back in the office

Today I am back in the office, having been away for what seems like an eon.  Grace has crept up on me as I have been cleaning out email boxes, phone messages, and getting at the to-do list.  The office is so quiet.  Jobs are being done one at a time.  Although sleepy at this moment, my body -paritcularly my sinuses- have stopped moving from all the travel.  And now it is time for lunch...  ahhhh.

colleagues

As one journeys through this world going about life, job, and whatever else keeps one occupied, one often doesn't realize how isolated they have become. Often in the business I lose track of myself and the support network I have that keeps me sane. As I have spent the past few days on retreat and in conversation with colleagues I have been renewed by them, encouraged, embraced. This is grace.

A weekend with friends

There is grace to be found when one couple can find another couple to weekend with.  That was this past weekend: road trip, hanging out in a hotel room, making use of the amenities, watching t.v., sharing laughs and a few drinks, ordering pizza, going to a football game.
 There is grace in sharing a room, a shower, a couch, a small space...when you find true friends.  It means not being afraid to fart or snore or have someone find a waylaid pair of underwear.
I am thankful for our couple friends and the weekend we spent together in peace and harmony.  Chillin' :)

GRACE comes in common sense! Or perhaps GRACE is common sense!

death

Today the oldest women in the parish died at 97 years of age. This women's life was one that had grace written all over it. Yes, she spoke her mind, crossed a few people, and was stubborn. Her life oozed grace as she kept faith and persevered through living under Stalin, Lennon, and Hitler; being conscripted into the German army; coming to Canada, find her way, fighting cancer, working at a personal sewing machine business until 85, bowling into her 90s, and participating in all sorts of volunteer organizations.
Her life illustrated strength, perseverance and faith.
Through everything Aino loved people - enough to care, to teach, to tell them exactly what she thought.
This was grace.
I love Aino.
Thank-you for loving me.

a mill stone

Have you ever felt like a mill stone has been hung around your neck?  Or perhaps the weight of the world seems to be crushing down on your shoulders?
Every so often, I have periods where I am emotionally kaput.  These times are often difficult to admit to myself.  They weigh heavy.
There is grace in learning to say outloud, "I am emotionally zapped!"  When one is able to express this statement the weight starts to lift.  It is no longer just me in the world by myself.  I have sought help and let the words filter through the universe.  The emotions remain very much alive and present but no longer continue to seep deep inside.
I told a colleague today that "I am emotionally zapped!", she heard, empathized, commented, hugged.  The mill stone now feels more like sacks of pebbles. 

Grace today means I have to look outside my own strength and seek a strength far greater than myself. 

imagine

Resurrection in my Halifax garden -Sept.16, 2010

poor timing

My sense of time is generally very task-oriented.  I suppose this comes from years of time management with school and has been honed with having three teenagers in the house.  As I age, I am also becoming more set in my ways, and when I have a thought as to how time should go -I really like it going that way; my way.
One of my teenagers was pro-active today...a huge grace...and went to a guidance counselor to get information about college.  Tonight, as supper was in process, an email 1/2 written, a phone call being made, it was THE time for the application to be filled out.  Although annoyed at the time, what grace to know that the application was completed and sent, transcripts mailed, and the registration fee paid.

legacy

The past few weeks have been spent on texts from the reading list for an upcoming preaching class. The closing words of the "afterwards", from Eugene L.Lowry's book, "the Homiletical Plot", encapsulated a grace moment.
Now this grace moment is specific to his book and the fact that 20 years later it still is of great value and read by preachers, new and old.  Yet, there is a suggestion that a grace moment for anyone, is to see that 20 years down the road, contributions made to family, community and the world are still respected, used, studied, learned from.  Grace is legacy.
Eugene Lowry writes: "Back in 1980, I never imagined that, the Homiletical Plot would survice these twenty years.  That the possibility exists that it may be of some servicde into the new millenium is for me sheer grace and enormous joy."

Finches

Finches are beautiful birds.
Yesterday my daugther and I were walking home -tired, hot, hungry, thristy too- when all of a sudden our way was marked by fluttering shadows.  On a third story balcony were four bright yellow goldfinches gathered around a bird feeder.  At the time I stopped and smiled.  Listen to the song and watched the fluttering. As I walked away I forgot about the pleasant encounter.
At the moment I set to thinking about what to write today, the corner of my eye caught a movement outside.  Playing in the lilac and around the birdfeeder are a number of purple finches.
I smile at their beauty and their fluttering.
I smile because I now see not only grace for today, but a resurrection of a grace from yesterday -a moment I didn't even think to call grace. 

transformation

There are moments of grace that come at unexpected times. Then there are moments of grace that come out of deep struggle and anguish. In two days I have witnessed three transformations occur before my very eyes. It looks like scales falling off of ones eyes, a veil dropping, a light bulb coming on, a flood gate of tears that pours until there are no more to cry. When one is honoured to participate in this intimate moment, there is no response other than sheer soft silence. This is a graced filled aha!

tough love

Today I have to confront a person for their actions, actions that have rippled and affected a lot of people.  I have thought, prayed and read about this.  Confronting is not an easy thing to do.  It requires grace and in the end perhaps it will lead to grace amongst those who have been hurt and affected.

post graduate work

It is the most wonderful time of the year; the children have gone back to school and life once again has a schedule.  My schedule includes more homework than all three kids put together.  In the past 2 days alone I have read 650 pages and am waiting for the books that are currently in the mail.  My class, mid-October has 2500 pages of reading with written reflective notes on each book, plus preliminary note-taking on 15 biblical texts; the other class the week after requires an intial draft of my thesis-project proposal.
Now when I first saw all this I was flipped into a momentary panic.
 GRACE was found in the drawing out of a homework sheet, complete with coloured post-it notes.
Grace was found in the taking of one step at a time:  going to the library, ordering other books, sitting down and reading (one page at a time-taking notes, adding personal reflection and thoughts).
 Grace is in the ability to focus and now I see it is doable. Thanks be to God.

Hurricane Earl

Well here comes Earl.  Not as strong as expected.
At the present the rain is starting to fly sideways in bits and spurts, until now the rain was watering the desperately dry garden.  The plants sucked it up and started saying grace, just as many do before eating a meal.
 The breeze coming in the windows we have open feels like heaven after days of heat, heat that cold showers didn't even touch.
 I have always loved storms and now that it is hear am enjoying watching it from the safety of my home.
 The kitty is pretty happy and offering prayers of thanks today too; he knew something was us up and yesterday kepy howling -now that the weather/pressure has changed all is good.

Heat and Humidity

This story is no different than that of thousands of others.  This heat and humidity is almost unbearable.
So this morning I decided to find what grace there might be in this weather:
*people are complaining about the weather and not spreading gossip about neighbours
*it has given us a good excuse to take an afternoon nap or not work quite so hard -because we just can't
 *will have us appreciating cooler temperatures when they come along- winter is on the way
 *many are now drinking the amount of water one needs to in a day to be healthy
 *leisure comes to mind rather than go, go, go
If you have other thoughts, please comment.
 Grace on your day!

Vacation

It has been over two weeks since I have used electronics:  no Blackberry, little T.V., checked for an email from School once, no phone...
Vacation was absolute heaven.  Absolute grace.
Grace was spending time with parents, siblings, cousins, niece and nephew, friends.
Grace was taking a run on the beach, swimming every day, soaking up sun and sand.
Grace was having fair trade coffee at a local coffee shop while sitting in Muskoka chairs.
Grace was the feeling of being totally free: to be, to say, to do or not to do, to love life, to reconnect with the inner self.
After all this grace, who would have guessed that the biggest piece of grace was re-discovering and being reminded that issues in life and work often work themselves out with time, without quick answers, with a hands-off attitude.  Who says "Urgent!" messages are urgent?  When two weeks later the situation has naturally righted itself.
Grace is time.  Grace is not immediately answering every email or phone message.  Grace is allowing oneself time to breathe and be.  Thank-you vacation for this re-discovery.