bedtime or birthday

Our household generally eats dinner around 6:30 to 7 pm. We are early risers and early to bed people. Last night Deb fixed dinner and it was a bit later than usual. At 7:45 Mal, says, "Deb hurry it up, it's my birthday, ah, it's my bedtime."

We all had a good laugh because none of us could make a connection between birthdays and bedtime, birthday's being annually and bedtimes daily. Anyway, we laughed together and that is what keeps us going, we have fun together.

Soon Mal will learn to blog my silly thoughts. Poor guy, he must have been tired...

The Center, oops I mean, Centre of the Universe

The planets in our solar system revolves around our sun, a smallish star. Our solar system is apparently revolving around in a big universe that is expanding. So if it is expanding one could conclude that there is a centre from which it is expanding from. This seems basic enough.

That is not how many people think though. I meet them everyday, people who think that the world, no in fact the universe, revolves around them. These are people that can only see as far as their own needs. Their lives are spent demanding that everyone else in the universe meet those needs.

I wrote these words on May 22, 2006 and saved them as a draft because I was interupted and did not finish the thought. Today, December 13, 2006, I, of course, now have no idea where I was going with this but in order to get back to posting. Here ya go, a half finished thought.

Awesome power

When I get busy blogging gets a back seat. It is not that I don't have things to say cuz I do. I have been thinking about this one for some time. I recently visited a city that had been hit by a cyclone. I thought I would blog about the power of nature.

It seems to me that most people in Australia would say they feel pretty secure in their homes. Not to say that there aren't situations where people are homeless or living in less than desirable conditions because that happens here as everywhere but for the most part, people are secure. But after what I saw there weeks after the storm reminded me of how fragile humans really are. For all our human knowledge, experience, etc. could not stop the storm. Some very big buildings were damaged in amazing ways. Nature itself could not stand up to the strength of the cyclone. The cyclone is a certainly an awesome power.

Just think. God is stronger than that.

Laughter is not failure...

After a long day of study, work, etc... there was a great deal of frivolity at the dinner table. My husband began to shake his head at my daughters' not so mild manners. With a grin on his face he interjected that it was the way that I had raised them, that I had failed. Know that he was fishing for a fight, I replied, "Laughter is not failure!" To which my youngest quickly added, "It is a success that could have been!" After roars of laughter died down, we decided that there is a bit of insight. What do you think?

What can I say....

I haven't blogged for a time, mostly because I do not know what to say. I have no particular insights. I have a busy life. But I have a beautifully remodelled bathroom.

It is pretty much white tile. But my husband, Mal and I liked the pebble borders in the store so we spent a bit extra to get it. We had planned to put a horizontal border near the top. As practicality would have it we needed the extra width a border would create so also added a vertical line down one side and of course the two lines intersected near the top. This added a real neat effect.

However, we got a bonus. God is an amazing interior decorator. It may have been divine practicality. You see, now when I sit on my lounge and look through the bathroom door, I see a perfectly proportioned stone cross exactly framed by the door. The afternoon sun streams in the window onto this cross. Wow.

We could have never orchastrated it much less thought of the idea ourselves. What can I say?

My! how time flies!

I am amazed that my last post was so long ago. I can hardly keep up. In fact, I am not keeping up and trail behind. I imagine that being sick and having the hard drive to my computer die had something to do with being behind. But it is very difficult not to take it on board and begin to feel like it is all about my being a failure.

I am a capable "cracked pot" just a bit behind. That would be the truth that I pull out of my truth box. I am capable not because, I am a great person or anything but because God has given me gifts and because of the gifts, in those areas, I am capable. Or rather God is capable, I am just the cracked pot.

However, I still sometimes feel the pressure of the world trying to tell me otherwise. I hear the world say "We don't want you" or "Can't you keep up?" and other cruel things. But that is all right, let them sing. I have a box of truth to look at.

When life gets to be too much...

Sometimes my life resembles a television drama; day after day the same characters with some unexpected or even expected plot twist that throws the characters into a whirl.
For much of that life I lived inside the drama then age, experience, maturity and call has put me into a position where I am the resource that people turn to in their dramas. Some dramas are quite removed but then other fall close to home and a person needs to be careful not to let their heart break to the point that they themselves break.
When that happens to whom does the resource person turn. Well, obviously, I hope to a person more mature and experienced, even called to be a similar resource person. This person is often called friend but sometime counsellor.
But that should only be one of the stopovers for relief from the drama. The other stop? God.
Remember "If your day is hemmed with prayer, it is less likely to unravel."

Psalms and Wisdom

I failed to keep up with a journal because last week I again became a student and still had to keep up with the rest of my life.

The subject....Psalms and Wisdom. The class opened up so many new ideas about the purpose behind these beautiful writings in the Bible. After having studied Hebrew last semester, the depth of meaning took on a whole new dimension.

For example, in Hebrew there is no separation between the being and the soul of that being. This division of body and soul came from the Greeks. So when the Psalmist says soul, he means the whole being and the bit we call soul.

Interesting, huh. Will pass on more tidbits as I process all that I have learned.

Saint Valentine

Today, I have heard people diss Valentine's Day. I listened while people excitedly spoke of plans with the one they love.

I am sure this is not what Saint Valentine intended. I know that I do not need people to experience love. You see, it wells up from deep within me and overflows. It is something that I have that I must share. Not something that I need to seek.

So with all my love, Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

backing talkwards

Isn't it funny how sometimes, even when you try hard, you just cannot say what you mean?

For instance, yesterday Deb was trying to ask Phyl if she would like to help fix dinner and it came out, "Phyl, do you want to cook me up for dinner?" How funny is that?

Then tonight, Mal tried to ask if he could smell something cooking and it came out, "Can I feel something smelling?"

One thing I cannot give are concise directions to my husband while he is driving. For example, once I told him, "Turn right into the driveway on the left!" He didn't turn anywhere, I wonder why....

It has begun...again

I have been expecting this process for nearly two years. It has now officially begun. Yesterday, I had my first interview for candidacy as a Uniting Church of Australia Minister of the Word.

I found that although the interview questions were difficult; they were fair. I also found that I had reasonable answers for each question. Perhaps, it is another confirmation of the call of God. This interview was not as stressful as I had anticipated but I realize that this is only the begining.

I will be in this process until around June. But then it is still not really over, is it? Life just continues in processes the end of one being the begining of another. If accepted as candidate, then spend a few years in that process until ordination, then in that process till ????

See what I mean?

Relationships

I haven't posted because I spent this last week on holiday. This was a very special holiday because it focused on relationships. Mal and I spent 6 days renew and tend relationships. We spent time importantly on our relationship with each other. We spent time on relationships with family. And we spent time with relationships with friends.

In time much of the material stuff that I have will be gone, broken, worn out, replaced and lost. Yet we spend a great deal of time on the stuff. So this holiday was spent to ensure the things that can be truly lasting will last. I would have to say then it was a successful trip. The bond in several relationships have been strengthened and I know that these bonds will be strong enough to last through whatever life may dish out.

In fact, I depend on them being that strong!

Where do I start?

Wow, how much can happen in a day? There were just so many odds and ends and today will not be over till about 9pm. It is 6:45pm and I have two meetings yet. Plus it was just darn hot and humid. I at least now feel like I will get thru it all but for a bit there was stress and tension. It is amazing how stopping and hemming your day with prayer keeps it from unraveling.

A quiet day

Sunday's should be a day of rest. And since 10:30am this morning it has been. I watch a pair of king parrots dining in my pine tree as they do this time of year and was so delighted, they had brought jr. with them this time. I spent the afternoon watching these parents keeping a watchful eye as the uncoordinated young parrot made a pig of himself. Isn't God's creation grand!

Why do I do this to myself....

I knew I had a lot to do this week. But I procrastinated. Big surprise, huh. Now it is Friday and I am scrambling. I justify, "I work good underpressure." It may be true but this week I did not need to work under pressure if only I had, well, worked.

I am sure I will finish what I need to and even have time to relax. But I am longing to be able to work and relax at the same time.

Here I go

The big step, a cracked pot feels vulnerable starting something that others seem to take for granted.