Category: Challenge

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Nature, Surrender, Thanks, Worship

Torn Up!!

We have totally dismantled the office. My computer and the printer will be the last things to go this evening. We will lose our Wi-Fi for a bit also!! Oh the joy of moving and not moving. We are excited about the new flooring (all 9 boxes) but not the need to reassemble everything.

Does anyone know how to keep pill bugs out? Evidently they find a space where the carpet meets the wall. I found dozens of dead ones in the office closet where storage tubs have been stacked. I do not want to hire an exterminator.

I suppose we will live without the Wi-Fi and the luxury of our computers set up and ready to go. At least for one day! Not like we are in a storm ravaged part of the country where all belongings are gone. Not complaining, just musing how spoiled we are.

It has been above freezing for a few days here, yet plenty cold at night. Have terrible black ice to our front door. Still almost solid yards of snow from yard to yard in the subdivision. The sun came out and I under-dressed when I went outside. The wind is still cold! Oh right! Winter is still here.

Bob can walk across the top of this snow on the deck. It stormed snow, then ice. Then gradually thawed and refroze and we now have a permanent block until it gets warm enough to melt it all! Even the beagle was flummoxed what to do out there! She had about 2 feet next to house where she could sit. She gave up and came back in.

Last year we had practically no snow at all. This year has been the opposite. Just weeks ago people were asking if I thought this heat would ever end!

Stay warm! Rejoice that winter does not last 10 months! We will enjoy the daffodils and new leaves even more after all this!

“Bless the Lord, all rain and dew;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
65 Bless the Lord, all you winds;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
66 Bless the Lord, fire and heat;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
67 Bless the Lord, winter cold and summer heat;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
68 Bless the Lord, dews and falling snow;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
69 Bless the Lord, ice and cold;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
70 Bless the Lord, frosts and snows;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
71 Bless the Lord, nights and days;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
72 Bless the Lord, light and darkness;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
73 Bless the Lord, lightnings and clouds;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.

74 “Let the earth bless the Lord;
    let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.” Daniel 3:64-74

We people need to bless the Lord even with rain and dew, winds, fire and heat, ice and cold, frosts and snow, nights and days PRAISE HIM AND HIGHLY EXALT HIM FOREVER!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Challenge, Faith, Family, Music

Amazing Musical Family

On PBS we saw a documentary entitled “Seven Lives of Music.” It was absolutely amazing! Here is a 31 second tiny preview.

I was so enchanted I ordered the book their Mom wrote entitled “House of Music.” It had rave reviews on the cover and did not disappoint. Can you imagine raising seven highly talented, perhaps gifted, children? She also covers the topics of racism, inclusion, prejudice and sacrifice.

Then I began listening to their son Sheku who plays cello on Amazon Music. As a child his first cello was “1/4 size”! I am a sucker for cello music. Here is a short clip of him, 2.36 minutes. The song haunts me. I suppose I had heard it before but this one makes me stop and breathe deeply.

It was wonderful to read how others helped provide for the needs of this amazing family. An education and career in classical music is not inexpensive by any means. One clothing designer was so taken by Sheku’s talent that he provides designer suits and accessories for his concerts! Sheku was even invited to play at the Royal wedding. The 9 minute program below is from when they were featured on the American TV program Sunday Morning. It is quite enlightening as to how they go about their extraordinary, down to earth lives together! Having read the book I was tickled to see the inside of their home. Single income folks with Dad traveling all over the world with his job.

This book is an amazing story of family support, perseverance, and choices. They even include how they made it through the pandemic and the ways they were affected by the murder of George Floyd. If you are looking for a good read buy this one or get it from your library or order a used copy. There were times when Kadiatu (the mom) wrote above my head when discussing the challenges of various classical pieces, but I enjoyed it none the less!

Many comments on YouTube spoke about weeping over this song. The arrangement is their own. Redemption Song by Bob Marley.

Enjoy this huge treasure at the touch of your electronic fingertips!

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Humor, Praise

Yikes!

If you want to take your mind off your situation, try tearing up your office! We have talked for a year or two about replacing the nasty contractors white carpeting in our office and putting in vinyl flooring instead. It is difficult to roll our office chairs on this rug. And the rug now has stains of various kind on it.

Bob decided the beginning of this year was ideal to have it done. We went to the hardware store to pick out flooring. They arranged for someone to come measure with his handy dandy electronic measuring device. It took him maybe 5 minutes total?

They shipped the flooring to the house and put it in our garage. Later, via email they told us it had to come to room temperature in advance of installation. We asked Grandgirl Ellie, who is super strong from her gym workouts, to come help move it. She gladly did.

Our snowbird neighbors have been letting us use their empty garage throughout this storm. We are doubly grateful now since we need a place in our garage to put all this STUFF! So far, sounds simple, right? The closet floor is a major storage area for us with many tubs of items including two cases of printer paper. All of that needed to be cleared. (We rolled the larger case of paper to the garage on an old chair with wheels.)

Just the closet floor things here

We set up tables in the garage for the books. And I mean books! We have a lovely Amish built bookcase, but we had to empty it for the installers to move it out while they work.

Lamp and fans had to move, too!
Did I mention there are cookbooks, too?

There are two printers to dismantle as one was dying and we went ahead and bought the new one. As you may know, I call my husband “Mr. Tidy” because his living area is always tidy, including his desktop. My desk, on the other hand, is likely to be 3-6 inches deep with stuff.

So I will be busy and distracted the next few days. Might not get all the blog entries written between today (Saturday morning) and the times they usually post. This is my note from home.

Nothing like a huge mess to make you realized you do not need to keep some of that stuff! The new flooring will be wonderful! The dismantle and reassemble, not so much. But I am truly grateful for the distraction and the results will be great! So glad we do not have to remove the photos from the walls. That would be an undertaking, indeed!

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV

Posted on in Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Obedience, Poetry, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Rumi and Church

During a church discussion this theme arose without the poem below being read. Bob and I had not yet watched the movie in reference.

One woman mentioned how the movie Moana in 2016 was a guide to her when in a distressful situation, again I was convicted with the certainty that God will use anything to help and guide us. I spoke of the power of Radical Acceptance, a book by a Buddhist psychologist. When I read portions of the book later in the week and this poem, the pieces fell into place.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Radical acceptance, can mean entertaining unexpected visitors. Rumi says I am to meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Things happen to all of us that are unforeseen and can knock us out of our orbit. Do we resist like a stubborn donkey? or yield to the reality of what is and move forward? I cannot say I am able to meet the unexpected at the door and laughing, let them in. But I will learn to with God’s help!

At this website https://fivefortheroad.com/lessons-learned-disneys-moana/She writes the theme of Moana is self discovery and finding your way. She goes on to say family is so important, it’s okay to fail, follow your heart, and be brave.

I would add that whoever or whatever shows up at your door, do as Rumi says and entertain them all! Find your way through any upheaval with the help of the Lord. He is a Good Shepherd and knows every situation before we do, and He is not surprised or taken aback by anything.

Unlike me, I have an unruffled Father!

“In returning and rest I am saved, in quietness and trust will be my strength.” Isaiah 30:15a adapted. Keep still.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Braiding Sweet Grass

Ever since we traveled repeatedly to the areas of New Mexico I have been interested in American Indian life and lore. Actually, as a child my parents took us to Carlsbad Caverns National Park and that began my fascination. As we passed through Oklahoma and the plains states I became more aware of the Native Americans.

I recently came across this book Braiding Sweet Grass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. To me, she has such impressive titles to her credit! She is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. This is her second book. I saw it first in a national park bookstore. I was able to obtain it recently through our local library.

When we were in New Mexico I bought some braided sweet grass. It has several ceremonial uses. I have started to use it in the house only during spring and summer when we can have the windows open. I think it would be such fun to grow my own sweet grass and braid it. Have not explored that yet.

This section of the book links the lore to the science discussed in the video segment below. It just delights me!

In the old times, our elders say, the trees talked to each other. They’d stand in their own council and craft a plan. But scientists decided long ago that plants were deaf and mute., locked in isolation without communication. The possibility of conversation was summarily dismissed. Science pretends to be purely rational, completely neutral, a system of knowledge-making in which the observation is independent of the observer. And yet the conclusion was drawn that plants cannot communicate because they lack the mechanisms that animals use to speak. The potentials for plants were seen purely through the lens of animal capacity. Until quite recently no one seriously explored the possibility that plants might “speak” to one another.

There is now compelling evidence that our elders were right – the trees are talking to one another. They communicate via pheromones, hormonelike compounds that are wafted on the breeze, laden with meaning. …. The trees in a forest are often interconnected by subterranean networks of mycorrhizae, fungal strands that inhabit tree roots. Robin Wall Kimmerer

Once on a PBS show I learned about this fungi in the soil that makes it possible for trees to communicate with one another. https://www.pbs.org/video/fungi-help-trees-talk-pyxfdv/

The printed book, Braiding Sweet Grass, is 380-some pages long. I am not likely to finish it right now, but I wanted to bring it to your attention. Perhaps this sort of reading appeals to you, too? Maybe I will read it in full at a later time.

I think it would be absolutely delightful if communication between humans happen this way! Perhaps they do? There are times I will see a car that reminds me of someone. Sometimes I see that same sort of car 4 times in a single day. The first time I likely just think of that person. The second time I pray for them. The third and fourth time I am likely to text and ask if they are okay, letting them know I am lifting them in prayer. I firmly believe that God can use anything to further His kingdom. anything to get my attention and propel me towards obedience. Perhaps this a supernatural root system created between people through the power of the Holy Spirit? The Creator of the Universe could do that!! A supernatural root system between humans.

Irregardless of proof or no proof, yield to the Lord and do not neglect when the Holy Spirit puts someone on your heart or in your mind. We likely will never know this side of heaven the power of such obedience!

Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. James 5:16

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Marriage and Memories, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Trust

Why is This Important?

Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us. Selah Psalm 62:8 NRSVUE

I came across this verse the other morning. It spoke to me loud and clear. We all long for someone to listen to us. Yes, I believe every single one of us does!

This verse tells us that God is wiling to be that listener. If we want to be heard we have an obligation to build a relationship with God. An obligation to pour our heart out before Him. An obligation to learn that God is indeed willing to be a refuge for us.

This morning as the hired help from the landscape company came through the neighborhood cleaning driveways and sidewalks with hand snow shovels, Bob pointed out that one of them was wearing a garbage bag as a coat. I was appalled to see it when he came into view. I had taken out granola bars for them as they were finishing our drive. I learned the last time we had a big storm that they really appreciate the snack. Yes, indeed, the young man was wearing a sweatshirt and a garbage bag. Current temperature 21 and still snowing. I had bought a winter coat through Walmart at an unbelievably low price intending to donate it to the local coat drive. In the meanwhile, I had also found a thermal vest to donate. In good conscious I could not let this man go down the street with just a garbage bag for weather protection. All the other men had on winter coats and hoods, etc. So I came in the house and with Bob’s blessing went outside with the new coat for him. He did not give much away with his eyes. It seemed to fit him well. I asked him to give me the garbage bag. It was heavy duty, landscaper grade, so I assume the company gave it to him. When some of the guys began laughing I hollered, “No teasing!” In retrospect I should have pointed to myself and said “Mamacita!”

Who knows? Maybe that man asked God for a coat this morning? What about you? Have you spoken with the Lord today? Will you pour out your heart before Him today? Have you ever experienced Him as your Refuge?

The morning I came across the verse from Psalm 62, I was listening to this melody. It moved me to pour out my heart to Him.

(I recently discovered Sheku, but more about that another time.)

I tell the LORD things I do not tell others. I am certain others get tired of hearing about the chronic pain I have. I even get wearied of writing it down. There is a kind of relief though in knowing that God knows, and hears, and cares about me. So I tell Him. Refuge.

Years ago we assisted teaching a class at church about marriage. One of the tools we used was a word list. It can be helpful in journaling also. There were headings such as mad, sad, glad, afraid, confused, ashamed, lonely, high energy, low energy, uneasy, secure/confident, affectionate, free-and-easy. Under each of those headings are as many as 35 other words to elaborate that feeling. This sheet is helpful in communicating with your spouse, but also when communicating with the LORD. Here is a link to a similar chart. https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Practices-FeelingsSensations.pdf

Difficult to read, I get it.

I have a friend who says her husband has difficulty communicating. I wonder if this chart would be helpful to him? Of course, for it to help one must be willing to use it. Getting familiar with these words can certainly be a huge help towards pouring your heart out to God. This is at least a starting place for us. I advise journaling either on paper or electronically. There is something about anchoring your heart in words that make the outpouring more concrete.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us. Selah Psalm 62:8 NRSVUE

Maybe even more difficult than pouring out your heart is the first line, “Trust in Him at all times.” If you kept a diary as a child, it might have looked like this.

As an adult it can be more challenging to trust that no one will read your words if you can lock your journal. Of course, with online cloud storage , passwords and private vaults in the cloud it is much simpler to keep your words private.

Why not begin now? Just write a line or two. Perhaps choose a few words from the feelings list?

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Illness and Health

Inside Out

We have had a terrible cold going through our household. It is complete with all the nasty symptoms you never want to have from nose to throat to chest to headache to chills, no fever,etc. I find these times especially challenging. I do not know how to keep my primary focus upon God under these circumstances. I had one religious wise guy once ask “What are you doing under the circumstances?” Another groan for Christianity.

Never one, usually 5-6 tissues!

At the end of his life Saint Francis is quoted as saying, “I wish I had been more kind to Brother Ass.” That was his name for his own body.

I was reminded this morning of a poem I wrote in 1988. It is as follows Inside Out ©Molly Lin Dutina 1988

I want to live from the inside out,
Always within the center-down silence.
Having to struggle to get back to within
Is not the direction I choose. 

Teach me, Lord, and help to know
how to grow from the peaceful
Sanctuary within.

Show me please where I can go
to refresh our love.
Give me attitudes 
that will unravel me
from the sin which
so easily entangles.

Make me one with You, Lord,
so I will know how to be close
to all that is around me.

Help me, Father
and be glorified in my life.





So I suppose part of the answer is that Jesus differs so much from me because my body can still be subject to sickness? I do not have an explanation for why humans are so mightily distracted by illness in the physical body. If anyone figures this out, please let me know!

Until then I still long to live from the inside out, in contrast to coughing my blowing my insides out! Stay well, y’all!

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

A Book Returned

I loaned someone a book about 25 years ago. I lost track of where it went. (I maybe should write down who I loan to?) I usually put a sticker int he front of my books that reads: “Please return to Molly Dutina. She will eventually notice I am missing from her bookshelf, but she won’t have a clue who has me! (My phone number and then) no matter how long I’ve been gone.” She returned it recently. I do not know if she read it, hated or enjoyed it, no feedback. When I read books I own I usually mark a page number in the front cover with a few words that struck me at the time of reading. Here are a few of my notes inside my copy of God’s Joyful Surprise by Sue Monk Kidd, published 1987.

Page 67 “How strange that we tend to stand ankle-deep in the spiritual life even though the grounding depth of intimacy with God is the most nourishing experience of our lives and affirms our very being!“

Do you remember the Scripture about the depth of the water in Ezekiel 47, where the water was ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep and then swimming only deep? How strange we stand just ankle deep when the entire river is given to us.

Just the paragraph prior to the above quote Kidd wrote: “Though I wanted the safe, familiar world of before, I also wanted to follow the challenge of dwelling deep in God . . .in prayer . . in His presence. I could not choose; I could only sit on the fence with a foot in each pasture.”

She devotes the remainder of the book to how she found disciplines to help her explore and remain in that place of deep waters. So whereabouts are you? On the fence, ankle deep , or diving deep into the challenge of dwelling deep in God?

Is 2025 the year you finally dive into the river of God’s presence and learn to swim with Him? This book is a wonderful place to begin.

On page 208 she talks about the difference between ‘saying’ our prayers and the change of consciousness that helps us become prayer. “As we grow in the spiritual life, we come to think of Him as deep within us, in our thoughts, moods, feelings, aspirations. God flows inside us. He is our center. As we come to perceive God in this more intimate way, we are filled with a growing sensitivity to Him. We cannot separate ourselves from Him. “ Today this referred to as non-dualism.

Page 206 of my copy, which is 248 pages before the notes, she not only quotes Brother Lawrence, Paul on pray without ceasing, Jesus, and Augustine, but she dispels the notion that prayer without ceasing in not only for ‘super-Christians’ but for every Christian. “Ordinary people. Contrary people. People who dress children for nursery school, rush to work, stare at televisions, forget dentist appointments. People like us. Praying an unbroken prayer in not something to struggle and perspire over. It springs up inside us and becomes a way of life, as natural as breathing.”

She notes we are to prayer simultaneously with our daily activities, keep our mind in God, an attitude and attentiveness that permeates our lives. Our neighbors seem to rejoice in any opportunity to set off fireworks. It terrifies poor Lucky. I am hoping that this New Year when you hear or see fireworks you will be inspired to make 2025 the year when this desire is ignited within you.

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Listen, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual growth, Trust, Yield

Trying to Get You to Relate

Brother Lawrence wrote letters about his relationship with God. Not just church knowledge, not just prayer at set hours, but talking with the Living God as he went about his daily tasks. Do we do that?

Quoting Brennan Manning, Tyler Stanton in Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools wrote, Manning was an accomplished spiritual guide. Alone and undistracted, though, he was confronted by the gap between spiritual theory and actual experience. “The great divorce between my head and my heart had endured throughout my ministry. For eighteen years I proclaimed the good news of God’s passionate, unconditional love – utterly convinced in my head but not feeling it in my heart. I never felt loved.”Stanton goes on to tell the story of how Manning, ‘stripped of all distraction, activity, and busyness, on a mountain with nothing to dress himself up with – that’s where he knew the love of God.”

Have you experienced that love? Do you walk with Him and talk with Him? Have you heard Him tell you that you are His own? You are a loved child, adopted into God’s family through the blood of Jesus – His sacrifice and offering of the gift of the Holy Spirit to your very self.

Stanton quotes Dane Ortlund as writing “He knows us to the uttermost, and He saves us to the uttermost, because His heart is drawn out to us to the uttermost.” In other words, no matter how deep the sin we have participated in, no matter how dark our loneliest place is, God is there loving us.

Eastern Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware wrote, “Christianity is not merely a philosophical theory or a moral code, but involves a direct sharing in divine life and glory, a transforming union with God “face to face.”

May this season of Christmas bring you closer than ever before to the Living Christ in your day-to-day life. A Franciscan priest, a 17th century French monk, an Eastern Orthodox Bishop, a contemporary Christian writer who helped begin an international prayer movement and a little old lady writing a blog in Ohio all are saying the same thing. If they are not wrong then what is holding you back from this intimate relationship with God?

As my mother taught me to sing, try this out for yourself.

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants in the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:3-4 NRSV

“A transforming union with God, face-to-face.” Reach for it. Ask for it. Rest in it. I told God years ago that if the teachings of the New Testament and the promises were not for this century then I would quit seeking them. He is still teaching me how accessible those teachings and promises are for today.

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Memories, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Trust, Yield

Isaiah 30:15

Page 832 of the Book of Common Prayer has the prayer #59 For Quiet Confidence.

O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and
rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be
our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee,
to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou
art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

When we visited the National Cathedral I was delighted to find a small plaque on the wall with this very prayer on it. The photo of that plaque hung on my wall for many years.

Many, many years ago I chose Isaiah 30:15 as my ‘life verse.’ It reads:

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
But you refused NRSVUE

I have returned to the prayer and verse countless times over the years. I am always stung by the last phrase, “But you refused” or “But you would not.” Oh Lord deliver me from being one who refuses.

There truly is strength in practicing this verse in your daily life. Here are a few ways. Returning and rest, quietness and trust. That hushes my speculations. Calms my rushing about. (maiden name was Rush!) There are so many applications. Try pondering this prayer and verse for 7 days. See what impact it has upon you! I often print things like this and carry them in my pocket throughout the day.

By the might of Your Spirit, LIFT US WE PRAY, to Your Presence where we maybe still and KNOW that you are God.

by the might of Your Spirit lift us we pray