Clustrmaps

Last year, when I first started blogging, my daughter AE told me about a website that keeps track of your blog's visitors. So I signed up for ClustrMaps and got a little symbol with red dots marking visitors' locations for the sidebar. I always enjoyed enlarging it to see where people were living, being surprised at some of the farflung places in Africa, Australia, and in various islands around the world. Of course, I was pleased to see large dots in parts of the USA where I could visualize certain people living, like in Seattle and Minneapolis!



Until today, the ClustrMap above was what I always saw. It's amazing to think that there were over 25,000 visits to my blog in the past year! But now the current map on the sidebar is stark, and I can easily discern who has visited.

Go to ClustrMaps if you want to track your visitors on your blog.

4th of July

by Ann Telnaes

HALT!

H = hungry
A = angry
L = lonely
T= tired

While talking to a friend today, HALT came up when she told me about an incident where she lost herself in hurt, anger and frustration. I asked her if she had ever gone to any 12-step groups, and she answered that she had not. So I proceeded to tell her about the acronym HALT.

When someone is hunger, angry, lonely and/or tired, one is more likely to be vulnerable to overreacting. It is an awareness word or symbol to ask oneself in difficult situations. If someone is aware of being hungry, angry, lonely and/or tired, it would be best to STOP and take care of the deficiency. Then coping is easier.

This is true for any age, but children and teenagers probably show the effects of these conditions much more forcefully. HALT is a good thing to remember and to teach others about.

Gay Marriage

Top 10 reasons why gay and lesbian couples should not be allowed to marry

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
   
2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
   
3. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.
7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.
9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

(It seems silly but these arguments, before the humorous common sense additions, are real reasons why some people opposed marriage equality.)

From Freedom to Marry

In case you are wondering, I wholeheartedly support marriage equality. I hope and pray that my daughter and her partner may legally marry someday in their state. (Although they are legal partners, they cannot legally marry one another.)

Prayers for Freedom

Gracious God, when the struggles of life hem me in on every side, open me to the freedom of your presence that can help me see beyond every restriction, every limit that binds me.

O God, give me the wisdom to see the subtle ways people can be enslaved and the courage to speak for those who have no voice. I ask this for the sake of your love.

Gracious One, may we honor the freedom you have given each of us, by refusing to judge those who are different from us.

O God, when we wake to yet another day of wonder and joy in the beauty of your creation, give us the heart to keep our needs simple, our desires soft, our wills pliable, so that we never participate in the exploitation of the earth, which is the work of your hands.

From ExploreFaith.org.

July 1

First day of July. My first child's birthday is on July 6, and his dad's is three weeks later. It's funny/odd that DC will be 29. When I think of being 29, I remember that we had moved from Oregon to Texas, had our first house, first puppy, and first baby! I remember being 29 well, and find it hard to believe that I'm double that age!

Today was the Wisdom Class where we're discussing Richard Rohr's book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality. I'm the facilitator and am I being stretched! The class has grown to 12-15, with a few talkative and argumentative men coming now. The first hour we're trying to practice holy listening, with each person having an opportunity to speak. (This hour helps me out a great deal.) The next hour is for open discussion. I think everyone is enjoying it, but I am finding I pray more and more for guidance!

MJ called on her day off from camp and thinks she has pink eye. Hopefully, the camp nurse is handling the situation--before it becomes an epidemic! She'll be coming home in two weeks.

No Unelectable Softies!

From Anamchara: The Website of Unknowing comes this link to a little animation about hate ads in the presidential election (and other possibilities?), which was created by Mark Fiore:

What if. . .

Cool air is back!

Cool air is back!

It turns out the air conditioner guy's son did not tighten the valve enough so freon had been leaking out of the unit. That was the frustrating point (beyond being hot)--that the service people had been out the day before to do an annual check-up on the air conditioning unit. . . .and then it stopped working the next day. So we're back to pleasant temperatures INSIDE.

No air conditioning

Our air conditioner stopped working. At 7 pm, it's 85 degrees F. inside the house and 90 degrees outside. I could not live in south Texas without air conditioning. Here's hoping it will be fixed tomorrow!

Given To

I never feel more given to
than when you take from me —
when you understand the joy I feel
giving to you.
And you know my giving isn’t done
to put you in my debt,
but because I want to live the love
I feel for you.

To receive with grace
may be the greatest giving.
There’s no way I can separate
the two.
When you give to me,
I give you my receiving.
When you take from me, I feel so
given to.

Song “Given To” (1978) by Ruth Bebermeyer from the album, “Given To.”

From Center for Non-Violent Communication.

More about "welcome"

New website I've discovered: The Center for Non-Violent Communication. Marshall Rosenberg founded this center; Sebastian Moore in his amazing book The Contagion of Jesus cites him.

What an interesting site. I am most struck (at the moment) by "Spiritual Basis of Non-Violent Communication." From that web page, comes these quotes about what it means to give of ourselves:

"To me, giving of ourselves means an honest expression of what’s alive in us in this moment. It intrigues me why every culture asks upon greeting each other, “How are you?” It’s such an important question. What a gift it is to be able to know at any given moment what is alive in someone.

"To give a gift of one’s self is a manifestation of love. It is when you reveal yourself nakedly and honestly, at any given moment, for no other purpose than as a gift of what’s alive in you. Not to blame, criticize, or punish. Just “Here I am, and here is what I would like.” This is my vulnerability at this moment. To me, that is a way of manifesting love.

"And the other way we give of ourselves is through how we receive another person’s message. To receive it empathically, connecting with what’s alive in them, making no judgment. Just to hear what is alive in the other person and what they would like. So Nonviolent Communication is just a manifestation of what I understand love to be."

~~Marshall Rosenberg

This reminds me of my little posting about lectio about the word "welcome" and how that is paying attention--and "connecting with what's alive in them, making no judgment" as written above.

Words

"It was the 'Selishter Rebbe' who told me one day:
'Be careful with words, they're dangerous.
Be wary of them. They beget either demons or angels.
It's up to you to give life to one or the other.
Be careful, I tell you,
nothing is as dangerous as giving free rein to words."

~~Elie Wiesel
Legends of Our Time (31)

Summer Reading Friday Five

Songbird rescued the RevGals Friday Five today by asking these questions about summer reading:


1) Do you think of summer as a particularly good season for reading? Why or why not?
It depends upon the plans for the summer. Travel usually means more reading, especially connected with air travel. Any trip I take, I always take more than enough books (which make the bag heavy), so I'll always have something to read. Inevitably, I don't read them all.

2) Have you ever fallen asleep reading on the beach?
No, because usually going to the beach with my kids meant taking care of the youngest one, which often meant nursing him/her under the big beach umbrella.

3) Can you recall a favorite childhood book read in the summertime?
I remember loving Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle and also Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. I was always disappointed that my children did not find these books as wonderful as I did. (They've had many more choices than I did in childhood.)

4) Do you have a favorite genre for light or relaxing reading?
I've always loved mysteries, but haven't read too many in recent years. I saw on Quaker Pastor's site that Elizabeth George has a new one, so maybe that'll be summer reading!

5) What is the next book on your reading list?
I just finished The Cost of Certainty by Jeremy Young, which reminded me of the books by Sebastian Moore that I read at Lebh Shomea years ago (like The Crucified is No Stranger) and found so profound at that time. So I ordered his latest book (and Sebastian Moore is in his 90's), and it should arrived today: The Contagion of Jesus: Doing Theology As If It Mattered. And that's the book I will be reading next.

A Giggle

My new furniture

Barbara convinced me to go out shopping for some new furniture, though I'm not sure I'll like typing on the computer desk with that chair. We'll see. . . .

If you want to shop for your own "whatever" with your name as inspiration, go here.

But this was the most fun I had all day! Before this, I felt like:

See what being a muse for furniture creation can rid you of??

Here

Parable

Some fishermen pulled a bottle from the deep. It held a piece of paper,

with these words: "Somebody save me! I'm here. The ocean cast me on this desert island.

I am standing on the shore waiting for help. Hurry! I'm here!"

"There's no date. I bet it's already too late anyway.

It could have been floating for years," the first fisherman said.

"And he doesn't say where. It's not even clear which ocean," the second fisherman said.

"It's not too late, or too far. The island Here is everywhere," the third fisherman said.

They all felt awkward. No one spoke. That's how it goes with universal truths.

~ Wislawa Szymborska ~

(Poems New and Collected 1957-1997, trans. S. Baranczak and C. Cavanagh)

Odds and Ends of Today

Wednesday is the day for our lectio divina group meeting. The lectionary reading of the gospel this week was only three verses long, so for once we meditated upon the entire selection (Matthew 10:40-42). I was given the word "welcome," which opened up my view to hospitality, not only in welcoming someone but also to paying attention to each one I meet.

Last night's neighborhood barbecue was fun. Almost everyone came, which reminded me of how elderly the people living on our block are. Houses are starting to turn over, like the one that my husband remodeled next door to our house and where a family moved in with a three-year-old. Everyone brought desserts! We had hot dogs and hamburgers and dessert. There were too many desserts left over, so the one family with four children took them all home, which was a relief to a sugar-holic like me!

The dogs were pretty good, but when they kept barking were put in the back bedroom.

The lectio today brought back the memory of how people greet each other in Zambia. A person stops in front of another person and shakes his/her hand and asks, "How are you?" They both wait until each gives that information. When departing, they shake hands again. What a difference to us in the USA, where we say in passing, "How are you?" as we walk by. This attentive welcome is a form of hospitality.

I am also realizing that when I was castigated in my meeting last week, no one was being hospitable to me. The speakers did not care that their words and attitudes were distressing me, and the others did not interrupt or say anything. Usually, I worry about others, but in this case, I know I was not important except as the scapegoat. It is important to pay attention with care to the other. I hope I will remember this.

I was excited to hear about daughter AE being awarded for having the best GPA in the Korean Studies Program this year. She earned her master's degree this past month. Today she was given the news that she's been given a round-trip ticket to Korea! Not only am I proud of her, but I am very happy for this surprising reward.

MJ called me, which she cannot do from camp. It's her day off, and she and another friend drove to this friend's house in San Antonio to spend the night. Cell phones work when you're in San Antonio! In 2 1/2 weeks she'll come home.

Women's Issues this Election Year

Women's issues from Planned Parenthood:

Neighborhood Barbecue

Tomorrow we're having a barbecue at our house for the 400 block of our street. It looks like almost everyone on our block is coming. We asked the others to bring salads or desserts; I have the feeling that desserts are winning out.

We're not sure what to do about our two dogs, Cisco and Baillie, while everyone is here. They tend to bark, especially Baillie. Since Baillie has grown deaf, she barks and barks--it's hard to get her to stop!

I'm brewing tea to make ice tea now.

Prayer Site

Daily prayer site, run by Irish Jesuits:

Sacred Space

And here is one of the nine prayers for peace:

As we long for peace we remember our brothers and sisters of all faiths who share our longings.

A Buddhist Prayer

Evoking the presence of the great compassion, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion - towards ourselves and towards all living beings.