“How lovely is your dwelling place,
  Almighty Yahweh!
My soul yearns, even faints,
 for the courts of Yahweh;
my heart and my flesh cry out
 for the living God.”
Psalm 84:1-2

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Christian leader, do you consider “the forming of your soul that it might be a dwelling place for God” to be your “primary work?” Have you established routines and prioritized practices accordingly?
  • When you think about whether you are successful, how often do you turn to consider how you’re doing at this “core activity?” If not this, what do you think about instead? Are other responsibilities, real or imagined, deterring you from this non-optional, first-level activity?
  • Gordon MacDonald is a wise guide here. Can you accept his warning that if you fail at this point you probably “will not last in leadership for a life-time … [or your work will] become less and less reflective of God’s honor” over time?  Can you take the time to be this kind of leader in spite of the expectations and pressures others place on you – even perhaps with little encouragement from anyone else?

Abba, I pray that the Christian leaders I know would live a life of deep intimacy with you. Call them to yearn for you like the psalmist does, and to seek your empowering presence. And Lord, help those of us under their care to prayerfully support them and diligently protect them when they attempt this greatest of all work.

__________

For More: Cultivating the Soul by Gordon MacDonald

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Practical Thinking About Loving Union with God (Pete Scazzero) *

Pastor Pete Scazzero suggests thirteen indicators of being out of loving union with God:

  • I feel anxiety in the tenseness and tightness in my body.
  • I am not present or listening intently.
  • I feel pressure, with too much to do in too little time.
  • I am rushing.
  • I give quick opinions and judgments.
  • I am fearful about the future.
  • I am overly concerned with what others think.
  • I am defensive and easily offended.
  • I am preoccupied and distracted.
  • I am resentful of interruptions and abrupt.
  • I am manipulative, not patient.
  • I am unenthusiastic or threatened by the success of others.
  • I talk more than I listen.

“Abide in Me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself
unless it abides in the vine,
so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
Jesus in John 15:4

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • This list is a profound body-focused diagnostic tool. What is your body telling you about your present experience of loving union with God?
  • The desert fathers talked about the life of faith this way: “I fall down; I rise up. I fall down; I rise up.” The point of the list is that your body will tell you when you have “fallen down.” When you do, can you be gracious with yourself (instead of heaping self-recrimination, wallowing in guilt and shame, or making excuses), and simply act to reestablish union?
  • It’s hard to live in loving union with God and others. Will you accept God’s guidance to you, to help you do better, as he speaks to you through your body? Has God been speaking to you lately in this manner? Have you been listening?

Abba, anxiety, defensiveness, talking too much, hurrying, criticizing others – these are the “trouble lights” in my O.S. I’d rather not notice them, but if you’re going to talk to me this way, I want to listen. Please help me pay attention to the indicators and steer myself quickly back on course.

__________

For More: “Your Body is a Major, Not Minor Prophet” by Peter Scazzero

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Thomas Merton’s goal is his writing is the same as mine in this blog: “The purpose of a book of meditations is to teach you how to think and not to do your thinking for you. Consequently if you pick up such a book and simply read it through, you are wasting your time. As soon as any thought stimulates your mind or your heart you can put the book down because your meditation has begun.” I’m not Thomas Merton (!), yet I hope these Daily Riches will lead you into much life-enriching meditation. – Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Trying to Give Water From an Empty Well (Parker Palmer and Pete Scazzero) *

“When I give something I do not possess, I give a false and dangerous gift, a gift that looks like love but is, in reality, loveless – a gift given more from my need to prove myself than from the other’s need to be cared for. One sign that I am violating my own nature in the name of nobility is a condition called burnout. Though usually regarded as a result of trying to give too much, burnout in my experience results from trying to give what I do not possess – the ultimate in giving too little! Burnout is a state of emptiness, to be sure, but it does not result from giving all I have; it merely reveals the nothingness from which I was trying to give in the first place.” Parker Palmer

“Remaining in loving union with Jesus is a matter of life and death for us as well as for everyone who looks to us for nourishment.” Peter Scazzero

“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Jeremiah 2:13

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Have you ever felt burned out? Looking back, to you have insight now into what happened? Were you “giving something you did not possess?”
  • Do you see “nourishing your soul” as a matter of life and death for you? Do you see how failing do to so can make you “dangerous?”
  • Is busyness, drivenness, exhaustion or a dangerous sense of self-sufficiency keeping you from nourishing your soul?
  • You you have a specific plan to cultivate loving union with God, “the spring of living water?” If not, where could you begin?

Abba, when I come to the end of my rope – when my well is empty  – when I’m running on fumes – when my experience of you is tired or second-hand … may I remember then to address the “nothingness” in my inner life before I attempt to do anything else.  And may I remember my need even when it seems like I’m doing fine.

__________

For More: Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer

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“There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.” (Marie Antionette) , and thus “Men more often require to be reminded than informed.”  (Samuel Johnson) The purpose of Daily Riches is to return again and again to a list of critical concepts at the core of the spiritual life. “Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you [may] already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught.” (2 Peter 1:12)  I appreciate your interest! When you find this helpful, please share! – Bill

Daily Riches: Hospitality to the Spirit Within (David G. Benner)

“If transformation is not an accomplishment and is something that must come from beyond the small self that we presently are, where does it come from? I have no better answer than that it comes from God. God, who is both within and beyond us, constantly calls us to be more than we are. All growth, healing and transformation are mediated by this outpouring of the Divine Self. They come to us as gifts, but there is something we must do to accept them. That something is responding to life with a “YES” of openness, acceptance and gratitude and then living with the inner stillness and presence that is part of being a good host to the Spirit of God who dwells within. In a word, it is faith. But remember – faith is much, much more than beliefs. Faith as belief – this being how it has commonly been understood in Christianity since the Enlightenment – is far too weak to transform anything. However, faith involves much more than giving cognitive assent to propositions. It is a whole-person orientation of trusting openness. Faith in God is leaning into life with openness and trust. This is why genuine openness to life is openness to God – and openness to God is openness to life.” David G. Benner

“…let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” Romans 12 2

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Does your faith in God include responding to him and to life “with a ‘YES’ of openness, acceptance and gratitude?” Consider each of these three traits.
  • Are you “living with the inner stillness and presence that is part of being a good host to the Spirit of God who dwells within?”
  • Is your approach to the Christian life working for you? Is it more and more a moving from “head to heart?” an entering into a kind of spaciousness?

Abba,  I will stop and look for your gracious work of transformation in me and my world today. Help me to move from my head to my heart. Help me to live in openness to you and to life.

______________________

For More: Spirituality and the Awakening Self by David G. Benner

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Thomas Merton expresses my heart for Daily Riches: “If I dare, in these few words, to ask you some direct and personal questions, it is because I address them as much to myself as to you. It is because I am still able to hope that a civil exchange of ideas can take place between two persons — that we have not yet reached the stage where we are all hermetically sealed, each one in the collective arrogance and despair of his own herd.” I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. (Psalm 90:14) . I appreciate your interest! – Bill

 

Daily Riches: Contemplatives In the World (Mother Teresa and Richard Rohr) *

“We are called to be contemplatives in the heart of the world –

by seeking the face of God in everything,
everyone, everywhere, all the time,
and his hand in every happening;
seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus,
especially in the lowly appearance of bread,
and in the distressing disguise of the poor.”
Mother Teresa

“Contemplation is an exercise in keeping your heart and mind spaces open long enough for the mind to see other hidden material. It is content with the naked now and waits for futures given by God and grace. As such, a certain amount of love for an object and for myself most precede any full knowing of it.” Richard Rohr

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”    Matthew 25:37-40

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • I love the phrase “contemplatives in the heart of the world.” Does this seem possible for you? What would it mean for you to be a contemplative in the world today?
  • Mother Teresa said, “If we were not in constant union with God, it would be impossible for us to endure the sacrifices that are required to live [in Calcutta] among the destitute.” Think about that phrase “constant union with God.” Is that concept on your radar?
  • Do you think to look for Jesus in the “distressing disguise of the poor?” If not, why not? How can you practice doing that?

Abba, help me to see and adore you “in the distressing disguise of the poor” – and in so many of your other disguises – the elderly, the child, the disfigured, the dirty, the widow, the orphan, the prisoner, the immigrant, the otherwise marginalized. I’m often so much more likely to judge or ignore than to adore.

__________

For More: “An Urban Epiphany” – the article by Edwina Gateley in Daniel Clendenin’s blog Journey With Jesus.

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Thanks for reading and sharing Richer By Far! I appreciate it.  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Detachment: “Just Step Away” (Peter Scazzero, Thomas Merton and The Virtues Project)

“Detachment is experiencing our feelings without allowing them to control us. We step back and look at things objectively. We let go and accept what we cannot change. We detach from others’ choices, knowing that their spiritual work is not ours to do. We choose how we will act rather than just reacting. We step away from harmful cravings. …We can listen without losing ourselves. …we see our mistakes honestly, make amends and start afresh. Detachment allows us to be in the world but not of it. It frees us to lead our lives with grace.” The Virtues Project

“…When we put our claws into something and we don’t want to take them out, we are beyond enjoying them. We now must have them. …God’s purpose for us is to have a loving union with him at the end of the journey. We joyfully detach from certain behaviors and activities for the purpose of a more intimate, loving attachment to God. We are to enjoy the world, for God’s creation is good. We are to appreciate nature, people, and all God’s gifts, along with his presence in Creation–without being ensnared by them. It has rightly been said that those who are the most detached on the journey are best able to taste the purest joy in the beauty of created things.” Peter Scazzero

“We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God.’” Thomas Merton

“Instruct those who are rich in this present world
not to be conceited or to fix their hope
on the uncertainty of riches, but on God,
who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.”
1 Timothy 1:17

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you able to detach when you should?
  • Is detachment helping you to “be in the world but not of it?” to “taste the purest joy and beauty of created things?”
  • What would help you to “enjoy all things” without “fixing your hope on them? How can you “step away?”

Abba, help me to “step away.”

__________

For More: Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero

_________________________________________________

This blog is for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow it, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

 

Daily Riches: The Constant Purification of Motive (Richard Rohr and Thomas Keating)

“Whenever you perform a religious action publicly, it enhances your image as a good, moral person and has a strong social payoff. Jesus’ constant emphasis is on interior religiosity, on purifying motivation and intention. He tells us to clean the inside of the dish instead of being so preoccupied with cleaning the outside, with looking good (Matthew 23:25-26). The purifying of our intention and motivation is the basic way that we unite our inner and our outer worlds. (Please read that twice!) All through the spiritual journey, we should be asking ourselves, “Why am I doing this? Am I really doing this for God, for truth, or for others? Or am I doing it for hidden reasons?” The spiritual journey could be seen as a constant purification of motive until I can finally say, “I have no other reason to do anything except love of God and love of neighbor.” Richard Rohr

“In the Near East, centuries ago successive cultures built new cities on top of the last ones. … The ruins of these ancient cities built one on top of the other are called “tells.” The spiritual journey is like an archaeological dig through the various stages of our lives, from where we are now back through the midlife crisis, adult life, adolescence, puberty, early childhood, infancy. What happens if we allow that archaeological dig to continue? We feel that we are getting worse. But we are really not getting worse; we are just finding out how bad off we always were. That is an enormous grace. … What happens when we get to the bottom of the pile of our emotional debris? We are in divine union. There is no other obstacle.” Thomas Keating

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness
in front of others
to be seen by them.”
Jesus in Matthew 6:6

Moving From Head to Heart

  • “Am I really doing this for God, for truth, or for others? Or am I doing it for hidden reasons?” Do you regularly ask yourself these questions?
  • Have you experienced the “enormous grace” or sifting through your “pile of emotional debris?”
  • What practice can you adopt to help you focus on “interior” religion?

Abba, may all that I do be only for love.

__________

For More: The Human Condition by Thomas Keating

_________________________________________________

In these “Daily Riches”  goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day. Thanks, and please share!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

 

Daily Riches: Longing for Loving Union with God (Peter Scazzero)

Pastor Peter Scazzero suggests thirteen indicators of being out of loving union with God:

  • I feel anxiety in the tenseness and tightness in my body.
  • I am not present or listening intently.
  • I feel pressure, with too much to do in too little time.
  • I am rushing.
  • I give quick opinions and judgments.
  • I am fearful about the future.
  • I am overly concerned with what others think.
  • I am defensive and easily offended.
  • I am preoccupied and distracted.
  • I am resentful of interruptions and abrupt.
  • I am manipulative, not patient.
  • I am unenthusiastic or threatened by the success of others.
  • I talk more than I listen.

“Abide in Me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself
unless it abides in the vine,
so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
Jesus in John 15:4

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • This list is a profound body-focused diagnostic tool. What is your body telling you about your present experience of loving union with God?
  • The desert fathers talked about the life of faith this way: “I fall down; I rise up. I fall down; I rise up.” The point of the list is that your body will tell you when you have “fallen down.” When you do, can you be gracious with yourself (instead of heaping self-recrimination, wallowing in guilt and shame, or making excuses), and simply act to reestablish union?
  • It’s hard to live in loving union with God and others. Will you accept God’s guidance to you, to help you do better, as he speaks to you through your body? Has God been speaking to you lately in this manner? Have you been listening?

Abba, anxiety, defensiveness, talking too much, hurrying, criticizing others – these are the “trouble lights” in my O.S. I’d rather not notice them, but if you’re going to talk to me this way, I want to listen. Please help me pay attention to the indicators and steer myself quickly back on course.

__________

For More: “Your Body is a Major, Not Minor Prophet” by Peter Scazzero

_________________________________________________

The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)