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From Roberta at Spiritually Directed. . . is this darling story:
Today I have been learning about it, with MJ's help. I'm grateful that I got the phone while she was still home on spring break.
I first learned of Turkish Delight candy when I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. The evil White Witch enticed Edmund with Turkish Delight. It sounded so delicious that I always wanted some, which seemed impossible in the USA. After we moved to Bellingham, WA when I was in high school, I found that Turkish Delight was available in the Hudson-Bay Department Store in Vancouver, BC in the (now) old-fashioned candy counter, where a lady spooned some into a bag from the glass partition holding whichever delicacy was chosen. I loved having the powdered sugar coated cubes of jell.
If this is your favorite candy, I'm sorry to report that neither MJ nor I liked it. Her first taste of Turkish Delight was nothing like I remember. The chocolate overpowered the jelly filling. We were both disappointed.
Firmament 719:2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
19:3 There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;
19:4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
"So many terrible things happen every day that we start wondering whether the few things we do ourselves make any sense. When people are starving only a few thousand miles away, when wars are raging close to our borders, when countless people in our own cities have no homes to live in, our own activities look futile. Such considerations, however, can paralyse us and depress us.
"Here the word call becomes important. We are not called to save the world, solve all problems, and help all people. But we each have our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world. We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust. Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time."
~~Henri Nouwen
From the free daily message found at the Henri Nouwen webpage. Subscribe.
This is what I needed to read this morning as I muddle through my life.
Mad Cat
Hope you can read the caption, but if not, he is saying, "I'm just opening the mail--you should see the size of my mobile phone bill!"
This is my second child, AE, who likes to tell me I am sentimental. Yes, I am--especially today because today is her birthday. She is 27.
2) Instant or cooked? (Does anyone make pudding from scratch?)"Simple Gifts" was written by Elder Joseph Brackett while he was at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine in 1848. These are the lyrics to his one-verse song:
"When we have prayed prayers long enough, all the words drop away and we begin to live in the presence of God. Then prayer is finally real. When we find ourselves sinking into the world around us with a sense of purpose, an inner light and deep and total trust that whatever happens is right for us, then we have become prayer.
"When we kneel down, we admit the magnitude of God in the universe and our own smallness in the face of it. When we stand with hands raised,we recognize the presence of God in life and our own inner glory because of it. All life is in the hands of God. Even the desire to pray is the grace to pray. The movement to pray is the movement of God in our souls.
"Our ability to pray depends on the power and place of God in our life. We pray because God attracts us and we pray only because God is attracting us. We are not, in other words, even the author of our own prayer life. It is the goodness of God, not any virtue that we have developed on our own, that brings us to the heart of God. And it is with God's help that we seek to go there."
Source: The Monastic Way, collected in In My Own Words by Joan Chittister
From Inward/Outward. Subscribe here.
Zone Alarm seems to have loaded all sorts of precautionary measures so that it takes many minutes (like five!) to scan my loading email before I can get to the inbox. This just happened with only two messages. I feel like this chicken, yelling "AAUUUGH!!!"
By Ann Telnaes
I know in a few weeks when it's HOT here in south TX, I'll be wishing I was in the north, just as I will all summer. However, I must admit that I'm glad I don't have to shovel snow.
Introvert Bench!Friday night there was a church choir potluck dinner, as husband CB is in the choir, at a member's house. Saturday night there was a company retirees dinner, which is made up of six couples. We were there for four hours before being the first to depart. We're almost always the first to leave (CB is also an introvert) any event, which held true for both dinners. We have a good time--and get tired sooner than everyone else!"Introverts have social skills, they like people, and they enjoy some types of socializing… Introverts enjoy one-on-one conversations, but group activities can be overstimulating and drain energy."
Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D
That pretty much describes me!
Singing Owl writes for RevGalBlogPals:
Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ indwelling them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on divine order.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal Truth.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from facts that depress; feast on truths that uplift.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.
Above are the logos for The Regeneration Project. Its IPLog has posts about Green Lenten Ideas, with lots of links and info. Take the time to go there!
I just finished and greatly enjoyed the newest Maisie Dobbs' mystery, Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear. I love those mysteries and have gained an interest in WWI because of them.
This struck me funny, because yesterday I found my long-lost (for three weeks) winter jacket at church. I was there for EFM and dropped by the church office to visit--and was so surprised to find the black jacket I'd been searching for right there on one of the chairs! They told me that's where they put lost items. . . .but I didn't know where I'd lost it--until then.
From e-cards at ExploreFaith.
Do this if you think it would be fun! (I'd like to see what you come up with, esp. Garlic or Salt).
This is the front entrance to the Oblate School of Theology, where someday I may finally receive my Master's degree in Theology. I went part time there for over five years, "commuting" from Corpus Christi to San Antonio.
The Oblate Renewal Center, which is on the same vast grounds as the Oblate School of Theology, in San Antonio, Tx. This is where I stayed for the retreat last week.
Statue of OMI priests on horseback, who "dare to do the undared." I think this is a representation of these priests in Texas around 1843. I was reminded of Fr. Kelly Nemeck, who wears a cowboy hat when he works around Lebh Shomea.
On the grounds between the school and the retreat center is the Grotto, patterned about Lourdes. Above it is this scene of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Juan Diego.
And here's just a picture showing how spring is coming to south Texas. We have short springs and LONG, long summers.
Source: Part 1 from "Letter to a Friend," written on Christmas Eve, 1513
From Inward/Outward. Subscribe here.
"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."
~~e.e. cummings
I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" for the second time this afternoon with CB. He had wanted to see the Clint Eastwood movie, but that was sold out, so we went to this one instead. I'm glad, because I enjoyed it as much as I did last week when I went with a friend. I noticed more details today. And CB liked it a lot, too.
It is another windy day here in Corpus Christi, TX. This is a picture of the things I hung on the clothesline about an hour ago. Sheets and shirts are wound around other lines. We're supposed to have three days of extreme wind because of a low pressure system coming from the northwest and a high pressure area approaching from Florida.
On Sunday, the first day the boys from the African Children's Choir were with us, we made peanut butter cookies. Here are Patrick and Julius stirring the dough.
Nelson was not interested in making cookies, because he liked picking out notes and tunes on the piano. He has had access to pianos since the tour started in the USA last September. He plays the drum for the performance.
Here are Patrick and Julius watching me plop the very sticky dough down on the cookie sheet. They learned how to press forks on the top.
This particular choir tour has been in Texas since the end of November. They'll be in the state until the end of this month. The next major metropolitan area they'll be in is Houston, so if you are there, try to catch one of their shows!
Thanks to Quaker Dave, I remembered about Blogroll Amnesty Day. I did not understand much about it until Blue Gal considerately e-mailed me about it. In easy language for me to comprehend, she wrote:
