For all of you who normally get this blog by email, I owe you an apology. Sometime end of last week, my blog and the software that mails out new posts to you decided not to communicate. I didn't realize this until Tuesday and then had difficulty reestablishing the links. Finally late Wednesday, the two parties decided to talk again and to be honest, I am not sure if the connection miraculously healed itself (I was praying!) or if something I did finally worked. BUT OOPS!  Once all was well again in cyberworld, the internet imp decided to mail all of you not one, not two, but three posts.  I am so sorry to clog up your inbox.  Hopefully we are now back to the normal schedule of posts. "Don't you just love technology?" she says gritting her teeth and with a fake smile. Yes frustrating, but not the end of the world and lots worse could and has happened to me, so I am grateful for the comfort of routine and no annoying glitches. And thankful most of the time for technology … [Read more...]

The baby was staring intently at other people, and as soon as he recognized a human face, no matter whose it was, he would respond with absolute delight.   I realized that this is how God looks at us, staring into our face in order to be delighted.  I suspect that only God, and well-loved infants, can see this way.  Even when we try to run away from our troubles, as Jacob did, God will find us, and bless us, even when we feel most alone, unsure if we'll survive the night. God will find a way to let us know that [God] is with us in this place, wherever we are, however far we think we've run.  Amen. Kathleen Norris … [Read more...]

"When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." John 1: 38-39   Come and See  Jesus, you invite me to come and see. I am amazed you stop what you are doing in all your glory and turn to me, little unimportant me, at any moment in my day and ask me what I need. I can cry out to you in my raw honest vulnerable state and you listen. I can approach you with my questions. My doubts. My anger. My fears. And you invite me to come and see. You welcome my questions. You are open to my struggling uncertainty. You meet me where I am right now, not where I should be or will be or have been, but present in this very moment. You accept me - your unsure, quivering child - with open arms. I come to you, Lord and see you.  Thank you for being a God who sees me too.       … [Read more...]

"The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable."
   – Paul Tillich … [Read more...]

Give me the strength that waits upon you in silence and peace. Give me humility in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride which is the heaviest of burdens. Possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love. Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love, that I may love not for the sake of merit, not for the sake of perfection, not for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of sanctity, but for You alone.   Thomas Merton … [Read more...]

    For the last few years I have focused on one word as a theme for each year. This is a phenomenon that many other people do, so not an original idea with me. And to be honest, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. One word is simple in a noisy world that is murky and complicated. One word grounds me and guides me back to God. Last year the word - Stretch - chose me. I am not one to remember my dreams but this word crept entered barged into my sleep one night and made itself at home within my heart. Stretch has been a good word for me this past year and described many of the adventures God offered me. And now let us welcome the New Year 'Full of things that nave never been. Rainer Maria Rilke   What will 2014 hold for me? I love this time of year. I take out my journal and review the past year. I write down a summary. Then I prayfully ask God to lead me into thinking where he might want me to grow in the New Year. Choosing a word … [Read more...]