It has been too long!!

I have not blogged since August 2015, even with several friends urging me to write again. As I re-read Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande, I feel immersed in thoughts and reflections of members in the Wisdom Class book group concerning the end of our days. My father-in-law and a dear friend, both in WA State, are in those times, not going gently   Lots of memories, emotions, and fears circulate in my mind and heart.

Since my parents died in 1992 and 2002, I remember living far away and traveling to be with them in their last days. That is very important, and I want that time for my husband, too. However, he is teaching chemistry classes in a community college and awaits spring vacation in another week. Does he need to go? Will there be enough time left?

I am lucky that I have been in a group of friends who meet monthly to discuss books on death. We even call it the "Death Group." It has made us more comfortable to discuss death and dying over several years so that we are willing to discuss physical, spiritual, and emotional issues of dying. One member has ALS and wanted us to pursue this topic. She has helped the rest of us continue thinking about our final days.

Over this time, I have found various articles that help me. One of the best is by David Steindl-Rast, author of Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer. It is long, but very worthwhile:

Learning to Die by Brother David Steindl-Rast 

I hope I will blog again soon with love to all.

Is "Make Way for Ducklings" Outdated?

Being a grandmother and a woman with white hair, I am feeling like I am in the "older generation," especially when my granddaughter doesn't like one of my favorite picture books Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Granted, it was published in 1944--six years even before I was born, but I have always loved Roert McCloskey's books and pen-and-ink drawings.

I have saved a new hardback edition of Make Way for Ducklings for my grandchildren for some years. The last time we visited in Austin, I showed it to my 4 year old granddaughter Avery and asked if she was "old" enough for it, and she told me, "NO." Then a few nights ago, while they were staying at a beach house nearby, I brought it again and asked if she would like me to read it to her. Avery said she was "supposed to be 5," which may have been the obstacle, and I did not realize it. 

But I insisted upon reading it, because I am an excellent reader of children's books, (falsely) thinking that I could prompt Avery to like the book with me reading it to her. She sat with me for the entire reading of this long book, but did not seem to like the book. That disappointed me.

Unfortunately, I plunged myself into black-and-white thinking: she won't ever like McCloskey's books, and there are so many more: Blueberries for Sal and One Morning in Maine. Pen and Ink drawings are not as inviting as contemporary book illustrators? (What about FERDINAND??)

But it is time for honesty. That was too much about me and not Avery. I want to share the books I love, but maybe they are not for her. . . .or maybe some other time. I want my grandchildren to enjoy books and Avery and Emma do. That is the most important thing of all.

Farewell Friday Five: Hello/Good-bye

 

This is the last Friday Five that I will host after some years of presenting the third Friday Five of each month. I was honored to be asked and am grateful for the times of inspiration and laughter from you RevGals who played!

Our lives entail many beginnings and endings of periods or chapters. We can look back and see where we said “Hello” and “Goodbye.”  Today please look at those times in your life. Be original or play along with these five suggestions:
I am saying “Hello” and/or “Goodbye” to:
 

1. book: I just finished Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos, a book I purchased on my Seattle trip at the Elliott Bay Bookstore from the rack that was labeled "Seattle authors." It is a sweet, good book that brought me to tears in some places. I highly recommend this book published way back in 2004

 

2. habit or practice: Of late I have said "good-bye" to regular centering prayer/meditation. I regret that and keep feeling nudged to begin again. 

 

What I have begun in earnest are leg exercises as recommended by my physical therapist to relieve the hip bursitis pain that has afflicted me off and on since January.

 

And I am saying good-bye to hosting Friday Fives for RevGalBlogPals.

 

3. idea: After reading The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, I have had to leave behind my belief that racism does not affect me. This book opened me up to many avenues of social justice that I am just beginning to learn about.

4. food: I used to eat peanut butter much more frequently than I do now.

 

5. person: It takes me years to give up on a person that no longer tries to contact me (or me them), and it seems like that is happening a little more frequently now that I do not write letters (and even postcards) as much as I did formerly.
 

Wait Quiet Like This

Psalm 131

You know that my heart is not haughty
Nor my eyes lofty
Neither have I reached for things
Too great and too wonderful for me

But I have calmed and settled my heart
And it is contented

Like a child surfeited on a mother's breast
Like a suckling child is my heart

Let those who question and struggle
Wait quiet like this for you
From this day forth
And always

Fischer, Norman. Opening to You: Zen-Inspired Translations of the Psalms. NY: Penguin Group, 2002. 160.

Prays Well With Others

I post this on Facebook a few days ago. When I encountered a friend I rarely see, the father of one of my oldest child's friends, he called me a "heretic" for posting this. He walked away when another friend I said God is bigger than the names we give Him.

Say not, "I have found the one true path of the Spirit!"

Say rather, "I have wonderfully met the Spirit walking on my path."

For the spirit walks upon all paths.

~Kahlil Gibran

(Richard Rohr adapted this from Kahil Gibran, The Prophet (New York: Alfred a Knopf, 1923), p. 55 in Rohr's book Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi.)

Returning to Friday (Five) the 13th in MARCH!!

Almost three months since I last blogged, I am going to participate in today's RevGalBlogPals' Friday Five before going on a short (6 days) trip to Washington State. So here it is:

Woo hoo!  It’s not only Random Friday Five time, but it is also Friday the 13th.  And also Lent.  And, in my neighborhood, the snow is starting to melt and I can see a patch of grass in my front yard.  Oh my,  what could be more wonderful?  (Okay, a lot of things, I know.  At least little things make me happy.)
So, without further ado, I present you F13RFF!

1.  What have you got going on today?
In two hours, Chuck and I are driving to San Antonio to go on a direct flight on Alaska Airlines to Seattle. We'll get there tonight, thankfully met by our daughter AE. We planned this quick trip during Chuck's spring break from teaching chemistry at the local community college, so we could visit his younger brother Tom and wife Chris, who is under hospice care for rampant breast cancer.

2.  What about a prayer request, how can we pray for you today?
Please prayer for Chris and Tom, but now I also add Dennis and Terry. Terry texted me yesterday about her husband Dennis going back into the hospital with a severe infection, probably due to sores on his feet which brought sepsis to his artificial knee. This is what he went through last year, too. Today he will have surgery where they might even replace his knee replacement. I am glad we'll arrive tonight.
 
3.  What makes you curious?
Right now I am very curious about the changes in U.S. culture in all aspects as related by Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, which is a book I continue to cite in classes and to friends. His latest book was just published and addresses what is affecting our children in Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis and I am reading it now. It connects in places with the new book for the Wisdom Class: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, even though the authors are focusing on different viewpoints
of U.S. society.

4.  If you got stuck in an elevator for three hours, (if that is too scary, locked in a room or stuck in a traffic jam), and could magically have any book or activity appear in a pouf to you to while away the time, what would it be?
 I guess I would like my smart phone or Ipad to magically appear, because I could contact people, see the news, and access a book! Otherwise, I would probably pray--a "good" chance to do contemplative prayer.

5.  Use these words in a sentence.   Thirteen, lampshade, [a historical person, like Cotton Mather or Judy Garland} basket, hedgehog, and daffodils.
Saint Francis watched a hedgehog sniff the basket of thirteen daffodils, while the lampshade was non-existent.

 As always, have fun, be fabulous, and let us know you played in the comments, and take care!

Carrot and Ginger Soup Recipe

Now that it is fall, I feel like I can make soups again. I love to make soups!

This is Jan’s adaptation to the original recipe of Carrot and Ginger Soup in The New England Soup Factory Cookbook (171). The ingredients in parenthesis are the original components, which I did not use.

3 Tbsp. butter

2 whole cloves garlic, peeled

1 onion, peeled and diced

3 ribs celery sliced (2 ribs)

3 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced

3 Tbsp. peeled and chopped fresh ginger

4 cups vegetable stock (or chicken)

1 tsp. coriander

1 tsp. cumin  (1 tsp. ginger)

½ cup honey

2 cans coconut milk (1 ½ cups heavy cream)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic, onion, celery, carrots, and gingerroot. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Pour the stock over the vegetables and bring to a boil. Lower the heat slightly and simmer until the carrots are soft and tender, about 30-35 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Add the spices and honey. Puree the soup in the pot using a hand blender or working in batches with a regular blender until smooth.

Add the coconut milk and season with salt and pepper. Stir (and maybe warm) until the ingredients are well combined.

Makes 8-10 servings.

From this highly recommended cookbook:

Druker, Marjorie and Silverstein, Clara. New England Soup Factory Cookbook. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007. 171.

Friday Five: Surprising Finds

Only afterwards, do we realize that we have “found” something that we like–like a new way to look at something; a new (to me) author; a new song or hymn; a new food. Today share with us something that you like that seemed surprisingly “new” to you sometime in the near past. It could even be a RE-discovery.

Here is a list, but you can choose your own five items you would like to share! Please join us today in playing FF.

1. author: A new author for me is Nina Schuyler who wrote The Translator. I found this at The King's English book store in Salt Lake City on my last visit with daughter MJ. I find the best books at independent book stores! This is beautifully written, though a little slow to begin with. It wrestles with the translator being the "author" or "interpreter" of a work being translated. A friend is reading The Painting by the same author, which is available on Kindle but out of print. Like The Translator, this book takes place in Japan.

2. shampoo:  Oribe Shampoo for Magnificent Volume: When I had thinning hair due to the medications I was taking for RA three years ago, I found a thickening shampoo that I continue to use. It is expensive (approximately $30 on Amazon) but lasts almost a year. (My hair doesn't have "magnificent volume," but it is usually fluffier.)

3.TV: Husband Chuck and I are enjoying streaming British television shows at night to watch together. The latest one we like is MI-5 (or Spooks), which has 86 episodes! This one will last a long time. Others we have liked are Doc Martin and Foyles War.

4.book re-discovery: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin has been sitting in a pile of books to read for several years. I finally started it, which seemed intimidating with the weight and thickness of the book--900 pages. There are 26 chapters and I am committed to reading one chapter a day. Abraham Lincoln has been a hero of mine since second grade when I read a biography of him. I am enjoying the reading and learning about him and his four political rivals as they grew into manhood (only as far as I've gotten in three chapters) and beyond as opponents and eventually allies. The movie "Lincoln" was based upon this book. It is worth reading if you haven't already read it.

5. food: Silly, though it is, we've rediscovered Lance crackers Whole Grain cracker sandwiches with real Sharp Cheddar Cheese. It's a quickie "meal" or snack of 200 calories, even though it is a little salty. Both Chuck and I will share a package of six--having just three each for 100 calories.

Blogging again!

Almost two months later, here I am again. Blogging since 2006 recently seemed like too long a time. Having a vacation, various trips, and enduring the hot summer of south TX (which continues), I will attempt to get back to writing. 

So here is a random sampling of my retired life:

• I have gotten two postcards from Dee, who commented on my last post in July that she would like to exchange postcards! I have enjoyed her cards so much that I feel like I have found a new friend! It is really easy to write a few lines on a postcard and count it as "mail." 

• The Wisdom Class started again this past Tuesday with a new book that is sparking interesting conversations: The December Project: An Extraordinary Rabbi and a Skeptical Seeker Confront Life's Greatest Mystery by Sara Davidson.

 Although Reb Zalman died this past July, he spent the previous two years talking to Sara Davidson, a seeking and spiritually cynical writer, about dying and death, with stories about his life thrown in. It is very interesting how he met theologian Howard Thurman when he was a young man and thought he was the janitor!

Later, he came to admire him as his professor.

I liked how Reb Zalman described dying (or the "dark end"):

"I don't think it's all dark. Something continues. It's as if the body and soul are tied together with little strings. The closer you get to leaving, the more the strings loosen and the more you connect with greater awareness, the expanded mind." (6)

So often Americans look to Eastern religions for further answers, but it seemed time for us to look at Judaism, the foundation of Christianity in the Wisdom Class.

Reb Zalman and Sara Davidson

•  On the various trips we've taken, I have read a lot of books. I finished the witches trilogy by Diana Harkness with The Book of Life. It's been fun to read all three books; I even re-read the first two before reading the third when it was published this summer. Just days ago, I finished the latest Louise Penny mystery that features Inspector Gamache: The Long Way Home. Louise Penny writes better with each mystery; this one was excellent. 

• I found other books on my travels in independent book stores, so those will be on my list to write about in the near future. 

• And here is a wonderful quote about listening, which was our opening meditation in the Wisdom Class this past Tuesday:

• “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we really listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so that we never get tired of each other. We are constantly being re-created.”
  
  
  
                      ~~Brenda Ueland (1891-1985) writer, editor, teacher of writing
   

Procrastinating (through reading)

Went to Austin last weekend to help DC and AA move and to babysit Emma and Avery. Chuck stayed two days longer to paint rooms in their new house, where they move next week.

Chuck and I ordered our dinners from Mama Fu's two nights in a row (I like the Spice General Fu), while we babysat the girls. That's when we learned that Avery loves the fortune papers in fortune cookies, but she doesn't like to eat the cookies.

Coming home, I have been reading and reading. Since the Jung talks by Robert Moore at Oblate School of Theology, I have become very intrigued by dreams and books about them. Currently, I am reading several books about them, while starting others:

• Wisdom of the Heart: Working with Women's Dreams by Karen A. Signell, Ph.D.
• The Living Labyrinth: Exploring Universal Themes in Myths, Dreams, and the Symbolism of Waking Life by Jeremy Taylor
• The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim (which I wish I had read when my children were young!)
• Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer by Ann and Barry Ulanov (which I read over a decade ago by the recommendation of Mary Jane and remember very little)

These are being read; no wonder I am confused!

Plus, I read a mystery on my Kindle, which turned out to be very similar to other mysteries by the same author, though I only noticed this at the end: Peter Pan Must Die by John Verdon.

All these books point to further procrastination, since I have not listed most of the books I have read  this year in my "2014" list. I might as well delete that!

Books and Trips

Since the Summer Conference at Oblate with Robert L. Moore as the main speaker, I have been reading books related to Jung. My interest was ignited by the various speakers, and I see that the spiritual journey coincides with the psychological journey to wholeness.

Briefly, I will tell you what I am reading and have read:

The book that surprised me by its synchronicity with the talks I heard at Oblate was a book I brought with me with the strange title of The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling by Stephen Cope. I had bought it long ago because a friend had recommended it to me, but the title turned me off. Still to counteract that, I loved the story of how her daughter-in-law was at a yoga retreat in the NE and asked at their bookstore for a recommendation for her mother-in-law that she described as a "Christian Mystic." This is that book! It is based on the Bhagavad Gita, with descriptions of famous people living out the true life of following dharma--Jane Goodall, Susan B. Anthony, John Keats, and Harriet Tubman.

Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up by James Hollis

What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life by James Hollis

Those were easily downloaded on my Kindle and so I started reading the first one while I was still in San Antonio. (This was after a Jungian analyst I met from Houston recommended James Hollis' books).

And I got the cd set for "Through the Dark Wood: Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life" by James Hollis, which I will listen to as I drive to Austin tomorrow.

Chuck and I are driving separate cars to drive there to help our son and his wife and two little girls get ready to move into their new house. Chuck will probably stay longer than I will, because he'll be painting walls. It will be fun to see Avery and Emma (and their mommy and daddy)! And we are so lucky that we have dependable people to take care of our dogs, cat, and house.

When I get back, I will try to write about what I've been reading and also finish telling you about our vacation!

Oblate Summer Institute 2014

I have been attending the Oblate Summer Institute since 2001, when it was a much smaller event. Since Father Ronald Rolheiser became President of Oblate School of Theology, he has fostered many more programs for spiritual development, including the expansion of this Summer Institute.

This year's Summer Institute is featuring Dr. Robert Moore, Jungian analyst, professor, and author. On Monday-Wednesday, he will speak about:

June 16th:

The Flood: Facing the Growing Global Epidemic of Grandiosity

 

June 17th:

Understanding Our Need for a Psycho-Spiritual Ark

 

June 18th:

The Real Ark: Building the Fellowship of the Golden Dragon

I will be attending with other friends from Corpus Christi. I am looking forward to hearing the author of Facing the Dragon: Confronting Personal and Spiritual Grandiosity (which only costs $7.99 on the Kindle).

Las Cruces, New Mexico

On our trip, we followed Marfa and Fort Davis, TX with a stop in Las Cruces, NM to meet Sherry, a long time blogging friend.

Before meeting them at their new home, we walked around old Mesilla, NM, which began around 1848 and was the location for Billie the Kid's trial. It was fun to look in little shops and walk around the plaza. I took some pictures of doorways, reminding me of my friend Nancy doing this when we came to NM to celebrate our 55th birthdays.

It was fun to find a little bookstore packed with books, where I had to purchase a book, of course. I decided that I would purchase a book at every independent bookstore we visited. This time I found one that I probably would never have found anywhere else, entitled The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky by Ellen Maloy, who is an artist/naturalist. Her essays on nature, beauty and color from her travels around the southwest are lovely.

Mesilla Bookstore

I loved the store's decorations and its unique ceiling.

Further along our walk, I found a small church store, the Basilica of San Albino Gift Shop, where I found a unique nativity scene, which remains in the box they put it in when I purchased it. We took pictures of its entryway with the statue of Mary.

If you go to the link for the gift shop, you will see pictures of some of the items they sell, which range from the usual Roman Catholic gift shop products to works of local artists. Quite lovely.

Chuck took a picture of me there, which shows a nice smile but also the bulges that I have gained in the past months, especially on this most recent trip.








Then we had a nice visit with our new friends, followed by dinner they treated us with at a Mexican restaurant. They also took a really nice picture of Chuck and me.

Chuck and Jan

What a good beginning to our vacation!

New Mystery Author (to me)

When I was at Book People (independent book store) in Austin on Friday, a "Book Person" worker asked me if I needed help as I wandered the mystery section. When he further queried who my favorite mystery authors were I could only think of two favorites: Louise Penny and Jacqueline Winspear. He took me directly to Terry Shames, whom I had never heard of. Trusting this guy who seemed to be a reader, I bought two copies, always wanting to support independent books stores (even though I buy too much online).

I have read half of A Killing at Cotton Hill, "A Samuel Craddock Mystery." (I see on Amazon that the Kindle copy is only $2.99.) I haven't decided if I like this character as much as Armand Gamache or Maisie Dobbs, but I am enjoying his common sense and quirkiness. He is the former chief of police in a small Texan town, who is admired and respected much more than the current, politically-appointed, drunken police chief. When a long-time friend is murdered, he starts to investigate. I like it so far and don't know how it will end yet. (Good sign for a mystery.)

Since I also bought the second book at Book People, I will easily read it next. Since it is a signed copy, I am assuming that the author was a featured speaker at Book People, which may be why they had multiple copies of her books, or they are just good.

The second one is entitled The Last Death of Jack Harbin. By the time I finish that one, I will be able to tell if I like these books and would recommend them.

More Death Poems

More death poems by Japanese haiku poets:

Joseki (died July 21, 1779, age 85)

This must be

my birthday there

in paradise. (207-208)

Shoshun (died April 24, between 1660 and 1672, less than 90)

Flowers bloomed yesterday,

today winds blow--

what but a dream. . . (302-303)

Chiyoni (died Sept. 8, 1775, age 73)

I saw the moon as well

and now, world,

“truly yours. . . “ (152)

Chiyoni, one of the best-known women haiku poets, became a Buddhist nun at the age of fifty-two. In her death poem she creates a metaphor of life as a letter. Kashiku is phrase used by women to end their letters.”

Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death. Ed. Yoil Hoffmann. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle, Co. 1986.

"The Up Side of Down"--2014 Books

I read The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success by Megan McArdle while I was at Lebh Shomea on my Kindle. I thought I had highlighted sections I liked, but now cannot find the notes!

Megan McArdle has long been a successful business blogger. In this book, she argues that America is unique in its willingness to let people and companies fail, but also in its determination to let them pick up after the fall. Failure is how people and businesses learn. She teaches us how to recognize mistakes early to channel setbacks into future success. 

"Handle it right, and failure can be the bet thing that ever happened to you (though it may sometimes feel like the worst). Handle it wrong and it won't just feel like the worst thing that ever happened to you. I know; I've been there. And the good news is there are concrete things you can do to train yourself to be more resilient, and to turn a very unpleasant setback into an opportunity to do something you might never have had the courage to do otherwise."

With the kindle, I do not have page numbers. Plus, I keep thinking that I may have more to share when I've reviewed the book again!

"Awareness" : 2014 Books

Thanks to the weekly book study, Wisdom Class, I recently read Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality by Anthony de Mello for the second time. I probably need to re-read it several more times to learn and practice "awareness" more often. These essays seem to be from transcripts of retreats he gave, so reading them aloud enhances understanding. We did not do that very often in our meetings, but needed to be reminded that that was the form of writing. He keeps saying, "Wake up!"

"Put this program into action, a thousand times: (a) identify the negative feelings in you; (b) undertand they are in you, not in the world, not in external reality; (c) do not see them as an essential part of 'I'; these things come and go; (d) understand that when you change, everything changes." (89)


It helped to watch videos of Anthony de Mello; we were fortunate to have these loaned to us to watch. But his talks are available on the internet via U-tube--go here! It is definitely worth the time to look at one or more of these. Here is a 4-minute glimpse:



And about God:

"The fact is that you're surrounded by God and you don't see God, because you 'know' about God. The final barrier to the vision of God is your God concept. You miss God because you think you know. That's the terrible thing about religion. That's what the gospels were saying, that religious people 'knew,' so they got rid of Jesus. The highest knowledge of God is to know God as unknowable. There is far too much God talk; the world is sick of it. There is too little awareness, too little love, too little happiness, but let's not use those words either. There's too little dropping of illusions, dropping of errors, dropping of attachments and cruelty, too little awareness...." (102)

I highly recommend this book and will be reading it again.

2014 Books: "Zealot"

I am definitely a reader, but also a procrastinator: So far in this third month of 2014, I have only listed one book I have read this year even though I have read many. I will try to write about some of these books in the coming weeks. This won't be in consecutive order though!

Today I feel triumphant for finishing the book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan. Daughters AE and KA in Seattle sent it to me as a surprise some months ago, whenever there was all that hoopla about FOX News inadequately interviewing author Reza Aslan.

I put off reading it because I'd already spent years reading about the historical Jesus, both at Oblate
School of Theology and on my own. However, with our priest liking it and so many members of the Wisdom Class wanting to read it, I read it and am glad I did.

It is very historical, with lots of documentation. In fact, the author has 50 pages of expanded notes at the back of the book (219-272).  All that impresses me; I have always liked to read notes, especially extensive ones like these. Aslan sets the stage very well for the reader to imagine what the politics and culture were like in the time of Jesus and afterwards. This is important for people to read.

I found it especially interesting how he draws comparisons to Paul's view of Jesus and the experiences of those in Jerusalem who knew him in his life at the end of the book. I learned more than I ever knew before about "James the Just," the brother of Jesus, who was called "Bishop of Bishops" in Jerusalem before the decimation of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 c.e.

Zealot is an interesting book to read, one that will create questions that may be old or new to each reader. As a review by Dale B. Martin in the NY Times reveals:

"A real strength of the book is that it provides an introduction to first-century Palestine, including economics, politics and religion. Mr. Aslan uses previous scholarship to describe the precarious existence of Jewish peasants and the lower classes, and how the Romans and the Jewish upper class exploited the land and the people. He explains not just the religious but also the economic significance of the Temple, and therefore the power of the priestly class controlling it. 

“Zealot” shares some of the best traits of popular writing on scholarly subjects: it moves at a good pace; it explains complicated issues as simply as possible; it even provides notes for checking its claims. 

"But the book also suffers from common problems in popularization, like proposing outdated and simplistic theories for phenomena now seen as more complex."

(Go here to read the entire review.) 

I am glad I read it; I learned some new things; I want to investigate some aspects mentioned.  This will be a good book for our weekly book study group, the Wisdom Class, because it will prompt a lot of questions and discussion. It will be slower reading than usual, since it is more of a scholarly book, but they successfully read The Case for God by Karen Armstrong a few years ago.

Zealot is a good book to read for historical information of the area and times of Jesus; it is one that will prompt more questions, discussion and research.

Anthony Bloom on Prayer

Looking through those composition books I wrote in for years at Lebh Shomea, I see quotes from various books by the same author. I recall that I would go on a pursuit of more books when I liked what a certain author was saying. That was the blessing for me that Lebh Shomea had (and has) such an extensive library. I remember reading books by Anthony Bloom when our oldest son was in his first years at Texas A & M around 1997.

Anthony Bloom or Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (1914-2003)  was a monk and Metropolitan bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was founder and for many years bishop - then archbishop, then metropolitan - of the Diocese of Sourozh, the Patriarchate of Moscow's diocese for Great Britain and Ireland (the name 'Sourozh' is that of the historical episcopal see in Sudak in the Crimea). As a bishop he became well known as a pastor, preacher, spiritual director and writer on prayer and the Christian life. (from Wikipedia)

Today I will copy a few of the quotes I kept from that long-ago reading of Living Prayer by Anthony Bloom:

"We should never try to squeeze out of the heart any sort of feeling when we come to God; a prayer is a statement, the rest depends on God." (60)

quoting Theophane the Recluse:

". . . ask yourself: 'Am I doing God's will better than I did before?' If you are, prayer has brought its fruits; if you are not, it has not, whatever amount of understanding or feeling you may have derived from the time spent in the presence of God." (62, 63)

"Whatever we have felt belongs to the past and is linked with what we were yesterday, not what we are today. We do not pray in order to provoke any particular experience in which we may delight, but in order to meet God with whatever may happen as a consequence, or to bring him what we have to bring and leave it to him to use it the way he chooses." (104)

"Our prayer always reaches God but it is not always answered by a sense of joy or peace." (108)

". . . .a silence in which, as Julian of Norwich puts it, 'Prayer oneth the soul to God.'" (111)

Make a New Habit!

"We are converted not only once in our lives but many times. 

And the conversion is little by little. 

Sometimes it is as imperceptible as grass growing. 

But Lent gives us a time to move the process along. 

Intentionally. 

By small surrenders." (6)

~~Emilie Griffin, Small Surrenders: A Lenten Journey

The period of Lent begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. This is traditionally a time for Christians to take up a practice of addition or subtraction to learn greater love for God and less self-satisfaction. I like Emilie Griffin's words above in relating this to a small surrender: any effort is a small surrender of one's self-indulgence. It is also serendipitously a way to create a new habit. . . .or a way to start working towards that.

People used to say that it takes 3 weeks to make a new habit, but current research indicates that it takes  longer. "If we can just keep it up for 21 days, it'll become a habit, right? Not so fast. The three-week rule is something of an urban legend, found a study led by Phillippa Lally, PhD, a psychologist at University College London. It actually took people 66 days (9.5 weeks) for a behavior to become automatic (or feel weird not to do it). But that's just an average. Some habits, such as drinking a bottle of water after lunch, turned out to be much stickier (it took 59 days on average) than doing 50 sit-ups each morning (91 days). Forging a new habit gets easier and easier as you gain momentum, Lally says. Eventually you'll stop counting the days… and just do it."(from 6 Ways to Become a Creature of New Habits)

So 40 days is halfway or "almost there" for reaching the ease of having a new habit. It is an intentional process in living a better way--in greater awareness.

It could be as small or simple as adding a glass of water each day to one's life, or subtracting one hour of tv each day. I've even thought it would be beneficial to add 2 minutes of meditation every day. That's do-able, right?

So think of a small surrender of addition or subtraction you can easily do for the next 40 days. . . and maybe longer.