Advent

The Christmas displays are already out in every mall, department store, Target store and Walmart across America.

If this bothers you as much as it bothers me, please consider joining the Advent Consipiracy.

Or failing that, just watch the video below.

Watch.
and...
Ponder.
and...
Dream....
...of a kinder, gentler, safer world.

Green

Youngest daughter is one slammin chicka in her fuzzy green hat and boa!

She's such a lovely child.

Words cannot begin to capture the beauty of her spirit, or her humor, or her kindness.

I love her.

...and if you knew her, you would too!

Balls

This disembodied barbie head is my van's antenna ball topper!

Is that funny, or what?

You can't see it in the picture, but just below the barbie's head is a disarticulated plastic skeleton sitting atop an orange straw.

One of my delightful progeny took it upon themselves to decorate my antenna.

I think it's hilarious.

There's just something about a disembodied barbie head antenna ball topper that brings a smile to my face.

....and judging from the reactions of other drivers when I'm out and about, my antenna is cause for others to smile too!

Links

Below are four links to some pretty incredible websites.

I encourage you to take a few moments and explore each one.

Let me know what you think!

View a breathtaking Bible.
Be sure to watch the whole video.

Help bring water to families in Hale, Alabama.
Just click the house to advance the presentation.

Experience love, light and melody.
Awesome photography...soul crushing.

Explore a grassroots love project committed to living tangible acts of service for the benefit of others.
Artistic tees that rock my world.

Wildness

Next week, God willing, I will be celebrating 13 years clean and sober.

That's a miracle, pure and simple.

When I was newly sober, I discovered Joan Osborne's album, "Relish". It was raw. It was gritty and I loved every song.

This past September, Joan released a new album entitled, "Little Wild One." It's a softer kind of album and oddly enough, it fits the person I am today. I'm kind of softer too.

Some of you know that I am currently experiencing my own "dark night of the soul".....a deep and dry absence of God's presence. This morning I was listening to Joan Osborne's title track, "Little Wild One".

As I did, I pretended Jesus was singing this song to me, that I was his "little wild one." I pretended that instead of Joan, it was Jesus singing his longing for me, vocalizing His heart's desire for me to turn to Him so that he might fully heal and eternally embrace me.

It was a poignant moment for me. It was a moment when God suddenly did not seem so very far away...a moment where God actually seemed real and alive.

....anyhow, here's a YouTube video of Joan Osborne discussing her album and the song "Little Wild One."

I love this song....

Joan Osborne discusses "Little Wild One"

Correlations

Morality and the Economic Crisis
N. Gordon Cosby

I have a friend who is an attorney with a deep knowledge of the national economic crisis. He made two interesting comments:

He first said that "liquidity" is not the real problem in the market right now---it is that no one knows what anything is worth. So much stuff of questionable value is hidden on balance sheets that buyers no longer know if something is worth what it is trading for, less, or more. So no one really knows how bad things are and cannot put an efficient, valid price on things. In other words, blindness about value. That destroys the logic of the "free market" because efficiency is based on "transparency" of value.

Second, he said that as a result of the first problem of blindness about value, it is difficult to know if persons you are selling to can meet their commitments to you. In other words---blindness about the solvency of parties in the market. That also kills an "efficient" market because it destroys the needed trust that makes the market work.

In spiritual traditions of all kinds, blindness is an old theme----people who corruptly set out to blind others end up blind themselves. We ignore that wisdom at our peril. Morality, once again, is proven to be fundamental to an efficient marketplace.

Source: Conversation with a friend, September 28, 2008

Oh my!

Castles

Over the weekend I read Jeanette Walls' memoir, "The Glass Castle".

It's an amazing and beautifully written book.

The following is a video clip of Jeannette Walls and her mother talking about "The Glass Castle".

Listen to what the author has to say, and if you think you might like to read this book, let me know and I'll give my copy to you.

Jeannette Walls and "The Glass Castle"

Holes

On the way to school this morning, Youngest Daughter sighed wistfully and said, "I miss Oldest Daughter."

I replied, "I miss Oldest Daughter too!"

To which Youngest Daughter quickly responded, "No Mom, it's not the same. You had 18 years with Oldest Daughter and I only had seven. I'm missing 11 years with Oldest Daughter."

...and you know what?

I hadn't really looked at it that way before.

Even though we know that Oldest Daughter hasn't died and even though we know she's only an hour up the road, we still grieve her absence in our daily lives.

For the time being anyhow, Oldest Daughter's absence has torn a little hole in the very heart of our life together as a family. It's just a tiny hole, not a mortal wound; but knowing that doesn't really make it hurt any less.

I suppose you could say that the hole in our family's heart is kind of like a paper cut on your finger. It stings, it bewilders, but ultimately we know that it will heal.

....and life goes on.

Transition

I still remember the moment when I first learned that I was pregnant with Oldest Daughter.

I remember the moment she first moved in my womb.

I remember the moment she was born.

I remember her first poop, her first illness, her first smile, her first birthday.

....and I shall never forget this day, for today was the day that Oldest Daughter moved into her college dorm.

She's only been gone for a few hours.

I miss her already.

Celebrate

It's official.

This evening I was elected Vice Chair of our city's Social Services Advisory Board.

....and if I weren't too damn sick to celebrate, I'd have a glass of sparkling cider to commemorate this auspicious day.

God help us all.

Pickled!

Youngest Daughter loves pickles!

Thus, we spent our afternoon at our local farmer's market shopping for the perfect pickling cucumbers. Each and every cucumber we purchased was hand selected by the sweet fingers of my youngest child.

The vendors at our favorite organic produce stand smiled happily as we oohed and aahed over their gorgeous stalks of dill weed. They patiently helped us pick out the most tantalizing cucumbers and then cheerfully explained the differences between the four varieties of garlic they had nested in overflowing baskets next to the cioppino onions and shallots.

We came home inspired by all that we had learned. Inspired to pickle!

At this very moment, four quarts of the most amazing, most blazingly beautiful refrigerator pickles sit cooling on our kitchen counter.

Anne Morrow Lindberg once wrote, "When I cannot write a poem, I bake biscuits and feel just as pleased."

Me?

I cannot solve all of the complex issues of poverty and loneliness that afflict so many of my neighbors, but you know what? When I visit the farmer's market and listen to the wisdom of the men and women who grow my food, when Youngest Daughter and I lovingly hand select cucumbers and make refrigerator pickles to share with our neighbors.....well I'm just as pleased.

And my neighbors?

Well, their problems don't magically evaporate, but when we share our jars of briny goodness with our neighbors, we become connected to one another, connected to the farmers who grow our food, and connected to the God who loves us all....connected by a simple jar of pickles.

I happen to think that's something worth celebrating!

Remembering

Sad Song


I love Shaun Groves....

.....and this song is a moving tribute to 9/11 and all that has transpired since.

Jerri De Prez

Do you long to see a real change in American politics?

Are you tired of the same ole, same ole?

Pfft!

Your lamentations are over.

That's right, I'm running for the Presidency of the United States of America!

Check out this INews report and see for yourself!

Balance

1988 Paul Hunt Gymnastics Comedy Beam Routine

Is this funny, or what?

Conformist

....ok, so I watched Governor Palin's RNC address Wednesday evening.

Her smiling sarcasm did not appeal to me.

Governor Palin isn't a maverick. She isn't different. She's just more of the same.

Palin

Sarah Palin will be speaking at the RNC tonite.

I'm curious to hear what she has to say.

Rumor has it, that she intends to slam Barack Obama.

I hope Governor Palin sticks to the issues.

I somehow doubt that she will.

I won't be voting for her anyway; but still, this is an historic moment. I hope Governor Palin will rise above partisan politics and speak her peace without trying to tear any other person down.

Ms. Palin claims she's a Christian. For me, proof of that won't be in found in Governor Palin's professed love for the Republican Party, or in her professed love for the United States of America. No, for me the proof will be found in how well she demonstrates love for her professed enemies....people like me, a liberal Democrat.

This whole convention business sickens me. As far as I can see, both parties have done nothing more than set aside four day extravaganzas devoted to their own self-indulgent behaviors and hate speech.

In the end, I doubt that Governor Palin with all of her party's claims about being an Evangelical Christian and a political maverick will be much different than anyone else.

And so it goes....ad nauseum

Ruined

Dangeous Activity
Joan Chittister

Those who have no flame in their hearts for justice, no consciousness of responsibility for the reign of God, no raging commitment to human community may indeed be seeking God. But make no mistake, God is still, at best, only an idea to them, not a reality.

Indeed, contemplation is a very dangerous activity. It not only brings us face to face with God. It brings us, as well, face to face with the world, face to face with the self. And then, of course, something must be done.

Nothing stays the same once we have found the God within.... We carry the world in our hearts: the oppression of all peoples, the suffering of our friends, the burdens of our enemies, the raping of the Earth, the hunger of the starving, the joy of every laughing child.

~Source: http://www.30goodminutes.org/

Joan Chittister sums of my experience so very, very well.

My heart is aflame with a burning desire to see God's Kingdom come and to see justice realized for all of the oppressed people of the world.

My hungry stomach rumbles alongside the starving.

My back is bent with the shared suffering of my friends.

My soul aches for the raping of our earth.

The moment I met the Living Lord, Jesus Christ, God ceased being a theological abstraction.

...and that moment has forced me to live out my life's greatest paradox.

I find myself completely ruined, yet saved at the same time.

Strange but true,

...for me at least.

Choices

"Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear, only love can do that. Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it."
page 35 of "Soul Survivor" by Philip Yancey

Let's see, if I had to choose between love and hatred......

....hmmmm, I think I'd choose love.

Which would you choose?

Introducing....

Tenth Avenue North



Awesome band.

Awesome music.

Awesome message.