Friday Five: Changes

Martha Spong brings today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:

For this Friday Five, please answer these five questions about change.

1) Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and seen yourself with surprise? Why?
Partly, it is for being 61 years old and that's a shock. Mostly, it is because I have white hair that has turned curly on top due to meds I take for RA.

This reminds me of my mother telling me in her 70's that it was always a shock to see herself in the mirror, because she didn't think of herself as being this old. I can totally identify with those words now.


2) Have you ever witnessed a change in routine at church that upset people? (Hahahahaha!!!! I know you have!)
Change in times of the service. In fact, this Sunday features one of those changes, as on the fifth Sunday we have one service (instead of three) at 10 am. In other cases, some people get upset at the slightest rewording of a prayer.


3) Have you ever been surprised or inconvenienced by a change in a public setting (not church)?
All the road construction that keeps occurring on various busy intersections in Corpus Christi are very annoying, because left turns are not allowed and there is only one lane for traffic instead of two each way. It is infuriating when someone stops and signals for a left turn when there are multiple signs indicating it is not permitted and there is a long line of vehicles behind him/her.
 
4) Has the passage of time changed your understanding of something you used to think you knew for sure?
Mary Beth helped me out in recalling the change of spaces after a period in writing. I learned that from my eldest daughter AE, though sometimes husband Chuck will argue with me about it.

5) Is there something you're trying to change, or want to change, in your life right now?
Always. So often it seems to be the same issue, like the layers of an onion resurfacing what I thought I'd already learned. . . .


Taking piano lessons is teaching me that I try to rush through something to get it over with, while I need to do the opposite--going slowly brings more attention to how I am doing it! One time my piano teacher told me to hit the key only after she pointed to the note, and I found it so hard not to jump ahead to the other notes. Trusting the process is so hard; I want to control it.

Book Humor

Banned Books Week--almost NOW!

I mistakenly thought that BANNED BOOKS WEEK was going on right now! But Bonnie of Bonnie's Books directed me to the correct info: Sept. 30 to Oct. 6! I guess I was confused by our local Half Price Books celebrating this Saturday, which is Sept. 29.

There is a short video about the American Library Association's 30 years of observing Banned Books.

And here is a list of banned and challenged classics.

Prayer I Need to Pray Everyday

Lord, help me now to unclutter my life,
to organize myself in the direction of simplicity.
Lord, teach me to listen to my heart;
teach me to welcome change, instead of fearing it.
Lord, I give You these stirrings inside me,
I give you my discontent,
I give you my restlessness,
I give you my doubt,
I give you my despair,
I give you all the longings I hold inside.
Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth;
to listen seriously and follow where they lead
through the breathtaking empty space of an open door.

Source: unknown

From Inward/Outward. Subscribe here.

Friday Five: Blogging

Blogging at Google's Blogger, I recently was boondoggled by the new designs of the site, which includes my blog. I felt like I had lost track of all the blogs I daily check so that I asked for help both at my blog and on Facebook!

And today was my turn to suggest the RevGalBlogPals Friday Five but Robin reported that it wasn't up on that site this morning, even though I had pre-posted it. Thanks to her comment, I finally got it posted, as I had originally done something wrong with Blogger's new set-up. Uh-oh. . . . .

1. When did you start blogging? What/who prompted you?
I started blogging in 2006, because a friend Katherine had also begun a blog. I had met Katherine at the Two Year Spiritual Formation Academy and wanted to stay in touch with her as the Academy was ending; she lives near Dallas and I live in far south TX, and so we have not seen each other since then.  Also, thanks to Katherine, I became connected with RevGalBlogPals, a website that invites as members:

1. Women clergy, women church professionals, and women religious, or those discerning a call to Christian ministry.
2. Women or men blogging pals of (1).
3. All committed to building a supportive online community for women clergy, women church professionals, and women in religious life.
4. You must be an active blogger for the previous three months in order to join and to maintain membership.

2. How often do you post? How often do you visit blogging friends and/or other blogs?
I want to post every day, but don't do that as much as I used to. In fact, I am better about daily posts when I plan ahead for travels and pre-post them. I do not visit blogging friends as much as I would like to or as much as I used to, which is why I liked the old dashboard where all the new blogging posts were listed, which is what I complained about in that short post a few days ago. (Thank you to those of you who helped me out. Exploring the workings of this new Blogger is still on my agenda.)

3. Why do you keep on blogging?
I keep blogging partly because various friends and family subscribe to my blog, and somehow I stay in touch with them the way I used to do with letters, which don't get written much anymore. I also want to stay connected with blogging friends and am sad that some rarely blog anymore.

4. What do you like to write about?
Just as I say in my profile that I am an "eclectic" Christian, I think this blog reflects my various interests. I used to write more extensively about faith and politics, but now share more about what I've learned, with quotes and poems, plus pictures. Since my grandchild Avery was born almost two years ago, I post more family pictures, as I love being a grandmother! I need to get back to writing about books I am reading.

5. Have your blogging habits changed--or are they changing?
I think I wrote about that in #4. Back when I started blogging in 2006, it was the peak of blogging. Lots of visiting and commenting went on. I spent much more time on the computer during the years back then. I don't "tweet" but find the sites of Facebook and Pinterest fun and fast. While I sometimes posted recipes on my blog, now I pin them on Pinterest.

Bonus: Recommend a blog or two.

Vegetarian recipes from my daughters in Seattle:
Rainy Day Veggies

Liberal Politics among other things:
A Voice from the Foothills

Seven Random Items

Anne at Reverent Irreverence posted seven random things, which was an invitation from a blogging friend of hers. This reminds me of the old days of blogging when we used to pass around "memes" and so here it goes.

1. Flossing my teeth last night, an old gold crown on one of my bottom molars came off. I vaguely remember getting it when my first child was a baby, so it's 30+ years old. So I spun off into anxiety, thinking that all my crowns would fall off as they aged (like me). But my wonderful dentist saw me this morning and easily glued it back on! I am happily back to eating and drinking with no pain.

2. One year ago yesterday I started taking bi-weekly Humira shots for rheumatoid arthritis. It has taken about nine months for the Humira and weekly methotextrate pills to work in combination to inhibit my RA symptoms. I am pain-free most of the time! I am extremely grateful that modern medicine offers such wondrous drugs and that my insurance company pays for them. I am lucky.

3. Having "old" feet, I am burdened with having bunions. They are probably due to wearing all the narrow shoes I wore until about eight years ago, when I finally learned that those bumps above my big toes were "bunions" and hurt with pressure on them. Then friends in Seattle sent me to a shoe store dedicated to finding better shoes for a customer's feet and I bought my first pair of Wolky Jewel sandals. Over the years, I have bought three more pair online. Now I have black, blue, burnt orange, and off-white Wolky's. Lately, women around my age keep asking me what kind of shoes I am wearing. Fortunately, I live in south TX, where sandals may be worn most of the year.

4. I have had two piano lessons now. My piano teacher is a friend, who is also an excellent teacher. She was a high school English teacher and then a high school piano teacher until she retired last year. She is helping me overcome my harsh self-judgment that even strikes in my beginning pecking at the keys. I am enjoying this much more than I anticipated. Learning to relax and to slow down are difficult for me though.

5. Although I am still flummoxed by Blogger's new formats for its bloggers, I am pleased by the friends (and daughter) who left comments to help me navigate these changes. I was surprised that Mad Priest still happens by here sometimes. Thank you!

6. I am addicted to playing Words with Friends on my Ipod and/or Kindle Fire. I have two friends in California who play multiple games with me. It's a lot of fun, but I wish I'd think of  longer than one-syllable words.

7. First hints of "fall" are here in south Texas. In the summer low temperatures are at 80 degrees F., but now they are dipping below 70 degrees in the early mornings. It is not always in the 90's each day. Hope for cooler weather. . .  .soon!

HELP! Blogger Help Needed!

Blogger help needed! I cannot find the "dashboard" where all the blogs I liked to follow would have new posts listed. That really helped me see my favorites, which many of you are in that number, including two of my children and a cousin. Email me or leave a comment, please, about how to keep track of blogging friends and their recent posts. I checked on Google and was told to find the "Reading list" but I don't know where that is at this point.

So I am lost, confused, unsure, unclear, perplexed, disoriented and bewildered!

Please help me!

Banned Books Week

The Five Contemplations

In the weekly book study called the Wisdom Class at my church, we are currently reading Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh. We had a wonderful discussion today about mindfulness and the Eucharist, with even someone asking, "What is the point of taking Communion?" The discussion that followed made me appreciate the openness and acceptance of everyone in the class and the honest sharing that occurs there.

What stood out for me is this prayer that Buddhist nuns and monks say before meals:

The Five Contemplations

"This food is the gift of the whole universe--the earth, the sky, and much hard work. May we live in a way that is worthy of this food. May we transform our unskillful states of mind, especially that of greed. May we eat only foods that nourish us and prevent illness. May we accept this food for the realization of the way of understanding and love." (27)

Someone in the class told me that he is trying to memorize these intentions. In contrast, I am thinking that I'll copy the Five Contemplations on a piece of paper to read before eating. Either way will work, but I don't trust my memory that much!

Have a Good Day!

"There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. A life of good days lived in the senses is not enough. The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less; time is ample and its passage is sweet."

(Annie Dillard, 1945 - )

 

Thanks to my friend Daryl, I found another beneficial email subscription of quotes. This is by Rev. Galen Guengerich of  the Unitarian Church of All Souls in  New York City. To subscribe to this daily blessing, go here.  

Have a good day!

Friday Five: Randomness

Rejkarla brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

Without further ado, here is the Friday Five Random-Style meme for you on this September morning!

1. What is one of the best things that happened to you this week?
I started taking piano lessons! I last took piano lessons 50 years ago, and back then I never practiced. It's cool that in the adult beginning book, the first "song" is a simple version of "Amazing Grace." That's fun to peck at!

2. If you were in a Ms., Miss, Mr. (name your country) Pageant, what would your talent be?
I wish I could be like Purple and indicate that playing the piano is my "talent," but it isn't . . . yet. My main talent is reading.

3.  You were just given a YACHT!!! What would you name it, and why?

 When we were in Friday Harbor, WA I saw a little boat named for my youngest daughter (see below), and my grandfather named his fishing boat "FaiJan" for his daughters "Faith" (my mother) and "Janet" (my aunt).
I couldn't name my yacht for all four of my children, though I do like the syllable sounds of "Margaret J." Though it doesn't sound like a yacht, which is more classy and expensive than I can even imagine, I think I'd choose "Baillie B" because I like the the sound of it. ("Baillie" was the maiden name of my maternal grandmother, wife of the owner and builder of the "FaiJan.") Or maybe what would be more appropriate--"Dreamboat."

4.  If you were to perform in a circus, what would you do?
I'd be a quiet clown who brought children to participate in little tricks.

5.  What do you have in your bag/wallet/backpack that best describes your personality?  
There's a little green notebook that I write down book and movie suggestions, addresses, quotes, and other info. 

My Butter Fingers

 

I wanted to find an image of my "butter fingers" in connection to the piano but all that came up was a picture of the Butterfinger candy bar!  This kitty is cute and illustrates my inept fingers on the keys, as I look closely down at the piano keys. I am trying to remember all the "shoulds" and cannot get my fingers, wrists, and shoulders to relax. 

Practicing the piano is showing me how little I know, causing me to realize what a beginner I am. That attitude of learning for someone starting out in anything new, including prayer, is one of expectancy and awareness. This is also a practice of giving up self-judgment!

Lots to learn!

Piano Lessons!

Today I had my first piano lesson in 50 years! I did not remember anything, but the friend who is teaching me is kind, patient and funny. She kept telling me that it is her fault if I do not do well! It was also her suggestion to commit to six lessons before I decide to keep on going.

That reminds me of the commitment to attend any meeting for six sessions before deciding it doesn't fit me or I don't fit it. That was the advice I learned at Al-Anon long ago, which is a good rule to follow for anything new.

We have a piano, because my parents bought a Yamaha spinet piano when we lived in Japan. About 25 years ago, they sent it with someone's belongings on a moving van from Bellingham, WA to Houston, TX. Chuck picked it up in a Plymouth mini-van and transported it from Houston to Corpus Christi. That boggles my mind when I think of it now.

Our daughters AE and MJ took piano lessons, but they both stopped taking lessons while they were in high school. I've always said intermittently that I wanted to take piano lessons someday, and now I am!

A Prayer of Not Knowing

O God, I do not know how to pray. Because I do not know what it means to pray properly, to pray in such a way as to serve or worship, I must offer what I have and can do as my prayer. And here it is.

Let this posture be the prayer

Let this intention be the prayer

Let this very not-knowing be the prayer

Let this breath be the prayer

Let this resistance and discomfort be the prayer

Let this distraction be the prayer

Let this drinking of tea be the prayer

Let this eating of breakfast be the prayer

Let this hectic schedule be the prayer

Let this attempt at Remembrance be the prayer

Let the steps walked in silence across the parking lot be the prayer

Let the birdsong noted be the prayer

Let this poor journal-writing be the prayer

Let the vastness of the night sky be the prayer

Let worrying, and then dropping the worry be the prayer

Let chanting and dancing and reading be the prayer

Let dressing and undressing be the prayer

Let sleeping and rising and sleeping and rising be the prayer

Let missing someone be the prayer

Let memories and whispered calls for help for others be the prayer

Let opening the door and putting on and taking off shoes be the prayer

Let the keeping simple order be the prayer

Let the celebration of light and darkness be the prayer

Let warmth and cold be the prayer
All of it, not bad, not good, just as it is and wondrous all of it. . . .

be the prayer

O God, in my helplessness, from nowhere, with nothing, let these poor prayers, as flowers, draw You to the garden from which their fragrance arises.

Amen.

~Regina Sara Ryan

Ryan, Regina Sara. Praying Dangerously: Radical Reliance on God. Prescott, Arizona: Hohm Press, 2011. 19-20.

God's Curriculum

Everybody is unique. 

Do not compare yourself with anybody else 

lest you spoil God's curriculum.

Baal Shem Tov

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

Friday Five: Help!

Martha Spong brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals Blog:

his time last Friday I was on my way to the airport to pick up your usual host for first Friday Five. We had a mighty to-do list for the Labor Day weekend, and her accomplishments were so far beyond impressive as to be heroic. A dumpster is now full of water-damaged junk from my basement.

This was not a job I could have accomplished by myself. I had to ask for help.

I hate to ask for help. I love to give it. You may identify with these feelings.

So, for this Friday Five, please list four ways you have been helped when you didn't want to ask for it and one way you had a chance to help that meant a lot to you.

1. Like Kathrynzg, I was helped by Martha last month when I'd forgotten to do my third Friday's Friday Five. I was still in Washington State and had completely forgotten about it. Martha volunteered to bring one on, for which I am still grateful!

2. After my shoulder surgery and the ensuing recovery in January, my dear husband Chuck helped me in seemingly minor ways--like dressing me (and helping me to get my bra on!), blowing my hair dry and even putting soap on me in the shower. My right arm was immobilized, and I was severely handicapped, being very right-dominant.

3. Every Tuesday morning our book study called The Wisdom Class meets. This is a group that tends to wander off on various other topics. It always helps when someone in the class redirects the conversation back to the book, instead of me always interjecting, "We need to get back to the book."

4. Last Christmas, my daughter-in-law AA and daughter MJ cooked the big Christmas dinner and all the other meals around that time, because I was really sick with the flu. It was such a relief to know that they were taking care of everything, willingly and enthusiastically. I'm sure everyone enjoyed their hospitality!

5. It's not easy to say who helped whom in many instances when supposedly I was "the good guy." There is reciprocal love in giving and receiving. I used to be better about sending cards and letters than I am now. In the past, friendships developed and deepened through letters/notes in a practice that began with concern for someone being ill or lonely. Even with few or no replies, I always felt a greater relationship with the person I was writing to.

Perhaps this will get me started writing more again. . . . .

Conversation in Picture Books!

Avery Today!

Avery. Sept. 5, 2012

Surprising Advice

This is now on my "About Books" board at Pinterest.

Nothing to Say

From Ellie at Meditation Matters

Anti-Abe ad in 2012

Abraham Lincoln has always been a hero of mine. Today I came across ways he would be denigrated if he was running for election in 2012. It is a sad reflection on how distorted today's political ads are from both parties.

Flack Check.org (University of PA) has a series of videos of possible "ads" against Abraham Lincoln if the today's advertising methods had been used to proselytize against him back in 1864: