It all belongs to You, God. As Eldredge has taught me ‘I give everything and everyone to You. I give everything and everyone to You.’
Since last summer I have been trying to print out a copy of this blog. At first I paid for an upgrade to get the bulk of it. Then I was just printing from the screen. When I returned to organizing the notebooks there were about six months missing. So I went to print those records. Then ran out of blue ink. Thought oh well, I will just print in black and white until an order of ink can arrive. Then the printer was starting to print in orange/pink stripes instead of black and white. Thought it was a fluke. Nope it was going nuts over there on the printer stand. Why not just black and white when I chose that? Plenty of black ink in there in two separate ‘tanks.’
A long way of saying this project has become a PROJECT. It still seems right to have a hard copy just in case the sun sends some rays that kill the internet or meteor showers destroy cloud storage! I have begun printing two sided and not fretting if I miss one or two dates. The print copies do not show links to YouTube, just big blocks where the link would have been. Guess this might be the reason professional writers and executives have secretaries? Or pay WordPress extra for fancier programs?
Not me. Just the 37 year old woman in her home office trying to reflect her life especially with the Lord of lords. I should have thought to being printing this when I first began writing the blog! Oh. That’s right I am 73 now, not 37. Drats. Just that much closer to home with the Holy One.
Have you read books by Rachel Remen, MD? I first found one in Albuquerque one the shelf of a coffee shop where you could take a book or leave a book. I have only read these two so far:
When we down-sized to moved I disposed of them. Recently I got one back. Now I will purchase the other one once I have finished the first again. The stories are short and great for those who might not have the attention span or stamina for long reads. Everything I have read from her though has been powerful. When this quote came in daily email from Gratefulness I wanted to share it and her writings with you.
Perhaps the secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.
Rachel Naomi Remen
Isn’t that a wonderful thought. Years ago I thought I might have the answer to some things. As I turned older and older I realized I not only did not have the answers, I wasn’t even certain what the questions were! However, pursuing unanswerable questions with my husband and other other good friends has made for a good life.
I wish the same for you!
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD is Clinical Professor Emeritus of Family and Community Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine and Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Ohio. In 1991 she founded the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI) a national training institute for physicians, nurses, medical students, nursing students, veterinarians and other health professionals who wish to practice a health care of compassion, meaning, service and community. She is an internationally recognized medical educator whose innovative discovery model course in professionalism, resiliency and relationship-centered care for medical students, THE HEALER’S ART is taught at more than 90 American medical schools and schools in seven countries abroad. Her bestselling books Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have been published in 23 languages and have millions of copies in print.
In recognition of her contribution to medicine and medical education, she has received numerous awards including three honorary degrees, the prestigious Bravewell Award as one of the earliest pioneers of Integrative Medicine and Relationship Centered Care. In 2013, she was voted the Gold-Headed Cane award by UCSF School of Medicine for excellence in embodying and teaching the qualities and values of the true physician. Dr. Remen has a 70-year personal history of chronic illness, and her work is a potent blend of the perspectives and wisdom of physician and patient.
Jesus had much to say about growing plants. These lessons still apply to us today, though most of us no longer live in an agrarian culture. Read what was written in the book of John.
“I am the true Vine, and my Father is the Gardener. 2 He lops off every branch that doesn’t produce. And he prunes those branches that bear fruit for even larger crops. 3 He has already tended you by pruning you back for greater strength and usefulness by means of the commands I gave you. 4 Take care to live in me, and let me live in you. For a branch can’t produce fruit when severed from the vine. Nor can you be fruitful apart from me.
5 “Yes, I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit. For apart from me you can’t do a thing. 6 If anyone separates from me, he is thrown away like a useless branch, withers, and is gathered into a pile with all the others and burned. 7 But if you stay in me and obey my commands, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! 8 My true disciples produce bountiful harvests. This brings great glory to my Father.
9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Live within my love. 10 When you obey me you are living in my love, just as I obey my Father and live in his love. 11 I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your cup of joy will overflow!
John 15:1-11 TLB
Vine and branches also applies to shrubs and branches. Once while driving the Natchez Trace we came to rest area/ tourist information center that had these shrubs growing along the sidewalk. I was enchanted, especially since purple is my favorite color! (The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444-mile recreational road and scenic drive through three states. It roughly follows the “Old Natchez Trace,” a historic travel corridor used by American Indians, “Kaintucks,” European settlers, slave traders, soldiers, and future presidents. Today, people can enjoy a scenic drive as well as hiking, biking, horseback riding, and camping along the Parkway.)
Aren’t those berries lovely?
More recently, while on retreat at the Convent of the Transfiguration Spirituality Center I found the shrubs once again. (Photograph above)
I cut one branch. The shrubs were loaded with berries. I knew in a just a few weeks the frost would make everything less lovely. One branch would not destroy the future of the shrub.
Holding the lovely branch, I pondered the fact that Jesus is the Vine and I am just a branch. The shrubs I encountered were producing a bountiful harvest of berries. I, too, want to stay close to my Savior and produce a crop to His glory. These berries are attached with tiny, rather fragile stems.
Eventually I took the branch into the library of the Center and placed it on paper so it would not mar the furniture. The retreat was just for a day or two.
Before I departed I disposed of the cut branch, a clear reminder to cling to Christ and stay connected.
Curled leaves, withering branch cut off from the shrub.
The memory of that berry rolling down the spine of my book still makes me giggle. Isn’t it amazing how tiny things can bring us joy if we are willing to slow down and look for them? May your day bring you splendid surprises.
No amount of regret changes the past. No amount of anxiety changes the future. Any amount of gratitude changes the present.
Ann Voskamp
Many times I begin my prayer thanking the Father for another day of living and loving. Reflecting upon my recent birthday I thank the Holy One for another year of living and loving.
Best birthday card ever!From my sisterMy sister, PaulaMe
“At our age there are not lots of new friendships, but the ones we experience we hold dear.” Our neighbor, Kathy, has only been known to us a couple of years. Through her first year of struggling to get her brain around what it takes to live with a chronic illness and that illness being also a rare one, we became close. It is difficult to communicate with people who have never suffered from chronic illness. As Kathy says, “They just don’t get it.” Her diagnosis, antisynthetase syndrome, is rare and causes much misery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisynthetase_syndrome Fewer than 50,000 people in the US are thought to have this. Together we have re-affirmed Ann Voskamp’s wisdom that ‘any amount of gratitude changes the present.‘ This year when she returned to Florida, as snowbirds have a tendency to do, it was harder than ever to let her go. We have been married the same length of time, we are the same age, we each have a son and a daughter. Both of us have 3 grandchildren! Her wisdom and friendship bless me deeply. We share our faith freely. When I developed scalp psoriasis I told her I was getting tired of being like her! We don’t speak about dandruff, we refer to blizzards of skin cells falling from our heads after we scratch. We both need to vacuum our beds, our chairs and our cars. It is almost impossible to NOT scratch this sort of itching.
As I unwrap this gift of a new year of life I will try to remain present to all that is given. Life is truly a gift.
With another year of aging, I cling more and more to this verse in Corinthians
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV
Less energy, true that. Less flexibility, true that. Undiagnosed hand and foot itching, yep. More renewal, thank the LORD for that! The Scriptures declare He will never leave me or forsake me. And it is true. There are times when I move away from God, but He is ever near and holds me in His nail-scarred hands.
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.“
Isaiah 49:15-16 NIV
I truly live a varied and pleasing life, rich in adventure and blessings. There is no way I can account for it. One friend tells me I see things others do not when I take a walk. I am blessed to be married to the best man in the world. This year I have continued to work on finding some of the best recipes to cook. (I already miss fresh Ohio tomatoes!) My desk remains stacked about 6 inches deep. If I ever get ‘caught up’ I suppose it will be time to die? Let’s not even discuss how deep the sewing table is with projects.
I have out lived both of my parents. Bob calls it the ‘miracle of modern chemistry.” This year I promise to continue to write this blog as long as I am enabled to come up with new thoughts and inspirations.
May you cling to the One who has you engraved on the palms of His hands. May you rest in the knowledge that the same Holy One is able to renew you day by day. Peace and all blessings to each of you, my dear readers.
Joan Chittister is a well known Benedictine nun and author of a tremendous amount of books. Over many years she has inspired me to grow deeper with Christ. I get a weekly newsletter from her ministry. Here is a quote from a recent newsletter and a link should you want to read the entire article for yourself. Much of what they put in the newsletter is taken from her books.
Because of beauty
Confucius may have said it best: “Everything has beauty,” he taught, “but not everyone sees it.” Seeing it, the spiritual person knows, is the task of a lifetime. It is also the reward of a lifetime well-lived, lived in balance, lived from the inside out as well as from the outside in.
Open your eyes to the beauty around you today. This morning was my turn to walk the dog. It was the coldest morning this season. Just meant time to get out my winter coat, and gloves, etc. Had to stop to capture this leaf for you.
After the many days of glorious yellow, red and gold leaves raining down upon us this frosted outline was too lovely to not admire!
Watch for treasures in plain sight. They truly are all around you!
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of the world.
“Ruthless furnace of the world” certainly describes the daily worldwide news. May you risk delight today and give the LORD all the glory.
I have now turned 73 years old, or as one friend quipped, “37, until I can no longer reverse the numbers!” Anyway you look at it, aging has been galloping down the road towards me. The trouble with seeing all those specialists and the dentist a week or two before a birthday is they all bring it to your attention! “Oh, I see you are about to have another birthday!” My Dentist says I need all these filings because of “TMB”, Too-many-birthdays, i.e., my gums have receded and there is now new enamel to decay!
Ha! But we must risk delight! We must continue to seek treasures in plain sight! If our eyes fail then we must seek humor in every place that we go. If we cannot go then we must remember humor from past experiences. Hold to that “stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of the world” and the ruthless march of decay our body experiences.
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
We are hearing interviews between Palestinians and Israelis who had already decided to live together in peace. They are speaking to the world in various interviews. I am not on either side, just praying for all those distressed by this war.
This thought from Bishop Curry of Cincinnati brought all this to my mind.
To love, my brothers and sisters, does not mean we have to agree. But maybe agreeing to love is the greatest agreement. And the only one that ultimately matters, because it makes a future possible.
BISHOP MICHAEL B. CURRY
Please pray for the people in this war torn area. Usually we have no idea how fortunate we are. May the Father comfort those who are caught between the military forces. Father speak to those who have been conscripted into service in this war. We pray for peace.
online photo just after war began
I will not try to quote Scripture on this topic. Seems humans perpetuate hatred against human beings. May God have mercy on all of us.
Just heard of a neighbor’s grandchild born last week. Delivery went fine. Then infant caught a virus of some kind that effected her organs. It went to her heart and other organs. She will definitely lose one leg to amputation.
She is still at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Her parents are staying with her 24/7.
Grandparents (our neighbors) are running the household with the other children.
This old hymn has blessed me many times through the years. There are times when I cannot remember the name, though I never forget the sentiment in verse one! Written by George Matheson, 1882. I usually envision the underside of the waves that I saw when snorkeling. Here are the lyrics to read as men sing below.
O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
4 part harmony a cappella The Best!!
Another comfort song when wrestling with my itching flesh. I listened to it repeatedly and envisioned my self in things like, “O cross that lifts up my head.” His love is more mighty than my flesh or any suffering we might know.
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 