While I Have this Opportunity....

Yesterday I met Peggy, Jenny,Becky and Laurie for lunch at The Nord. What a great time. Of course fun lunches with friends also include too much laughter, just some chat, and then serious issues that we know could be solved it only someone would ask the five us of for our thoughts and decisions. Of course all good things have to come to an end, so the end of lunch blended into the beginning of shopping. I picked up my dress for the wedding in May with the hem let out to be as long as possible. I had actually been at The Galleria since that morning running errands for me and doing one for my mom.




Something I have learned about me and working out, if I don't dress for it, I don't go. Forget this taking workout clothes to change into or going home to change. So after lunch and shopping I was off to the club to workout. It being later than my usual time I learned the timing of late afternoon after school moms and dads and those coming in to workout after a day at the job. I like my usual time. Roy thought he would be home later than early, but that changed at the last minute. We went out for dinner at Fu's.




Today was Spa day and it was wonderful. I got a massage and a pedicure. Feeling so relaxed, I headed over to Central Market to pick up a few dinners for the days ahead. I only have the mojo to cook about once every two weeks.




I am reading a wonderful book, An Altar in the World, by Barbara Brown Taylor. Her book Leaving Church is on my top ten of favorite reads. This book I am reading now is finding the sacred in the little things in our lives. Seems like a recurring theme I love. She uses the story of Jacob's dream of angels ascending and descending. When he awakes he is in the same place where he went to sleep, nothing around him has changed, but everything in him has. I love this quote and it is going to be a long one, but it is very thought provoking and I leave you with it for your own contemplation.



"Still, some of us were not satisfied with our weekly or biweekly encounters with God (in a church, oops I didn't set the scene well...continue reading please). We wanted more than set worship services or church work could offer us. We wanted more than planning scavenger hunts for the youth group, more than polishing silver with the altar guild, more than serving on the outreach committee or rehearsing anthems with the choir. We wanted More. We wanted a deeper sense of purpose. We wanted a stronger sense of God's presence. We wanted more reliable ways both to seek and to stay in that presence-not for an hour on Sunday morning or Wednesday afternoon, but for as much time as we could stand.

And yet the only way most of us knew to get that was to spend more time in church. So we volunteered more, dreamed up more programs, invited more people to more classes where we could read more books. The minute we walked back out to our cars, many of us could feel the same old gnawing inside. Once we left church, we were not sure what to do anymore. We knew some things we could do to feel close to God inside the church, but after we stepped into the parking lot, we lost that intimacy. The boundaries were not so clear out there. Community wasn't so easy to find. The only More out there was more of the same. That, at least is how it looked to those of us who had forgotten that the whole world is the House of God."



OK, I said I wasn't going to make comment, but somehow I must. Since retiring from church work, I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to come to church. Sunday has returned to what it should be and not another day of work. I am so happy not make phone calls or send emails to the same people asking them to volunteer when I know how very tired they are of always being the ones at church doing the volunteer work. I especially felt guilty calling men because if they are like my husband, they don't work 37-40 hour work weeks, most aren't able to leave at will to watch little Foo Foo's ballet recital or little Buddy's t ball game so I know home time is a premium. I am happy not to hawk another "conference" that is a Must
! I can give you the Monarch Notes of church sponsored conferences, Spend wisely,have more sex, get out of debt, have more sex save, and have more sex. There it is in a nutshell. Oh the have more sex is just for those of us who are married. :) I have saved you thousands of dollars over the next few years. Hmmm...maybe I should start a conference on this.



What I am asking you to think about is this, God. See Him in your everyday life. Be like Moses, get off track, investigate and hear God speak to you. Have reverence for holding babies, hugging friends, sitting close to your husband while watching TV, notice the ants in the yard, observe the birds, look at flowers and trees, gaze into the sky and see God. Speak to Him in your words but talk to Him with His Word, the sacred will sprout roots about you. There is nothing routine about God, He is consistent, never routine. Don't think that volunteering for every job that comes your way in church is the only way to find God. Serve and volunteer passionately with what God has given you to give.



Of course you know I have much more to write on this but it will have to wait. Buddy has been sitting here by me and she is ready for some play time. Can't miss an opportunity like that.