Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. This fun meme has now progressed to the letter T. The letter T starts my answer to the question:How Are You?We all do it. We pass each other with the causal, not expecting an honest answer, to the question of “How are you?”I read recently some blog conversations challenging us to answer honestly. To stop and really listen. I wonder how many of us answer exactly how we feel. Do we in truth want to slow down and hear someone’s reply?Do we say?:To be honest, I am not feeling well. Or I feel alone and abandoned today and cried myself to sleep last night. Or even I can’t believe you are asking me when I know you really don’t care or … [Read more...]
All I Have is Yours, Lord – Lectio Divina
I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. John 17: 9-10 (NIV) All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. Lord I absorb Your words from this week’s Gospel. I am awed with Your prayer for Your disciples…for us… for me.What a prayer of loving surrender: All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. May this also be my prayer from deep within me: All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. All I cling to within my soul.Everything my heart cherishes.My treasures I think I must need. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. I love the intimacy of this prayer, Lord.Its words draw me near to Your welcoming arms.My heart beats in unison with Yours as I breath this prayer.All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. All I have is yours, Lord. … [Read more...]
Patience – Quote of the Week
"Patience is not waiting passively until someone else does something.Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are.When we are impatient, we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later, and somewhere else.Let’s be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand."- Henri Nouwen … [Read more...]
A Lesson in Counting
The Warlpiri are a group of Australian aborigines who have a simple way of counting. Their words for numbers are “one, two and many.” I read that last week and that phrase really stuck with me. I laugh because when someone asks me how many years I have been married, I either answer “many” or have to quickly subtract in my head. Quick hand me a calculator!I think even Erma Bombeck would have liked the Warlpiri’s method of counting when she wrote, "One thing they never tell you about child raising is that for the rest of your life, at the drop of a hat, you are expected to know your child's name and how old he or she is."I listened this week to what I count: My sins. My excuses. Things I am thankful for.Yep, the Warlpiri are right.One sin, two sins, then many more.One excuse, two excuses, and so many more.One item to be thankful for, then two appear, and wait: many, many more.Is it just me or is this beginning to sound like a Dr. Seuss tale?I guess we could play with these words and … [Read more...]
The Spirituality of Friendship
Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. This fun meme has now progressed to the letter S. The letter S reminds me of the priceless spiritual lessons from friendship. The Spirituality of Friendship I like to give, but find it so awkward to be on the receiving end. Do you ever feel like that?Maybe it is my ego and pride. Probably more like me wanting to keep up the false pretense of self-sufficiency. Fear is another reason: What if people find out I am not perfect? Oh, no, they may reject me or make fun of me. Friendship holds many lessons for us spiritually and lately gifts from friends have brought these lessons into focus for me. 1. Sacrifice - A few weeks ago we … [Read more...]
Pick Me! Pick Me, Lord – Lectio Divina
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit —fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. John 15: 16-17I chose youPick me!Pick me, Lord!I want to be part of Your team.What do I have to do to qualify?Maybe if I lose more weight, You will choose me.What if I tried my hardest to do everything just perfect?I wonder if I read my Bible everyday, never missed church, and always smiled at my family, then would You tap me on the shoulder and say come?What is this You are saying? You don’t choose Me, but I chose you? But I am not ready yet.I haven’t accomplished what the world expects of me yet.I haven’t finished with what I have planned.Even my hair is a mess today. And I really should quit biting my fingernails before joining You, Lord.Me?You chose me?Like I am?Sinful and unclean?Incomplete and far from my best?And You want me to bear fruit for You? Me? I can’t do … [Read more...]
Falling in Love with the Giver – Quote of the Week
We ask for a piece of sand and he gives us a beach.We ask for a drop of water and he gives us an ocean.We ask for time and he gives us life eternal.And it is so easy for us to fall in love with the gift and forget the giver.Source: Prayer Is a Hunger quoted in In the Stillness Is the Dancing by Mark Link … [Read more...]
A Bar-B-Que Lesson in Creativity and Perseverance
Do you read menus?Of course you read them to find out what food a restaurant is offering, but ever notice the other information on some menus?Last week’s vacation took us to the Salt Lick Bar-B-Que in Driftwood Texas. Mmmmm, good! Great food with wonderful company.But it was the story told on the menu of the founders Thurman and Hisako Roberts that inspired me the most.Thurman traveled most of the time working in construction while his family stayed in Driftwood. They really wanted to stay in that little town so “one day, he took out a yellow legal pad and wrote down 54 things the family could do to stay in Driftwood. The idea for The Salt Lick was 14thon the list.”They started small and have grown the business that now is a family affair serving thousands each week. The restaurant has been featured on the Food Network, The Travel Channel and the Today Show.But did you catch his plan? He created a list of 54 ideas and worked through them to number 14. This is a great lesson in … [Read more...]