love thursday 06.23.11 ~ honeyboy prayers

Please pray for HoneyBoy. He apparently got hit by a car and is having surgery today. I will let you know more later.

The whole family thanks you.

summer list

Things that made me feel good today:

Freshly shaved legs.

Kitties coming in when called.

Mowing, edging, blowing, and even whacking the ditch.

Dinner on the porch.

Seeing a friend...though brief.

Fixing a computer issue and having the parts on hand to do it.

Finally getting communication from the shop that has my computer and learning that it can be fixed.

Receiving a check in the mail.

Sitting outside at 10 p.m...in the warmth and twilight.

Sun...on the first day of summer.

And you?

summer

The earth has received the embrace of the sun and we shall see the results of that love.


Sitting Bull

Because some of it has finally arrived here...on this first day of summer! Hallelujah!

almost two

Three days without my computer...

...but I still have my kitties.

another day of this

Ergo (don't you just love that word?), I didn't get much accomplished...including writing. To those of you who gave me prompts or resources for prompts, thank you. I will check out the links and respond to the prompts.

I will be without my computer for a few more days so it may take me a while to get oriented. I am using my Droid and a loaner computer in the meantime and I am a bit discombobulated. (Try writing that word with Swype!)

Have a happy sabbath, Sunday, and/or Father's Day...or Feather's Day, according to Swype.

exhaustion

Like he, I am exhausted. I hope to be striking a similar pose soon.

My computer is in the hospital. Maybe for a week. I will be challenged, using my Droid to post.

Bear with me...please.

prompts

All of you who are writers...

How do you get started?

What motivates you?

I would very much appreciate anything you have to share.

And if you are so inclined (whether you consider yourself a writer or not), I'd love it if you'd give me a prompt. I'll see what I can do with all that are left for me--either as a comment or an email.

I thank you in advance.

carl calleman on the mayan calendar

Some of you have expressed an interest in the Mayan Calendar. This is an interview with Carl Calleman who is an expert on the Calendar. He is the one who has stated that the calendar ends on October 28th of this year. That's right...2011.

The 2012 date, he says, has no meaning and that whatever happens will be a process--not an event.

I think that he is describing evolution--biological and spiritual.

See what you think:

if you eat, you must watch this

I'm on her team...

midnight at the oasis

appearances

(pilot light)

A monk of the Thebaid received from God the grace of ministry, to serve the poor as they had need. In a village once he happened to be holding a love-feast. A woman dressed in rags came up to him to receive her share. When he saw the rags, he meant to take a great handful, so as to give her a big helping: but his hand was kept nearly shut, and he took only a little. Another, well-dressed, woman came up and, seeing her clothes, he meant to take a little handful for her but his hand was opened, and he took a big helping. So he asked about the women, and found that the well-dressed woman had been a lady who had sunk to poverty and still dressed well because she felt that she had a standard to maintain for her family. But the other had put on rags so that she would receive more.

The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

The pilot light on the fireplace puts out plenty of warmth for a furry orange-ness on a rainy day. He never worries about what to wear.

security

Security is mostly a superstition.

It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

Helen Keller

Security is a myth. Beauty is reality.

quality and equality

Quality is good for ice cream. Equality is good for the soul.

Ben & Jerry

solutions

Peace is not just the mere absence of violence or disturbance. It's when there is a possibility of conflict, but you deliberately avoid violence and adopt methods to solve the problem through peaceful means. That is real peace.

Dalai Lama

love thursday 06.09.11 ~ love.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Mother Theresa

thank you

If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice.

Meister Eckhart

message of peace

guitar players

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.

Leopold Stokowski

I know this is the wrong response, to the following video--but I may never pick up my guitar again....

merton

"…for nonviolence seeks to 'win' not by destroying or even by humiliating the adversary, but by convincing [the adversary] that there is a higher and more certain common good than can be attained by bombs and blood. Nonviolence, ideally speaking, does not try to overcome the adversary by winning over [them], but to turn [them] from an adversary into a collaborator by winning [them] over."

Thomas Merton

from Faith and Violence: Christian Teaching and Christian Practice

borrowed planet

And there’s something else that always irritates me. There’s a saying, “We haven’t inherited this planet from our parents, we’ve borrowed it from our children.” When you borrow, you plan to pay back. We’ve been stealing and stealing and stealing. And it’s about time we got together and started paying back.

Jane Goodall

jane v jane

(zippy, not cheetah)

I was so jealous of that other wimpy Jane. I knew I would have been a better mate for Tarzan myself. I was jealous!

Jane Goodall

I rather wanted to be Cheetah, myself. Or Tarzan--so I could have Cheetah for my own chimp. That's probably how I came to want Zippy and love him so much.

How about you? Who did you want to be?

love thursday 06.02.11 ~ love the difference

Here's the article.

That's right love the difference.

And you know what? We're all different.

Truth.

higher order

(black bamboo shoots)

Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.

Wendell Berry

I've been ruing the fact that I am driven by biology--somewhat like the rats and roaches. So much is required to keep the form working.

Like eating. I love food--don't get me wrong. But it takes a lot of time to find food, prepare, and eat it. Why can't we just eat once a week? Or even once a day....

Showers--I mean, really. Some days I just don't even want to get wet.

Sleep? Mini death every night? And theoretically it takes up 1/3 of your life.

But Justice and Mercy--those are always welcome and always in season. Surely. Goodness, too.

post memorial day post

When it shall be said in any country in the world, "My poor are happy...the streets free of beggars, the aged not in want, the taxes not oppressive, the rational world is my friend because I am a friend of happiness," then may that country boast of its constitution and government.

Thomas Paine

I missed it, but it is never to late to be grateful for those who give and serve. I remember. We remember. And we need to take care of them.

We also need to take care of the rest of us. It would be a cryin' shame if we didn't...after all they've done for us to get us this far.

red convertible

Red convertibles are popular in our neighborhood. This one belongs to my three year old neighbor...the one who shared his M&Ms with me of his own volition.

Isn't it sweet of his mom to let him park his car in the garage and leave hers in the driveway?

under our skin

Watch it.

recognizing limitations

(rainy day kitty sleeping spot)

I went in with the youthful vigor that I could single-handedly change the world. But you fast come to the realization that you're 1/435th of one-half of one-third of the government.

Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX)

on first-year Republican members of Congress finding
out how difficult it is to get things done in Washington

That's how it is. We all have limitations. Some are more obvious than others, but that shouldn't stop us. We just need to know what they are so we can work around them or within them or to change them.

I have often thought about this issue in our government. We all want things to change, but even with the best of intentions, one person can't do it. It takes a village. Sometimes that village is the whole country.

i planned to mow

Not until Sunday now, it seems.

Sit with God as you might with the ocean. You bring nothing to the ocean, yet it changes you.

Sean Caulfield

love thursday 05.26.11 ~ open heart

(banana is happy)

Loving people doesn't mean you have to enjoy their company, want to see more of them, or even respect their values. It means you're willing to keep your heart open to them, show them compassion, and accept them for who they are.

Marci Shimoff

Wrap your head around that if you will. I'm working on it. Believe me...I'm working on it.

Happy Love Thursday....

bus ride

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.

Oprah Winfrey

Tonight, I get to go to dinner with a friend I know would ride the bus with me. (I have a couple like that.) We're going out for Ethiopian at a place neither of us has been before.

SO is out of town, tending to an ailing parent. Amazing how much we get used to having someone around. I do pretty well during the day--getting things done that need to be handled...running errands, doing chores...that kind of thing. When evening rolls around, the house is very quiet and...well, watching movies alone is not the same at all.

Just a couple more days.

Any of you want to take a bus ride with me?

on being wrong

So...what have you been wrong about today?

a radical experiment in empathy

behold...the washing machine!

Who wouldn't want one of those?

good for all

The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in midair, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.

Jane Addams

Love Jane Addams. In fact, we should know a lot more about most of our presidents' wives. No doubt the best presidents listened to theirs.

Oh...and in case of the rapture, this may be my last post.


CORRECTION: oops...Jane Addams not Abigail Adams. (Thanks, Mom, for bringing my error to my attention.) Jane Addams was the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She received her award in 1931. My bad. However, that doesn't change the fact that our presidents should listen to their wives!

even being beloved can have its travails

A BELOVED DISCIPLE

John is not only the archetype of the mystic, the lover, the chosen son; he is also the bearer of the agony of all chosenness. Election is seldom appreciated by others; it is seldom honored as a true touch from God. Our personal insecurity and neediness are too great to recognize and delight in the specialness of anyone else. Others are a threat to our zero-sum existence. Beloved status is almost always mistrusted, envied, judged, and even persecuted. That is the burden of being a chosen son or daughter.

Read the lives of saints and religious founders. Most of their persecution comes from their own families, and very often from church authorities. In the book of Jonah, it is the good and pious men who throw Jonah overboard (Jonah 1:14-16), while covering their attempted homicide with prayer, God-talk, and the making of heroic vows.

Richard Rohr

Welcome to the first day of the Third Day of the final wave of the Mayan Calendar. Let the "sprouting" begin. I am ready for new growing energy. The resistance of the Second Night has kicked my butt.

love thursday 05.19.11 ~ the devil made me do it

A brother asked Pambo, "Why does the enemy prevent me doing good to my neighbour?" He said, "Do not talk like that or you will make God a liar. Say, 'It is I myself do not want to be kind to others.' For God came down to us and said, 'I have given you the power of treading upon scorpions and snakes' (Luke 10:19), and so you are beyond the power of the enemy. Why then do you not tread down these evil spirits?"

The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

I. Love. This.

I've often wondered why people of faith are so afraid of "the Enemy" when they've been promised the power of the Heavens.

There you have it. Choose Love.

butter

As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists.

Joan Gussow

If it's partially hydrogenated, it's not food.

If you can't spell it or pronounce it, it's not food.

If it comes from a natural source...like cows...it probably is food.

If it has to be approved by the FDA...not likely.

Just so you know...butter is health food. Especially, organic butter. Uh huh. It is. Enjoy.

PS - Aren't you glad I told you?

birds of paradise

(paradise)

The community today can be no single tradition; it is the planet. Daily the world grows smaller, leaving understanding the only place where peace can find a home.

Huston Smith

Sunday I visited a friend. I drove to her house with the top down, but put it up when I arrived. We had a lovely visit talking about wedding plans (hers) and how I get to participate in the ceremony and preparations.

When I left, the sun still shone so I put the top down again. Just as I did, a bird (probably an angry bird) flew over and dropped...not an egg--oh, no...not an egg. Hit my seatbelt, vest, shirt, hand, pants...oh, yes, it did.

Fortunately, I keep a towel in my car. I used it.

When I put the top up at the end of the day, I saw all of the places that the birds had been using the top for target practice while I visited. Oh, yes--they did.

Monday, I had a late start at work so I decided to wash the bombs off my car. The sun was shining. I finished the job pretty quickly, sat down to rest, and...it rained. Truth. Minutes after I finished.

I hope they were birds of paradise. Oh, yes, I do.

high road

Foolish, selfish people are always thinking of themselves and the result is always negative. Wise persons think of others, helping them as much as they can, and the result is happiness. Love and compassion are beneficial both for you and others. Through your kindness to others, your mind and heart will open to peace.

Dalai Lama

This is what I call taking the high road.

I do try...even though I don't always succeed.

Taking the high road doesn't mean avoiding conflict or sweeping difficulties under the road. For me, it is about facing reality, feeling my feelings, and still being compassionate to the one with whom I am out of sync.

No one ever said the high road is an easy path.

head and heart

(fuzzy new bamboo shoot)

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

Nelson Mandela

...and it is a challenge to keep them in balance. One without the other is much less potent. When one is wounded, balance is even more important.

Neither can take the place of the other. However, each keeps the other well-tuned and functioning.

duct tape

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

Mother Teresa

Even if the only thing you have to do it with is duct tape.

See the side of the house? Those dark spots in the lower right are bird poo--clearly, the bird had been eating berries of some kind. And those squares are vents.

On the right hand side, the middle slat was missing and birds were flying in and out. I worried that they were building a nest in the vent. It doesn't appear to be the case; however, I decided to remove the temptation.

I moved the bottom slat up to the middle and replaced the lowest one with...duct tape!

In our family, you either fix it with duct tape or a hammer. This time a hammer wouldn't work. And so far, the duct tape is holding.

friday the thirteenth (of may)

Above the storm, the smallest prayer will still be heard.

from Dolly Parton's Facebook page

(don't know if it is a Dolly quote)

And today, my friends...that's all I've got.

love thursday 05.12.11 ~ just do it

God is love. Therefore love. Without distinction, without calculation, without procrastination, love.

Henry Drummond

Today I didn't do such a good job of that. Too many people "in my way" instead of by my side--or in my line of sight to love.

I keep bringing back the focus. Truly I do. What I say here I bounce off the mirror for myself. If it is uplifting to you, I rejoice!

Happy Love Thursday. I mean it. Really.

turtle

If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can transform one million realities.

Maya Angelou

I wonder if he is dreaming of swimming with the turtles. I am. Several years ago I was snorkeling at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, "the place of refuge," on the Big Island. One of these turtles--about two feet across the shell--swam right up to me and looked me in the eye.

What a thrill! In my desire to share with my friends, I popped my head up to tell them...and Turtle was gone. Guess that visit was just for me.

rain, rain, rain

(the garden: pea trellises made partly from our bamboo,
cold frames allowing us to garden in this unseasonable
spring, slug traps full of beer)

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

At least the wind isn't blowing. Remember that tarp I lost several months ago? No? Maybe I didn't tell you about it. I was uncovering banana and blackbird. The wind blew mightily. I turned around and the tarp I removed was gone. Simply gone. About a month ago, I found it. Across the street. In the neighbor's tree.

The cold frames I built for the winter garden didn't do what we had hoped. We didn't get much harvest from our plantings. However, they are working well for starting the garden this spring. Otherwise, it would be too wet and cold. Nothing would grow. It would simply drown.

We've been eating salads from our garden already. Yum. Something about fresh cannot be improved upon.

good news

(banana is getting enough sun to start turning red)

Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.

Hafiz

Tony has been located and he is okay! This news was a wonderful Mother's Day present--not only for Tony's mom, but for all of his family and friends. He is safe. He is okay.

Thank you to all of you who have been joining in prayer and holding the good thought for Tony and his loved ones.

YES! I love stories with happy endings.

mother's day 2011

Moms rule the world and dads are kind of aware they are on one.

a facebook friend...a man

Happy Mother's Day to all of you and your mothers. May you have all the love your heart can hold.

banana made it through the winter

raise your hand...

...if this looks like the kind of Friday

you'd like to have.

Happy Friday!

love thursday 05.05.11 ~ the gift of belovedness

The greatest gift my friendship can give to you is the gift of your Belovedness. I can give that gift only insofar as I have claimed it for myself. Isn't that what friendship is all about: giving to each other the gift of our Belovedness?

Henri Nouwen

My sister-in-law's brother is missing. He left home a few days ago and no one has seen or heard from him since. He is a good man. He's been going through some hard times. Please pray (whatever that means to you) and hold the good thought with us on his behalf...on behalf of the whole family.

I wonder how much difference it might make in someone's life if we were to give them the gift of their own Belovedness.

Tony, you are Beloved. Be well.

And, I offer the gift of your own Belovedness to each of you.

truth

Since I got my Droid X, I have been staying up way too late playing Angry Birds.

Mom is coming tomorrow and I am looking forward to her visit.

I have lots of little stuff I need to accomplish and...see line one.

Maybe I will have more to say for Love Thursday...or not.

dinner

The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.

David Foster Wallace

I shared this.

one love one world

target

Thought for the day:

Don't shop at Target while wearing a red shirt and khakis.





(I saw this on www.parentsshouldnttext.com. )

droid x

I thought it would be easier to post from here. Maybe not. More experimenting to come.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

droid x

I was hoping to be able to post from my Droid. Haven't figured out yet how to make that work, but work on it, I will.

Enjoy your weekend.

from the sublime to the mundane

(on the left--not a ray of light...but whiskers!)

Ever since you asked me to write for you and your friends about the spiritual life, I have been wondering if there might be one word I would most want you to remember when you finished reading all I wish to say. Over the past year, that special word has gradually emerged from the depths of my own heart. It is the word "Beloved," and I am convinced that it has been given to me for the sake of you and your friends.

Henri Nouwen

All of it--the sublime to the mundane--is of the Beloved.

Yesterday, the sublime--spa day. Today, the mundane--all day CEU workshop. I am trying to remind myself that it is all from the Beloved.

Even the quotes are from the Beloved.

So...how was your spa day?

love thursday 04.28.11 ~ spa day

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Mary Oliver

from her poem "The Summer Day"

In keeping with "birthday month," yesterday I got a Tai massage (yes...that is how they spell it) and today I am going to the hot springs for spa day with one of my oldest (as in longest time) friends. We have much catching up to do.

Love.

Happy Love Thursday, everyone. Spa yourself....

listing

There is no pleasure without a tincture of bitterness.

Hafiz

Things that are making me sad today...

...a racist bumper sticker against the President.

...the rain and gray skies.

...HoneyBoy chewing on me every time I pet him.

...HoneyBoy losing another collar.

...blackbird not surviving the winter.

...my car in the shop again so they can fix a problem they caused.

...my car was supposed to be back by noon--it wasn't.



Things that are making me happy today...

...the Beloved.

...the rain watering the lawn after I fertilize it.

...petting HoneyBoy...and Mijo...and Misi.

...Mijo finding HoneyBoy's lost collar, bringing it in with the magnet of the lost collar stuck to the collar Mijo is wearing.

...sunbreaks--for the bamboo, banana, and me.

...a motorcycle ride during a sunbreak (mostly) so that I could do something nice for SO.

...still being able to fit into my motorcycle leathers.

...new motorcycle gloves that were a gift.

...the company fixing my car was very generous trying to make it up to me that they goofed so many times.

...clean floor after sweeping.

...more sun.

...a gift of Tai massage tomorrow as part of my birthday month celebration.

...and still--the Beloved.

mri

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lord, have mercy...

I am not so good at remembering that. I am not so good at giving the other guy the benefit of the doubt.

One of my friends talks about the MRI. Whenever someone does or says something that is unclear, give it the MRI--Most Respectful Interpretation.

I need to apply this more broadly, in the spirit of Longfellow. More often, I need to show mercy when things don't go well. It's not that I need to be a doormat. I will not. But sometimes...

Sometimes I just need to cut people some slack.

Lord, cut me some slack...please.

see how they've grown

happy easter

(one of our new bamboo shoots)

Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in the darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.

Hafiz

One spring day and everything seemed alive.

May this time bring new life and breathe into the knowing of the astonishing light of your own being.

kittens in bowls

Disclaimer: I watched with the sound off so I have no idea what the audio is.

follow up to love thursday

love thursday 04.21.11 ~ love and all that nonsense

Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.

Hafiz

pbr

The cold frames I built for winter didn't work out so well. However, we are putting them to use for starting the garden this wet--wet--spring. One problem...slugs.

Beer is a remedy for slugs. Did you know? Pour some beer in a shallow container, place it near the plants you want to protect and in the morning...you'll have drowned slugs. No kidding.

This evening we ate nachos at our neighborhood Mexican restaurant and with them, I had a Dos Equis. After mowing, edging, weed whacking the ditch, and blowing the sidewalk and driveway, a hoppy refreshment sounded like just what I wanted. And yes, it was good.

After supper, we stopped at the store on the way home. We needed beer for the slug traps. SO waited in the car while I ran in to get it. Cheap beer in a re-sealable container. Pabst Blue Ribbon 40 ouncer seemed like just the ticket at slightly more than $2. I grabbed a bottle and found the shortest checkout line, where I approached the conveyor to the register and stood right behind a very classy looking lady.

My trail walking shoes don't stay tied very well. Unless I specifically tie them right-over-left-left-over-right, they come untied. My normal shoe tying method is left-over-right-left-over-right. So getting these shoes to stay tied requires conscious effort on my part. I didn't do that today.

I walked up to the register conveyor, stepped on my own left shoestring with my right foot, and fell into the counter as I placed my cheap, rot gut PBR on the belt. I chuckled and commented that I stepped on my own shoelace. The classy lady smiled.

Then I thought, "Oh, man...at least she won't think I tripped because I'm drunk." Then I remembered. Dos Equis. Can she smell it on me?

"It's for the slugs...really!" I didn't say it, but I wanted to. "I don't drink this stuff. I have much better taste in beer." Honest.

imaginary friend

I love getting massage. Being a massage therapist, I have friends who are also therapists who also love getting massage. For years, I traded every week with one of my friends. He'd come see me. I'd go see him. Every week.

In my conversations with another friend, I'd tell her about our massage visits and things we talked about. She never met him. For years this went on.

Finally, she said, "I don't think he is real. I think he is your imaginary friend."

And, so...that's who he became.

One day, I was eating lunch in a sidewalk café with her when he walked by. He joined us and to her became real.

However, I so enjoyed having an imaginary friend he kept his title.

weekend delight

Stay close to any sounds that makes you glad you are alive.

Hafiz

Sun on Sunday...all day. Guess I just had to ask real nice.

Built trellises for the peas and cucumbers and the potato condo--out of reclaimed materials and used up the left over bamboo stakes.

A visit from my imaginary friend (long story).

The house is clean--and I didn't do it.

A call from another friend...just because.

Watched a movie that didn't have a single swear word in it (at least none that I remember)...and it was good.

Bamboo shoots everywhere! (Pictures to follow.)

Got the check to reimburse me for the deductible on my car repairs.

Met another neighbor and his nephew while I was outside working.

Banana is growing. (Pictures to follow of that, too.)

You?

pretty please

Even after all this time the sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me.”

Hafiz

It stopped raining. Notice I didn't say we had sun. What if the sun is thinking that the Earth owes him? (Or maybe it is just the inhabitants of the Earth who need to pay up.)

What do you want, oh Sun? Am I behind on my rent?

Oh, how I appreciate you!

Please...come back. Show your face.

education

The truly educated become conscious. They become self-aware. They do not lie to themselves. They do not pretend that fraud is moral or that corporate greed is good. They do not claim that the demands of the marketplace can morally justify the hunger of children or denial of medical care to the sick. They do not throw 6 million families from their homes as the cost of doing business.

Chris Hedges

Hey...I have an idea! Let's not defund education. Perhaps that will give us a chance to turn this ship around before it tilts on its axis.

And let's support teachers who want to (and know how to) teach kids--not just teach kids how to take tests.

I've always been a supporter of public education. I used to be a high school teacher. I have many friends and relatives who are in the profession.

How about we pay them what they are worth--especially since they hold the future in their trust.

I'm just sayin'....

signs that we are in deep doo-doo

1. Cheez-Whiz

2. anti-bacterial soap

3. plastic (in everything...see #1)

4. global warming causes earthquakes

5. having to specify and pay extra for organic

6. GMO

7. tofurkey

8. pharmaceutical companies manipulate and patent "vitamins"

9. bankers that were bailed out by the taxpayers get multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses while taxpayers continue to lose homes to foreclosure

10. Target and Walmart sell groceries

11. doctors know little about nutrition and only what drug reps tell them about pharmaceuticals

12. lobbyists write the bills that become laws

13. only the rich can run for office--regardless of how smart, educated, or knowledgeable they are

14. built in obsolescence

15. it's cheaper to buy a new printer than new ink cartridges

love thursday 04.14.11 ~ your love

Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger,
Only to someone who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.

Hafiz

a prayer for peace

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

Jimi Hendrix

May we find the former before it is too late for the planet.

be who you are

I've been thinking about my gift message..."You don't have to."

It is amazing what can happen when we be who we are instead of doing what we think we are supposed to do.

And here is the human version:

road trip

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

I'd be a much better writer if I had a memory and could find words. What a ride!

sunday smile

Two of my favorite kinds of creatures (I enjoyed it more with the sound off):

marilyn

What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.

Marilyn Monroe

I think I would have liked Marilyn...in spite of the image by which she made her living.

optimist

Optimist: someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha.

Robert Brault

He is an optimist, and he dances through life knowing that what he needs will come his way and he is adored.

I get to wake up to this face every morning. This one and his brother's.

They are very respectful of my sleep and almost never wake me. When I start to rise from sleep and roll over in the morning, they park themselves and stare at me. It is my great pleasure to greet the day with their faces being the first living beings I see.

And the beat goes on....

love thursday 04.07.11 ~ love is a verb

A brother asked one of the elders, saying: There are two brothers, of whom one remains praying in his cell, fasting six days at a time and doing a great deal of penance. The other one takes care of the sick. Which one's work is more pleasing to God? The elder replied: If that brother who fasts six days at a time were to hang himself up by the nose, he could not equal the one who takes care of the sick.

The Wisdom of the Desert

Love is an action verb--not a feeling or a thought or a being verb.

Decide to love. Choose it even when you don't feel like it. (Yes, I'm talking to myself again.)

happy

When I was 5 years old, my mother told me that happiness was the key to life. ...When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up. I wrote down "happy". They told me I didn't understand the assignment...I told them they didn't understand life.

John Lennon

Today, the sun has appeared. I am doing what I want to do when I want to do it. Right now...this very minute...I have enough.

That's a good start, I think.

You? What's making you happy today?

being the beloved

Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved expresses the core truth of our existence.

Henri Nouwen

I am loving Life of the Beloved. Once I turn the last page, I will likely start all over again. It is a conversation (one-sided) between a Catholic theologian (Henri) and his Jewish friend who asked him to write something for the lay person--those who don't understand or have the same kind of relationship with the Divine that Henri has.

Catholic, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, other...we all have the same issues. We all struggle with self-rejection. We all struggle with shame. We all struggle. And we all need to know and have the experience of being the Beloved.

When it comes to being the Beloved, there is no competition. I am chosen--and so are you. And the more I realize this Truth, the more it makes me smile.

Do you know that you are the Beloved?

Oh, yes...you are.

1,000

Institutionalized rejection of difference is an absolute necessity in a profit economy which needs outsiders as surplus people. As members of such an economy, we have all been programmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing ... But we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals. As a result, those differences have been misnamed and misused in the service of separation and confusion.

Audre Lorde

from her book Sister Outsider

One thousand posts. What is it about round numbers like 1,000 that give us such a sense of accomplishment? I could just as easily have posted yesterday at 999. Perhaps the next milestone will be 1,111. Yeah. I think so.

Have a good week, everyone. I hope you'll come back for the next thousand.

birthday update

Birthday dinner last night provided by wonderful friends: roasted leg of lamb with rosemary, beets with butter and hazelnuts, chilled asparagus, roasted potatoes with homemade aioli, Greek salad, homemade chocolate pudding. Umm...yum!

Dances of Universal Peace...two of them...just us in the living room. A delightful spiritual experience dancing with the Beloved.

And the company was exquisite.

A gift for me from one of my Beloveds: Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen. I started reading it last night and am loving it so far.

Today...a second birthday dinner provided by another of my Beloveds. This one includes a rotisserie chicken, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and homemade chocolate ice cream. I am sure there will be other food, as well.

I mowed the lawn for the first time this year. Even managed to get the mower started without yanking my arm out of the socket. (Thank you, Beloved--and I do mean that.)

Oh, and yesterday my birthday vest came in the mail. The color was...putrid. We took it back to the store and got TWO in beautiful colors for only $4 more! Such a deal. (Again, thanks.)

i'm no fool

Last night I watched The Corporation. See it. It'll frost your cookies.

I rented it, but it looks like you can see the whole thing on www.youtube.com by clicking the link.

Speaking of frosting cookies...today is my birthday! Thanks for coming by.

no foolin'

Today Mom and I had just finished an appointment and arranged ourselves in the car. Mom's cell phone rang. It was my sister. A man who lives near me called her. (She lives in another state.) He found my cell phone and used it to call my sister. He gave her his number and said that I could call him and stop by to pick up my phone. I did.

Thank you, Beloved.

The finder made only one phone call. He didn't start calling numbers trying to see who would answer. One call. To my sister. Who wasn't identified as my sister. She wasn't the last person I had called. She isn't even the person I call the most--sorry, sister! How do you suppose he picked her to call?

Thank you, Beloved.

Got my car back from the body shop today. The work was excellent. The service was excellent. They went beyond what they were required to do. They made extra repairs without getting paid by the insurance company and they cleaned the inside of the car and spiffed up the wheels. Because they did so much extra for me, I am happy to let others know how happy I am with their work. If you need auto body work, check out Artistic Auto Body. They are at several locations. I went to the one in West Slope.

Thank you, Beloved.

While my car was in the shop, I drove a rental. At the time I picked the car up, only one car in my "class" was available and I would have had to wait for it to be cleaned up. I expressed my frustration, given that this had been planned for weeks and when I called I was told I would have lots of vehicles to choose from. The woman who assisted me gave me a free upgrade.

Thank you, Beloved.

A representative of the car rental company called this evening to thank me for my business and tell me how much they appreciated my taking such good care of the car. How did I like my service from them? He wanted to know. I told him it was "okay." He asked for more information, so I told him the whole story. He said he understood how that would be disappointing and asked what he could do to make it up to me. I told him that they had already made it up to me by giving me a free upgrade. Then he went on to say that he would make my comments known at the next meeting. Cool. Yes, I am happy to give them a plug, too: Enterprise.

Thank you, Beloved.

Earlier this week, we removed a rug from our living room. It had been of great service to us, but one of the cats had soiled it. We decided it was time to give the rug a new home. I put it by the side of the road with a sign that said "FREE" and a note saying that it needed some serious cleaning. Within a half hour, the rug was gone. Whoever took it left a thank you note! Seriously.

Thank you, Beloved.

The Beloved has a face--okay...more than one. That face is human. It is yours and mine. We are the Beloved to one another. We are God's hands and heart on earth.

Thank you, Beloved. No foolin'.