annoyed

(dusk at my house)

Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.

~ Mother Teresa ~

Yeah, Mother T. That would be me.

In keeping with the theme of not being self-forgetting, let me tell you what I know right now: I. Am. Annoyed.

I am annoyed with...
...incompetence
...obliviousness
...lack of professionalism
...lack of compassion
...lack of empathy
...lack of money
...hunger
...hatred
...poverty
...rigidity
...bigotry
...ignorance
...pain
...crankiness
...stuckness

My own and others'.

latest lesson

It seems that when some people talk of compassion, they have the notion that it entails a total disregard or even a sacrificing of one’s own interests. This is not the case. In fact, genuine love should first be directed at oneself – if we do not love ourselves, how can we love others?

~ HH Dalai Lama ~

This seems to be my latest lesson. Service without self-forgetting. That's a challenge for an enneagram 8.

I must say...I like it.

a day for me

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everyone else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight - but never stop fighting!

~ e.e. cummings ~

Today, I am doing only what I want to do. All. Day. Long.

You?

what if it were someone you loved?

(one step at a t ime)

I can't remember much about the years of physical and emotional abuse my brother, Eamon, suffered. The thing I do remember though, quite literally, is blood on his school shirt when he came home in the afternoon. The beatings and taunting were very frequent for him and a constant part of his school years.

Intolerance is not genetically encoded—it is taught. It is learned at home. It is learned in the classrooms and it is learned anywhere else we gather as a group. Bullying is torture, it is another betrayal of basic human decency and its scars reach into the future of its survivors.

~ Colin Farrell ~

President Obama ordered hospitals to allow same sex partners access to their beloved who are in in-patient treatment. How many good reasons can you think of for that happening?

Let's see...

...common humanity

...basic decency

...why not?

...and good medicine

That's right. What medical personnel don't know that people heal better and faster when surrounded by those they love? (That doesn't even bring into play the issue of stress impeding healing due to separation and no access.) And if those personnel don't know it--they have no business being in the profession (in my not so humble opinion).

A basic human right is now on the books. Thanks, Barry.

taxes

Taxes create the kind of community that I want to live in.

~ Rev. Jennifer Hope Kottler ~

from her commentary, "You Get What You Pay For,"
in the April issue of Sojourners

Taxes. Most of us complain about them at one time or another. I know I have. However, my tune has changed in recent years.

Ask anyone who lives (or has lived) in a country where there is no infrastructure how they feel about paying their taxes. If they now live here, chances are they will tell you that they love what they get for paying them.

Roads. Police. Fire departments. Libraries. Schools. Clean water and sewers..to name a few of the basics.

I was lucky enough to be born here. Now I choose to live here. Is it the best place on earth? Probably not, but there are a lot of places I would rather NOT live, and some of those reasons are the differences we get when we pay taxes.

I can't guarantee that I will never again complain about paying taxes. If you ask me about it, though, my complaint will likely have a lot more to do with my lack of planning than with my feeling that paying taxes is unfair.

I agree with Rev. Kottler...and Oliver Wendell Holmes:

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes ~

love thursday 04.15.10 ~ homeopathy

Romantic love is blind to everything except what is lovable and lovely, but Christ's love sees us with terrible clarity and sees us whole. Christ's love so wishes our joy that it is ruthless against everything in us that diminishes our joy. The worst sentence Love can pass is that we behold the suffering that Love has endured for our sake, and that is also our acquittal. The justice and mercy of the judge are ultimately one.

~ Frederick Buechner ~

American theologian and writer

Are any of you fans of homeopathy?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, homeopathy is a form of "informational medicine" (some would say "energy medicine"). I like to think of it as "the hair of the dog that bit you". Most often it is referred to as "the law of similars".

What that means is that a substance that is taken in its undiluted form can cause certain symptoms, yet when that same substance is prepared homeopathically by a series of dilutions and succussions, it can remedy the same symptoms that the whole substance effects.

The example I like to use is Ipecac. Most people are familiar with the use of Ipecac to induce vomiting. While it sounds unpleasant, it can be very useful in its undiluted form when someone has ingested a noxious substance that needs to be expelled. Homeopathic Ipecac, on the other hand, can be administered when someone is vomiting (with the flu or other illness) so that they can hold food and water down and take in the nourishment they need to get well.

(This is only one of thousands of examples. If you find it interesting, I encourage you to do some reading and research.)

I share this information with you for three reasons...

One: You might not know about it and homeopathy could be just the thing you've been looking for.

Two: I saw my doc yesterday and he gave me some remedies that have helped me tremendously. Look--I've even found some words. I have more energy and the overwhelm is dissipating.

Three: This is one more example to me of how, in the Divine creation, we are given what we need--both individually and globally. Being able to use what we have to cure what ails us.

Love. In action. From the Source.

all is well

When despair for the world grows in me ... I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~ Wendell Berry ~

from his poem "The Peace of Wild Things"

In the midst of my overwhelm, I have been seeking and finding grace (my word for the year).

I "consider the lilies of the field".

I "walk by faith, not by sight" and in that faith find "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen".

And all is well.

overwhelm

The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing ... not healing, not curing ... that is a friend who cares.

~ Henri J.M. Nouwen ~

from his book Out of Solitude

I'm sorry I've been out of touch. Keeping up with blogs and email--people--has been a bit beyond me lately. I do make it around to read you all--just not every day, like I prefer to do. Sometimes I just don't have anything to say so I haven't been leaving comments. To those of you who have been stopping by here and leaving words--thanks.

Keeping up with my own blog has been a challenge, too. I've chosen to post daily as an exercise in faithfulness and discipline. Some days (you have probably noticed) I haven't had much to say here either. Again, thanks to you who continue to come and leave words.

Overwhelm tends to be an occasional visitor for me. I don't live my life there. I do try to keep up and manage to do so much of the time.

I'll be back. I'll be back at your places and I'll be back here again soon. In the meantime, thanks for hanging out with me. I really appreciate your company.

happy birthday, beverly cleary!

(does anyone remember mr picky-picky?)

I grew up before there were strict leash laws.

~ Beverly Cleary ~

For some reason that quote struck me as funny. It's true. I grew up before there were strict leash laws, too. Now, unfortunately, the leash laws are important for the animals' safety from us and our traffic more than anything.

I loved reading Beverly Cleary's books growing up. All of them--even (or maybe especially) the pre-Ramona books. I may have missed some of her later ones. Perhaps I'll go to the library and catch up.

Ramona grew up on Klickitat Street here in Portland. I loved reading about someone who lived in my part of the world. Beverly Cleary grew up in Yamhill. I could / can relate to these places.

Happy birthday, Beverly Cleary! Thank you for all the joy you have brought to so many of us--children and post-children alike.

imagination

Your imagination is the preview to life's coming attractions.

~ Albert Einstein ~

You all know what I imagine this to mean.

I continue to see the repeating numbers. On license plates...clocks...odometers. They bring me comfort and remind me of my faith--what I believe in.

Imagination and faith have something in common. Neither is empirical. Both are of the unseen world--not yet brought into the reality of the 3D world.

I can have faith in my imagination. I can imagine the future because of my faith.

Today both are necessary and they sustain each other...and me.

What are you imagining today? Do you have faith in that?

farewell, ron

The death of a beloved is an event that rings and rings through a life: bearing it is not a problem to be solved, but a long, slow piece of music to listen to. And mourning, like music, is best listened to with others.

~ Sarah Miles ~

My sister came to Oregon last week. That's the good news. The bad news is that she came because her brother-in-law...the trickster...died on April 1st. (That's right--April Fools Day!)

Today, everyone is gathering to remember Ron and say their farewells.

Rest well, Ron. You will be missed.

stop

Stop for one whole day every week, and you will remember what it means to be created in the image of God, who rested on the seventh day not from weariness but from complete freedom. The clear promise is that those who rest like God find themselves free like God, no longer slaves to the thousand compulsions that send others rushing toward their graves.

~ Barbara Brown Taylor ~

from her book Leaving Church

Today I will be resting. Up at o'dawn hundred to make an airport run and then a foot doctor appointment and procedure. I won't be moving around much today.

Interesting to think of rest as a characteristic of the Divine. I am going to have to meditate on this:

rest = freedom

Tell me your thoughts.

love thursday 04.08.10 ~ love and power

When love rules, power disappears. When power rules, love disappears.

(from Paulo Coehlo's Facebook page)

Happy Love Thursday!

ordinary wednesday

Over and above all movements for social justice is God's movement, [which is] the creative origin of any movement toward human liberation and solidarity.

~ Charles Marsh ~

I'm sitting here looking out the window at the lightening sky, thinking about this statement. Today--I wonder--will I be able to do my part toward "human liberation and solidarity"?

Or will I continue the cranky theme that has been running through my head?

I am conscious today of the need for oneness. May I live up to the challenge.

humor

Humor is the foundation of reconciliation.

~ St. Francis de Sales ~

I'm headed to Tillamook again today. My sister is in town and we are going to meet at my mom's place. I'm going to go have some laughs. We do that well.

beatitudes

Even when they call us mad, when they call us subversives and communists and all the epithets they put on us, we know we only preach the subversive witness of the Beatitudes, which have turned everything upside down.

~ Archbishop Oscar Romero ~

an advocate for the poor and marginalized,
who was assassinated thirty years ago
while giving Mass in El Salvador

"...the subversive witness of the Beatitudes, which have turned everything upside down."

Love it.

On Easter, SO and I were talking about the significance of the crucifixion and resurrection. There is so much more to the message than just the obvious. Everything turned upside down.

God said, "Enough. Enough blood sacrifice. Love trumps everything. Look...I'll show you." Jesus's life up to that point gave us all the instruction we need.

Blessed are...
...the poor in spirit
...they who mourn
...the meek
...they who hunger and thirst for righteousness
...the merciful
...the pure of heart
...the peacemakers
...they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.

I guess it is time for me to get over myself and be...blessed.

Easter

Jesus models a new kind of authority, a servant-leadership that ministers to the members rather than waits to be served by them. He does what, in that culture, slaves did: He, the Lord, washes the feet of the community.

~ Joan Chittister ~

from her book The Liturgical Year

Just something to think about.

Happy Easter!

One Love.

the answer is love

Okay...so they can't spell "Helen"--maybe that isn't the most important thing here.

56

(me at the wedding. so likes the shape of my head with this cut.)

I was going to write a long post today. I didn't.

Yesterday I spent the day with my mom and got home late in the evening. This morning I have been answering the phone and answering messages (thanks for all the good wishes!) so I haven't had time to write.

Today is massage day. YES! The longer post will just have to wait.

(Did I mention it's my birthday?)

Happy Friday!...Good Friday.

love thursday 04.01.10 ~ relation

Relational care, rather than ... the miraculous suspension of the laws of cause and effect, is the sign and medium of God's power within the world ... God's love and ours in its image, is unlimited and omnipotent in that it is experienced as all-conquering love by those who love and are loved absolutely, even if its effect is not one of victorious deliverance. God's power is invested in the power of interpersonal and social relation to mediate its blessing.

~ Melissa Raphael ~

on finding God in the midst of suffering,
from her book The Female Face of God in Auschwitz

We are God's love to each other.

I forgot that today while I was being cranky. Everything piled up and got to me. My ability to deal with stress and what I perceived as "the incompetence" of others hit a low.

It takes a lot of energy to be cranky. It also takes a lot to try not to be when I am.

Somehow...by grace...before the day was over, I was able to find smooth waters again. Maybe I didn't show the face of love, but at least I stopped honking and cranking at others. For a moment, I could stand in someone else's shoes. For a moment, being in relation mattered.

And there is God.

Happy Love Thursday.

hate

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

~ Martin Luther King, Jr. ~

This explains to me what is happening in our culture. It still makes me sad. I don't understand the hatefulness--but I do understand how it turns things inside out and upside down.

Makes me look forward to Thursday.

speak

(during the sunny weather last week, we pulled out
the chair cushions. guess who found them....)

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.

~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton ~

I don't seem to be inspired to speak much lately. Perhaps this is a fallow time and keeping silent is the right thing to do. Certainly, I do not feel a lack of divine light and life...for this is my year of grace.

hungry?

(not too many meals missed here)

People cannot contribute to the nation if they are never taught to read or write, if their bodies are stunted from hunger, if their sickness goes untended, if their life is spent in hopeless poverty just drawing a welfare check. So we want to open the gates to opportunity. But we're also going to give all our people, black and white, the help that they need to walk through those gates.

~ Lyndon B. Johnson ~

from his speech, "We Shall Overcome,"
given to Congress on March 15, 1965,
after racial violence broke out in
Selma, Alabama

Forty-five years and two weeks ago, he gave this speech. We have a long way to go to rectify the situation.

A step at at time.

May all your needs be met today.

more wedding

(the cracks in the floor that the ring could have fallen through)

(my handsome brother and his three beautiful daughters)

(the whole wedding party)

(...and david's wonderful smile)

the happy couple

(david and melinda--david has a beautiful smile...really)

Anyone can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success.

~ Oscar Wilde ~

Wednesday...70 degrees and sunny. Friday...the same. Thursday? Rain. That's right. Rain for the wedding day. However, we had a plan B and almost everyone stayed almost dry most of the time.

I haven't downloaded my pictures yet. This one I snapped with my phone camera and emailed to my blog so I would have something to post and something to send to my sister who couldn't make it out here for the wedding.

I posted this to tease David because he was so nervous and this picture captures a little bit of that shell shocked look. Really--he has a wonderfully bright smile and he lights up. And Melinda was stunning!

The only obvious snafu was when I dropped her ring. That's right. Unfortunately, the building was a restored and converted barn--that had huge cracks between the floor boards. Fortunately, the ring bounced and rolled and the groomsman picked it up for me. Whew. At least I didn't have to crawl under the building with a flashlight to find the missing diamond ring.

May Melinda and David have many happy years together! (And thanks for a fun party.)

if you are interested...

Cowtown Pattie over at Texas Trifles linked to this article. It's worth looking at.

love thursday 03.25.10 ~ wedding

(mijo sitting in the ditch that contains the bamboo)

Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.

~ Amy Bloom ~

What better day for a wedding than Love Thursday? Today I perform the ceremony for my niece and her beloved. Congratulations Melinda and David!

(And Lance, happy birthday....)

What are you celebrating today?

kindness

Right from the moment of our birth, we are under the care and kindness of our parents, and then later on in our life when we are oppressed by sickness and become old, we are again dependent on the kindness of others. Since at the beginning and end of our lives we are so dependent on others' kindness, how can it be in ...the middle that we would neglect kindness towards others?

~ HH Dalai Lama ~

Here's what I know. I have had occasion to be caregiver to more than one person in need. I haven't always known all of their politics or religion. Those things didn't matter at the time.

What mattered is that they had the need and I could show up.

That's all.

risk

(post-prandial)

One can give nothing whatever without giving oneself -- that is to say, risking oneself. If one cannot risk oneself, then one is simply incapable of giving.

~ James Baldwin ~
from his book The Fire Next Time

I am really pleased that the health care reform bill passed...for a number of personal reasons. I realize that many people are not so happy about it. I am related to a number of them and their comments on Facebook exhibit their fears and concerns. I understand.

Here's what I don't understand:

One of the biggest complaints I hear is that people don't want to pay for someone else's health care. I guess the assumption is that if you don't have health care, it is through some fault of your own--but that is only a guess.

The part I don't understand is that many of the complainers call themselves Christian and they don't want to give a hand up to someone in need.

Glenn Beck (not my relative, and I do thank God for that) has told people that if they go to a church where the minister preaches "social justice" that they should leave that church and go somewhere else.

Hello?

Jesus was all about social justice. And helping people in need. And sharing the wealth. And loving the other as we love ourselves.

Maybe...maybe these friends and relatives have never been without health care or known what it is like to live on the edge of (or in) poverty. Getting out is not as simple as getting a job.

Maybe they have never been sick or been denied coverage. For them, I am glad.

Maybe they have never had to make the choice between paying their medical bills or their rent or buying food. Hallelujah.

I do know these things.

I am trying to have compassion for their point of view and their fears that something might be taken from them. I get it. And may they find the grace to stand in someone else's shoes for just a moment and understand that not everyone who is in need is a slacker or a degenerate who is looking for a free ride. Sometimes people get sick--through no fault of their own. It could happen to anyone. Anyone. At. Any. Time.

Here's the risk I am taking: I am speaking my truth.

I needed this bill to pass. I know others who needed this bill to pass.

And you know what? As happy as I am that it passed, I am also heartbroken at the name calling and blaming and lack of generosity of spirit from fellow Christians.

If you want to share your truth, I am listening.

true self

(look at that little pink tongue)

True self, when violated, will always resist us, sometimes at great cost, holding our lives in check until we honor its truth.

~ Parker Palmer ~
from his book, Let Your Life Speak

I'm finding my voice. Bit by bit. My truth. It feels good.

I received an email from a relative about the health care reform legislation. The quoted piece averred that it had been verified by Snopes, implying that it was true. In fact, it was an opinion piece written by a retired constitutional law professor, full of hyperbole and interpretation. Snopes simply stated that the attribution of the article was correct and went on to say that some experts agree with him...some don't.

I couldn't stand silent and let this email go unchallenged, as if it were Truth instead of opinion. What I was most proud of was my impulse control. I didn't assert my first reaction, which was, "What a bunch of bullshit! This guy is making things up."

Instead, I was able to respectfully point out that this was an opinion piece--not fact; and I went on to explain why I support health care reform. I gave some of my own logic and my own reasons for why this reform was / is so important to me. No hyperbole. My truth. My experience.

I didn't blurt--but I did speak up. And I feel better for having done so.

self-indulgence

(honeyboy)

There are limits to self-indulgence, none to restraint.

~ Mahatma Gandhi ~

It is amazing what some people will do for their own benefit.

envy

(on another note...this is the first thing i saw when i got up this morning)

You are about to see a side of me that I am not proud of.

If you read Pioneer Woman, you already know this. If you don't read her blog, check this out. I'll wait.

That's right. She sold the movie rights to her story from her blog! She hasn't finished writing the book yet. There is no screenplay--because there is no book yet. And Reese Witherspoon is considering playing Ree in the movie.

Sigh.

I am envious. I choose that word carefully. I'm not jealous. I don't want Ree not to have all these things. I am envious of her success. What a dynamo. I am sure if I were ever to meet her I would love her.

I am happy for her. Truly, I am.

Envious. Yep--me. According to "Make a Celebrity Collage," if someone were to play me in a movie...

...it would be Ray Liotta.

happy marriage

A happy marriage is the union of two forgivers.

~ Ruth Bell Graham ~
poet, philanthropist,
and wife of evangelist Billy Graham

I agree.

love thursday 03.18.10 ~ brotherly love

When we think about laying down a life for another we usually think in terms of a singular event. But it is possible for us to lay down our lives over the course of a lifetime, minute by minute and day by day. And it is the work of the Spirit to empower us as we seek to lose ourselves in acts of lovingkindness and sacrificial living.

~ Elaine Puckett~
professor at Candler School of Theology
in Atlanta, Georgia

No words.

Happy Love Thursday!

st. patrick

No, this isn't Saint Patrick. But today is his day and this is the best facsimile I have.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you.

twisted

We suffer from an incurable malady: hope.

~ Mahmoud Darwish ~
Palestinian poet

I'm twisted.

[Stop agreeing. That's not what I meant.]

Literally, I am twisted. When I stand up with my toes pointing forward, my upper body points at 10 o'clock. The good news is that I am not in pain...at least not any more than usual.

I'm telling you this in case you see me coming. You see, my right boob precedes me. I am--well...wide enough that even though my sternum is at 10 o'clock, my right girl is dead ahead at 12 o'clock. I look down at my front with my jacket open and, sure enough, there she is.

So if you see me approaching, leading with my right boob, don't be alarmed. It is nothing personal. I am not making a point or anything. [Heh heh heh. Take that any way you want.]

The other good news is that I do have a cracklepractor appointment scheduled...just not soon enough.

plan b

In answer to your question, Carrie....

know when and what...and when not to

(view through the bathroom window)

To me, the worst thing would be that out of naiveté, or out of stupidity, or out of fear, you didn't know when to speak or you didn't know what to say. What I ask from God is that He illuminate me so that I can do what I need to do.

~ Father Miguel Lopez ~
on his ministry in Michoacan, Mexico,
a state where the violence of
the narcotics trade leads
to assassinations, kidnappings,
and extortion.
(Washington Post)

When I was little, I would sometimes get in trouble for things I would say. Given that I am an enneagram 8, bluntness is hard-wired in me. That has its advantages and disadvantages.

Learning not to say everything that crosses my mind and learning some tactfulness has been a great benefit. However, sometimes I blurt.

I continue to pray that not only my feet but my mind and my lips be guided by the Divine. God has no small challenge steering me.

too big

It's official. They are now too big to fit in the same sink together.

tangles

Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.

~ Helen Keller ~

love thursday 03.11.10 ~ loving your enemies

Time is cluttered with the wreckage of communities which surrendered to hatred and violence. For the salvation of our nation and the salvation of mankind, we must follow another way. This does not mean that we abandon our righteous efforts. With every ounce of our energy we must continue to rid this nation of the incubus of segregation. But we shall not in the process relinquish our privilege and our obligation to love. While abhorring segregation, we shall love the segregationist. This is the only way to create the beloved community.

To our most bitter opponents we say: “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws, because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr. ~

self-portrait

Every man's [or woman's] work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself [herself].

~ Samuel Butler ~
(1835-1902) English Writer
[my brackets]

Okay. So I'm inviting you. What does this say about me? Am I a cat?

odometer

Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know why I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.

~ Will Rogers ~

Some of us turn our backs on our odometers. I have never worried about age. I have always felt pretty much like I was 35 to 40. When I was younger, I felt older. Now that I am way past 40, I still feel 35 to 40.

That is a grace I am noticing this year.

Years ago--probably about 25--I read The Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East. This is a series of five books that were written in the 20s about an expedition to...well, the Far East. During that trip, the travelers met yogis and teachers and even spiritual beings who were long gone from the human incarnation--like Mary and Jesus.

When a departed master appeared, he or she always appeared in the human form that looked to be 35 to 40. The only time someone appeared in an older visage or facade was if doing so would allow others to recognize them because that is how they were known to us. Apparently 35 or 40 is our prime--mature and not yet decrepit.

Maybe what I am feeling is not an age at all. Maybe what I am feeling is my soul.

the edge

I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.

~ Kurt Vonnegut~
from his first novel, Player Piano

I'm not sure I have ever been a centrist in my life. Pick an extreme. That's often where you'll find me.

It's a lot more fun to be on the ends when you play Crack the Whip.

to everything there is a season

I want to keep my soul fertile for changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it's time for them to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not read the same page recurrently.

~ Donald Miller ~
from his book, Through Painted Deserts

I am so looking forward to something new. I don't have a specific in mind--just something new. Even a new idea would be a delight at this point.

Spring cannot come too soon for me.

may we all be forgotten

May we all be forgotten

By Paulo Coelho

In the monastery of Sceta, Abbot Lucas gathered the brothers together for a sermon.

"May you all be forgotten," he said.

"But why?" one of the brothers asked. "Does that mean that our example can never serve to help someone in need?"

"In the days when everyone was just, no one paid any attention to people who behaved in an exemplary manner," replied the abbot.

"Everyone did their best, never thinking that by behaving thus they were doing their duty by their brother. They loved their neighbour because they understood that this was part of life and they were merely obeying a law of nature.

“They shared their possessions in order not to accumulate more than they could carry, for journeys lasted a whole lifetime.

“They lived together in freedom, giving and receiving, making no demands on others and blaming no one.

“That is why their deeds were never spoken of and that is why they left no stories. If only we could achieve the same thing now: to make goodness such an ordinary thing that there would be no need to praise those who practise it.”

tgif

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace -- only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.

~ Anne Lamott ~
from her book, Traveling Mercies

Grace. My word of the year. I love to be reminded of it and caused to reflect.

Mystery. Yes. From the same origins as "mystic"...and I am one.

A mystery is something that is a puzzle--not obvious at first glance. A mystic is one who knows God through personal experience--through relationship.

By grace we know God and have a personal relationship. By personal relationship we know grace.

May you have a grace-full day.

love thursday 03.04.10 ~ happy birthday, mom

happy birthday, mom

Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all.

~ Toni Morrison ~
writer and winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature

Ain't nobody I love like my mama. And ain't nobody loves me like my mama. What more is there to say?

Happy birthday!

I love you.

conformity

Once conform, once do what other people do because they do it, and a lethargy steals over all the finer nerves and faculties of the soul.

~ Virginia Woolf ~
from her essay, "Montaigne"

Let me just say, no conformists reside here. We are a household of individuals and free spirits.

On this, I must agree with Virginia. Not that there is anything wrong with conforming if, indeed, the act matches one's own personal state. But, conforming for the sake of being like everyone else? Never. Works. Not when it comes to one's well-being.

I am not truly far off the beaten path. Yet, wearing a uniform has never worked for me. Oh, one summer, I wore the uniform of a Dairy Queen employee. That's about it.

How about you? Conform? Or not?

is that so wrong?

I have never been a millionaire, but I have enjoyed a great meal, a crackling fire, a glorious sunset, a walk with a friend, a hug from a child, a cup of soup, a kiss behind the ear. There are plenty of life's tiny delights for all of us.

~ Jack Anthony ~

All of that is true...

...and I'd still like to be a millionaire.

in the crook of his arm

what you can't see is that mijo is lying
on his back in the crook of my arm

One of the essential paradoxes of Advent: that while we wait for God, we are with God all along.

~ Michelle Blake ~
from her novel, The Tentmaker

Surely, there is a metaphor in here somewhere.

Something like...

We can't see who is holding us...or even that anyone is. Yet, God has us in the crook of His arm--always.