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rest – Salvaged Faith

Sabbath. #umcgc

Today, we didn’t vote or argue. We didn’t debate or make assumptions. We didn’t get mired in the oft mentioned Robert’s Rules.

Today, we rested and worshipped and ate. We explored and laughed. We filled up our tanks and hopefully a bit of our reserves for another five days…

God, as you sent your Spirit so long ago, send it anew among us. Give us wisdom and courage. Open our ears and our hearts. Speak your dreams and way forward into our midst. Amen.

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Oh! And tomorrow I’m participating in #whiteoutmonday… Intentionally limiting my voice (which is fairly present and heard) so that others, particularly people of color,  might be heard a bit louder.

So, if I’m not posting as much… You now know why.

Remembering Our Place #growrule

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This Lent, I have been using a tool called “Growing a Rule of Life.”  Each day there is a video and a prompt question to engage with.  And of course, I’m behind already.

 

Friday’s video reminded me that we need structure, we need planning, we need the framework in place before we start these kinds of disciplines, and the very fact that I didn’t schedule time for my days off and for Sunday (which is always a hectic day in my world) proves the point.

The question we were left with that day is simple: when you connect with nature, what is meaningful about it?

When I truly connect with nature, I find that I, myself, my ego, is diminished.  So much of my life is spent working and relating and living my life and everything revolves around myself and my calling and what I’m supposed to do or not do.

Yet when I truly connect with nature, all of that ceases.

I still my soul.

I stop.

And I am humbled by the reminder that there is so much else going on in the world that is not me.

The falling of snow flakes. The robins in the trees. The buds already forming. The hawk gliding overhead. The slow decomposition of the leaves that are life and death all wrapped into one.

And all of it continues without me.

In fact, all of this life probably would do a lot better without our human interference and selfish use and abuse of the world.

When I truly connect with nature, I am overcome with how small I am, and how beautiful the world is.

My soul cannot help but be awed by our Creator.

 

So much of the time, I’m rushing here and there, from meeting to project, to home and back.

Without creating space to stop and pause and connect with the world around us, I will forget who I am.  I will forget how insignificant these tasks are in the grand scheme of things.  I will forget that it is not about me… but my Creator.

Batteries

I hopped in my car last night to go get some chinese food for our quiet little new year’s eve.  We had movies and the first season of Spartacus to keep us company until the ball dropped and it was a new year.

I turned the key in the ignition….

Change-Car-BatteryNothing.

No little sputters.

No noises.

Just my car radio reading “ERR” and then flickering off.

My battery was dead.  Past dead.  Kaput.

Which… in all actuality… was kind of good news.

It meant that when I said I wasn’t going to work over the holiday break, that I kept my promise.

It meant that my car had not been driven for 5 days.

I wasn’t driving all across the state. I wasn’t in meetings.  I wasn’t commuting to Des Moines for a day in my cubical.

Instead, that dead battery means days full of time with my husband and family, days when we were home instead of out and about in the crazy rush of the season.  Nights of carpooling with my brother-in-law to dinner with the rest of the family.    I was baking and playing Guild Wars 2 and singing Christmas carols very loudly.

Now, I should have probably gone and started my car a few times.  We have a bit of a headache on our hands today, because it is not taking a charge and needs to be replaced.  But I’m going to look at the bright side.

I was home, recharging my batteries while my car’s was draining.