Aftereffects of Dolly

Dolly is a tropical storm in Mexico now and is waning down. Last night the power went off again at about 9 o'clock. It was hot and muggy as rain pounded and thunder sounded. The front right quadrant of the hurricane came over us and dumped lots of water. Sometime during the night electricity was restored, though almost 100,000 people in south TX lost power. Further south crews are still working on restoring electricity to homes and businesses. We had 7 inches of rain yesterday!

No ill effects in our area, EXCEPT for the forthcoming crop of mosquitoes! The bugs with the extremely high humidity will make outside ventures unbearable. (With the sun shining right now, the humidity is 82%.) I may not even hang laundry out on the clothesline!

Now? What is happening now?

I am still researching and reading books about listening. Once having learned that one of my gifts is being a "Gatherer," I see how I love to gather information and new learning! That is also a weakness, because I'd rather do that than put everything together and WRITE!

One of the people I keep seeing referred to is Brenda Ueland (1891-1985), who was a writer. I like that her mother was a suffragette (for womens' votes!), and my mother's mother was one, too. She wrote a short essay entitled "Tell Me More," which is in her book Strength to Your Sword Arm. (A pdf of "Tell Me More" can be found here.)

So here is a wonderful paragraph from that essay about listening:

"In order to learn to listen, here are some suggestions: Try to learn tranquility, to live in the present a part of the time every day. Sometimes say to yourself: 'Now. What is happening now? This friend is talking. I am quiet. There is endless time. I hear it, every word.' Then suddenly you begin to hear not only what people are saying, but what they are trying to say, and you sense the whole truth about them. And you sense existence, not piece-meal, not this object and that, but as a translucent whole."

~~Brenda Ueland

NOW--that describes how to live, listen, love.
Contemplative listening=contemplative prayer.

Lots of rain!

Dolly

---

from NOAA at 3 pm in Texas

Lots of rain, some minor street flooding, but we're lucky in Corpus Christi. Storm bands are still circling around without too much wind (30-40 mph gusts). We've been in the "orange" area most of the time today. The only problem was an hour with no electricity around noon.

All the rain makes us very glad that the high school campers got back last night. MJ slept late and is now napping again. It's always nice to nap or read in bed when it's raining, which hasn't happened much here lately.

I am getting my last sources noted for my Shalem paper on listening and spiritual direction today, so writing should start in the next day or so (finally).

Meme ME ME!

In a spontaneous way, I've been tagged by I am Chorus for another meme:

Here are the rules:

1. List these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

1. My husband and I bought the house we are living in two different times--in 1987 and again in 1994.
2. I can say "This is a beautiful fish" in Japanese.
3. My husband and I were in the first graduating class of Sehome High School in Bellingham, WA.
4. I love to eat cold salmon, especially for breakfast.
5. Several friends here think this is odd, but I don't--In my entire life, the vehicles I have ridden in or driven have never run out of gas.
6. In college it took TWO female undergraduates (friend NM and me) to equal ONE weekend (MALE) manager of the student union coffee shop.
7. I am the shortest member of my nuclear family; at 5 ft. 6 1/2 in. my four children and husband are all taller than I am.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

1. Fran of FranIAm
2. Sue of Inner Dorothy
3. Katherine E. of Meaning and Authenticity
4. Sara of Much Ado About Something
5. Presbyterian Gal
6. Ruth of Ruth's Visions and Revisions
7. EmJayDee of Set the Bird Free

It is a silly meme, but I am very interested in the new facts I'll learn about each one of you. If someone else wants to do it, comment here and go ahead!

Tuesday at our house

• MJ and all the high school campers are on a bus coming back to Corpus Christi from Leakey where CAC was held. Due to Hurricane Dolly, they are coming home a day early. So they had the traditional Prayer Trail last night where the signs of all the seniors were somehow arranged. They'll be back around 7 o'clock tonight. I'm glad.
  

• Do you remember that I had an MRI on my knee about a week ago? Today the doctor called me up and said he wants to do arthroscopy on it. He recommended doing it earlier than later so no more damage is done. However, we're going to Bellingham, WA on Aug. 7 and when we get back I want to help MJ move into her dorm. So it looks like this will be done in September.

• The Wisdom Class was not argumentative today, because only five people were there, including me. Only one man came. We had a lovely discussion and sharing about chapter 8 in Richard Rohr's Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality. That chapter is entitled "The Rejected Banquet," and how we refuse to accept the love of God lavished upon us.

• The uncertainty of Hurricane Dolly continues. That's why so few came to the Wisdom Class today. It looks like it will land south of here, near Brownsville. We'll get some wind and rain, and our area sorely needs rain. Bands of rain clouds will start appearing in the morning (Wednesday).
  

Logo lost!

Yesterday I started wondering why my comments didn't have a picture, but I thought Blogger was just messing up. Nope, my picture had disappeared!

I guess the copyright law took away my logo by Gretchen Markle, which is disappointing. I loved that painting, but someone bought it. I also see that her paintings are no longer featured on Project Laundry List, so Gretchen must have exercised her legal rights and pulled her paintings. If you go to that first link, you can see what my logo was for about 14 months. I loved it.

Although I am devoted to using the clothesline to hang out clothes to dry, my very favorite possessions of all are BOOKS, so that's my new logo, for the moment anyway. Maybe someday I'll get a picture of me that looks okay. . . .

Hoping not!

We're watching Tropical Storm Dolly. . . . Crown Weather Service.

Summer cold

I have a nagging summer cold. Blah with a drippy nose. Not really sick, but not wholly well either. And it's hot, with Tropical Storm Dolly brewing in the Caribbean.

Emptiness & Spaciousness of the Present Moment

“I also try to remind myself of what I know from experience: the two most important facts about the spaciousness of the present moment. No matter how full of wonder or how empty and barren the moment seems, it is always sufficient. And no matter how much exquisite joy or pain I may feel in the moment, it will never be more than I can bear.

“The emptiness of the spaciousness of the present moment is sufficient. It contains everything that is needed for lovingly beginning the next moment; it seeks only our own willing, responsive presence, just here, just now. And we can bear whatever experience we have in the spaciousness of this present moment. If we project it into the future it may seem impossible, but just here, just now, it is not too much. There are no exceptions—not physical pain, not in psychiatric disorder or emotional agony, not in relational strife, not in war, not in oppression, not in loss, not in spiritual aching, not in dying. Love is too much with us for there to be any exceptions.” (109-110)

May, Gerald G. The Awakened Heart: Opening Yourself to the Love You Need. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.

Which is it? Weekend

Enjoy your Friday Night!

Friday Five: What's in a name?

RevHRod asked the Friday Five questions at RevGalBlogPals today:
1. So how did you come up with your blogging name? And/or the name of your blog?

I don't have as much imagination as other bloggers (and e-mailers) and just have my name--Jan, though I do like my clothesline icon that goes with my name. The name of my blog (Yearning for God) is my greatest desire and so is expressed here.

2. Are there any code names or secret identities in your blog? Any stories there?

I just use initials for family's names, which is not very inventive, but is more easily remembered by me! I usually will try to label the initials with a term of "daughter" or "oldest son." Here's a rundown on my family:

• CB--my husband for almost 37 years
• DC--first son, who lives in Austin and just turned 29
• AA--DC's wife--they have Sampson, the calm miniature Bull Dog
  
• AE--second child, first daughter who lives in Seattle and is 26
• KA--AE's partner
  
• BJ--third child, second son who lives in Houston, is 23 and has Troy, the hyper Brittany Spaniel
• MJ--youngest child (and daughter) who just graduated from high school and is 18
  

3. What are some blog titles that you just love? For their cleverness, drama, or sheer, crazy fun?

Talking to Myself, Episcogranny, Seeking Authentic Voice, and Much Ado About Something. There are so many creative people--and many, many more!

4. What three blogs are you devoted to? Other than the RevGalBlogPals blog of course!
FranIAm, Faith in Community, and Meditation Matters. (And of course my daughter's blog, though she doesn't post regularly.)

5. Who introduced you to the world of blogging and why?

Katherine E. of Meaning and Authenticity (another good title!) was a friend I met through the Spiritual Formation Academy #17 in San Antonio. We were in the same covenant group for all two years. She emailed her various friends when she started her blog last year. I discovered that she and I were growing reconnected through her blog posts and my commenting, and so I decided that I would try blogging, which opened up a whole new world to me. Due to Katherine's connections with RevGalsBlogPals, I met others in this organization, which I could then join after I had been blogging for three months.

Bonus question: Have you ever met any of your blogging friends? Where are some of the places you've met these fun folks?

I haven't met Katherine since we started blogging, even though we live in the same big state of Texas. I met Serena in Edmonds last summer when we made our annual trip home to WA State; I hope to see her again next month! When I went to the Episcopal Relief and Development conference in Minneapolis in April, Diane and her husband took me out to dinner at a wonderful jazz restaurant!

Crossroads

I seem to be at a crossroads in my life. My oldest child turned 29, and my youngest is going off to college. And in a few months I will be 58, which means I have been a mother for HALF my life. Since my mother died at 72 and my father at 79, I am not sure if I will live another 29 years. But even so, what will happen in the remaining time after 2 X 29 years?

Empty nest. Final paper for the Shalem Program of Spiritual Guidance to write, which I am working on now. Three final scholarly papers for my master's degree in theology at Oblate School of Theology, as next spring is my deadline. Closets to clean. Books to either find shelves for or get rid of. (AND 40th high school reunion in August!)

There is lots to do. Average or memorable? Love makes life memorable, so I hope I remember to live with love and gratitude as I learn to live more fully in the next phase of my life.

Christian Adventure Camp (CAC)

Today MJ left with the other high school graduates for Christian Adventure Camp (CAC), the summer camp FUMC sponsors every year back near Laity Lodge Youth Camp, where MJ spent the previous six weeks as a counselor. (I wrote about CAC in #3 of a recent Friday Five.)

These kids are called JACITs, which stands for Junior Adult Counselors in Training. It is traditional for the graduating seniors to be specially situated there. In fact, this year they have t-shirts that label them as "sneakers"--but good ones they were told.

Each JACIT was supposed to paint 3-5 signs with Bible verses, quotes or aphorisms painted on them. MJ and boy friend CS painted them late into the morning the other night. The ones they did are in the picture above. Evidently these are posted along the Prayer Trail, which is a traditional last night activity at CAC.

Luckily, the rest of the high school kids and parents will be going up on buses tomorrow. It turns out that MJ's sleeping bag and stadium bleacher seat with back rest were left in our trunk. At least, she'll get them tomorrow when the other buses arrive.

Spiritual Experiences

"A helpful rule of thumb here is whenever a spiritual experience or the search for spiritual experiences become the overriding focus of attention, things have gone astray. Although spiritual journeys often begin in the context of experience, and although experiences constitute major vehicles of insight, growth, support, and service along the way, the goal of the journey can never legitimately be experience itself. The goal is beyond experience, and has to do with our actually becoming who God means us to be and doing what God means us to do. Experiences can sometimes be helpful means towards this end, and they can sometimes get in the way. But they are never the end in themselves."

~~Gerald May

May, Gerald G. Care of Mind, Care of Spirit: A Psychiatrist Explores Spiritual Direction. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992. 46.

Clothesline accessories and info

Project Laundry List is making air-drying laundry acceptable and desirable as a simple and effective way to save energy. In other words, CLOTHESLINES!

They now have a store, too, where you can buy clothespins, clothespin bags, clotheslines, books, and other things related to drying laundry outside. (And remember, my mother-in-law dries things on a clothesline in her basement in rainy WA State.)

I find it hard to find a clothespin bag, so today I ordered a new one for me.

God's Love

You have first loved us, O God, alas. We speak of it in terms of history, as if you have only loved us first but a single time, rather than that, without ceasing, you have loved us first many times and every day and our whole life through.

When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul to you, you are the first. You have loved us first; if I rise at dawn and at the same time turn my soul towards you in prayer, you are ahead of me; you have loved me first.

When I withdraw from the distractions of the day and turn my soul in thought towards you, you are the first and thus forever. And yet we always speak ungratefully as if you have loved us first only once.

~Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

And from Meister Ekhart:

"The love by which we think we are loving God is actually the love
by which God first loved us."

This last quote of God loving us first was found in Richard Rohr's book, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, which is the book we discuss in this morning's contentious Wisdom Class. How I hope this love can guide us all in listening and speaking. (That's why Kierkegaard's prayer posted above is this morning's class meditation--before the book discussions starts.)

Richard Rohr writes:

"Our lovability is not a moral achievement on our part, but God's pure gift on God's part. To paraphrase Meister Eckhart, 'The love by which we think we are loving God is actually the love by which God first loved us.' All we are doing is completing the circuit, and allowing the flow (see John 15:16). You cannot really get there; you can only be there. God does all the loving." (165-166)

July 14

Being both a baby boomer and an only child, I seem to mark dates with sentimentality. Today is the 16th anniversary of my mother's death, which I wrote about last year. I'm not that sad, just remembering.

When she died, I called to tell a close friend (JJ), and she replied, "Not on MY birthday!" So it is JJ's birthday today--we went to high school together and were bridesmaids in each other's weddings. Because of JJ's birth and my mother's death being on July 14, I especially notice people with birthdays on this date. I now have four friends celebrating their birthdays today. I really like knowing them connected with today.

If it's your birthday today, leave a comment.

"The Life of Meaning"

I buy way too many books. I have scads I have not read yet. I love books. And today I found a treasure that is a collection of essays that sixty contributors read/spoke on PBS' Religion and Ethics Newsweekly program. The Life of Meaning:Reflections on Faith, Doubt, and Repairing the World has 67 different offerings, and I am finding it lovely to skip around the book and read whichever one catches my fancy. And I'd "lost" it since February, when I ordered it!

I enjoy this thought from Phyllis Tickle so much that I will copy it here. It's from her short piece entitled "With or Without Religion":

"People talk about life being a gift. I think that's probably a crock. It's not that it's a gift to you--it's that your life was created to serve God. It is God's life. The fact that your awareness dwells in this life should not be confused with who owns it. You know, my awareness, perhaps, will die when I die. Who knows how much of it is neurological and how much of it is real? My obligation--my joy, my gift--is to see that this part of livingness that is me learn truly to celebrate its maker and to serve him (her)." (182)

The very first essay is by Thomas Lynch, who is a funeral director, essayist and poet, and I liked how he described his idea of God:

"But the older I get the list of things that I have to worry about is getting shorter and shorter. And if I just turn those things over to God (whoever God is these days, and she or he changes a lot for me from day to day), God seems to be taking care of them." (15)

I'm glad I found this book today, especially for the times I am cooling off from being out at my clothesline!

Hot Sun

Personally, I think it's both. It is HOT. It is 90 degrees F, but feels like 99 degrees, probably because the humidity is 61%.

One good thing about the blasting heat is that all MJ's towels from camp dried in only three hours on the clothesline--while I was at church. I keep taking things off the clothesline that have dried to dry more today; I'm on my fourth load of wash to be dried outside. (MJ brought several bags of dirty towels, sheets, and clothes home from camp.)

MJ is off with her boy friend CS and his two younger brothers to play soccer, even in this heat. They are all Texans, after all. The bonus is that they will go swimming afterwards.