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Easter Identity Theft!

For more funny Easter pictures, cute photos, go here.

Cannot Sleep

It seems hard to sleep tonight. For a long while I read The Book of Love, which is the sequel to The Expected One. These books are interesting and fun, but I do not feel like reading anymore tonight.

• As Jennifer wrote in her blog, she is planning to write notes to friends and loved ones. That's a good idea and something I like to do, but no words are flowing. . . .

• I cooked a very good recipe in the crockpot today that I found at Anne's blog--pork tenderloin cooked with chopped sweet potatoes and prunes. It's delicious! We have enough to last a few more days--yay!

• I'm not sure if I ever told you that our priest Sandy Casey-Martus is staying at our church. She was not elected to be the Episcopal Bishop for Wyoming, which was probably disappointing to her, but it is a happy decision for us in the congregation.

• I am reading too many fiction books lately and lost my impetus for writing my papers. I know I will write soon, but not at this moment. After Easter?

• Maisie is probably about 4 1/2 months old. She is getting much bigger and has still bigger paws. We are wondering how much more she will grow. CB looked on the internet, and it said for larger dogs, they could keep growing till they're 7-10 months old. Uh-oh.

• My friend NKE and I are going on a trip to New Mexico after Easter to celebrate our 60th birthdays! NKE lives in California and we will meet each other at the Albuquerque Airport on April 8. (NKE and I met in 7th grade when we lived on the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.)
  

• 60 sounds old to me, but I still feel like myself. I guess I'll always feel like myself. I remember my mother telling me when she was in her 70's that she was surprised to look in the mirror and see how old she looked.
  

Off in Siberia

My friend MTH told me about her father, a devout United Methodist, who smuggled Bibles into the Soviet Union back during the Cold War. She and her mother worried that he would be caught and sent off to Siberia. MTH's father told her that "his soul would would be well" even (and especially) in Siberia.

In the years before he died, he suffered from Alzheimer's and lost the knowledge of the identities of people he loved. MTH was (and continues to be) consoled by the memory of her father's words, because she realized that his mind was in Siberia. Even with his mind gone, his soul was well.

MTH gave me permission to put this beautiful story on my blog.

"All shall be well, and all shall be well,
and all manner of things shall be well."
~~Julian of Norwich

Friends

"Friendship is born in the moment when one person says to another,
'What! You too? I thought I was the only one!'"

~~C. S. Lewis

This was the parting quote our Weight Watcher leader left us with this morning before I went to church.

Thank you, dear friends. We are connected and not alone.

Texas wildflowers (and daffodils!)

All the rains we had this winter and spring have brought forth flowers in south Texas that we have not seen for the past few years of drought. It has stayed cooler longer and so they are plentiful, especially my pansies.

Pansies in front of the fence that Maisie and Cisco like to dig under.

The first daffodils I've ever seen growing in TX (in the ground)!
A neighbor about a block away has 10-12 scattered in her front yard.

When I went to Sandia yesterday to visit LP, she drove me around to look at the wildflowers.

This is the view from one side of LP's house.

Next weekend we're visiting DC and his wife AA in Austin, so maybe we'll see more bluebonnets and other wildflowers.

Friday Five (belatedly): Renewal

Songbird suggested today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:

Please share with us five ways you redo or refresh or restore your body, your space, your blog, anything in your life that needs perking up this week.

1. Today I drove out to Sandia, TX to visit my EFM leader and friend LP. We talked and talked and then she drove me around the area to see all the blooming wildflowers. It is especially glorious this year since we've had lots of rain.

2. Four weeks ago I started going to Tai Chi lessons on Saturday afternoons. What is especially helpful in my klutzy efforts to renew my body is that a church friend is giving us extra practice sessions on Friday mornings. It also helps to be told that it will take me at least three months to feel a little competent.

3. Blogging helps me clarify thoughts and share my life, pets, and family with friends. All the people who prayed for my friend Margie (who went home from the hospital today) renew my faith in prayer, faith, and God.

4. Songbird's new blog templates convinced me to try something new tonight.

5. Continuing to go to Weight Watcher meetings on Sunday mornings before church, restores my commitment each week to healthier living.

Good things happening

Smiling is a good thing to do, though when I was in therapy at The Meadows, I was told that I smiled "incongruently." Back then I did. I still smile a lot, probably because my mother always told me as I grew up to "put a pleasant expression on my face." It is always surprising what happens when I smile at a random stranger in the supermarket.

So here are some good things that I am smiling about:

• Margie is out of the ICU and in a private room. I visited her today and was glad to see her looking so much better, even though she was still on oxygen and was wheezing and coughing. Thank you for praying for her.

• Yesterday CB belatedly realized he left his tools, including the new drill our children gave him for Christmas, on the Habitat house porch. When he went back, the tools (worth about $400) were nowhere to be found. BUT today he got a phone call from some electricians, who found the tools and took them with them. Tonight CB got his tools back!

• I finished the newest Maisie Dobbs mystery this afternoon. It was excellent, and I highly recommend it. If you have not read this mystery series (of seven volumes), I urge you to get one from your public library and read it. It's about an exceptional woman after WWI in Great Britain. Through reading these books, I've learned about WWI, of which I was sadly ignorant.

• Tonight Episcopal priest and writer Tom Ehrich spoke about reconciliation at All Saints Episcopal Church. He actually compared human relationships to "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" in that we have three options of responses: hot, cold, and just right. The middle way (of just right) is the difficult path of reconciliation, which brings about transformation--that is through a path of unknowing and un-comfortable-ness.

• I've actually seen daffodils blooming here in Corpus Christi--for the first time since moving here in 1978!
  

Doubt Helps

by Alexis Gilliland

I try to remember that doubts are part of the faith journey. Frederick Buechner once said that "doubts are the ants in the pants of faith." And today I read more about doubting that helps me.

"With practice we discover that there are a number of doubters within us, and they are different. To our astonishment we realize that some of them are allies and friends on the journey of faith, not blasphemous enemies. Sometimes in the climate of prayer we discover that certain doubts are like angels, agents of the Spirit of truth who is struggling to strip away from us superstitious and immature beliefs. 'Doubting the divinity of Christ' for a time may be the only way the Spirit of Christ can get us to start again from scratch and believe in his total humanity. The divine Christ of many people's conventional faith is a fiction, a demigod, not the man who is the Word made flesh. Doubts about doctrines and moral rules may be the only way the Spirit of truth can get us to move from accepting Christianity at second hand, to appropriating it for ourselves in the light of our own experience and questions. The Spirit can work better with us even if our faith is stripped right down for a time, than if we are cocooned in a complacent religiosity which we are not prepared to have disturbed."

Smith, Martin L. A Season for the Spirit: Readings for the Days of Lent. Boston: Cowley, 1991. 124.

*I am planning to copy this 3-page reading for today and send it to my EFM class. If you would like a copy, email me.

Pray for Margie

Please pray for my friend Margie. She is in ICU for pneumonia and sepsis. She just returned from a trip to Holland on Sunday night.

I have known Margie since I joined the Methodist Church in 1994. She was one of the Disciple I leaders that year when I started my Christian journey. After that, she and I were in the same Emmaus Reunion group and went to Lebh Shomea on retreats together. Margie and I loved to read and study together. One semester she even traveled with me to San Antonio every week to take a scripture class on Acts from Sister Sarah Sharkey, OP (an Adrian Dominican sister) at Oblate School of Theology. She is one of the founding members of the Lectio Divina Group that continues to meet every Wednesday at FUMC of Corpus Christi; the group started in 1997.

New Maisie Dobbs Mystery!

I am excited that the seventh and newest Maisie Dobbs mystery is published. The Mapping of Love and Death will arrive at my home on Wednesday. No paper writing or thinking once I get that book, I am sure.

I am intrigued because one of the Amazon reviewers said this about the book:

"The ending provides a shift both in circumstance and perspective that will move Maisie forward - one way or another - in her life. Rather than looking backwards, at the Great War, Maisie will have a new focus. I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out."

Deepen your roots, extend your branches

Like volcanoes persons
are tiptops of nature
A man in full flower
is a splendor of God
A man in despair
is a sorrow of God
Deepen your roots
Extend your branches
Every soul blooms
in the fire of Big Joy
After the eruption
listen for a lullaby

~~Jame Broughton

Broughton, James. Little Sermons of the Big Joy. Philadelphia: Insight to Riot Press, 1994. 1.

Cisco "improves"

Cisco has been milking us for all the sympathy he can get. He's been moping around all day.

There was a loud thunderstorm and heavy rains with a frontal passage around noon. Then Cisco and Maisie went outside when the weather got better for awhile.

Just as I returned from a six-hour "Quiet Day" at church, CB was rushing out along the driveway in his white truck, as the dogs were missing! Behind the bushes, the "invalid" Cisco knocked out the bottom of a board and then dug under that for escape. Maisie probably helped, as Cisco seems to be teaching her all his tricks.

CB found them in the yard behind our fence. He caught Maisie, but Cisco RAN after a cat! CB brought Maisie home and then there was a comedy of errors, as somehow semi-blind and deaf Baillie escaped, too. We both drove off in our vehicles and eventually CB got Cisco to jump in his truck, and I lured Baillie with a treat, though I had to stop the car and get the treat under her nose and then pick her up!

All three dogs are confined to the laundry room at the moment. At least, it's good to know that Cisco is recuperating.

Puppy Tales

Here are LJ, MJ's friend since elementary school, and MJ holding their puppies. LJ's pup is a 5 month old daschund named Tenley. MJ is holding Maisie, who is approximately 4 months old.

In the middle of the morning, I noticed that Cisco was limping. His right front leg was a little swollen, and he would not step on it. I was worried that Maisie would jump and badger him as usual, but she came over and licked him and left him alone. Here is CB petting Cisco while Maisie watches. (Baillie can barely be seen behind the door into the laundry room.)

Late this afternoon CB took Cisco to the vet. X-rays showed an odd growth on the bone side of his leg, but the vet was not sure how long that had been there. He gave Cisco a steriod shot, which has made Cisco feel better. Tomorrow the radiologist will look more carefully at the x-ray. Otherwise, the vet said probably Cisco will be running around by Sunday.

Here is Cisco last night chewing Maisie's nyla-bone, with Maisie watching and sometimes barking.

Friday Five: Movies

Whenever daughter MJ comes home on breaks from college, I get to go to movies, which has me thinking about motion pictures. Plus, it is fun to watch rented dvd's at home, which my husband prefers.

Share your preferences, opinions, and recommendations about movies! Choose 5 types of movies to discuss:

1. mystery/thriller
I still remember jumping and grabbing at CB when we saw "Wait Until Dark" when we were dating. For thrillers, I enjoy the three Bourne movies with Matt Damon. It is embarrassing to admit that I also like the two "Kill Bill" movies, though I don't know which category to put those into. There's "The Usual Suspects," too.

2. foreign
I like foreign movies much more than CB does. He doesn't like to read sub-titles. "Slumdog Millionaire" was good. Even better is "Tsotsi," which takes place in South Africa in the slums. Of course, "Chocolat."

AE gave us some Korean movies, which we like: "The Way Home" and "Joint Security Area."

3. comedy
With a quirky title, there is the British movie "Kinky Boots." Periodically we rent it again, because we like it so much. I like many of Tom Hanks' movies, like his older ones "Big" and "Splash." Also, "Driving Miss Daisy." Here's another foreign comedy-"The Closet." A funny southern comedy is "Cookie's Fortune."

4. romantic comedy
I still like to watch "Moonstruck" and that reminds me of "Family Man" (because of Nicolas Cage). There are so many! "Love Actually" and "Sleepless in Seattle" and many more.

5. drama
"Snowcake" is my new favorite; it's a Canadian film. "The Green Mile."

Bonus: Tell about the first movie you ever saw and/or the last one!
The first movie I ever saw was "Lady and the Tramp" at a drive-in theater when I was almost 5 years old. I still love cocker spaniels.

The hopefully soon-to-be-last movie is the new "Alice in Wonderland," if MJ will go with me before she goes back to college.

A Good Book is a Friend!

In case you cannot read the quote:

You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel as if you've lost a friend.

Blessing

Cynthia directed me to this lovely animated Irish Blessing.

Take just a moment for a little respite in your day by clicking here.

What makes a friend?

I've been thinking of friends today.

We talked about the components of friendship at dinner. CB said it helps to have a similar amount of education. MJ said trust and honesty. I thought of togetherness, consistency, and vulnerability (which goes along with trust and honesty).

As a friend, I am not very good at calling others up on the phone. I like to be called, but don't think to call people. In fact, I seem to resist it. That seems silly, but it is often an obstacle for me. I do better when a friend calls me often enough that I know they want to talk to me and then I will make more of an effort to call, which sounds pretty dumb. (This could be a problem with "consistency": However I am consistent in rarely calling.)

"Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other's gold." That was a Brownie/Girl Scout song. I am blessed with my friends--here, there, and in the blogosphere.

Aristotle said: "Friends must enjoy each other's company, they must be useful to one another, and they must share a common commitment to the good." What do you think makes a friend (or a friendship)?

ABC's of Life

Accept differences
Be kind
Count your blessings
Dream
Express thanks
Forgive
Give freely
Harm no one
Imagine more
Jettison anger
Keep confidences
Love truly
Master something
Nurture hope
Open your mind
Pack lightly
Quell rumors
Reciprocate
Seek wisdom
Touch hearts
Understand
Value truth
Win graciously
Xeriscape
Yearn for peace
Zealously support a worthy cause.

Training Maisie

MJ is training Maisie to sit and stay. The first is working out better than the last, maybe because I was teaching Maisie to sit back when I was better about clicker-training her, before we had our cold and rainy spells of weather. I am glad MJ is taking over the clicker-training and walking this week, which will get me going when she leaves.

Cisco is the Alpha dog and is jealous of Maisie. Today he kept taking the nyla-bone and keeping it, while Maisie barked and barked at him. Cisco normally does not chew on toys and does not even like rawhide chews.

Monday night

I am tired tonight; guess I'm getting adjusted to the time change.

• MJ came home today for spring break. Maisie was very excited to see her and be with her.

• MJ went with me tonight to serve home communion to a dear old lady in a nursing home. It was a good first introduction for me of serving Episcopal lay Eucharist to a friend. (Years ago I served Methodist home communions.) Georgia, her roommate, MJ and I shared in the holy time together.

• I am still thinking of the play "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot," which I wrote briefly about below this post. At the end of the play, Jesus kept telling Judas he loved him, but Judas could not accept that. How we cut ourselves off from Love by not receiving it; too often we do not feel worthy.

• Maisie has been chewing wood off the back door! Tonight MJ and I bought her a nyla-bone, as recommended by eldest son DC. She chewed it for awhile, but now is napping by my feet.
  

• MJ said that there were abundant wildflowers blooming on her drive south to Corpus Christi today. I need to drive out and see some!

• At the play yesterday, I sat next to someone I knew from my former church who defended Glenn Beck's definition of "social justice," saying that the meaning had obviously morphed to a different definition than I was familiar with. I disagreed, and we soon changed the topic of conversation to a more agreeable one. This helped me to understand how we close ourselves off to other opinions, picking experts who reinforce what we already believe.

• Tuesday has the Wisdom Class in the morning and EFM in the afternoon. It is also supposed to rain.
  

"The Last Days of Judas Iscariot"

Today I went with some friends to see the play "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" presented at the Corpus Christi Texas A & M University Theater. It was a birthday celebration for a friend. I am grateful I was invited or I would never have seen this play.

It is extremely long (2 1/2 hours) and very interesting, with a lot of foul language. Besides the latter, there was obviously much background knowledge of Judaism, saints, Roman Catholicism, and the Roman Empire. It started with a soliloquy by Judas' mother, remembering when he was born and how she loved him. That brought a whole new outlook to start off with, as I had never considered how Judas' family felt about him.

It is a courtroom drama set in Purgatory where the case is argued whether Judas can be released from Hell.

This is what Curtain Up said about the NY production:

"While Stephen Adly Guirgis' dialogue is often poetic, it is a poetry couched in contemporary hip-hop street talk, spiced with the flavor of the barrio and with the the deeper thematic concerns often presented as laughter-inducing monologues -- for example, the first and funniest testimony from Saint Monica, " heaven's nag " with a decidedly hip and down-to-earth vocabulary. She relates how she descended from her saintly perch to "check out " Judas for herself and, after convincing herself of his remorse, "went back home and got on the horn with God."

So that gives you just a taste of the language used and the different characters, such as Sigmund Freud and Pontius Pilate, called to the witness stand.

I'm still thinking about this and wish I could see it again. Perhaps I'll have to read the play.

After looking at various sites where this play was produced, I can see that I was shaped by seeing it here. This is a video made about the play I saw today, though you'll only see the various characters and probably won't be able to tell who is whom.

Time Change!

"No winter lasts forever;
no spring skips its turn."
- Hal Borland

I don't feel like going to bed yet, though I should think that it is an hour later than it is, so I won't be shocked to get up in the morning. Unlike you pastors, I do not have to be up for the early services--just for my 9 o'clock Weight Watchers meeting.

Gracie (cat) taunts Maisie

Gracie loves to taunt our puppy Maisie. Usually she does not come into the "sun room," but with the window open this afternoon, she could not resist.

Gracie on the windowsill

Here is Maisie trying to get at Gracie.

So that Maisie would stop barking and prancing around the cat, I put her outside. So here is Maisie jumping up at Gracie, who is hissing at her.

Cisco waiting for the fuss to be over.

Baillie outside

Baillie is getting deafer. She used to come if we clapped our hands outside, but now she doesn't notice that. She is partially blind through cataracts, too. So she goes outside and lies in the grass. She is in her own little world as she ages and progresses towards 14 years.

Yesterday I took Maisie to the vet for her check-up. She weighed 28 pounds, though that is approximate as she wouldn't stay still on the scale. The vet thought she was 12 weeks old due to her teeth. However, we don't see how she can be that young, because it is 11 weeks since we found her in our backyard (on Dec. 26). She was at least 5 weeks old then. Thus, we think she is about four months old.

Friday Five: Spiritual or Religious?

Mompriest offers today's Friday Five from RevGalBlogPals:

Yesterday Mompriest attended a led conference by Diana Butler Bass. She is presenting new ideas on the state of the church and why there is hope for Christianity. One of her premises is a Newsweek/Washington Post poll from 2005 that states that 55% of the people in this country describe themselves as religious AND spiritual.

Without going into detail about her understandings of religious and spiritual (you may want to attend one of her conferences, if you can) share with us five thoughts ideas or practices that you consider to be "religious." Then share with us five thoughts, ideas, or practices that you consider to be "spiritual."
~~~~~~~~
I think we too easily separate our ideas into categories, especially dualistic ones. It is especially easy to do so about religion, as many people say they are "spiritual" and NOT "religious." That latter terminology seems to correlate "religious" with attendance at or allegiance to a church, temple or synagogue.

Going along with the "religious" connection to a church, here I go:
1. Attending worship services at church.
2. Serving on committees at church.
3. Adhering to dogma or "right beliefs."
4. Bible study groups.
5. Judging others by moral code of religion.

Now for the spiritual, though all those above could be "spiritualized" to a higher consciousness:
1. Going to church and participating in the beautiful liturgy, prayers and Eucharist.
2. Seeing the Divine in each person (or trying to).
3. Lectio Divina
4. Prayer and growing into contemplative prayer/meditation.
5. Living the Golden Rule.

I am a Social Justice Christian!

Tell Glenn Beck: I’m a Social Justice Christian

by Jim Wallis 03-10-2010

Glenn Beck says Christians should leave churches that use the word “social justice.” He says social justice is a code word for communism and Nazism.

But since the Catholic Church, the Black Churches, the Mainline Protestant churches, and more and more Evangelical and Pentecostal churches including Hispanic and Asian-American congregations all consider social justice central to biblical faith, Glenn Beck is telling all those Christians to leave their churches. Of course, Christians may disagree about what social justice means in our current political context — and that conversation is an important one — but the Bible is clear: from the Mosaic law of Jubilee, to the Hebrew prophets, to Jesus Christ, social justice is an integral part of God’s plan for humanity.

Beck says Christians should leave their social justice churches, so I say Christians should leave Glenn Beck. I don’t know if Beck is just strange, just trying to be controversial, or just trying to make money. But in any case, what he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show. His show should now be in the same category as Howard Stern. Stern practices pornography and Beck denies the central teachings of Jesus and the Bible. So Christians should stop watching the Glenn Beck show and pray for him and Howard Stern.

Beck also said that if his church was about “social justice” he would report his church to the church authorities. What authorities? Church bodies as diverse in their theology as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Evangelicals have explicitly endorsed social justice as a biblical imperative.

So here’s an idea: how about reporting ourselves to Glenn Beck as church members and pastors who practice and preach social justice.

Since Sojourners’ mission is “to articulate the biblical call to social justice,” I’ll be the first to turn myself in. And I invite you to join me in turning yourself in to Glenn Beck as a Christian who believes in social justice. Let’s send him thousands of names.

Jim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street — A Moral Compass for the New Economy, CEO of Sojourners and blogs at www.godspolitics.com.

It is embarrassing to me that Glen Beck went to my husband's and my high school in Bellingham, WA. I am speechless with outrage! (Jan)

Waltons return home due to the economy

By Mike Lukovich

From Center for American Progress

Although my oldest son DC lost his job (related to construction) last June, he and his wife are still living in Austin. Luckily, his wife AA has a good job. Prayers for all who need jobs.

Look at what Maisie chewed!

My Realization

WOW! I am seeing something about myself that was so obvious, but something I never realized to any depth at all. . . until now.

As mentioned in the post below, Ellie talked to me on Friday about my blockage in writing my papers for Oblate School of Theology AND for the Shalem Program for Spiritual Guidance. Although other people have told me at different times to write each day for a set-amount of time, I never did. However, Ellie told me why it is important to do this. By committing to write a certain amount each day, I will grow to trust myself--that I will keep my word to myself.

I have a long history of writing papers the night before, not revising, and getting A's. My husband sometimes brags about that ability. For research papers, I always did lots and lots of research, but still spent adrenalin-rushed periods of days and nights getting the papers written. All my papers from middle school through graduate school were written for deadlines, which I pushed to the limit. I always got them done in time and always got high grades.

So at this late date in my life, I realize that I never learned HOW to write. I just did it. I have had this conception that what I write must be perfect and finished, which is why I have been afraid to start these other two papers, which have tenuous deadlines. I haven't known exactly what I am writing about, so I cannot dash it off. And I only know how to write in that intense and panicked state and no other.

Committing to write each day teaches me that it is possible to write when I am not highly motivated or even when I want to. Limiting the time to 15 minutes this week, even when I don't feel like stopping, is proving to me that I am not a captive to my emotions. Eventually, Ellie told me that I will have time periods of 1-4 hours, which would mean that I had to write for at least ONE hour but not more than FOUR.

This is so new to me, which seems startling as I am turning 60 this year! It is never too late to learn, and I definitely have a lot to learn.

A Blank Page Is Prayer

I think I'll have to write more tomorrow about a big realization I've had about writing, thanks to many of you, especially Ellie. But what clicked it all together was a reading from Emilie Griffin's Lenten Book Small Surrenders (which has been reduced by 60% at Amazon), where she writes that a blank page is prayer.

Ellie advised me to write for 15 minutes (not more and no less) every day, which I began to do today. Part of the time spent is looking at the blank page.

Griffin quotes Murray Bodo: "Sometimes there might be no words, but only a blank page created by silence and space. . . . But you are in the process of praying." (83)

(Finding that link for Murray Bodo excited me when I learned that he is a Franciscan priest.)

Now for Emilie Griffin's words:

"Possibly the blank page is a test, a trial, a kind of formation." (84)

"Even more, we must come to understand that this emptiness, this blank page, is prayer. It is more than an invitation to pray. It is actually prayer. We are making a small and needed surrender to the way things are: we are relenting, we are unwinding." (85)

Griffin, Emilie. Small Surrenders: A Lenten Journey. Brewster, Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 2007.

Happy Birthday, AE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AE,
MY WONDERFUL DAUGHTER

AE was our second baby, born 28 years ago today. She was born with only my husband in the birthing room, while he was yelling, "The baby's coming, the baby's coming!" She was a beautiful baby girl who stayed with me in my room in the hospital. AE didn't have to cry for me to nurse her; she just made a little snuffling noise and she'd be fed.

At 28, AE lives in Seattle with her partner KA. In contrast, CB and I moved from the NW to Texas when we were turning 28. Though I miss her and KA, we are glad that they are happy living in Seattle.

Happy Birthday all day long!

Do Good

In the newest edition of Sojourners magazine, there is an excellent interview with Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan: "Passing the Peace". (By going to that last link, you can read an extended interview, longer than in the magazine.)
Here is something Daniel Berrigan said about modesty or humility:

"And you know, what I've learned from Dr. King and Dorothy Day is modesty--one does what one can and lets the results go. I've also learned a lot about that from the Buddhists. I lived in a Buddhist community in Paris in exile for almost a year, and I still remember the saying of the master of the community: The good was to be done because it's good, not because it goes somewhere. I believe if that's the attitude, it will go somewhere, but I won't know it. And I think that's in our Bible, too--the closer we are to biblical wisdom, the less consumed we will be about proving ourselves and about ego and celebrity. The less we will know about the outcome of our lives. And that's very helpful--you don't have to know, just do it. Sounds simple, eh?" (p. 36)

I wish it was "simple"--even more I wish to live this way.

Friday Five: Spiritual Spring Cleaning

Sally offers today's Friday Five for the RevGalBlogPals:

The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you. (2 Corninthians 5: 17-20 The Message)

All this got me thinking that if we traditionally think of spring as a time for new life, then maybe a spiritual spring cleaning might not be a bad thing to clear the way for the new thing that God wants to do in us!

So with all of that in mind I offer you this Friday Five:

1. Is there a part of your spiritual life that is dry and dusty at the moment, something that could do with a good spring clean?
As with Maxine's cartoon above, I want to find my spiritual focus, especially about my master's thesis. I was surprised how I clung onto my unknowing and lack of inspiration at the beginning of this week.

I finally noticed that I've been clinging (from Psalm 63:5-8) too much to my inadequacy. I am trying to pay attention to what I am clinging to, so that I might better cling to God and let go of the other preoccupations.

2. Spiritual disciplines- life-giving/ terrifying: discuss
Sitting in meditation/contemplation twice a day is a discipline that I usually keep. Sometimes it seems pointless, like earlier this week. I commit to this.

The weekly Lectio Divina group is life-giving. This week's meditation on Psalm 63:5-8 brought me to the awareness of "clinging."

Psalm 63:5-8

63:5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips

63:6 when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

63:7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.

63:8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

3. Share a practice that keeps you spiritually alive that you think others might benefit from...
Lectio Divina

Christ-Centered Prayer:
1. Sit comfortably.
2. Close eyes, rest hands gently in lap.
3. Slowly in hale deeply and slowly exhale relaxing the entire body.
4. Consciously become aware of your Spiritual Heart Center (center of chest, between the breasts) and rest in awareness.
5. If thoughts or sensations arise, do not dialogue, converse, or respond to their rising. Allow them to rise and again just gently become aware of your Spiritual Heart Center.
6. Continue the practice in this manner. No matter how often thoughts or emotions rise, gently again come aware of your Spiritual Heart Center.
7. At the end of your silent prayer period, take a few minute to become consciously aware of your body before returning to normal activity.

Casey-Martus, Sandra and Mancari, Carla R. The Lessons: How to Understand Spiritual Principles, Spiritual Activities, and Rising Emotions. Tucson: Wheatmark, 2008. 25.

4.Alone or together, how do you pray best?
Usually alone, though there is depth that is reached in a group that is silently praying.

5.If your spiritual life were to burgeon and bloom into a spring flower what would it be and why?
Texas wildflowers, because fields of bluebonnets and other flowers are truly glorious. We are all looking forward to such an abundant spring here in south Texas, because we've had lots of rain and cooler weather this winter. For the past several years the drought has eliminated the growth of most wildflowers.
Bonus, a piece of music a picture or a prayer that speaks to you of new life....
Though I do not see crocuses here, I always remember the excitement of seeing one poke out of the group when I lived in RI and NJ:

Un fashionable Me!

Jan and MJ at Yardarm Restaurant

I am wearing that same sweater with a LONG (down to my ankles) straight black skirt, which is years old. I am realizing how unfashionable I often am, which is bothering me as I set out for the YWCA Dinner for Women of the Year. My friend and Methodist pastor Gloria Lear is one of the ladies being honored.

I keep telling myself that people will just say, "Oh, that's Jan. . . ." since I am never up to date in my fashions, especially my shoes, which have to be comfortable!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was fine, though when I got there, I wished I had worn my black pants (which I'd worn to the Yardarm Restaurant that's pictured above).

Whispers

A Blessing for the Journey of Seeking God

When your soul whispers of its deepest longings,
may you quiet yourself to listen.
May you follow the path of yearning to the One alone
who blends the uneven edges into a life of meaning.
May you meet and be united with God
and give thanks for the whispers
that led you there.

From Lenten Blessings on ExploreFaith.org

Lost on the Path

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again,
expecting different results.

That 12-step saying that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results" seems relevant to my feeling lost and stuck at the same time. Not knowing where to go has me not moving, which is a typical reaction, but not helpful. I am even finding it difficult to pray and sit with God.

And here is an interesting connection to all this from one of my Lenten readings:

Henri Nouwen writes:
". . . The descending way is a way that is concealed in each person's heart. But because it is so seldom walked on, it's often overgrown with weeds. Slowly but surely we have to clear the weeds, open the way, and set out on it unafraid.

"For me, this weeding out process is always related to prayer, because to pray is to make free time for God, even when you've very busy with important matters of one kind or another. Every time you make free time for God, you clear up a bit of the descending path, and you see where you can plant your feet on the way to love."

Nouwen, Henri J. M. Show Me the Way: Readings for Each Day of Lent. NY: Crossroad, 1994. 47.

So it is time to sit, perhaps followed by writing. . . . Then at 11 o'clock, there is the Lectio Divina group at FUMC, which will be a good place to be.

Talkers and Others

Lately, I've become aware that I often have little to say. Some people have the ability to talk and talk, while I sit there. Maybe I could say that I am being a good listener. . . sometimes I just have no response. That's how I seemed in EFM today--nothing to say, or that is how I felt.

It makes me wonder how to better facilitate groups. Growing up, I was always taught "not to interrupt," which is hard for me to change. However, what do you do with those people who don't pause in their verbiage and keep on talking? That sometimes happens in meetings, and I am unsure of the right way to get people back on track. I could ring the bell, but that seems rude. Is the only way to interrupt??

At the same time, I am remembering how the most talkative one in the Wisdom Class today expressed appreciation for being listened to. Still, other people did not have the opportunity to speak.

Thus, I am aware of how people fall into the verbose category or quieter mode. Maybe it is time to remind people of the power of listening, which we practiced a few years ago.

Or is it all related to introversion and extroversion? Maybe I need to read that book about introverts in the church that Altar Ego has written about in the past.

Grateful for Friends

Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force.
The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward.
When we are listened to,
it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.

~~Karl Menninger

I am grateful for my friends, near and faraway, as well as blogging friends.