Chasing fireflies

There are traces of light out there.
These lights are teasing me to make chase.

They bob, and flicker, and weave their way into my sideways glances.
I almost catch them, but when I turn to see them straight on - they disappear.

Some days, I think it would be good if they'd all gather together in one place.
Then I could see what was far down the path clearly , with the help of their glow.
But then again, I think half the fun of fireflies is the hide and seek dance they do.

With my jar in hand, I will go out into the field at sunset.
I will run.
I will seek.
I will be present in the place of their flickering light.
For a moment, I will hold them inside my mayonnaise jar
with holes punched in the lid.

Then, I will unscrew the lid, turn the glass upside down and patiently wait as the fireflies buzz away in a trail of on, off, on, off flickering light.

Fireflies are far much lovelier when they are free.

T.L. Eastman June 2010

Something about CONVO time

In less than 24 hours I will be heading to Rochester NY for the ELCA Youth Convo. My car will be packed with:
My guitar
Luggage
Prayer Space supplies
Laptop
Two teens and their belongings
and my ART SUPPLIES.

I will be serving as Chaplin for the event and with the help of Pastor Laurie,
we worked out the plan for the next SIX days!
It's part adventure.
It' part road trip.
It's part spiritual retreat.
It's part wow I need to get some sleep, but I'm SO EXCITED!

It's all CONVO and I'll try to keep you posted on the happenings as best I can.
Please keep all 20 students, and 12 staff in your prayers - it will be an amazing, challenging and exciting time for this newbie staff person.

By the way, did I tell you they have a pool where we are staying???

CANNONBALL!

Mrs. C and Jesus

Here is part of an ongoing conversation that is a part of the small group ministry of First Lutheran Church of Jamestown NY. If you would like to join in on the online discussion follow the link to the Holy Conversations Group on Facebook.

When I think of Jesus, my earliest association with him came from my childhood growing up in Sunday school and church. There was a Christmas pageant that baby Jesus was the literal star of and I was one of the myriad of angels singing "Oh come let us adore him", there was communion in worship where his crucifixion story was told - the emphasis of the entire sacrament was to REMEMBER Jesus.

My childhood was filled to the brim with Jesus and my early religious education made Jesus the face of God for me.

In Mrs. Cartwright's classroom there was a picture of Jesus on the wall where he was surrounded by children from all around the world. I once had a dream where I was seated with Jesus and his full attention was on me. It was a dream that even as a child, I was a little self conscious to tell. After all, in my dream I was having a one-on-one conversation with Jesus. That, I have to tell you made me feel rather special.

When I finally told Mrs. C about the dream, she celebrated the fact. She was wise to encourage my faith in Jesus and in the fact that he loves me and wants an ongoing relationship with me. I think she also made the emphasis that we all have the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with Christ - in that way all the children in my class were included and I felt less self-conscious in sharing my story with the class.

For me, it is hard to imaging my believing and faith to be in anyone or anything else when it's brought to nuts and bolts. Jesus seems as if he's been walking with me all my life. This is not to say that I've never had any crisis's of faith or doubts along the way - but somehow I always ended up taking to Jesus about those circumstances.

There are a variety of things that people can invest their lives in and many great causes and goals to attain, (goodness, love, hope and so on) but when push comes to shove and the challenges in life are overwhelming - Jesus has been my cornerstone. When everything else runs dry, Jesus is still there for me - and I know it's not just a childhood dream. Jesus is my reality, my hope and my glue in a way nothing else can compare.

Image from the blog Living Hope.

Hitting the ground ---flying.

Image from blog Inadvertent Farmer.

When I was little I used to imaging the wind lifting me up just that little bit to make me run just a little faster. Sometimes if the wind would be blowing hard and I was running down a hill, so fast that my legs would fall into place - one after the other - that I thought that was what it was like to fly.

I so wanted to fly as a child.

Some days as an adult, I think I still want to fly - but my motivation is more on what or how much I can accomplish... not the free-flowing-abandon-filled-sprint-down-a-grass-covered-hill-and-not-caring-if-I-fall-in-the-mud-and-laugh-my-head-off.

I think that life may be filled with more wisdom if grow-ups took the time for flying lessons. I think our days would be much more lively and joyful too.
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See you later gators, I'm off in search of a steep hill, and strong gust of wind and that little girl with pigtails I used to know so well. We're going hill flying for a while...

Speak the truth

It's not the shaking that people will notice, as long as you are speaking the truth.