Archives for May 2012
Redeeming the Time
True Confessions: The TSP Book Club
my six areas are in pretty decent balance.
Joining once again with the gang over at Tweetspeak, hoping they will not give up on me just yet.
You can check out the other posts in this collection by going here:
Again and Again – Soaking in the Beauty with People We Love
We went there first in 1980. And we left our kids at home for the first time ever. They were 8, 10 and 12 and my parents came and stayed in our home, schlepping them hither and yon for two and a half weeks while we flew across the Pacific to check out the 50th state.
That time we went with another couple, island-hopping to get the lay of the land. But we knew from the very first touchdown on that northernmost and oldest of the islands that we would be back in that place, kids in tow, just as soon as we could possibly make it happen.
And two years later, we did it. All 5 of us sharing a 1-bedroom condo, air mattresses on the floor, mosquitoes buzzing, frogs chirruping by the thousands.
Quiet for the Weekend
– Robert Henri
– Rainer Maria Rilke
“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach–waiting for a gift from the sea.”
– Anne Morrow Lindbergh
“Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves to imagine.
A beach not only permits such inertia but enforces it, thus neatly eliminating all problems of guilt.
It is now the only place in our overly active world that does.”
– John Kenneth Galbraith
“I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like
– Helen Keller
– Jill Davis
Five Minute Friday: Opportunity
For the first time in a very long time, I’m joining with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for her 5-Minute Friday link-up. Five minutes for free-writing – no editing, no over-thinking, no re-do’s. JUST WRITE.
Today’s prompt? OPPORTUNITY
GO:
They say it only knocks once – but I remain unconvinced.
Seems to me, it comes ’round the door on a regular basis.
Question is: Do we hear it?
Do we see it?
Sometimes I’ve been paying attention and I grab onto it for all I’m worth.
Like the time I met this brown-eyed guy at a college mixer and said, “Yes. Yes, indeed.”
Or the time that same brown-eyed guy said, “Hey, I’m heading to Africa for two years. Wanna come along?” Oh, yeah, that one was definitely not to be missed.
And then there were those three surprises – well 2 out of 3, anyway. Each of them the most golden of all the opportunity-knocking I had yet encountered. Not.to.be.missed.
Then there was this weird kind of soft tapping that began somewhere inside my gut and gradually spread to my heart and my brain. A tap-tap-tap that said, “Come with Me, dear one. Test your wings – try seminary. You’ll like it.”
And I did.
And then maybe the scariest one of all came while I was enjoying the student life after 22 years. This one came gently, in the voices of others, in the words of scripture and finally, as an almost visible LED readout across my forehead: “I want you to be my minister.”
Wow.
And now, even now, I hear that tapping from time to time. Opportunity keeps showing up.
May I have the wisdom to see, to hear. And the courage to say, “Why, yes! I’d love to.”
STOP.
Resistance & Rebellion – Living with My Inner Artist
Beauty in the Backyard
All my life, I’ve been a reader – I.love.books – all kinds of books. And some of them have been formational for me, sometimes in ways I didn’t fully recognize at the time I initially read them.
Today, I’m talking about one of those books – over at Sheila Seiler Lagrand’s place.
This one I read almost 50 years ago – can you imagine?
And I just downloaded it to my Kindle and read it again.
Come on over and find out why it was such a key piece of my own story.
Sheila is a most gracious hostess and I’m sure you’ll find lots of other interesting stuff to read while you’re there. You can find her by clicking here.
Lessons from the Vineyard
Weekends Are for Quieting
When to Write…
As a matter of principle, I seem to be late a lot. And I am very late in joining Lyla over at TweetSpeak Poetry for their book club reading of L.L. Barkat’s wonderful small volume on the craft of writing and the life of the writer. It’s called “Rumors of Water,”and I cannot encourage you strongly enough to read this one through. Mark it up, read it again, live with it a while – if you ever have occasion to write anything at all, ever, her words are wise and truly helpful. This is the last week and it’s on the last two sections of the book: “Glitches” and “Time.”