Over at RevGals, Singing Owl is celebrating 40 years of love with her husband. She asks us to reflect on five people we will always love. (I would have cut and pasted this, but I am working on my Beloved's Mac, and I don't know how to do this --yet---anyway, and I am too lazy to figure it out.)
So...the loves of my life.....
1. My Beloved spouse. What more can I say? We share laughter, respect, love and care of our furry family, more love and and joy everyday than I thought possible. When we disagree or misunderstand or argue, neither of us can let the sun go down on it. We are very different people, and yet we complement.
Yin and yang, yet our partnership is real. I am so grateful. I never believed I would find "my person"...and yet...by the sheer grace of God.
2. The furry friends, alive and over the rainbow bridge. They make my heart expand, daily.
2.5 My family. Of course. With four sisters, a sister in law, two sets of parents.....I love adulthood, and being able to love them where they are and for who they are....I really get how important family is. No matter how far apart we are.
3. Mrs. Platts. My fifth grade teacher. She is no longer of this world, but she had so much love in her heart for her students...and she saw each student individually. She loved a very shy, unremarkable 10 year old into believing she had a little bit of worth to someone. Although I don't think she was particularly religious, she was the first real and deep Christ to me. Her presence and being was transforming for me.
4. All of my sister friends--and I am blessed to have many--from high school, college, seminary, teaching, time in NC and New England....in RevGals...my pottery Friday friends....dang. So. Blessed.
4.5 a special shout out to my sister friend, Yeong Mee-ssi (ssi is sister in Korean). She was my Hebrew tutor in seminary, and from that we formed a life long friendship. She fell in love with my puppy Daisy, and got her a sister named Tikvah. Yeong Mee and I would walk Daisy and Tikky in Riverside Park in NYC every morning, and then pick up a bagel and two coffees at the sidewalk vendor and have breakfast together. I have edited her papers, she got me through my thesis and all those damn references...in spite of very different backgrounds, cultures, life paths, she is my forever sister. I am so glad that she has a sabbatical this summer from her professorship in Korea so that she will come and stay a month in Boston!!!
5. Dr. Janet Walton at Union in NYC. She taught me about possibility in worship, about improvisation in ministry, how to cling dearly to art and beauty and fear in ministry, encouraged me to slip in one subversive feminist progressive piece in worship, to challenge all the senses....She has no idea how her teaching influenced me. She taught me about questions. Thank you, Janet!
5.5 My mentors and counselors my first years of youth ministry and teaching in Florida when I was in my early twenties--Danna, Les, Marilyn, Barbara. You all helped me individuate, to grow up, to deal with my dragons and demons, and showed me how to choose Life. Sigh.
What blessings of love my life has been showered upon.
Thank you, Holy One.
Amen.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
criss cross applesauce, 1, 2, 3, 4.....
these are the words outside in the hallway,
on the other side of my door.
tiny children--pre-school....
sitting on the floor, crossing their legs,
after they have gone to the bathroom,
and are waiting for the rest of the class to finish taking turns.
after all are peed out,
they count off....
"leo, we can't go until you remember your number"
the teacher gently reminds.
leo remembers.
and off they go,
next door,
to sit next to their crayons, and then commence coloring
something.
i sit,
here at my desk,
listening to the bustle...
making a list,
crossing off what has been finished,
adding what i recently said i would do,
thinking, loosely about my sermon for the weekend,
i pause.
i breathed on my way to the office today.
i mean, i had to get here extra early, and i have to drive through boston traffic
which is loaded during rush hour
i had plenty of time
and i took a sip of gorgeous tasting coffee
and thought,
i wish i could take more time
to sit at a coffee shop, and look out the window,
look at the people,
muse,
pray,
breathe....
and then i realized my car could be my coffee shop,
so i relaxed into the slow ride,
sipping my lovely coffee,
looking out my windows, watching the cars crawl with me,
and my mind wandered to what i need to do,
and then i said to myself,
just breathe.
deep cleansing breaths.
in with love,
out with peace,
in with heart,
out with mercy,
more deep cleansing breaths...
it was a nice quiet break.
thank You.
amen
on the other side of my door.
tiny children--pre-school....
sitting on the floor, crossing their legs,
after they have gone to the bathroom,
and are waiting for the rest of the class to finish taking turns.
after all are peed out,
they count off....
"leo, we can't go until you remember your number"
the teacher gently reminds.
leo remembers.
and off they go,
next door,
to sit next to their crayons, and then commence coloring
something.
i sit,
here at my desk,
listening to the bustle...
making a list,
crossing off what has been finished,
adding what i recently said i would do,
thinking, loosely about my sermon for the weekend,
i pause.
i breathed on my way to the office today.
i mean, i had to get here extra early, and i have to drive through boston traffic
which is loaded during rush hour
i had plenty of time
and i took a sip of gorgeous tasting coffee
and thought,
i wish i could take more time
to sit at a coffee shop, and look out the window,
look at the people,
muse,
pray,
breathe....
and then i realized my car could be my coffee shop,
so i relaxed into the slow ride,
sipping my lovely coffee,
looking out my windows, watching the cars crawl with me,
and my mind wandered to what i need to do,
and then i said to myself,
just breathe.
deep cleansing breaths.
in with love,
out with peace,
in with heart,
out with mercy,
more deep cleansing breaths...
it was a nice quiet break.
thank You.
amen
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
sometimes, things are just weird.
I found out yesterday that a church that I thought would be a perfect fit for my gifts and skills for ministry called a very young person right out of seminary.
WHAT???
This person is an extremely lovely person, don't get me wrong, and I am very happy for this person....
But still, WHAT???
God works in mysterious ways.
Hope there is some mysterious working my way, soon.
Amen.
WHAT???
This person is an extremely lovely person, don't get me wrong, and I am very happy for this person....
But still, WHAT???
God works in mysterious ways.
Hope there is some mysterious working my way, soon.
Amen.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Just checking in...
So, the retreat was the best ever.
They are such a happy group, and really treat themselves well, and want a lot of time to talk and catch up.
So, for instance, when we are supposed to start on Friday night, at 7:00, at 7:15 I invite them to make their way from the dining room to our meeting room in their own time. A little after 7:30, we start.
For the first part of the evening, we did an icebreaker with two boxes of Table Topics. You are supposed to pick a card from this cube, and answer it. I thought they should pick two cards and then choose the question they liked the best. Of course, some people had to take 15 cards just to find a question they liked. The second part of the evening I talked some about the concept of blessing, and then I had invited them to bring one word to the retreat to use as a blessing word. They wrote their words on note cards, and then we built an altar space with them. Lovely.
The next morning we did talk about being originally blessed, being in the image of God, and shining the god spark within (we talked about the Kabbala teaching on the divine spark the night before. They broke into small groups and had questions to talk about, and then the second hour and a half we made blessing bowls. Coolest idea ever--I knew I wanted them to make these bowls, but was struggling with the medium. I wanted to do recycled materials, but the first bowls I made from that were not all that attractive.
So then, I bought some plain ceramic rice bowls, and asked everyone to bring tissue paper, beautiful paper, and perhaps quotes or blessings they might want to adhere without decoupage to their bowls. It was a fantastic project--one woman made it for her new baby granddaughter for a blessing, etc. I will post some pix on fb later. Then--I had cut up some heavy scrap booking paper--beautiful on one side, and blank on the other--smaller than business cards, and had everyone write their word 35 times. SO then, everybody had a set of the words that
were brought to the retreat! They can put them in their bowls, or somewhere else.
We had another small group after lunch, and then closing worship.
Anyway, it was great, and now today I am having a bed party.
:-)
Love you!
There's more, but the spirit of the group this year was extra magical.
They are such a happy group, and really treat themselves well, and want a lot of time to talk and catch up.
So, for instance, when we are supposed to start on Friday night, at 7:00, at 7:15 I invite them to make their way from the dining room to our meeting room in their own time. A little after 7:30, we start.
For the first part of the evening, we did an icebreaker with two boxes of Table Topics. You are supposed to pick a card from this cube, and answer it. I thought they should pick two cards and then choose the question they liked the best. Of course, some people had to take 15 cards just to find a question they liked. The second part of the evening I talked some about the concept of blessing, and then I had invited them to bring one word to the retreat to use as a blessing word. They wrote their words on note cards, and then we built an altar space with them. Lovely.
The next morning we did talk about being originally blessed, being in the image of God, and shining the god spark within (we talked about the Kabbala teaching on the divine spark the night before. They broke into small groups and had questions to talk about, and then the second hour and a half we made blessing bowls. Coolest idea ever--I knew I wanted them to make these bowls, but was struggling with the medium. I wanted to do recycled materials, but the first bowls I made from that were not all that attractive.
So then, I bought some plain ceramic rice bowls, and asked everyone to bring tissue paper, beautiful paper, and perhaps quotes or blessings they might want to adhere without decoupage to their bowls. It was a fantastic project--one woman made it for her new baby granddaughter for a blessing, etc. I will post some pix on fb later. Then--I had cut up some heavy scrap booking paper--beautiful on one side, and blank on the other--smaller than business cards, and had everyone write their word 35 times. SO then, everybody had a set of the words that
were brought to the retreat! They can put them in their bowls, or somewhere else.
We had another small group after lunch, and then closing worship.
Anyway, it was great, and now today I am having a bed party.
:-)
Love you!
There's more, but the spirit of the group this year was extra magical.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
just for the sake of writing
and getting some words out of me.
random words.
this crisis in Egypt. I have read a lot about it. I don't really get it, but I do get that people are hungry and want a better life--a huge gap between rich and poor. I know there is more to it. still confused. but pray about it.
am horrified by the mom in tampa that killed her teenagers.
am horrified by the mom in alaska who punished her child with hot sauce and cold showers. I know parenting is extremely difficult--and parenting adopted children has its own set of extreme challenges.
but forcing a child to drink hot sauce and then put him in a icy shower--for lying? this I cannot fathom as a good idea for discipline. I just can't. sorry.
my little cooper dog (who is not so little any more) is the cutest ever. she howls at fire engines, ambulances, and police cars.
am pretty sure Mitt Romney will run for President. even though he is being cagey about it. why else would you go on the View?
it's really, really, really snowing outside.
sort of tired of shoveling.
had a very. fun. weekend. in. NYC. we just walked, ate, shopped (just a tiny bit), and found some great places with craft beer. I love NYC. adore it.
hey! I gotta Kindle! I am pretty much gadget-ed maxed out. iPad, iPhone, and Kindle. LUV the Kindle. so frickin' cool!
I haven't been to the studio for a couple of weeks. I miss my clay.
planning our women's retreat for the weekend. the them is Blessing: Giving, Receiving, and Being.
got any good ideas for me?
I love reading blogs. I love your blogs.
well, guess, I will go and work some more.
see ya!
random words.
this crisis in Egypt. I have read a lot about it. I don't really get it, but I do get that people are hungry and want a better life--a huge gap between rich and poor. I know there is more to it. still confused. but pray about it.
am horrified by the mom in tampa that killed her teenagers.
am horrified by the mom in alaska who punished her child with hot sauce and cold showers. I know parenting is extremely difficult--and parenting adopted children has its own set of extreme challenges.
but forcing a child to drink hot sauce and then put him in a icy shower--for lying? this I cannot fathom as a good idea for discipline. I just can't. sorry.
my little cooper dog (who is not so little any more) is the cutest ever. she howls at fire engines, ambulances, and police cars.
am pretty sure Mitt Romney will run for President. even though he is being cagey about it. why else would you go on the View?
it's really, really, really snowing outside.
sort of tired of shoveling.
had a very. fun. weekend. in. NYC. we just walked, ate, shopped (just a tiny bit), and found some great places with craft beer. I love NYC. adore it.
hey! I gotta Kindle! I am pretty much gadget-ed maxed out. iPad, iPhone, and Kindle. LUV the Kindle. so frickin' cool!
I haven't been to the studio for a couple of weeks. I miss my clay.
planning our women's retreat for the weekend. the them is Blessing: Giving, Receiving, and Being.
got any good ideas for me?
I love reading blogs. I love your blogs.
well, guess, I will go and work some more.
see ya!
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