Uphill idealist

Image found at Kobos Coffee. This weekend is time for me to steep a bit. I'm on retreat and on Friday I was having a hard time disengaging from my life as I know it. I came across a great scripture on my blogging friend Dianne's blog and it hit me right between the eyes. Matthew 6:33-34: Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. (The Message) The first word stands out to me so much. I love tea and know that a good tea needs to steep just right in order to be perfect. Not to short or its weak, not to long or it gets bitter tasting. May I steep in the waters of God in order to be strong, refreshing, fragrant and comforting as a perfect cup of Earl Gray. Just for the fun...

Taking a break from the rush of my life. Going somewhere where I feel no connection to: faces I know, names I know, places I know. Should I take a few days? Should I take a few days? Getting re-focused and establishing space; to listen, to pause, to wander on a walk with an unspecified pace. Talking and writing and doing I do best; but time outs without defined purpose are difficult and challenging quests. I should take a few days, I should take a few days. A friend said, you may not know the purpose, but Papa knows the way. So I suppose I should hang up my drivers seat for a few short days. Its just a few days, its just a few days. So I'll make some new friends and relearn to play, like slumber parties of my youth and its unstructured way. I will take my few days, I will take my few days. Image ironically found at a blog called: Mom's time out.

About this time of year in the north east, it's necessary to liven up the cold and greyness around us with a little random fun. So the first Friday evening of March, I'm planning a "Darby O'Gill" movie and fun night at my church. The evening will be complete with a showing of the film, green punch, and a Pot-O-Gold treasure hunt. You never know, I may even need the help from an authentic leprechaun or two. Any takers? If so, come on by to First Lutheran on March 6th at 6:30pm. Be sure to wear green and bring a snack to share. Time has come to whoop it up with a little silliness and blarney cause spring is on the way! Hooray.

Ian and I the summer of 1992 - a few months after our wedding. It turns out I had just found out I was just expecting my daughter in this photo. In the wake of Myspace, Facebook re-connections and looking through old photos last weekend, I stumbled across this poem by Tony Hogland at the Writers Almanac online . His poem reminds me of my youth, I was full of energy, passion, and possibility and I like how his own reflection captures a touch of what I felt at age seventeen. Minus the drunk part of course (Mom), and the fact that we've never driven away from our love for each other (Ian) . I only live twenty or so miles from where I grew up. I lived in the woods, we got our groceries in a literal one-stop-light town, and I still managed to find love. Imagine that. How lovely, even through all its transitions, that the love I met at seventeen is still with me and loves me in return. That is something I'll never take for granted. Thank you Ian for loving me. Here's to the pas...

Image found at Future Media Taking a step into uncharted creative territory is always a double-edged sword. There is the risk of criticism and the question of ability or talent on one side, and the reward of connecting an idea, thought, and life experience on the other. In fifth grade I had a teacher who took the double-edged rick of teaching her students to excel. In the midst of her great effort, she taught me that I had a distinct voice in what I wrote. It's because of her early teaching about poetry and literature that I still write today. To tell the truth, writing is something that has saved my life, many times over. Thank you for teaching me that I have a unique voice Mrs. Hodak. On days in my childhood and adolescence when I was incredibly sad: like when my sister passed away at the tender age of fifteen, when my family was numb with grief, when I thought that life would have been better for my family had I been the one that had died; writing gave me place to safely express...

I've been thinking the last few days how it truly takes a community and the participation of many to accomplish great things. I can write up to do lists and make plans for all sorts of things in my own life, but if I don't connect and make contact with others in my "village", what is the point? The last week or so I'd been working on a fundraiser project with my friend Jeff, owner of Labyrinth Press Company , the students from my church and so many friends and family. We held a "Souper Bowl of Caring" non-perishable good collection and a soup luncheon fundraiser. Jeff made the posters and FOUR different kinds of fantastic vegetarian soup, I made centerpieces and got the odds and ends organized, and the students helped serve lunch and cleaned up after the event on Sunday. We raised $343.00 that we are going to split between Joint Neighborhood Project and Saint Susan's Center , as well donating some large boxes full of canned goods. Events like this t...

Today I'm thankful for: Friends and family that helped, attended, and supported the Souper Bowl of Caring lunch. Time to rest after a hectic weekend. Getting over that nasty cold. Life's connections with people growing and building in relationship to/with each other. Jeff's Potato and Cheese soup. Finding the install disks for Mom's and our Mac. Valentine's Dinner with my husband. :) God's Grace, always and forever in need of God's grace and love. Image found at Passionate Writing