Welcome to our blog! This is a place to share ideas, thoughts, concerns and joys of our faith journey. I'll be posting sporadically, but hope you will feel free to comment and join in the discussions.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Here and Now

In my busyness today, I was short tempered and rushed. I did all kinds of things on the computer and the phone kept ringing with people asking questions--interrupting my trains of thought. Very distracting. I came home tired and sort of achy, lower back stressed to the max, shoulders tight. I was probably seeing double by the time I got home and changed clothes.

Usually I open my e-mail as a part of my "coming home and decompressing" routine and check to see who sent me things, who is asking for money, who is reminding me of my civic duty. But today I got an e-mail from a friend with no explanation in the subject line. She has a little boy, so her time is tight. I thought she probably had a busier day than mine in some ways. I opened the e-mail and there was a quick hello and an internet address to go to. I need to explain that we were talking yesterday about the fact that her father passed away two years ago and she was feeling melancholy, reminiscing as we tend to do when we miss someone. I shared that even though my own father had died almost 20 years ago, I still have those waves of feeling wash over me. Then I told her I would send something I wrote about my dad, hoping that it would help her to know someone else felt the same. She called me today, in the midst of my pandemonium and said she appreciated what I had wrote. End of story--so I thought.

So back to the e-mail...I opened the url and it showed a 1954 juke box. I guess it was supposed to be a testament to those dinosaurs of long ago, showing how they worked with 45's, how you had to select the songs to play, how the needle played the actual record. But the most amazing thing, was that the song she had found, was the song which played a prominent part in what I wrote about my dad. I was stunned to hear the song come out of that Youtube video as clear as a bell. And then I thought, what a wonderful gift to give me! It is rare that someone takes the time to hear another person's murmurings, their ramblings, their "important to them" facts, but especially today, it was humbling to believe that someone in her own sadness, could bring me such a gift on such a day.

The Lord puts people in our paths all the time. We stumble over them, we fail to acknowledge their contributions to our lives, we blatantly ignore them. But today, I was so gifted and blessed by this person's unselfish sharing, I hardly knew how to accept such generosity. I wrote her back, of course, using the words "thank you" probably too much. But it was such a gift, so open-hearted and well-amazing-that thank you didn't seem big enough. But I will thank the Lord, too. For his placing this person in my life, in my path. I may have stumbled upon her in the dark, but the light from her spirit and from God's gift will remind me that the path doesn't need to be dark and moody. As long as we have those willing to share the light.

I hope you share your light with someone today. I'll work on tomorrow.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Just a thought...

So here I am thinking about all the things I have to do on a Saturday, and I'm not doing any of them. I'm writing on this blog instead! There are always things to do, I guess. Not being a particularly A-type personality I'm willing to let them go while I tap out these thoughts. I was thinking of the analogy I gave a few posts back about cleaning up. My mind is still very cluttered, but I'm familiar with the bric-a-bracs at this point and would be hard-pressed to throw them out. Some of the clutter was just junk--the thinking that I could win my way into heaven like some kind of lottery. Or the other idea that if I'm good enough, I'll get a pass. I'm never gonna be good enough, so that isn't going to work either. Thank God.

Yes, that's the point. Thank God. I have spent a lot of time lately on myself, worrying, fretting, mumbling to myself. It's time to begin to thank God. For the beautiful butterfly that is resting in the hot sun outside the window. For the blue of the sky, the green of the grass (okay, a lot of it is brown, but there is green poking through, too!), for the vibrant red of the flowers in their pots, for the coolness of the air conditioning inside which lets me see outside without withering like so many of the plants that I haven't watered yet. Thank God for the family I have, the family of my congregation, the friends of my life who water me and keep me feeling as though I am a person of value that God does indeed love.

So I'm sitting here writing my thanks and the dust is still on the tables and the cobwebs are still in the corners. But I will eventually take care of those things, but for now, thanks be to God I have a house to dust! And well, just thanks be to God!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Daily Devotions

I signed up yesterday for a daily devotion to be delivered to my e-mail address. The ultimate in geeky faith life I guess. I had signed up with another devotional about 2 years ago. The author struck a chord with me and every post (okay, ALMOST every post) was wonderful and spiritual. All those things I needed to hear at my desk in work where my faith and spirituality are constantly undermined by snide remarks and snarky comments. But the author has begun a new chapter in his life and posting his devotions "just ain't gonna happen" every day. So I've been high and dry for a while now. The funny thing is, I didn't really notice the lack of readings and faith touch stones until I began to find myself being snide and snarky without even thinking about what I was doing. I needed a fix.

The new devotions don't seem as dynamic as the other. They don't quite reach me in the same place, but that's okay. I need something to tether me to my savior, it's a cinch I wasn't swimming in the right direction on my own. And who knows? Maybe I'll begin to develop an appreciation for the new devotionals. My well was pretty dry. And a trickle of water is better than being thirsty.