Friday Five: Home Sweet Home

Songbird brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

I've got home on my mind: what it feels like, how we make it, what we carry from the past and how we separate other people's leftovers from objects that really reflect our identity. My family has had one home for the past 13 years, the longest I've ever lived anywhere. As the time when all the children are gone comes closer, I wonder where my next home will be?

So here are five questions about home.

1. Where was your first home?
My father was in the Marine Corps, so we moved every few years. We mostly lived in base housing.

The first home that I vaguely remember was in Lubbock, TX, when I was 2 and 3 years old. Maybe that's what I think of because my parents liked to tell me the story about when we came back from visiting my father's relatives, I went around touching each piece of furniture, saying "nice table"; "nice couch," and so on.

In a way, my first home was the only house my parents ever bought--in Bellingham, WA. We moved into it when I was in 11th grade, and my dad had retired from the military. Until I lived in Corpus Christi, TX for a much longer time, that house meant "HOME" to me. We took our children back there for vacations each summer.

2. Do you ever dream about places you used to live?
I think of the many places I once lived, especially on the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.

3. If you could bring back one person from your past to sit at your dinner table, who would you choose?
My mother--how I would like to talk with her again! (She died in 1992.) And I would love her to be able to converse with my adult children and see her great-granddaughter Avery.

4. What's your favorite room in your current living space?
I like to read and meditate in the front living room, which is quieter than other parts of the house, especially when my husband watches tv.

5. Is there an object or an item where you live now that represents home? If not, can you think of one from your childhood?
Probably our dogs. . . .and all my books and pictures.

Wish it was true!

Use your library card!

With thanks to Mary Beth for posting this on Facebook!

My 10 month old granddaughter

Avery at 10 months

Which way?

By Kristin Noelle

Smiles

"I will never understand all the good
that a simple smile can accomplish."
~~Mother Teresa

I was brought up by a mother who constantly told me to put a "pleasant expression" on my face. That admonition stays in my behavior to this day, as I smile often. In fact, my daughters have cautioned me not to smile so much when visiting foreign countries.

When I was at The Meadows for treatment of depression, my therapist repeatedly told me that I smiled "incongruently." Therapy and awareness have helped me try to match expressions to my moods.

But I must admit that I like to smile and feel better when I see other people smiling.

Reality TV (my opinion)

Walking

Walking Blessing

That each step
may be a shedding.
That you will let yourself
become lost.
That when it looks
like you're going backwards
you may be making progress.
That progress is not the goal anyway,
but presence
to the feel of the path on your skin,
to the way it reshapes you
in each place it makes contact,
to the way you cannot see it
until the moment you have stepped out.

Jan L. Richardson, In Wisdom's Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season.

This was meant to be a description of a labyrinth walk, which is symbolic of our everyday day walks through life, especially our spiritual journeys.

And God separated the light from the dark

Kindle Addiction

Lately, I have grown addicted to buying and reading books immediately on my Kindle. I read three mysteries since this weekend, which were about a former Amish police chief, with murders in an Amish community in Ohio. They were easy reads, but not ones I would heartily recommend, like the books by Louise Penny and Jacqueline Winspear.

While I was waiting at my rheumatologist's office today to be shown how to give myself the Humira injection, I was very glad I had my Kindle with me to read. I had been told to be there between 11 and 11:30, so of course, I was at the office by 11 o'clock. Having no appointment and only needing the nurse to show me how to do this self-injection, I falsely assumed it would be quick. After 55 minutes of waiting and reading, I finally asked the receptionist again about this event occurring. 15 minutes later, the nurse finally took me to an intake room and showed me how--in about 5 minutes. If I had not been so uneasy about giving myself a shot, I could have figured it out all by myself--but now that I know how, I'll be able to do this every other Monday.

So sometimes an "addiction" helps one--I was glad I had a book to read, even an electronic one!

Marooned

At least, Corpus Christi is on the water! And being with a friend always helps.

Friday Five: Seeking What?

Today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:

I was struck in our weekly Lectio Divina group by a few verses from Psalm 105:3-4:

. . . let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually.

Seeking is rejoicing. Rejoicing comes from the seeking, NOT the end of glory, heaven, enlightenment, or whatever. Seeking is the journey--RIGHT NOW!

1. I am seeking deeper connection (perceived by me) with God.

2. I am seeking relief from the pain/symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.

3. I am seeking more disciplined, scheduled attempts at cleaning out and getting rid of stuff.

4. I am seeking more intimate sharing with my children and husband, which I guess could plainly be called "communication."

5. I am seeking to serve more fully with greater awareness--where and when unknown.

Thursday Thank You's

I believe what Meister Eckhart wrote: if the only prayer you ever say is "THANK YOU," that is enough! So here is a gratitude list of "thank you's" for today:

• Avery's baptism this past Sunday with family and friends joining us for the celebration!

• The thank you note I received from one of Avery's parents' friends, thanking us for inviting them to a luncheon, which they were even unable to attend! This reminds me of my long-time friend Nancy, who told me when we were teenagers that her mother sometimes said she needed to thank me for my thank you note! I have felt that way ever since I found this card in my mailbox!

• The return of pain and swelling in my hands and wrists are reminding me that I am grateful that I am starting the next stage of RA medication on Monday, when I take my first shot of Humira. Every other week injections will be my life for awhile (forever?). I am also grateful that my insurance company will pay for these extremely expensive drugs--also the determining factor of my continued usage of Humira and other such medicines.

• I am trying off-and-on to appreciate the inner turmoil I am experiencing about criticism and feeling-like-rejection from someone who used to live here. Intellectually, I can be removed, but within, I am hurt.

• Mail--Not only that thank you note but notes from a friend visiting in Maine and from my oldest daughter AE in Seattle!

Look what I found!

While Avery was here this past weekend for her baptism, she had no bibs--until I found these ones that my mother had made for our youngest child, MJ. I was excited to find them and still smile when I see them, remembering my mother. I feel a joyous connection with her, thinking that in a way she was physically present with our grandbaby this weekend.

Avery on Saturday

Moon Language

With That Moon Language

Admit something:

Everyone you see, you say to them,

"Love me."

Of course you do not do this out loud;

Otherwise,

Someone would call the cops.

Still though, think about this,

This great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one

Who lives with a full moon in each eye

That is always saying

With that sweet moon

Language

What every other eye in this world

Is dying to

Hear.

~Hafez

God Glop

"At some point all our 'gods' must make room for God. Bede Griffiths at the end of his life spoke of how unfortunate it is that we can't find another word for God, because that word is so loaded with all our conceptions. The case is often the same with all our 'God language' which comes out of our mouths sounding like so much undigested glop, quack-quack."

Consiglio, Cyprian. Prayer in the Cave of the Heart: The Universal Call to Contemplation. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2010. 65.

Avery's Baptism

Rev. Gloria Lear baptizing Avery Elizabeth yesterday.

Our granddaughter Avery was baptized yesterday by our dear friend Gloria Lear at First United Methodist Church in Corpus Christi, TX. Gloria also married Avery's parents in Austin five years ago.

9/11

"Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, was in New york City on the day of the terrorist attacks in 2001 and later wrote a book called Writing in the Dust, a reflection on his experience of that event. In the book he tells us that he read some of the messages sent by passengers on the planes to their spouses and families in the horrible last moments before they died, and he compared them to the spiritual advice that had apparently been given to the terrorists before they embarked on their mission, the kinds of thought they were told they should have in their minds as they approached the death they had chosen 'for themselves and for others.' Rowan Williams notes that 'something of the chill of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 lies in the contrast.'

'The religious words are, in the cold light of day, the words that murderers are saying to themselves to make a martyr's drama out of a crime. The nonreligious words (of people sending desperate messages to their loved ones) are testimony to what religious language is supposed to be about--the triumph of pointless, gratuitous love, the affirming of faithfulness even when there is nothing to be done or salvaged.'"

Consiglio, Cyprian. Prayer in the Cave of the Heart: The Universal Call to Contemplation. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2010. 65.

Oddly, after a beautiful 9/11 service at First United Methodist Church and the heartwarming baptism of our granddaughter Avery, I fund myself starting to read again a book I had put aside a few months ago--and found the above quotation by Rowan Williams about 9/11/01, ten years ago today. It is very appropriate, as I have nothing of mine own to say about this anniversary.

I read them ALL!

Tonight I finished the seventh and final book in Louise Penny's mystery series about Armand Gamache. These were such good books! Each one was better than the last! Maybe in another year, Louise Penny will have written another one. . . or so I hope. Click here to see the books to read!

If you have a Kindle, you can easily download them. The first one Still Life only costs $2.99 to download! Then you'll be hooked! (My first two books in the series were library books, so look at your local library, too.) It is such fun to be immersed in another world for days. . . .

Now it is time to be back in the real world, since classes and more regular activities started this week after Labor Day. Maybe I will also get back into blogging and even visiting other blogs.

And what is happening around here:

• My right hand is swelling more, while I am still waiting to get the prescription to start the new medication Humira for my RA.

• This Sunday is our granddaughter Avery's baptism, and so family and friends will be arriving soon. Both sons will also be bringing their dogs, so we will have five dogs for the weekend.

• The Wisdom Class reading group started meeting again this week after a two-month break. Our new book is Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle, a must-read.

• Our Lectio Divina group began meeting today. We meditated upon Romans 14:7-9

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

• Lectio Divina surprises me at what comes up--I was struck by the word "to." There is movement there, causing me to ponder what I am paying attention to, going to. With all this intensive reading behind me, it is time to be mindful! To what or whom am I focused upon?
  

New Mystery Author: Louise Penny!

I have not been blogging, because I have spent this entire Labor Day weekend reading Louise Penny mysteries! I got the first two at the public library (Still Life and Dead Cold) and was definitely hooked. Although I searched the library system, I could find no others and so I keep buying them for my Kindle!

I usually buy such good books, so I can loan them, but these could not be delayed--and so I keep reading them. I am finding that each successive book is better than the last, because the character development continues so splendidly.

These books take place in Quebec, usually in a small town called Three Pines, where recurring characters, including artists and a grumpy poetess, occur as murders keep cropping up in that locale. The main character is Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete de Quebec. He has kind, brown eyes and likes to quote poetry, while being very aware and accepting of others, always with authority.

These are newly favorite mysteries, reminding me of Jacqueline Winspear's series about Maisie Dobbs. The character development and attention to psychological/emotional responses of persons help to keep me intrigued.

Here is a chronological listing of Louise Perry's books in this series:

1. Still Life
2. A Fatal Grace
   
3. The Cruelist Month
4. A Rule Against Murder
5. The Brutal Telling
6. Bury Your Dead
7. A Trick of the Light

Armand Gamache was told, sometime in the past, these words, which are repeated in each book:

"Where there is love, there is courage
Where there is courage, there is peace
Where there is peace, there is God.
And when you have God, you have everything."

Good words to live by.

Friday Five: This Season!

KathrynZG brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

Headquarters for me is the northeast of the United States. Here school is getting back in session, the tease of autumn is in the air (or the hope for the tease of autumn is in the air) and church life is gearing up to full throttle.

One thing I've learned with blogging and social media is that the where I live is not necessarily where you live. And so I want to know what September means to you, in your place of the world and time in your life.

This week's Friday Five is:

What are 5 things that the beginning of September mean to you?

1. HEAT continues! Living in south TX, September does not mean "fall" to me except in activities. No autumnal leaves, no lowering in temperatures.

2. Activities start up again. Classes I teach begin; classes I take start; meetings resume. My husband starts teaching chemistry for nursing students at the local community college.

3. September 2 is the anniversary of our oldest son DC and wife AA--five years ago they got married in Austin--and it was hot! Much joy and happiness.

4. And this September marks the baptism of DC and AA's baby Avery on Sept. 11, here at First United Methodist Church.

5. There is a general atmosphere of things being more scheduled.

Bonus: What's one thing you could do without?
As mentioned in #1, it is too hot here. Although I moved around a lot, I usually lived in northern climes, like in WA State since 10th grade. The advent of cooler weather and shorter days indicate the start of school and advent of autumn and then winter. I think that's why September is my most difficult month to tolerate in south TX.

Pray "Thank You"

Every time you express gratitude or compassion for any aspect of yourself or someone else, you breathe life in.

Mariah Fenton Gladis
Tales of a Wounded Healer

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

This reminds me of Meister Eckhart's admonition
that the only prayer necessary is
"THANK YOU."