My Male Companions ☺

Last week, my main "man" was featured in an interview here.

Today, my dearest furry friend finds himself in print here. (Warning: Riley's site is really for dog lovers only and/or those with a broadened sense of humor and imagination!)

I am blessed to be surrounded by such inspiration!! Je suis tres contente!

Paris...no "perhaps"

Dear Sensible One,

WE are going to Paris!!! Can you believe it? Our friends have all said, "Go!Go!Go!" Even people we don't know have popped on line to comment and say, "Don't look back!"

We are all dreamers searching for the great adventure, but few people actually take the step and go for it. You, my dear, have learned well from me. You have learned to listen to your heart and step through the fear and apprehension. You are full of life to be lived--not tomorrow or next year, but right now...Today!!

Congratulations! You pressed the "buy" button even when you tried to tell us 'it's not practical.' As Tess said, "Screw the crockpot!" Seattle will still be here when we return. So celebrate this time. Read those guide books and fabulous memoirs and novels. Listen to your French tapes and mentally pack your suitcase. Because, my dear Sensible One, WE ARE GOING TO PARIS!!!!"

love, lucy

Navigating

There are almost too many thoughts whirling through my head to land on any one topic today. I started back to work yesterday after almost two months away. I love it and I want to stay home and create. Today, it seems like I am most struck by the contrasts of life. How there can be such fullness and emptiness wrapped up together. How being in a room full of people one can feel totally alone and then sitting alone in silence, one can be met with the fullness of life. One minute we can be on top of the world and the next moment we can only feel its heaviness.

It seems to be this place of navigating where I will choose to live (in the fullness or emptiness or the in between) is what is most on my mind today. It is important for me to experience the richness of one or the other rather than staying stuck “in between.” Mark Nepo shares, “Being half anywhere is the true beginning of loneliness.” And I have come to know that I am really not a 'half anywhere' kind of girl ☺!

Hmmm… So, that is what I have to offer today. As always, I would love to know your thoughts. What are the contrasts of your life? Where do you see yourself living in the ‘in between’? How do you navigate through the contrasts of life?

(Check out lucy creates!!! for a different view of a similar topic.)

Reflections

There is lots bubbling around in my mind this morning with very little time to write or process. I decided to share this peaceful (I think) reflection written on holiday as 2007 winded down. Enjoy!

Listening to the voice inside my head and outside in the world. The sunlight dancing across the veranda. The wind gently rustling the green vegetation. The "tink tink tink" of the fan. The call of the kiskadee. The voices of my loved ones. A veritable symphony in creation surrounds me. The blank pages of a new notebook await my thoughts and musings. My ponderings. A new year lies before me. Much will feel repetitive, but each day will be new. There will be no other exactly like it. No two moments are ever the same. They are each created in the instant they happen.

Fellowship

Yesterday while doing a little shopping, I ran into a woman who I have known for many years principally through our children’s school and more recently by attending the same church (which some of you may recall is no longer the case.) I could hear the question before it was even out of her mouth, so I was prepared to answer boldly.
“Where are you fellowshipping these days?” she asked.
“No where” I answered strongly, because I refused to feel guilty about our decision. I then, of course, hemmed and hawed around about how “It is hard and we are looking, blah blah blah.”

Walking away I felt like I had just told a big fat lie…not the “we are looking” part, but the “no where” part. It felt like such a falsehood, because in reality I am fellowshipping daily with the world; with myself; with my internet friends; on the phone with my sister; with my husband as we talk about our faith journey; with anyone really who wants to be even a little bit authentic or at least listen to me as I practice my often feeble attempts ☺.

So, what is fellowship? In the way this woman asked, it felt so confining...like a single building in which to perform ritual on a specific day and time of the week. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in ritual and gathering together in relationship, but fellowship feels so much bigger to me than something we just do on Sunday morning.

As I thought about this I realized that this week alone, I have made new friends in Paris, Scotland and a number of other places around the world. I witnessed an amazing sunrise through the sharing of a man’s childlike drawing he made to remember the red of the sky flashing in house windows…that is fellowship. Strangers and friends from all over listened to my heart and said, “Go! Go! Go!!” rather than scoffing at me like I was a naughty child…that is fellowship. When my heart connects with the beauty of nature; the moon, the sun, the cold air on my face, the flowers at the market…that is fellowship.

Fellowship is not simply held inside four walls with a designated group of “believers”. It is life. The homeless man on the street. The laughing infant in the coffee shop. The "stranger" in Paris. So, back to the original question: “Where am I fellowshipping these days?” EVERYWHERE! And it feels really good to say that and mean it!!! So, my friends, I leave you with the same question to ponder…

Where are you fellowshipping?

photo by lucy taken on a recent neighborhood walk