Tag Archives: Everyday Life

Sit Loose

10 Thursday Dec 2009

Posted by in Life at Home, Soul Care

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The dogs missed me today.  After all, they know that Thursdays are my homebody day.  Today I should have been sitting at my writing desk, but instead I was out and about, running around town tying up loose ends.

Well, that’s not exactly it.  I had planned to tie up a few loose ends in between attending to everyday life.  But I never had the time for loose ends.  All I did was sit around town, moving from one chair to the next. From laundromat to spiritual direction to the dentist, I sat for more than four hours today, not counting the sitting I did behind the wheel.

And I arrived home to happy, happy dogs and oh how I wish I’d taken time to sit with them a bit, so that we could have greeted each other properly.  But instead, I didn’t sit for three hours straight.  I immediately began making a fresh batch of Rocket Rolls to take with us to Texas.  And then I made a fresh batch of Tomato Basil Soup for tonight’s prayer group.  And in between all the baking, I began gathering things for our trip.

I didn’t sit down again until I was behind the wheel driving toward church.  And finally, after all the different chairs I sat in today, this one was the loveliest sit of all.  Just me and God tying up a loose end.

And as God said, when he was tying up his own loose ends, after a hard day’s work, it was good.  It was very good.

The However Psalmist

09 Wednesday Dec 2009

Posted by in Life at Home

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It feels good to have another session of Everyday God written.  It’s the last for the year and, since another will lead the group for a while, it’s my last for the next three months and maybe my last forever.  And as good as it’s been, it will be okay, however it turns out.

I’ve finally got a good lead on the direction of my Christmas letter.  So I pray  the idea pans out.  But I can’t begin this for a few days since I want to come at it fresh rather than tired and depleted.  I need rest.   And I know my tiredness has caused me not to deliver my personal best toward Everyday God.  But like squeezing that last little bit out of a tube of toothpaste, it was all I had.  It will be okay, however it turns out.

The temperature gauge continues to drop  — it will be a below freezing 16 degrees tonight — and soon it will be time for me to fly south for a little while.  I’m ready to read and visit with friends and take long walks on the beach and eat seafood.  And gosh I hope it’s warmer down there.  And I hope the sun is out and the skies are blue.  But even if it rains and the skies are gray, it will be okay, however it turns out.

Where Are Your People?

08 Tuesday Dec 2009

Posted by in Life at Home, Soul Care

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Annie with Mom's People

As I continue to write this week’s prayer practice, I’ve been wondering about other Mary-Elizabeth relationships that have existed through time.

My wondering grew personal during a retreat one year, when I was invited to reflect on a Mary from my own life.   I had no lack of Marys and  I sense that if we take time to think on it, we might  each find that we’ve had at least one Mary in our own lives who dropped everything to be by our side in our Elizabethan time of need.

Our Mary may have left loose ends swinging in the wind as she swished out her door so that she could rush into ours to help us pick up the loose ends and pieces of our lives.  She’s the person that made sure our physical needs were met without forgetting we needed emotional support as well.  She’s the one that gave us hope that all would be well as soon as we received word that she was on her way.  And  though we tried not to let our mind go there, we knew she’d be the one we could count on until the dreary end, if life didn’t match up to our best hopes.  Through her mere presence, our Mary carried the Divine into our lives, just as the Virgin Mary did for Elizabeth all those years ago.

I’ve been thinking of the times I’ve tried to play the part of Mary.  And I’ve been thinking of the times when I was forced to play the role of Elizabeth, waiting for help and hope to arrive.  Mom mostly played the part of my Mary;  and when the time came  in her own life, Mom had no shortage of Marys.  I was one of them.  My sister and her sisters were others.

But two of these were not just Mary’s, they were my mother’s people.  Christi and Jane were anointed this title by my niece Annie, back when Annie was not much beyond the first or second grade.

It happened when Annie walked into Mom’s house one day to find Mom working alone in the kitchen.  Normally, Annie would arrive to find Aunt Jane and my sister Christi working by Mom’s side.  But on that particular day, for whatever reason, Jane and Christi hadn’t yet arrived.

Looking around, Annie asked Mom, “Where are your people?

“My people?”  “Oh, do you mean your Aunt Jane and Aunt Christi?”  Yes, that was exactly who Annie meant.

“Yes.  Where are your people?”

“Oh, they’re not here yet.  But they’ll be here soon.”

I think it was then and there that Annie learned the names of Mom’s people.  And though she calls them by their proper names now, I think  Mary might do in a pinch.