Grand-dog Troy and Our Dogs

Hyper Troy is still pretty energetic, but he is more ready for petting than he used to be. He and Maisie played a lot for the three days he stayed with us, while his master BJ was at the beach.

BJ and Troy before they left for Houston

Troy has the ball, while Maisie and Cisco look on.

You can see that Maisie is slightly larger than Cisco, but Troy is still taller and longer.

Troy often stops to look up for birds.

Maisie and Troy

Maisie loved playing with Troy. We really liked her keeping busy and getting tired!

After BJ and Troy left this afternoon, CB was sitting at his computer. Maisie kept standing next to him, then staring at him barked. CB really felt like Maisie was asking him where her friend was!

And here is Maisie walking by my clothesline. If you look at the bottom of the fence, you can see where bricks have been shoved in to stop Cisco (and sometimes Maisie) from digging.

God's Creation Cartoon

Ho'opono Cleansing Prayer and BP oil spill

The more I read about and look at pictures of the effects of the BP Oil Spill Disaster, the more I feel like weeping. Hubris and greed of mankind are dramatically showing results these days. This is no doubt helped by me living on the Gulf of Mexico, though no obvious effects have reached south TX yet. They're coming. . . .

There are multiple sites to look at, but these two have offended me this morning, so much so that I've already posted them on Facebook, which is an easy "click" maneuver.

Miles-Long Oil Plume Approaching Underwater Canyon NEW ORLEANS (AP) Researchers say a newly discovered plume of thick oil in the Gulf of Mexico is nearing an underwater canyon, where it could poison the food chain for sea life in the waters off Florida.

That idiot Glenn Beck (who went to my high school in Bellingham, WA!!) is "orating" about the oil spill, saying it is no more than a "house fire"! Go here to read Steve Young's post on "The Huffington Post."

Feeling impotent in this situation, I am reminded of Marj Barlow telling us about her practice of cleansing news she reads or hears with the Ho'opono (Hawaiian) Way to Put Things Back into Balance. Marj said that when we know about a problem, it is our responsibility to "clear" it. So when Marj watches the news or reads the newspaper, she spends time cleaning whatever sad/bad thing she hears, sees, or reads:

1. I am so sorry.
   
2. I ask for forgiveness. (I ask forgiveness for myself, my family, my ancestors for contributing to this situation.)
3. Please forgive me.
   
4. I love; I want to love.

Marj said that the solution is to forgive and love. (So on my list to forgive are BP and Glen Beck. . . And maybe I could try to "cleanse" them??)

It is easier and quicker for me to rely on this prayer: Bless___________, change me. Still, the practice of Ho'opono melds into meditation and prayer.

We need much cleansing in ourselves and in our world!

Coughing Dogs

A week after Maisie was spayed, she came down with a cough accompanied by vomiting. That gradually went away and now this morning our oldest dog Baillie (13 years old) is coughing. It has affected her so much that she didn't eat her dinner, which is highly unusual for this greedy cocker spaniel.

My friend JS told me that their dog was in a kennel at the same time Maisie had her surgery (at the same vet's), and their dog grew ill with a cough. So we have determined that the germs came from the animal clinic.

With Troy visiting (and his master BJ at the beach for the weekend) and Cisco around, we will have to see if these two other dogs also get sick. This cold and/or cough seems to take a week's incubation, so Troy would not become ill until he's back in Houston with BJ. Cisco is an unknown right now, since he has been around both Maisie and Baillie and is not sick yet. I just hope that elderly Baillie does not succumb (as so many older adults do) to something worse, like pneumonia.

May 27, 1969

Were you alive in 1969? What were you doing in 1969?

On May 27, 1969, I left a poem entitled "People" by Yvetushenko on the windshield of CB's '57 Chevy that was parked on a hill going up to Western Washington State College in Bellingham, WA. He later called me and we spent the evening in the "music room" up at the college. After that we started dating regularly, and we got married 2 1/2 years later.

What is rather odd is that we had three dates in the fall of our freshman year in college, but did not like each other too much. I was very shy, and CB later told me that he thought I was acting "cold, disinterested, and superior." There must have been a lot of silence between us, as CB was/is not much of a talker anyway.

Somehow the way was opened on this date for a relationship to form. Maybe the poem helped deny that first impression CB had of me as it begins with the line, "No people are uninteresting."

Louisiana Marshes

The marshes of Pass a Loutre, La., are covered with oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Photo by Gerald Herbert, AP

David Schaper at NPR.org writes "Oil Cleanup Poses Risks In Fragile Louisiana Marshes," which is an excellent article.

"The thick oil can suffocate the canes, grasses and other flora, and toxins in the oil can also poison the plants, said Doug Inkley, a senior biologist with the National Wildlife Federation.

"'With this oil coming in, if it is severe enough to kill the plants entirely, then these plants are going to decay and basically you take away the entire root structure that helps support that soil, and with the waves and the weather coming in, virtually these wetlands disappear,' Inkley said."

I blogged about the disappearing marshland a few days ago, but that insight came from a book written even before Hurricane Katrina Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwell. Now bayou disappearance seems much more likely and progressing faster (with the effects of the oil).

Go HERE to read (or listen to) the article mentioned above.

Visuwords Graphic Dictionary

Visuwords is an online visual dictionary. Literally it shows in picture form the meaning and connections of words. It also acts as a very interesting thesaurus because of the connections it shows. Check it out: Visuwords

This is a lot of FUN!! ANY word can be searched for and linked to many meanings. Try "God" or "agnostic" or even "love."

Is reading a waste of time?

For the past few days much of my time has been spent reading. Now, I don't really think that reading is a "waste of time," BUT I have avoided some "shoulds" while reading. Now that I've finished The Poet Prince by Kathleen McGowan, I must start tackling the "storage" in BJ's old room. He is coming home tomorrow with hyper dog Troy and needs room to sleep on his old bed!

I enjoyed this third book in the Magdaline Line of Kathleen McGowan. This series is described as "quasi-Christian historical fiction" and I would throw in "thriller," too. They are good summer books to read. The first one is The Expected One, which is followed by The Book of Love. These stories intertwine the contemporary fiction of Maureen Paschal, supposedly someone linked to Mary Magadalene, and Berenger Sinclair, the newest Poet Prince. These are all imaginatively related to the physical union and marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Heresies abound in a historical setting, where this time I learned about the Pazzi Conspiracy in 1526.

There are hints at the end of The Poet Prince that the next book will be about Henry the VIII and Anne Boleyn interspersed with more dramas of Maureen and Berenger.

There are varying opinions about the author, who believes that she (herself) is descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Rollin McCleary writes a long post about her on his blog. Also, here is an article about her by Carol Memmott of USA Today on the publication of the first book in 2006, but it is still relevant.

I found the books fun.

More about Gulf Oil Spill

The United Methodist Church General Board of Church And Society has compiled an excellent resource of prayers and resources about the Gulf Oil Spill.

Go HERE, which also has the following prayer:

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Creator God, author of life, source of all meaning, you made a universe of infinite complexity and beauty and entrusted us humans with the care of a tiny jewel called Earth.

With the passing of time we came to believe we were owners, not fellow creature dwellers, of this bountiful planet and its extravagant web of life. We have used God’s creation without regard for the impact our rapacity had on the other creatures with whom we share our earthly home. We have acted with craven disregard for complex ecosystems we barely understand. Our self-deception has led us to assume we have the capacity to manage environments we exploit to sustain lifestyles that defy the intrinsic interdependence of all life.

Now we face the consequences of our idolatry. We thought we were gods; but our recklessness has brought us to our knees, to ask for your mercy and forgiveness for the chaos we have brought about. We pray for the oceans and all the creatures that dwell in it. We pray for the forests and the abundance of life they nurture. We pray for the very air we breathe, now laden with the toxic gases we produce. We pray for our children whose earthly home we have so imperiled.

Loving God, have mercy on us, grant us forgiveness and the strength to make amends.

Amen.

The black overlay represents the extent of the 2,500-square-mile Gulf of Mexico oil spill, compared to the size of Manhattan

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/05/24/2010-05-24_paul_rademacher_releases_google_earth_photos_comparing_gulf_of_mexico_oil_spill_.html#ixzz0p2yap0ez

"Religion" according to UU Church

My friend DT gave me the following litany about "Religion" that she received in the church bulletin on Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Corpus Christi:

Let religion be to us life and joy.

Let it be a voice of renewing challenge to the best we have and may be; let it be a call to generous action.

Let religion be to us a dissatisfaction with things that are, which bids us serve more eagerly the true and right.

Let it be the sorrow that opens for us the way of sympathy, understanding, and service to suffering humanity.

Let religion be to us the wonder and lure of that which is only partly known and understood:

An eye that glories in nature's majesty and beauty, and a heart that rejoices in deeds of kindness and of courage.

Let religion be to us security and serenity because of its truth and beauty, and a heart that rejoices in deeds of kindness and of courage.

Let it be to us hope and purpose, and a discovering of opportunities to express our best through daily tasks:

Religion, uniting us with all that is admirable in human beings everywhere;

Holding before our eyes a prospect of the better life for humankind, which each may help to make actual.

by Vincent B. Silliman (1894-1979)

Thousands of Gulf Oil Platforms

Approximately 4,000 active oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico
HOW MANY inACTIVE ONES ARE STILL THERE??

I live on the Gulf of Mexico in Corpus Christi, TX, where we only see a few oil rigs out in the Gulf. It has taken this major BP oil spill and reading the book Bayou Farewell for me to realize the conglomeration maze of oil rigs, both in use and abandoned, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Here is a little bit I read in Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwell:

"While Louisiana's coast continues to implode, creating the fastest-disappearing landmass on earth, the story of its demise remains stubbornly unknown to most Americans. Likewise, what's happening out here in the Gulf, just beyond that same shore, goes almost entirely unnoticed. Thousands of acres of new 'land' are being brought into existence here, literally built above the water, a mass of solid structures so huge that if they were stacked end to end they'd stretch from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia. Instead of saving one place, we're creating another, developing the largest artificial mass of offshore property ever conceived." (323)

Tidwell also describes how deepwater extraction of oil became possible about 15-20 years ago (I'm raising the number from his estimate due to the 2003 publication date of the book):

"Deepwater extraction like this wasn't even feasible until ten years ago, when an evolved version of a technique called 'dynamic positioning' came into cuse. Declassified by the U.S. and Soviet governments at the end of the Cold War, advanced dynamic positioning was developed to allow nuclear submarines to remain perfectly still while firing underwater. A sophisticated onboard computer interacts with several thrusters (high-speed propellers) spread evenly across the sub's outer shell to constantly assess and compensate for waves and underwater currents. This same technique now allows oil-drilling rigs, whose legs could never extend a mile to the ocean floor, to literally float in the Gulf of Mexico, hovering almost perfectly motionless and so not upsetting the vulnerable drill stem. In this way, dynamic positioning has allowed the offshore oil book to keep right on rolling, shattering the old barrier of deep water and opening up a whole new realm of the offshore galaxy. These rigs can even survive hurricanes thanks to special longline anchors that secure them to the Gulf floor." (324)

While Tidwell was on the deck of one of these massive oil platforms, he observed:

"And now, as I walk along the deck that night, surrounded by the freakish spread of brightly lit platforms stretching to every horizon, I can't help but wonder what will be the unintended consequences of such aggressive oil exploitation, of so many new platforms made possible by dynamic positioning and directional drilling, technologies now as important to modern, oil-thirsty Americas as levees once were to survivla of colonial Louisiana." (325)

Tidwell, Mike. Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast. NY: Vintage Books, 2003.

My future grandchild

Daughter-in-law AA is 15 weeks pregnant, and the baby is the size of an apple--4 inches long and about 2 1/2 ounces. (This would be a Weight Watchers-sized apple, not a huge Granny Smith!) Blessings on moms-to-be and their growing babies.

Deepening Realization

I was fortunate to attend a short contemplative prayer retreat out at Mustang Island Retreat Center this past weekend. We spent three hours a day in prayer and three hours a day in class, being taught from the book The Lessons: How to Understand Spiritual Principles, Spiritual Activities, and Rising Emotions by its authors Sandy Casey-Martus and Carla R. Mancari. It was much like the retreat I described here. (You may recall that the Reverend Sandy Casey-Martus is the priest of All Saints Episcopal Church here in Corpus Christi.)

There were 21 people in attendance, some from different churches and locales. Two people who attended the retreat linked above were there. Friends from All Saints and my lectio divina group also attended. I met an older woman who lives in Austin, who surprisingly grew up in Lynden, WA where my mother lived after she was seven years old.

One of the topics discussed was realization: A realization stays with you, as it helps you realize your Godly nature of love. Experiences and insights will come and go, fading from memory--but not realizations. A realization marks a moment of clarity and insight that causes one to change something about one's life or attitude. What is more, understanding takes time to develop. That reminds me of how many years it took Julian of Norwich to write with more understanding about the visions of Jesus Christ that she experienced on her supposed deathbed. It took Paul ten years to integrate his experience on the road to Damascus.

"Realizations and enlightenments require time to expand and deepen. For this reason, wisdom may seem to lag behind a realization and often does. Wisdom comes naturally from within awareness in due time." (78)

An expansion of a a major realization of my life occurred this weekend. When I was still depressed and spending too much time on suicidal ideation in 1999, I was blessed with an indescribable flooding of God's love, which I understood to mean that I would never kill myself. That realization changed my life in that I knew I would never sink into such depression again. And I progressively grew healthier.

11 years later I suddenly realized that I needed that interpretation for the past decade, but that it also has a fuller meaning: God infinitely loves and exists and I (and humanity) will always be in the Divine with no end. I believe that this understanding came from my practice of sitting in Christ-Centered Prayer twice a day since January 2009.

"It is in God-awareness that you live, move and have your being. You are the heart, mind, intellect, and voice of an individual expression of the Father/Christ Consciousness on this earth." (78)

(The quotes are from Best-Kept Secret by Sandra Casey-Martus and Carla Mancari. This describes Christ-Centered Prayer in a more narrative form than The Lessons, which is more of a workbook and teaching aid to the prayer.)

I am glad I was at the retreat, which ended this morning so there was time to go to church with MJ and CB. (MJ drove back to San Antonio this afternoon. She starts working for one of the Trinity University professors tomorrow--doing chemistry research.)

Wastin' Away Ditty

By Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Center for American Progress is where I found this cartoon. They have an interesting article about "Revitalizing Our Economy and the Environment."

Water of the World

When all the waters are polluted...
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.

~ Cree prophecy

WATER BLESSINGS
From Gratefulness.org:
"As people grieve over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, our awareness of how precious water is becomes clearer and stronger. On Tuesday, May 18, 2010, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers led prayers for healing for this vital resource, and A Network for Grateful Living (ANG*L) offered water blessings and concerns from around the world via Twitter. Naturally, we wanted to share these tweets with you here. We invite you to join us in prayers and in taking great care with all natural resources, especially, at this moment in time, our waters."

Take a few minutes and look here at Water Blessings.

Cat and Books

Since I had that funny quote by Groucho Marx about dogs and cats, I had to post this recent picture of our cat Gracie in the study with all the books. She was pawing at some until I came in to take a picture.

This is a little room CB built out of an large interior closet, which must have been a "safe" of some sort for the original owners. He put in a skylight and bookshelves. Across from the bookshelves is an oak roll top desk.

Dogs and Books

Outside of a dog,
a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog,
it's too dark to read.
~~Groucho Marx

Daughter AE sent me a wonderful card made by Saturn Press of Swan's Island, Maine with this quote on it. It had a different picture: one of a boxer standing on a stool looking at book shelves. However, this was the best image I could find on the web to go along with the quote as quickly as I needed.

Maisie is recovered

On Friday Maisie spent the day at the vet's because she was spayed. She came home in the early evening and was quieter than she ever has been in her entire life. MJ stayed with her in the laundry room, which is where we kept her away from the other dogs.

Here's a picture of Cisco looking in on MJ and Maisie on Friday night. By Saturday Maisie wanted to play, but we kept her away from Cisco and Baillie until Sunday.

By Sunday Maisie was romping around like she usually does, and she is back to normal now. In fact, she's too much like herself--today she ripped off about three feet of the green leaf wallpaper in the laundry room in the 30 minutes she was in the laundry room all by herself.

Here is a picture of MJ with Maisie and her new chew toy, which was in the laundry room when she was stripping the wallpaper off the wall.

If you have noticed that Maisie is getting bigger, we now know how much she weighs--45 pounds! (She weighed 28 pounds a few months ago.)

Lost in a Labyrinth

Sometimes I have felt lost walking on a labyrinth, but the knowledge that I will reach the center is reassuring. There is a beautiful labyrinth made with different kinds of wood at my church All Saints Episcopal Church in Corpus Christi, TX.

All Saints Labyrinth

On Tuesday I walked with my EFM class on an outdoors labyrinth that was built by our EFM leader's husband when she was first diagnosed with ALS. I'm sorry I did not take a picture of it, so a description will have to do:

The labyrinth is built around a very old live oak tree in the center. The path is outlined with bricks in the ground, with a wide enough walkway for a walker or possibly a wheelchair. It is next to a river and surrounded by live oak trees with moss hanging down from the branches.

This time the labyrinth was about one-third obscured by weeds. As we traveled, we concentrated on where the path was, sometimes not being able to discern it. Small groups would be following each other, when suddenly one person would turn away. At one point, I felt very confident and was forging ahead to suddenly realize I was LOST! People would appear in different areas and directions, as it was easy to get turned around with the greenery hiding the red bricks.

This was the most mysterious and holy walk I have ever had on a labyrinth. The metaphor of getting lost on the path was graphically portrayed as I could not see the where the path was going in some spots. When I felt confident, I later realized my faith was in myself and not in God, which would develop into me feeling lost. Being so lost but knowing I was still within the labyrinth reminds me that no matter how I am feeling or what I am seeing, I am still in the energy (or love) of God.

Bayou Farewell?

All the horrifying news of the OIL SPILL probably does not indicate the unknowable impact on the bayous of Louisiana, which are already disappearing at a rapid rate, as you can see in the above photograph.

A friend recently recommended the book Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast by Mike Tidwell. The topic came up because of the oil spill that continues to flow. I decided that I knew little about this area and ordered a used copy, which I plan to send to son BJ when I finish, as he is an avid fisherman.

I've only read 56 pages of the 344 page book and am already enthralled. It is well written, with vivid descriptions and stories of people the author encountered as he "hitch-hiked" on fishing boats through the bayou.

A Cajun shrimper named Tim reacts when asked if land is being lost:

"'Losing land?' he says. 'Losing it? Hell, here in Leeville we done already lost it. It's done disappeared. Look around.' He stands from his bucket and gestures up the bayou and toward the marsh grass and then over to the narrow ribbon of road that runs through town. 'Take a few steps off dat road and your foots in open water. De bayou's so big now it's startin to look like a lake and all the lakes and bays are startin' to look like de ocean 'cause dat's what dey're becoming. Dere is no more land left here in Leeville.'" (29)

When the author asks another shrimper, Wayne, "Is there no way to make the land stop sinking and eroding?", Wayne answers:

"'Sure dere is,' Wayne says, rubbing his silver bear with his enormous hands as his voice dips into sharm sarcasm. 'All you have to do is fill in all de oil-company canals, build up all de barrier islands to de size dey were a hundred years ago, and den let de Mississippi River flood again. Dat's all.'" (56)

"As conservationists, scientists, and public official make excruciatingly slow progress toward possible solutions, the marsh continues to disappear at a rate of 25 square miles per year." (57)

And I am wondering how this fragile landscape will survive the surfeit of oil coming its way?? (Let alone the people, animals, and fish)

Friday Five: Family Trees

Sophia brought today's Friday Five to the RevGalBlogPals:

1. Do you have any interest in genealogy?
I have a little interest, but wish I had been more eager to learn about family when both my parents were alive. My cousin Margaret in Calgary, Alberta, Canada knows much more than anyone else in the remaining family--I have not been working on her info as I originally intended when I visited her last year.

2. Which countries did your ancestors come from?
Scotland, England, and Ireland.

3. Who is the farthest back ancestor whose name you know?
Unsure

4. Any favorite saints or sinners in the group?
My mother's mother (my Nana) was a devout Christian Scientist, because she was miraculously healed of heart problems when she still lived in Scotland. She was positive and secure in her belief of a loving God.

5. What would you want your descendants to know about you?
I would like them to know that I was an only child who had four children and that I was someone who loved books, reading, learning, and teaching, especially about God.

Jan's Today

Today:

• I am trying to find the next book to read for the Wisdom Class, which meets every Tuesday morning at All Saints Episcopal Church. We are finishing up But I Tell You: Jesus Introduces a Better Way to Live by Karen L. Oberst. So I am reading a lot. The two most recent books are:

• A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Diana Butler Bass: "Organized chronologically, each section of the book includes a chapter on religious observance and one on social justice, illuminating the author's conviction that authentic Christianity can be discovered in the practice of loving God and neighbor." Bass is trying to follow Howard Zinn's book on American history, A People's History of the United States, in focusing on those people who seemed "outside"--those who tried to live what Jesus taught and embody the kingdom he proclaimed (or "walk the talk").

• Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices by Julie Clawson: I've read about half this book now and am impressed with her info, sources, and links about injustices most Americans are unaware of in our spending and living. The chapters are about coffee, chocolate, cars, food, clothes, waste, and debt. I am grateful that I don't drink coffee! (However, I love chocolate!) Reading this book is why I posted the badge for Equal Exchange at the top of my blog and why I posted a video below.

• Tomorrow Maisie will be spayed. Poor puppy, but she's six months old and it is time for this to happen. I took her in to the vet's office yesterday for her blood work to be done in preparation for this surgery. The vet said that after the neutering, we need to keep Maisie quiet for 14 days--which sounds impossible!!

• MJ got home yesterday, and today we had lunch out together. Then we went to the Art Center where we saw my friend Judith DeShong Hall's exhibit. I love her paintings, but cannot afford to buy one.

• MJ will be home for 1 1/2 weeks. Then she will return to Trinity University for the summer where she will do chemistry research. It's too bad that she had to move all her stuff out of her dorm and then will have to take it back to a different dorm for the summer. (Trinity University has a rule that for the first three years of college, its students must live in dormitories.)

• Rather oddly, both my daughters went to Trinity, while my two sons attended Texas A & M University in College Station. (And CB and I went to the college in our hometown of Bellingham, WA--Western Washington State College, which is renamed Western Washington University.)
  

Equal Exchange: Awaken Your Consciousness

Questions to ponder

Karen L. Oberst suggests these queries for thinking about one's values, especially about where one's treasures lie.

• Do you have poor in your church? Have you sought to find that out?

• Do you have poor in the neighborhood of your church or your home? In your city or town?

• Do you go where you can see and be touched by the poverty of others?

• Do your spending habits reflect the world's values or the values of God's kingdom?

• Have you become numb to the needs around you?

• Do you model a caring attitude before your children?

Oberst, Karen L. But I Tell You: Jesus Introduces A Better Way To Live. Newberg, Oregon: Barclay Press, 2007. 149-150.

Thoughts on Praying

Author Carl McColman has a new post about "Wasting Time with God" on his blog that is well worth reading.

As he relates a moment where he was challenged by a monk to pray more each day so did I receive an abrupt pause in my thoughts, like cold water splashed on my face.

I am trying to meditate twice a day, which is sometimes hard to maintain. Luckily, our priest Sandy Casey-Martus advises that the amount of time does not matter, but that this twice a day commitment does. She says that God will grow the times as prayer is always God's prayer.

I realize that as the prayer practice has continued, it has also grown in time for me--as has the commitment. There is God's influence in my prayer, our prayer.

Commitment is necessary, too. For years before this, I sporadically tried to meditate. Father Kelly Nemeck, priest, author, and founder of Lebh Shomea retreat center in Sandia, TX, advises people to pray one hour a day. He said they found that it often took that long to reach contemplative states. (Of course, he and the core community pray five hours a day at Lebh Shomea.)

One hour was too much of an obstacle for me for many years, though I did try it sometimes. . . but not with the commitment that has grown in the past year, under the influence of Sandy. So I am gratefuly that she is the priest at All Saints Episcopal Church and continues to stress prayer there.

For me, little steps have been rewarded by God. Depending upon the Holy One and asking for guidance and help is the way of growth for me, while maintaining the twice-a-day commitment to sit in silence.

WHEN we let go. . . .

"When we let go of hatred, prejudices, arrogance and entitlement from the heart, our actions change. We love, forgive and hope from the heart, and from there our world changes. So I offer this prayer for us: 'Holy One, we give you permission to carve away all that is not pure in our hearts. We invite you to create space in our crowded hearts for you to dwell. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. We ask you to align our priorities with yours, and awaken our hearts from their sleep.'"

~~Esther Elizabeth from Journey Into Freedom

From Inward/Outward. Subscribe here.

This is an email service sponsored by Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C., which Gordon and Mary Cosby founded in the early 1940's.

Happy Mother's Day!

Maisie Loves Tug-of-War!

Maisie and Baillie play tug-of-war pretty frequently. Cisco must never have learned to play this as a puppy, because he doesn't want to participate ever.

This was a new way for Maisie to play, with the rope stuck on CB's chair wheel. She pulled for a long time, even pulling CB backwards. Cisco just watches from afar.

Tai Chi

On Saturday afternoons, I go to a Tai Chi class at my church. I started a few months ago, but missed the last month. I was expecting that I had forgotten everything, but it was not so bad. I am beginning to believe what the instructor always says--the body remembers and the group does it as a whole.

Through Tai Chi, I remember my mother, who died in 1992. For several years before her death, she went to Tai Chi classes, which she said helped her balance. My husband's mother tried it a few times, but thought it was too difficult.

Today I realize how impressed I am with my mother continuing to practice Tai Chi. I also have more sympathy for my mother-in-law in not keeping on with it! Before this, I did not consider it to be that great a feat, but it takes practice!

I am helped by an excellent instructor and having church friends taking it with me. The more experienced Tai Chi practitioners are very kind in encouraging us newcomers, too. Someday I may be more graceful. . . .

I guess there are different forms. The one we are learning is the Tai Chi Form of Master Moy, which is connected with the International Taoist Tai Chi Society.

Honey to feed on

Roberta at Spiritually Directed always has wonderful quotes with correspondingly eloquent images. Here's one I really like, which connects to a Wisdom Class meditation this week:

"The point of travelling is not to arrive

but to return home

laden with pollen you shall work up

Into honey the mind feeds on."

- R.S. Thomas - Welsh poet & priest

Last night as I lay sleeping, I dreamt
O, marvelous error--
That there was a beehive here inside my heart
And the golden bees were making white combs
And sweet honey from all my failures.

- Machado de Assis (1839-1908)
Brazilian poet and novelist

This is only part of his wonderful poem, which I posted in its entirety on March 10, 2009, entitled "Marvellous Error."

The Way

The Way is Love, whichever way we go.

Let us pray

O God of mercy, we cannot understand. . .
why all of our needs are provided
while others are still oppressed with need.
We could have been born in another land.
We pray for all who lack food and clothing,
who are cold and ill,
who have lost home and country,
who are disheartened and discouraged,
who are unemployed or underemployed.
Give us the will and provide the grace to love them all in you
and in loving to help bear their burdens and meet their needs.
In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.

~~Mildred Tengbom

Lyn Klug (ed.). Soul Weavings: A Gathering of Women's Prayers. Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1996. 96.

The Lightkeeper

From Facebook, Fran posted this beautiful poem:

The Lightkeeper

By Carolyn Forche

A night without ships. Foghorns called into walled cloud, and you

still alive, drawn to the light as if it were a fire kept by monks,

darkness once crusted with stars, but now death-dark as you sail inward.

Through wild gorse and sea wrack, through heather and torn wool

you ran, pulling me by the hand, so I might see this for once in my life:

the spin and spin of light, the whirring of it, light in search of the lost,

there since the era of fire, era of candles and hollow-wick lamps,

whale oil and solid wick, colza and lard, kerosene and carbide,

the signal fires lighted on this perilous coast in the Tower of Hook.

You say to me stay awake, be like the lensmaker who died with his

lungs full of glass, be the yew in blossom when bees swarm, be

their amber cathedral and even the ghosts of Cistercians will be kind to you.

In a certain light as after rain, in pearled clouds or the water beyond,

seen or sensed water, sea or lake, you would stop still and gaze out

for a long time. Also when fireflies opened and closed in the pines,

and a star appeared, our only heaven. You taught me to live like this.

That after death it would be as it was before we were born. Nothing

to be afraid. Nothing but happiness as unbearable as the dread

from which it comes. Go toward the light always, be without ships.

BABIES

A dear friend who is in a weekly Renovare group with me is excited about the upcoming movie "Babies." Her granddaughter Hattie is one of the four babies featured in the first year of their lives. The babies are from the USA, Namibia, Japan, and Mongolia. Although Huffington Post Joel Schwartzberg finds the movie pleasant but pointless, I am very interested in seeing it. Maybe that's because I'm going to be a grandmother in November, but it's also because I love babies (as evidenced by being a La Leche League Leader for over 12 years of my life).

Spirituality

"Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being."

Brother David Steindl-Rast

To receive such quotations every day, subscribe to Word for the Day at Gratefulness.org.

Cat and Chewing Puppy

Gracie in the dining room

Gracie likes to pull on the shutter panels and look outside. These are in both the dining and living rooms of our house. The tea cups are part of a beautiful Celadon tea set daughter AE gave me from her time in South Korea.

Many of the walls in our house have wallpaper on them from about 1994-95. I love the colorfully painted walls in the house that DC and AA have (and also AA and KA in Seattle), but have not yet had the initiative to strip the walls and paint. I was spoiled by my husband CB and my mother putting up the wallpaper years ago.

Baillie and Cisco's chewed on food dishes

From other pictures with the puppy Maisie, glimpses may have been seen of the gnawed food dishes of the older dogs. (Maisie's dish is metal.) See the bite marks on the side of the white dish? Tonight I threw those dishes away, because I bought the dogs new dishes. Unfortunately, the new ones are also plastic, so we'll have to put them up after the dogs eat.

Maisie chewing

Here is Maisie chewing on a stick she found in the backyard. She was shredding it in the garage before she moved it further away.

Expanded Translation of The Lord's Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

Expanded Translation

By Karen L. Oberst

Our heavenly Parent, may you be reverenced because of who you are.

May your kingdom come into being through us, as citizens of the kingdom.

May your will be carried out by human beings as it is all over the created universe.

Give us what we need for today, both physically and spiritually.

Don’t hold us accountable for our moral lapses, even as we also don’t hold others accountable when they don’t treat us as they should.

Don’t bring us into a place where we are tempted to do wrong, but protect us from the one intending evil.

(“The Authorized or King James Version adds, ‘For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.’ This version of the Bible was translated in the 1600’s when only a single Greek manuscript of the Bible existed, the Tischendorf manuscript. Other, older manuscripts that do not contain this phrase have since been found. Scholars believe this phrase was not originally part of the Lord’s Prayer, and was likely added when these verses were used in the corporate prayer life of the early church.”)

Oberst, Karen L. But I Tell You: Jesus Introduces a Better Way to Live. Newberg, Oregon: Barclay Press, 2007. 137-138.

This is the book we are still reading about the Sermon on the Mount in the Wisdom Class, our weekly reading group at All Saints Episcopal Church.

Waking Up to Life!

I went to a 1 1/2 day workshop at a friend's house, with Marj Barlow facilitating and teaching. She is a counselor and someone who used to live in Corpus Christi and attend All Saints Episcopal Church. I fondly recall her teaching Sunday School classes about finding our strengths and building upon them, based upon Now, Discover Your Strengths, which has a test in it to determine them. I remember I sent a book to each of my children for this purpose!

The workshop was essentially about becoming more aware of oneself, especially as a woman. Marj recommended various books related to self-help (growth). She echoes writers such as Cynthia Bourgeault, Richard Rohr, Ken Wilber, and Beatrice Bruteau in saying that faithful meditation is the way to become more aware and grow our consciousness, especially so that the human race will grow beyond its current point.

Marj compared the seven chakras to goddesses, indicating that each is within us. I believe much of this is in Goddesses in Everywoman: Powerful Archetypes in Women's Lives by Jean Shinoda Bolen, which I have not read. It sounds interesting.

She loves the books by Gay Hendricks, who advocates conscious living and loving. Marj emphasized The Big Leap and A Year of Living Consciously (a collection of Hendricks' quotes), though I have not read these either or any other books by Gay Hendricks. Marj recommends other books, with their main points listed, on her blog.

From these sources and from her own experience, Marj said her Formula for Success is:

1. Self-image: my mental view of myself
2. System of support: my environment and relationships
3. Expectations: broaden them!
4. Time: how we manage our time and energy. We create time NOW.
5. Emotions: what I experience now is my choice

Another way of expressing this was her cute way of saying UP Your Life!

• Show up
• Listen up
• Open up
• Grow up
• Lighten up
• Wise up
• Link up
• Offer up

It was a time well spent, with other women supporting each other.

You can learn more about what Marj Barlow believes and teaches by going here and clicking on the various links.

Listening is Loving

When someone deeply listens to you
it is like holding out a dented cup
you've had since childhood
and watching it fill up with
cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim,
you are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
you are loved.

When someone deeply listens to you
the room where you stay
starts a new life
and the place where you wrote
your first poem
begins to glow in your mind's eye.
It is as if gold has been discovered!

When someone deeply listens to you
your bare feet are on the earth
and a beloved land that seemed distant
is now at home within you.

~~John Fox