my village

Home again. It has been a nice relaxing day of resting, nesting, catching up on e-mail and home stuff. The wind has been blowing like crazy and the rains have been consistent throughout the day. Right now the sun has decided to pop out and give us a little blue sky for the evening.

My life has entered an odd pattern these days. I feel kind of like a firefighter who goes to live at the station for a week and then returns home. When I am facilitating for Soltura, I know where I am supposed to be and my focus is centered on helping the participants throughout their workshop. It is intense, exhilarating and exhausting. So the challenge when I return to my home is to find the balance of what needs to be done and to what I choose to be present.

When I am facilitating, I am totally present to the participants. It is a very cool experience, because they each come looking for some kind of change in their life. I find that my gifts shine in this environment. Last week was very cool because there were four young ladies who are close in age to my son. So in many ways they were an interesting combination of my son and daughter. One of them shared her philosophy of “being raised by a village” and thanked each of us for being part of her village.

It was so wonderful to see how these women also helped “raise me” with their courage, insight, tenacity and love. It never ceases to amaze me how similar human beings are and yet how very different. The great thing is allowing ourselves to be open and see what we can learn from each other. (I think it’s great to consider relationships with an open door policy ☺.)

This evening I am tired, but content. My home is clean. My heart is in good spirits. My family is safe. And my “village” continues to expand. Blessings abound and I am eternally grateful for life as I know it.

on the road again

greetings! i will be away from blogging for the next few days doing my soltura thing. i hope you will check out that website if you are so-inclined. also, in the meantime if you would like to hear some tunes inspired by my recent road trip, here is a brief playlist. i'd love to know what your favorite road tunes are, so drop me a line.

a couple of things...

first, i would like to apologize for my lack of participation with the many wonderful sites i try to visit on a regular basis and leave comments. time seems to be both flying by at an unusually rapid rate lately, while also seemingly standing still at other times. both phenomena, nevertheless, have contributed to keeping me somewhat quiet on the blogging front--both my own and others (which is the point of this ramble.) i so appreciate all of you who stop by to read (even though i only know who a very few of you are) and i am slowly catching up on my reading of the wonderful things many of you have to offer.

second, i must say that i have already had a fabulous weekend and it's only friday evening. i left early yesterday morning to make the trek across the state of washington from seattle to walla walla (approximately 275 miles.) i was delivering some of my favorite photographer's work to the carnegie art center where three pieces have been accepted into their juried art show. hurray for h3!!! i had a delightful drive during which time i listened to three great podcasts from "Speaking of Faith" with Krista Tippett and lots and lots of music of MY choice (not something i always do when others of less discriminating taste are in the car with me.)

the bonus of the trip was getting to spend time with the fabulous sunrise sister, the self-proclaimed curmudgeon, country parson and the always entertaining riley. who could ask for more?

although i did not ask for more that is just what i got on my return trip home. about 100 miles out from seattle, i opted to put the top down on my little convertible, crank up the tunes and cruise the rest of the way in. the music was fabulous and ranged from the profound to the peppy and even a little profane. glorious all around! i did choose to turn off the tunes as i came across snoqualmie pass where i listened to the silence of the great mountain sprinkled with periodic waterfalls and the rushing of the wind while perfectly blue skies danced above my head. absolutely fabulous!! my only regret (and it is a small one indeed) is that there was no place to pull over with my camera to capture the beauty of the drive. hopefully, these few words will pull the images back into my mind and the rest of you will just have to use your own imagination.

o.k. that's it for now. i hope you have a fabulous weekend too! thanks for stopping by.

photo "fishing in yelapa" by h3 images (one of the selections for the art show)

ordinary time?

A wonderful “aha” moment visited me this morning. Woohoo!! I love when I am still enough to listen to the answers that are already inside me, co-created with God. This morning was one of those times as I completed my morning pages and settled into a quiet listening.

Lately I have been called to a new rhythm in my day. To outsiders it might look strangely similar to my “normal” rhythm, but there has been a feeling about it that is much different. It has felt less focused, possibly even less driven, and at times has left me wondering what the heck I am doing. Or when my ego steps in and says “what should I be doing?”, my anxiety level can tend to rise. For the most part, however, the rhythm has not felt anxious, but more like waiting which I have described here for several posts.

The “aha” moment came today when I read this post at The Painted Prayerbook. It is a wonderful post about “ordinary time": the time between Lent and Advent. The post resonated with me deeply as I felt like she was describing where I am. Recent lectionary verses included Matthew 6.24-34 which “challenges us with questions that lie at the heart of Christian life: Whom will we serve? Where will we place our trust and our energy?”

Aha! that is exactly where I am…deciding where I will place my energy. The “whom” and “trust” are easily determined when I get out of my own way (i.e. listen without agenda)!

So, I think maybe I will spend today with a little pondering of the Matthew verses which draw on some of my favorites: the birds of the air and the lilies of the field ☺.

How about you? Where are you placing your trust and energy during these extraordinary “ordinary days”?

wordless sounds and sighs

The theme of waiting continues to follow me throughout this often crazy busy life of mine. I am surrounded by stillness and beauty at all turns if I just allow myself to slow down and listen.

Even during the past week when my time away was sudden and unexpected, I was able to find peace and serenity. It was almost as if God was stalking me ☺. I am finding that when I wait without agenda, the Spirit speaks for me in ways I cannot fathom: The whisper of trees. The joy of art’s creation. Birds flying. Eagles soaring. A dog’s warm nuzzle.

I am delighted to be back home and to share a few words here. “Few words” continues to be the key for me. And part of “God’s stalking” was the following Bible verse that showed up not once or twice, but three times from three different sources last week. I think it says it all.

“The Spirit also helps us in our own weakness. For when we do not know what to say in prayer, the Spirit expresses what we mean in wordless sounds and sighs.” --Romans 8:26

I would love to know how these words speak to you. Or if you are wordless right now, a simple “hello” would be delightful ☺.

Peace, friends!

photo by lucy 5.24.08. see related post here.