Cool People Care

Just wanted to pass this on; it's really powerful--the linked vido is embedded below as well as another one for your viewing pleasure:

5 minutes of caring from "Cool People Care.org"

Eating Disorder Awareness

by Sam Davidson | Monday, February 25, 2008

Eating disorders - which include everything from anorexia and bulimia to overeating and binge eating - affect over 11 million people (women and men). This is the week to raise awareness about it, with the theme "Be comfortable in your genes. Wear jeans that fit the TRUE you." Eating disorders often have very little to do with food and much to do with coping and control. Find events you can attend near you. Assist someone in getting the help they need, and seek out help if you need it. For a bit of inspiration, check out this informative and powerful video.

pondering the winter storm

We got hit with another "Winter Blast '08" this week (two snow days worth of winter weather for the local school systems)--snow, ice, sleet, freezing rain, sleet, ice, snow, etc, etc, etc.

Today was the first day that I really "got out" in more than just a run to the market or over to the church kind of way.

I was struck once again by the beauty of the ice and snow covered trees and brush. I found myself pondering the beauty of dangerous things. When I see ice accumulating on the trees outside of my front window I know better than to travel; it's dangerous. And yet, in spite of the danger, I find myself thrilling at how beautiful it all is.

I was reading from Thomas Merton's journals the other day and he writes:
Today was the prophetic day, the first of the real shining spring: not that there was not warm weather last week, not that there will not be cold weather again. But this was the day of the year when spring became truly credible.
The morning got more and more brilliant and I could feel the brilliancy of it getting into my own blood. Living so close to the cold, you feel the spring. And this is man's (sic) mission! The earth cannot feel all this. We must. But living away from the earth and the trees, we fail them. We are absent from the wedding feast.

Thrilling at the first day of "real shing spring" or at the danger of ice accumulations that have been dusted with snow like confectioner's sugar, I have to agree and steal the words of Fr. Merton: It's our job to feel the brilliancy of it all, to thrill at the beauty. To miss that, to forget that, to be so busy that we don't care about that, is to miss out on the wedding feast.

change in perspective

Michelangelo's Pieta.

I've seen pictures of it what seems like a million times--I've even seen it up close and in person. But last night I went to a website for compline (boy does THAT sound wierd) and I came across this:



How utterly, ineffably, beautiful. It's amazing what a change in perspective will do.

Maybe it was love that made him do it...

blogging as a spiritual discipline

I spent the last day and a half at a mandatory retreat (which tells you how truly retreatish it was) for probationary members of my church's annual conference. As much as I really wasn't wanting to go, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the topic for this year was spiritual formation.

Which means that my favorite topic came up--journaling...

The following is from my journaling exercize at the event --

I cringe every time the spiritual discipline of journaling comes up. I can and will short-term journal (i.e. mission trips, retreats, etc.), but as far as getting a book journal and sitting down and writing goes--well, I just can't/don't/won't do it. I've tried. I've tried again. I've tried trying again, again. But, truthfully, it's just not my thing.

However comma, I do blog. And I blog somewhat regularly (as you readers know) on my God-thoughts and church-thoughts and even on random-thought thoughts.

So maybe I journal without knowing it. Maybe calling it something besideds "journaling" is what allows me to journal.

I may end up being late in getting back, but I want to write down the meditation on Sacrament from this a.m. (in fact, as I was leaving the chapel I thought, "I should write a blog about this.")

Just a description; not an analysis:

The Sacrament in the tabernacle sits on the back wall of the chapel. Behind it is a mosaic of a tree and a fountain all springing from the tabernacle that holds the Blessed Sacrament. The tree and the fountain are one. The Tree of Life ad the Fountain of Living Water/River of Life.

I wonder--did the tabernacle get put there because of the mosaic? Or did the mosaic/does the mosaic represent what the tabernacle attempts to contain but cannot hold in?

Protestants should meditate on the Sacrament more frequently.

...the old man is snoring

It's pouring down rain right now (and in the back of my mind I'm aware of the fact that my car window may still be stuck in the down position...but I can't get too worried about it because I can't control it)--it's pouring down rain right now and I'm reminded of all the times I walked that long walk from the University Annex to Founder's Hall at Humboldt State University (it's a long, long walk) in the pouring down rain.

People would always run up the hill--it's a long, long run--and still arrive at Founder's Hall soaked to the bone with the added bonus of being very out of breath. I'd normally just walk because there's no sense in being soaked AND out of breath--besides there aren't degrees of soaked, you either are or you aren't.

Anyway, the downpour and the running/walking in the rain sets a great tone for the beginning of my personal walk through Lent. I've tried to come up with what I'm going to do (i.e. give up, take up, etc) for the season--and to be honest I still don't know. I think I'm going to take it one day at a time. Seeking God in the ordinary, everday moments of this year's Lent.

If I take it one day at a time--I'll be more in the moment and more able to accept the hospitality of others; more in the moment and more able to give of myself to those who might be in need; more in the moment, which is exactly where God wants me to be.

Either way, at the end of these forty days, God's grace will still be abundant, I'll still be able to celebrate and live Resurrection, and I'll still be in need of forgiveness, so why plan ahead? Why run through all those disciplines, finishing the course and being all out of breath, and miss the fact that God is right in front of me right now, wanting to take a slow walk in the rain of grace (Reign of Grace)?

Maybe it's best to just be in the now.

Caring is Col!

A friend of mine recently posted a link to this site, and mentioned the idea of "doing" for Lent this year rather than simply "abstaining."

It must be a movement of the Spirit, because I mentioned that to the youth at church a week ago. The site above (coolpeoplecare.com) send out five minute "action oriented devotionals" every day that try to help us live into the Kingdom today.

Seems like a cool way to participate in Lent this year.