Virgil, Be-Have! I Mean It!

No one would believe this even if they saw it happening. Peggy and I just got off the phone and our main conversation was concerning Luke 18, the parable of the persistent widow, Peggy explaining to me the fine art of boiling chicken and then we exchange some recipes. See, I told you it is totally unbelievable. It's not that we both don't love The Bible and we've been known to cook from time to time but those topics aren't on our top 10 list with each other. I mean really, we have never had the time in the middle of the afternoon to discuss or exchange this type of information. Not working is doing us both good.


Buddy is loving my presence at home. In fact I never really thought through the term copy cat until Buddy. She mimics me. One way she does this is so sweet. Sometime in the middle of the night Buddy joins us and she sleeps in the crook of my arm and on top of my arm. She is kind of spooning with me. Lately she has started stretching out her front paw just like my arm is stretched out. She gently puts her paw on my hand. It is just so cute and I woke up Roy last night for him to rejoice and celebrate in the sweetness. In conversation this morning he doesn't recall anything about this and said he would rather catch it some time other than in the middle of the night.

Roy is rejoicing in my cooking, what little I have done so far. Today I am doing the prep work for Chicken Tetrazzini and I will actually fix it for tomorrow's dinner. On Monday I made some soup. Reading other's blogs about meal planning just totally overwhelms me. People plan out meals a month or beyond at one time, make a grocery list and stick to the program. First all that planning feels like math to me and second I am a mood eater. What if I am not in the mood for Sloppy Joe's on the 25th? It will throw the complete axis of power off.

I am a great observer of patterns, no not the sewing kind, but life and personality patterns. Every morning leaving for work the young Dr, the older gentleman returning from his walk and I were on a similar time pattern. We could judge whether we were early, on time or late from our patterns. One morning I left earlier than usual for work and as I drove past the older gentleman on Memorial, he immediately looked at his watch to see if he was running late. There is much to learn in the following of patterns. I am learning to pay attention to these patterns to see God. Of course God is bigger than any pre-set pattern, but you can find Him in them cause He wants us to find Him everyday in our moments and experiences of life. This will come as no big surprise, but I am reading a book on paying attention. There isn't a day that I hear my parent's voices in my mind saying pay attention, sit/stand up straight and behave! If you have seen Greater Tuna, those familiar words of "Virgil, behave. I mean it" play through my mind as well. Paying attention and inattention are both learned, only one requires discipline, inattention comes naturally. Many times what we are not attentive to says more about us than we would really like others to know. Although, others would have to be paying attention to notice this. Luke 14, the parable of the great banquet, keeps getting my reading and attention. You know it's the parable that has a song, "I cannot come, I cannot come to the banquet. Don't bother me now, I have married me a wife and I bought me a cow. I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum, please pray hold me excused I cannot come." What invitations is God extending to me during the day and my distractions of life tell Him, I can't come. I won't be there. Maybe another time Jesus. Really, let's do coffee or lunch soon. Same old excuses. I don't want to be one of those inattentive ones so wrapped up in my everyday concerns that I make every conceivable excuse to stay away from what could have been the greatest night. I don't want it said to Him, Nancy Mon is sending her regrets. Where is He calling to me to get off the beaten path and do something out of the routine? If Moses hadn't explored the burning bush, what would have happened? What if he kept saying, my job is to tend sheep and that is what I'm going to do, tend these sheep. Believe me I thought about this at work too. In the mundane tasks is where I saw God so many times when I took the time to explore and see what's happening.

I read something the other day that I can't get out of my thoughts. The Magi came from a far country looking for a king. Theirs was constant attentiveness to interior and exterior landscapes. They were watching the sky and the signs and landmarks along the journey got them to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem they were told of the scripture that the shepherd of God's people would come out of Bethlehem. The star was not enough. The star got them to Jerusalem but God's Word got them to Bethlehem. The Word got them to the King of Kings. Wow! Isn't that an awesome thought!

The events of life show God reaching out to us. I can watch for Him in my quiet time and have everything prepared to meet Him. I can give constant attention to the interior and exterior landscapes of my life, even paying more attention to the signs and landmarks, but it is paying attention to the Word of God that gets me to the Light and reveals Jesus...it gets me to the heart of the matter. I am where the Word works and I can believe God.


Today I've been looking and paying attention. I am dressed in my most favorite and soft with wearing sweatshirt. I am paying attention today of God's tidings of comfort and joy. I've seen Him today here at home and in all the errands I ran. He is there in the patterns of friendships. He is there in the familiar.


Word of God speak!