Images of Love

My favorite images of love, at least today, are...

(1) Psalm 103
(2) My daughter Elyse "mothering" her little brother...
(3) the gospel of Luke, chapter 15
(4) the beatitudes in Matthew 5
(5) notes from classmates of Elyse on the Caring Bridge
(6) three women from church doing spring cleaning for us
(7) the hug of a friend
(8) making Christmas cookies on Dec 24
(9) holding hands
(10) and this great story...

An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put her by his side, and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the least among all of you is the greatest" (Luke 9:46-48).

Leisure

This was one of Garrison Keillor's featured poems on today's edition of The Writer's Almanac.


Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.


Leisure. By William Henry Davies

Space for God by Don Postema

There are a few books which are so significant and so full of depth, books which, for me, have been life-changing and transformational, books that are sometimes difficult to explain, describe, or discuss with a friend who hasn’t read them, other than to say, “You need to read this book!”

Are there any books like that for you? (Hey, this might make a good Facebook list.)

Anyway, by way of example, here are four very different books which have been transformational for me, books of significance, books I will read again sometime soon:

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Bread for the Journey by Henri Nouwen
Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

And then there is Space for God by Don Postema. I am so glad our church has a Saturday morning small group walking through the book together. They will be changed. I cannot review this book adequately, at least not today. The best I can do is to let Don Postema speak for himself by sharing a brief quotation from each of the first four chapters:

Making Space

If we are to live with any authenticity, we must join those “saints and poets” who grasp life at depth. To live so deeply is a special challenge, for it is so easy to be superficial. We are so busy….

Perhaps we need to flop into a chair more often—before we are exhausted. We need more leisure time to touch those inner dimensions of our lives, to ask some fundamental questions, or just to be.

I Belong

Most of us know that feeling of being alone, isolated. It’s not the same as choosing to be alone once in a while, or being independent at times. It’s the feeling that no one is near, that no one remembers….

Even when events and people say, “You don’t belong,” God’s gentle voices reassures us: “You do belong—to me.” Knowing that [we belong to God] does not solve all our problems, but it can give us a perspective on loneliness. It can help us understand that we do not have to be greedy for attention as a solution to loneliness, we do not have to cling to people for our identity. We get our identity from God.

Gratitude Takes Nothing For Granted

Greed grabs. Gratitude receives….

Gratitude takes nothing for granted. When you are truly grateful, you recognize not only the dinner someone prepared as a gift, but also become aware of the person who prepared it. You are cognizant of the concern it took for someone to call, to send a card, to give a compliment. You are aware of the love involved in a routine offer to do the dishes, fix a leaky faucet, take out the garbage. You may get a glimpse at the wonder of friends and family….

Gratitude is the appropriate response to belonging.

Gestures of Gratitude

Gratitude recognizes that a gift has been given, a favor has been done by someone. There is a gift and a giver. But there is more. Gratitude also calls for a response to that gift. We thank the giver with an expression of appreciation—a handshake, a hug, a note. A gesture of gratitude completes the exchange, closes the circle, lets the love flow back to the giver…..

Actually, the exchange is more like a spiral than a circle—a spiral in which the giver gets thanked and so becomes the receiver, and the joy of giving and receiving rises higher and higher.

Your life is a sacred journey

Reading this was a blessing to me...
It was one of those things you sometimes come across, that, almost immediately, rings true.

Blessings to you and all those who love you.

Peace Love & Coffee,
Randy

Your life is a sacred journey
And it is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly & deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous risks, embracing challenges at every step along the way.
You are on the path
exactly where you need to be right now...
And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing, of courage, beauty, wisdom, power, dignity & love.

-Caroline Joy Adams

Dancing with Joy

I will begin what I know will feel like a "short" three-day retreat tomorrow morning after driving the kids to school and dragging the garbage and recycling out the curb. If you know me at all, you probably can understand how it is often a temptation for me to take along more than I could ever read, to take along a dozen books when it would be more profitable to focus on one. Or to focus just on a page or two. So this time I've been striving to be minimalistic in my planning. And I'm taking along just one book, a compilation of 99 poems edited by Roger Housden, Dancing with Joy. Just one, thin book. Quite something for me.

Along with the book, just these supplies: a journal with plenty of blank pages, two fountain pens, a one-page printout of John 3:14-21 in two versions, and a photocopy of one of my favorite, joyful poems (which isn't in the book)--Naomi Shihab Nye's poem "So Much Happiness."

So Much Happiness
for Michael

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.
With sadness there is something to rub against,
a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.
When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to pick up,
something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs or change.

But happiness floats.
It doesn't need you to hold it down.
It doesn't need anything.
Happiness lands on the roof of the next house, singing,
and disappears when it wants to.
Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house
and now live over a quarry of noise and dust
cannot make you unhappy.
Everything has a life of its own,
it too could wake up filled with possibilities
of coffee cake and ripe peaches,
and love even the floor which needs to be swept,
the soiled linens and scratched records...

Since there is no place large enough
to contain so much happiness,
you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you
into everything you touch. You are not responsible.
You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit
for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it,
and in that way, be known.

From Words Under the Words: Selected Poems. Naomi Shihab Nye. Far Corner Books, 1995.

Maybe I'll just leave the book at home and take the poem and the scripture and the blank notebook, and see what might flow out of my pen. Or maybe I'll just spend three days thinking about the night sky and the moon, and about being truly known... and loved.

Peace Love & Coffee,
Randy

New in Town

Well, thanks to Tom for passing this trailer along to me. I've been sharing it with family and friends and laughing every time I watch it. I think it's gonna be a great movie. Of course, I loved FARGO and AMERICAN BEAUTY, too, so some of you might not trust my judgment. :) Anyway, check out this trailer for a good laugh. And if you're from around our neck of the woods, watch for the "Welcome to New Ulm" sign.

Live like you were dyin'

Only recently a really, really good friend -- who, like me, has eclectic tastes in music, art, food, exercise, and life in general -- reminded me that Tim McGraw is the son of former Phillies baseball pitcher Tug McGraw, and introduced me to some music that I've really fallen in love with. True confession time... I've always told folks I like all good music... but in my mind I've always made an exception for rap and country. Please don't take offense NASCAR fans, but I'd rather read a book. Same goes for watching golf on TV, if that makes a difference. :)

Anyway, I may still prefer Minnesota Public Radio to the "new country station," but I will now accept any Tim McGraw CD for Christmas! If you're so inclined.

Peace, love, and coffee,
Pax, agape, and java,
Randy