old shoe

We've been in the process of moving for about 6 weeks.  The boxes are all empty, the pictures are up. It's beginning to feel like home. It's a small house but my husband says it feels like an old shoe---broken in and comfortable.

Life is good when it's "broken in and comfortable." It's a bit of a strange feeling for this "girl" who often has enjoyed a perspective of "what next?" I'm thinking, hoping  "what next" is a quiet pleasure in watching the changes in this neighborhood when the trees bloom, watching how the sun plays on the mountains behind us, watching the grandchildren grow and laugh.

Even more than those things I'm thinking "what next" means time to focus on personal, spiritual growth....time to be more patient..."Please have patience with me in this endeavor"...time to remind myself to "Live the life I have and love those I love"...time to remind myself to give others time ...everything doesn't have to be on my time.

That kind of shift would be "metanoia." It would not be just a resolution to be more patient but a real shift in how the voices in my head tell me to do things. It would be a calming of those voices..a letting go of the tenseness in my body. It would be living life in a broken in old shoe.

This will take prayer... asking God to be with me in this. It's not something I do myself. It is a gift from God.

I pray you will join me in this---that your life, too, can be "broken in and comfortable."

Blessings-Penny

nothing to say

Most days when I sit to write a note on this blog, I have something I have recently seen or read or experienced I'd like to share. However today it has been 6 days since I have written and I really can't think of much to say.

I'm beginning to think that is a blessing.

I need to thank God for the quiet and peace of the last few days.

I pray there have been moments of quiet and peace for you. Do you treasure those moments? Do you thank God for them?

Blessings-Penny

missed opportunity?

My teenage grandson called yesterday morning. We don't talk often. We have never lived close to him and only see each other about twice a year. But by God's gift we have a connection.
When we do visit we usually take a walk and I ask pretty personal questions about his life. So yesterday was no exception.

How is school? What is the best thing? What is the hardest thing? What are your thoughts about college...career?

He loves a work out program called "cross fit" so he talked about what that is about...why he loves it...how it might lead him to a college major in electrophysiology.

How is your love life? Tell me about her.

What I didn't ask---even though I thought about it...was, "How is your spiritual life?" He knows my spiritual life is important to me so he probably would not have been surprised at the question. What makes me reluctant to raise that question to him or to bring it up in other conversations when the topic is around important things in our lives?

I guess one thing is I don't want to seem like some fanatic but really...because of one question?! How has naming the name of Jesus become something I am uncomfortable doing?

Can I write him a letter thanking him for the phone call and in that letter ask the "spiritual" question?
Can I become more authentic in sharing my belief that all these good things come from
God?

Can you share that with someone? Do you believe your recovery is a gift from God?

Blessings-Penny

"Live the life you have..."

That reminder that was in my previous blog has been on my mind a lot the last few days. We have only been in our new house a couple of weeks. We've met a few neighbors. Night before last there was an ambulance and fire truck across the street. Yesterday another neighbor said the man in that house had died---smoking and drugs were the rumored causes.

This morning was a note from a nephew of his new baby girl born on Thursday in Boston. Locally we are awaiting the birth of Hannah Elizabeth, grand daughter, due in 3 weeks.

"Live the life you have..." Joe and I spend a lot of time on "what would we do if..." We need to quit!! This house, this community, this life is the life we have. It meets all of our needs. Who ever guessed  Las Vegas would meet all of those needs? We are so blessed.

Birth---death---the life in between is what we have. It really is kind of amusing.We spend so much time on planning and then it works out to be "the life we have."

Dear God, today let us relax in the life we have and thank you for all the gifts.

Blessings-Penny

crazy world

Sometimes I step back and look this crazy world --the anger, the violence, the sarcasm that passes for humor--and wonder what has happened to mankind. (How's that for early morning meditation??) And then I acknowledge that all of this has been going on since Cain and Abel in biblical times and certainly through the world history of wars and oppression and slavery. We just don't get it, do we?

And sometimes when I'm in this mood, I consider the Ten Commandments---and all the ones I break even on a daily basis. "Keep holy the Sabbath---don't take the name of the Lord your God in vain...don't bear false witness..don't covet your neighbors goods."  And the greatest of these, "Love your neighbor as yourself." I just don't get, do I?

And then I consider the reminder of the nuns at the Benedictine Abbey, "It is good to live the life you have and love the people you love."

Can it really be that simple? Can I keep it that simple?

Blessings-Penny

patience

We have been moving the last month. It's a local move but a move is a move and it's the third one in three years---way too many. We have done much of the packing and moving ourselves, with help from family and finally the heavy stuff by a local mover.

Needless to say we are tired and our patience is tested. I find myself wanting to say "and why are we working on that now?!" as he pulls  the GPS out of a box and tries to get it working (when we aren't going anywhere!) When I mentioned my frustration to a friend she also told a story of frustration and impatience. They were having a Christmas Eve dinner for friends and family and a few minutes before guests arrived, her husband changed the vacuum cleaner bag in the middle of the living room...dust flying everywhere.  Now granted she had been asking him to change it for weeks but "why are we working on that now!?"

Then I read about  nuns at a Benedictine Abbey who have a tradition to deal with this very human experience of impatience.  Before any two or group of them start working on a mutual project, they bow to each other and say, "Please have patience with me in this endeavor."

What would our days look like if we started our days bowing to each other--husbands, children, co-workers--and each said, "Please have patience with me in this day?"

And especially,
"Dear God, please have patience with me this day."

Blessings-Penny

"room at the inn"

A loving Christmas story

A friend of mine, let's call her Ann, has a husband (we'll call him Steve)who has suffered from Parkinson's disease for many years. Ann has been his sole caretaker. Finally this last year she has found some support but as his condition deteriorates, the care is exhausting. They are a couple of limited means--he was a minister, she a counselor. Not high paying careers but two lifetimes dedicated to others. Their adult children are concerned but live hundreds of miles away.

This Christmas.their daughter (Carol), who lives in a large city several hours drive away, wanted Ann and Steve to spend Christmas with her and her husband. However Carol's townhouse could not accommodate her father's wheelchair. So Carol called a very upscale hotel in their city which was near the large church they wanted to attend for Christmas service. She wanted Christmas Eve to be a special treat. She booked rooms for all of them for Christmas Eve and told the reservationist why she wanted adjoining rooms and a little of her father's condition.

Upon arrival at the hotel, the families were told their reservation had been upgraded to the "Governor's Suite"---at no additional charge. The suite had something like 2 luxury parlors,4 luxury bedrooms, 4 luxury baths, soft white luxurious bathrobes for everyone. Carol posted a beautiful Christmas morning photo of all of them in their supersoft bathrobes opening gifts and breakfasting on delicious room service croissants and coffee. One might have thought they were part of the 1%.

The story still brings tears to my eyes. What a loving daughter. What a thoughtful hotel. Ann and Steve are a gentle, loving couple who deserve every kindness this world can offer.

There was "room at the inn" thanks to God's gifts of  love and kindness.

Can I share the gift of love and kindness today?

Blessings-Penny

 

Happy New Year

The close of 2014 was interesting here in Las Vegas. There were predictions of snow which had the local folks and visitors in various states of unrest. The television weather forecasters were great fun to watch as they attempted to predict Mother Nature. As often happens we had not even one flurry here in the valley.  I did hear from friends back east who said they were watching television and heard we were having snow. Another case of don't believe much of what you hear on tv.

What we did have was a lot of wind! Gusts were very significant. Wind always makes me a little restless. As I battled some of the gusts and watched the palm trees bend, I hoped that wind was blowing out 2014. The year had been one of significant health problems for close family members and with the coming of a new grand baby in February, I am praying for health and  peace for all. New Year, new baby, new hope.

And though I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, I pray to live into God's promises on a daily basis. Living into those promises comes in little steps. I pray to live into His promise of peace, of hope, of forgiveness. What a lovely year that would be!

I pray the same for you. Can you work with me on this?! How will this look in our lives?--peace-hope-forgiveness?

Blessings-Penny