Well, maybe. . . .

Lint as Lent

From Roberta at Spiritually Directed. . . is this darling story:

WHAT IS LENT?
On the way to All Saints

"Lent Event 2009"a mother

listened to the conversation

between her two children.

One child wondered aloud:

"What is Lent, anyway?"

The sibling responded:

"It's the stuff on your clothes."

taken from here.

What is sticking to you like lint sticks to clothes?

(and you know how I love clotheslines. . . .)

new cell phone

Well, last night we got a big box containing four new cell phones, since we renewed our family plan. The logistics and money involved in a "family plan" are what finally got husband CB to agree to have one about three years ago. He had stubbornly resisted for years, but conceded when AE presented him with a print-out of the "savings" with such a plan.

With last week's mini-crisis over minutes used, CB took the plunge and renewed the plan. Oddly enough, my two daughters and I chose the same phone, without telling each other:
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.

Since I foolishly never saved the phone numbers on the original SIM card, today I had to type in each and every name and phone number on my list. That is finished now. I just wish I could have gotten the pictures off my old phone and put them on this new one.

What fits?

Nothing to say/write

Turkish Delight

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.

MJ re-read that fantasy book in the past few years and got it into her head that we would find Turkish Delight when we traveled to Victoria, BC last summer. No. No candy counters in the stores, except for some chocolate shops. Her desire to taste Turkish Delight was squashed.

Then tonight she and I went out to dinner (when the crockpot meal did not finish cooking) and afterwards went to World Market. MJ found some small foil wrapped "bars" that were identified as "Turkish Delight" made by Fry's (or Cadbury's). We bought two, one for each of us.
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.

I do not believe MJ has tasted what true Turkish Delight is. Someday I'll find it for her--perhaps through the internet!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now looking "Turkish Delight" up on Google, I find that there is even a distributor in Bellingham, WA. What a coincidence. I wonder how to find a delicious kind of this candy?

Lectio Divina

Firmament 7
by Sergio Catsoldi

Our hearts soared as we read and prayed over this selection from Psalm 19:1-4 in today's lectio divina group. Try reading it aloud several times and see what happens!

19:1 The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

19:2 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.

Marvellous Error!

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt--marvellous error!--
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

~~Antonio Machado,
from Time Alone

Find the entire poem here.

Our call

"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!

Mad Cat
by Oliver Polanski

Our cat Gracie is mad at me. She pooped right in front of where I sit and read. She has never done this before. When I am reading is usually when she comes over, purring loudly, to be petted.

What must have precipitated this "punishment" is that yesterday I hit her--spontaneously after she BIT me. I had never hit her before, and she has not bit me for a very long time. It was a shock.

In reality, I am more of a dog person than a cat person. Gracie is supposedly youngest daughter MJ's cat, but Gracie has come to prefer me over anyone else. Maybe because I am the one who feeds her.

Last night when I filled her dish, she did not purr, as she ordinarily does. Today she pooped on the rug.

Now we'll see how long her anger with me lasts. Maybe it's good that MJ is coming home today.

Over the limit

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!"

I felt like that when I fortuitously checked the minutes on our family cell phone plan today. We were over our limit with 117 extra minutes! That is pretty expensive. CB is not happy.

He, AE, MJ, and I share phones on the family plan. Until Saturday we can only talk to each other, because those calls are free--or wait until 9 pm!

My eldest daughter

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.

I am remembering her birth, which abruptly occurred with only my husband in the birthing room. I'll always remember him yelling, "The baby's coming!" I think the nurse and doctor got there in time to help her feet and legs out.

AE is an intelligent, passionate woman who keeps trying new things. She is much braver than I am, being much more like my mother and grandmother who ventured to places where women rarely went. My mother was one of the first women Marines in WWII and my grandmother was a Suffragette.

Happy Birthday, AE!

French Mystics

Today I drove to San Antonio (and back) with a friend to go to the talk given by Dr. Wendy M. Wright on "The French Mystics." This is Year 2 of Christian Mysticism: History, Wisdom and Insights. It is sponsored by both Oblate School of Theology (where I may someday earn my master's degree in Theology) and Contemplative Outreach of San Antonio.


I last heard Wendy Wright speak at one of the sessions of the (two year) Academy for Spiritual Formation sponsored by the Upper Room in 2002. Then, she spoke about Roman Catholicism for five days. What I remember most is an image of a toddler Jesus inside a heart, sweeping it out. I think this was on her talk of "The Sacred Heart." (She even wrote a book entitled Sacred Heart: Gateway to God.) Being a Protestant, this emphasis upon the heart was new to me. I was surprised at how much I treasured the idea of baby Jesus sweeping out my heart! That still echoes within me, I don't know why. I have tried to find a copy of that picture from the middle ages, but have been unable to do so.

Today Dr. Wright whetted my curiosity about the French mystics I know little about. (Though she ended the discussion with Brother Lawrence and Jean Pierre de Caussade, whom I love and admire.)

I'll copy some of my notes for you below and list the main themes in each type of spirituality.

Characteristics of French Schools of Spirituality
1. Christocentric--want to "live" Jesus
--very Marian
2. Personal and ecclesial reform
3. Missionary
4. Male-female partnerships

Salesian Spirituality
Francis de Sales (1567-1622) and Jane de Chantal (1572-1641)
1. Christian humanism
--hearts are made to beat with God's heart's rhythm
2. Matthew 11:29-30
--Live Jesus! (which Francis and Jane wrote at the top of letters)
3. Little virtues such as gentleness, humility and patience
--The disciplines you don't choose are the most profoundly transformative.
4. Two arms of love--for God and neighbors
5. Friendship
--A virtue that changes us and helps us to grow, to make our hearts more generous.
6. Laity

Vincentian Spirituality
Vincent de Paul (1580-1660) and Louise de Marillac (1591-1660)
1. Luke 4: liberating vision of Jesus
2. God is present in our actions
--"God is love; we must come to him by love."
3. The poor
--"The poor are the privileged mediators of salvation"
4. Firm and flexible
--Be firm in your goals, but gentle and flexible in working towards them.
5. Rich and poor--connect through relationships

French (Berullian) School of Spirituality
Pierre de Berulle (1575-1629)
Jean Jacques Olier (1608-1657)
Jean/John Eudes (1601-1680)
1. Abstract mysticism
--influenced by neo-platonic thinking
2. States of Jesus
--enter by prayer into different times of Jesus' life
3. Servitude and Adoration (Nothingness and Grandeur)
--human as nothing; God adoringly Other
4. Clerical reform

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Rosary
Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) and Claude de la Columbiere (1641-1682)
--visions of Jesus asking for devotions to his heart
Louis de Montfort (1673-1716)
--codified and promulgated the Rosary

Later
Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751
Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (1614-1691)

And she did not have time to discuss the controversies of Jansenism and Quietism.
~~~~~~~~~
Well, if anyone ever reads all these links, it will take a LONG time. I myself need to come back someday to read them.

Friday Five: Hasty Pudding Edition

Songbird helped out by proposing this Friday Five today about pudding.


1) First of all, thumbs up? or thumbs down? Do you like pudding?
2) Instant or cooked? (Does anyone make pudding from scratch?)
Cooked is better, even though I don't like it much either way--except for Creme Brulee, if I can count that!

3) If you had to choose, would you prefer corn pudding or figgy pudding?
Never having had either, I like the "sound" of figgy pudding.

4) Have you ever finger painted with pudding?
Having been both a mother and a primary school teacher, I have painted with pudding.

5) Finally, what is the matter with Mary Jane?
Mary Jane missed her nap today and is in a bad mood!

"Simple Gifts"

This morning at the end of our Renovare Meeting, two friends sang "Simple Gifts." One said she first heard it at the singing time after a Quaker Meeting in Maine. I had forgotten about this beautiful song and its simple, but profound, lyrics.

"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:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come out right.

And here is the Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles singing "Simple Gifts":

When We Pray

"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.

E-mail problems

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!!!"

I want immediate gratification, at least with the computer.

Second Class Citizens

By Ann Telnaes

Here is a very interesting article, complete with charts if you so choose to look at them:

A Look at the Benefits Denied Same-Sex Couples by Ben Furnas and Josh Rosenthal

weather

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.

Hi. I'm an introvert.

Introvert Bench!

After an unusually busy weekend for me, I am wanting time alone, even skipping a meeting at church today. I acknowledge that I need to "recharge my energy," which I just read about here. The author cited is Marti Olsen, who wrote The Introvert Advantage, which I have not read.

"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!

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!

I was one of the hostesses of a bridal shower on Saturday afternoon. 35 women came, most of whom I know from my former church (First United Methodist Church). The shower was for the sister of oldest son DC's best friend as they grew up. I was happy to participate and help and enjoyed the time there, but had to leave after three hours so I could get home and make a salad for the dinner that night!

This morning I helped another person teach a class on the Enneagram. This is a Sunday School class that will meet each Sunday in March. Just as with any type of self-reflection, working the Enneagram or spiritual path, I am realizing (again) that we need to accept and not judge as either "good" or "bad" our attributes. The way is awareness, acceptance, action, a teaching from Al-Anon that continues to reverberate in my being.

I do find that I accept myself being an introvert, which actually was the reason I gave the co-chairperson of the committee (that is meeting right now) that I could not attend--that I was "overwhelmed" and needed some time alone. Whew! That is so true.

Here's a funny but true article about introverts by Jonathan Rauch.