What I learned in April

-

Here's what I learned in April.
  1. My plans are not God's plans.

    Okay, technically this fell on the first of May but as I do these so rarely, I figured you wouldn't hold that against me. I had it all planned out: a relaxing cup of tea before finishing packing and preparing my room for departure and then heading off to Eucharist (I was on retreat here). I am enjoying my cup when the Mission bells start, shortly followed by the monastery's bells. Hmm, I think, I wonder if Br. Timothy is checking the clapper again? No, it was the one day all week when Eucharist was at 9 instead of 11:30am because Sunday.

    So much for the lazy cup of tea and serene packing.

    Fr. Adam's sermon was all about going with God's flow of life instead of imposing our will upon God/life. Yes, God, I heard you the first time.
  2. A lack of fresh air and not sitting with nature leads to me feeling depressed and unworthy.

    It's amazing how 15 minutes sitting in the shade and enjoying a cool Santa Barbara breeze and watching the woodpeckers swoop will clear my head of that AND inspire creativity. I already knew I had to sit in a place of beauty but now I can add "outside" to that.
  3. Believing in the resurrection of the body and what that means for THIS life.

    Resurrection is new transformed life after life after death. Heaven/Paradise is a halfway stop. Meantime, Christians are outposts of God's new kingdom breaking into this earth. Ok, so I believed in the resurrection of the body, but I had never before considered what that meant for now. (My retreat reading was N.T. Wright's "Surprised by Hope".)
  4. The Hamilton cast's reworking of their opening song to pay homage to Sweeney Todd is sheer genius (and 16 Tony nominations! Wow!)

    Here's the link to YouTube to watch it.

  5. I found a salad I 100% like.

    Carrot and jicama slaw. And I really don't like salads. (Similar to this recipe, but swap out jalapeños for dried cranberries. And add cilantro.)

  6. What knocks out fresh skunk smell?
    This stuff. All natural Lime Mate mist.
  7. Meditation works you guys.
    I was getting antsy as I always do waiting for the time to leave the retreat house, bags packed and everything and I thought, no, let's stop and be present to now. And I sat, and I breathed, and prayed the Jesus Prayer and imagined God's light coming into me ... And managed to not be anxious for 15 minutes.
#6 thing that I learned
(And yes, there could be prettier pictures from my retreat that I could share but who needs an image heavy post?)

I am linking up with Emily's chatting at the sky's What I learned in April linkup! What did you learn in April?

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Where Bloggers Create Party!

-
Image
My Desert Cottage Not much has changed in my art room since last year . I had a substantial to-do list this year and I didn't quite get to all of them. Here's what was on my "to-do" that got t'done: 1) I made pretty labels for my binders: 2) I cleaned out my closet. (There is no before picture: just imagine stacks of boxes, giant plastic containers and the like.) The closet now holds some stamp storage (off to the side behind the purple velvet dress that's hanging; a chest of drawers packed with fabric (now consolidated into one space except for another drawer in last year's pink chest of drawers); and a sacred space. The wall has book pages taped onto it. I got the idea and the technique from Aunt Peaches . Eventually, the small stained glass cross will move and be above the ombry that I have on permanent loan (currently holding my prayer books and a bible), which is a bit of a long story, but basically when I no longer have a use f...
Read more

"where there is darkness, light" - Prayer of St. Francis series

-
Image
Today's guest blogger is Joe Pote. As a s tudent of the Bible since early childhood, Joe was literally raised in church, attending multiple church services and Bible studies each week. Having also endured the devastation of a failed marriage, Joe combines a sound understanding of biblical principles with personal experience of the issues and concerns of believers who have experienced divorce.  He would like for you to visit his website .  I sat huddled at my desk, face pressed into palms supported by elbows propped on desktop, staring into the darkness of my own hands…feeling the darkness pressing in from all sides.   The work day was ended.  It was time to go home, a brief ten minute walk from the office.  Yet, I lingered, dreading home…knowing the unfixable problems waiting there…praying that God would show me what to do. My four beautiful children waited at home, bright lights in my life, who I was always pleased to see.  But their mother also ...
Read more

Where Bloggers Create Party II: My Room 2010 (with lots of pictures)

-
Image
I'm excited to be joining the Where Bloggers Create Party for the first time. I discovered it last year, ages after it happened and I literally spent the day looking through them all! I hope you enjoy my space. The sign on my door. I made it as a make-and-take a couple of years ago. Here's an overall view of my room. You can't tell because of the lighting but the walls are not pink. They're pale lavender. The bookcase I bought from Target a year or two ago. It's "Shabby Chic". The bottom drawer holds my German scrap and the "transparent" stuff. The bookcase from Target that used to be under the window is now vertical. The addition to the top of pink chest of drawers is a library card file that was gonna be tossed from church until I rescued it. It holds rolls of seam binding and millinery. I might paint it next year.... Next to it is a tiered holder of mostly lace, but some feathers and flowers. The chest of drawers holds glue, large photos, fa...
Read more