Uphill idealist

Image at Montague County Historical Commission . A pod of two or three students gather in the slush and snow. Their breath entwines with cigarette smoke and chilled air and creates a man-made storm cloud. They scowl at the morning cold. They are waiting, for the friend in soggy sneakers to join them. Then the friend who forgot their gloves, and eventually the friend who always has some extra smokes to share. One by one, the pod of adolescents grows bigger, smokier, and louder. Laughter bounces off the huddle as they shake head to toe with the punch line of the newest joke. The group's grumpiness seems to melt away, with the addition of each friend trudging through snow drifts to join the almost mob. As snowflakes pile up on their eyelashes and scatter on the ground around them, they are content because they are all together in one place. They make a circle, complete now because not even one teen with snow soaked pants is missing. They are the many, that make themselves one huddle a...

I have many kid's books that I adore... Miss Spider's Tea Party , One Fish Two Fish , Where the Sidewalk Ends , and yes even the cute and colorful, "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" . In this story, a tiny little mouse eventually wears out an energetic young boy by his never-ending request for cookies, glasses of milk, straws to drink the milk and more. This fun and somewhat exasperating story has had much in common with my last week. Only I don't have a mouse to blame on all the requests at hand. The one setting up all the extra 'requests' has been none other than... me, myself and I. After a month and a half of working on a large mural project, it was completed on Saturday. There was some holiday shopping for work and my family accomplished and Sunday was a marathon day of Christmas program rehearsal, Vespers worship, Lucia shopping, Lucia and then a neighborhood Christmas dinner/sing-a-long and vollyball play-off tonight. In the midst of all this, my hubby...

It's that time of year that the days and nights begin to blur with a holiday buzz of activity. There are programs to go to, carols to be sung, cookies to be baked, presents to be wrapped (if they've been purchased yet.:)) and always one more thing to add to the to do list. A chorus of a favorite worship song of mine has been running through my mind all week... "Be still and know He, know He is holy. Be still and know he is God. " (Click on the title to hear the song, if you like.) Even in the midst of all the extra work and bustle, is it possible to be still in spirit? Sometimes I need to simplify, or be satisfied to do tasks in a few steps instead of in all one setting. Sometimes I need to say no instead of yes. Sometimes I need to take a deep breath and reflect upon the sweetness of days recently past. In these ways, I'm more still in spirit and less harried. Where have you felt the bustle in this last week, and where have you experienced a sweet stillness? In ...