Make Time!

I had Saturday and Sunday off from my convenience store/gas station/assistant manager job, so we went camping!

We got to hang out with some real cool folks. Drank some beer, ate some food, took the dog for swims, and sat around and had the best visit.

One of the things I enjoy about camping, is the pace. There isn't one! It takes you out of your home element and sticks you out in your yard element. Most of you know, I love being in the yard! What I really love is the way the conversation moves to include everyone. This also means that everyone will also get the opportunity to be picked on too.

The time fly's by and what feels like 1 hour, ends up being 4. This is making time for each other. It's hard to do, we're so busy with our jobs and our stuff, and out things, and our...

  
It's so important to make time to stop and reconnect with each other, with nature and with the stories of our life!

Who's story can you be apart of? What memories will you pass along to the people you share life with? How will you make God smile today?

New Job?

Chloe in tyedye, Lily with hand on
head, Ava with smoke.

So, Guess What?!?! I got a new job! Another job?! A volunteer opportunity?!! The name of this new, whatever it is, is called; Walking the girls to school! 

Now that I think about it, it's all a blur, but I do remember going to the neighbor's Friday morning to either feed my chicken friends or something really important. I walked into the house, for some reason and mass pandaemonium had already ensued. The next thing I know, I was walking with the whole herd to the elementary school.

Momma Woo has to get Lily to 2nd grade and Ava to Pre-K between 7:30 and 7:45, the bus picks up Chloe at 7:40 this week and Ryan has to be taken somewhere in NLR by 8:00, I think that's right. So, I got to thinking, why don't I help by walking the girls to school.

We had gone to bed with our hair wet and bradded, so this morning, it was wild hair! We both had on cute dresses, huge backpacks and flashy shoes. Lily talked the whole way and Ava watched her shoes flash with each step.

Tomorrow, I going to take a picture of them and ask them what they are thankful for. 

Me, I'm thankful for the hugs I get when they leave for the day!    

Double-bind

I went to my centering prayer group on Monday and before prayer, we read from a book. What we're on right now is Thomas Keating's The Mystery of Christ. This is a deep read that I can only take a small bite at a time, mainly cuz it's packed with info. We read over the Passion in Mark 15:22-38 and then over some of the thing Keating says about it. What really struck me and still strikes me every Lenten season, is what is being called the double-bind. I'm sure we all experience it on our spiritual journey at some point, but no one ever experienced it to the degree that Jesus did. The double-bind is a crisis of principle that brings about an overwhelming problem of conscience. Two apparent duties that call out for total adherence seem to be in complete opposition to each other. 

A classic example is in the book of Job. Job struggles with the problem of innocent suffering. He knows he is innocent, yet everything has been taken from him. His buddies keep telling him to admit that he has sinned, so God will forgive and take away his suffering. His double-bind consisted of trying to avoid accusing God of injustice and at the same time remaining faithful to his conscience which told him that he had done nothing wrong. 

No one ever knew God the way Jesus knew him. Jesus knew it was all about relationship: a community of persons sharing infinite life and love. Jesus had that relationship with God and tried to transmit it to his disciples. Jesus never suffered from the feeling of separation from God that is our experience as we come to rational consciousness. This feeling of separation is the source of our deep sense of incompletion, guilt and alienation. 

Jesus took this on himself. As Paul writes, "He who knew no sin was made sin for our salvation." Jesus' double-bind is the choice: "Am I to become sin and thus renounce my personal relationship with Abba?" Or "Am I to become sin and thus experience separation from the One who is my whole life?"

Something to think about as we wait with Jesus this week is what his dread was. Not so much the prospect of physical suffering but the impending loss of his personal relationship with the One who meant everything to him.

I'm telling you Keating makes you think.