We had dinner with college friends last week. Friends we hadn’t seen for a while, but who continue to delightfully cross our paths for 40 years. What a sisterhood and brotherhood, these friends are. Driving home I marveled - how time and distance separate us, yet once together we chat, giggle and share like old times. Immediately we are back on each other’s wavelength listening and caring. Friendship is priceless. What a miracle! On my spiritual journey I have learned when a good experience comes along - whether it is of God, in relationships or any life’s uplifting surprises, my best response is taking the time to be grateful and to savor that moment. Savor means to fully enjoy, relish, cherish. To hold and ponder this wonderful gift. To appreciate. I value these friendships from all stages of my life: Chrissy and Wendywho I met in 6th grade and continue to bless me and are the sisters God gave me since I have only brothers in my family. Herb, Kathy, Don, Margie, … [Read more...]
We Belong to God – Lectio Divina
But now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead.Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give nations in exchange for you, and peoples in exchange for your lifeDo not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I … [Read more...]
Nine Requisites for Contented Living: Quote of the Week
Nine requisites for contented living: - Health enough to make work a pleasure. - Wealth enough to support your needs. - Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them. - Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them. - Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished. - Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.- Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others. - Faith enough to make real the things of God. - Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe … [Read more...]
Katching Kindness
Kindness! Emerging new diseases make the headlines all the time. As a former public health official, I read about them, dissecting them like Abby Sciuto in the NCIS lab. Researchers have discover a new contagion and a surprising one too: KINDNESS. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego and Harvard found the first laboratory evidence that cooperative behavior is contagious and that it spreads from person to person to person. When people benefit from kindness they "pay it forward" by helping others, this creates a cascade of cooperation that influences dozens more. Kindness begats more kindness. Soon a domino effect erupts in which one person's generosity spreads first to three people and then to the nine people that those three people interact with in the future, and then to still other individuals in subsequent waves. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” -Aesop The dance craze Zumba has really taken over … [Read more...]
I Need Help – What God Sized Dream?
We are still in the honeymoon era of New Year resolutions. I have some goals written for 2013 but haven’t hit the print button yet confirming their existence and launching their life.What is stopping me? Really it is a who. Who is stopping me? Holly Gerth is my obstacle Many of you know Holly as the blogger and co founder of (in)courage and active with DaySpring. I love her enthusiasm, warmth and friendliness. She has a great smile too.Yet she challenges me. She has invited us to say yes to a God sized Dream. She explains her project on her blog here. She writes: “This is an invitation to come alive and live the life you were designed to live. And when you do, you can’t help but encounter the wonder of God—those moments of spiritual awakening that make you long to know God more.”Ok so I revisited my goals and dreams and have discovered something I am not proud of: I think I can do them myself and God is on the sidelines. Yes some are lifelong dreams, but if I try hard enough, and … [Read more...]
The Magi – Lectio Divina
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the … [Read more...]
A New Year – A New Beginning – Henri Nouwen Quote
A new beginning! We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to a voice saying to us: “I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it! Imagine! — Henri Nouwen … [Read more...]
How to Count the Days of Our Lives or Making Each Day Count
One of my best friends, Esther, lived 99 1/2 years. I figured she saw more than 36,300 days in her life.She still makes me smile. She would tell me that all her friends had died and were in heaven. She decided they got tired of waiting for her to join them and since she hadn’t appeared up there yet, they assumed she went elsewhere. We would always laugh about that.She is counting days in heaven now.Why is it we need to lose a loved one, face a health threat, experience a tragedy to wake up and embrace life? In my quiet time lately with palms open upward, I cradle the fragile bubble of time. This image started when I realized over the holidays, that I have lived longer than both of my parents. I lost them both too young and with too many days left unspent.As of today, I have lived 22, 938 days.I don’t want to waste this precious gift of life.The other factor stirring my soul with the sweet appreciation of life is a new book by Robert D. Smith called, 20,000 Days and Counting: The … [Read more...]