This has been a very full day. (And I still have just under an hour left at the office.)
After work, I'm heading home as quickly as possible, as my roommate and I have an appointment to look at a potential place for us to live beginning next month. I would be quite delighted if this one panned out, as it would be a load off my mind. (However, we do tentatively have another appointment later in the week somewhere else, just in case this one doesn't work out.)
I like the full days better than the empty ones when I'm at the office. I'd rather be busy than need to pretend to be busy. Thankfully, these days, the busy days far outnumber the slow ones.
All of the things I mentioned this morning remain heavily on my mind, and I've demonstrated my discombobulated nature rather broadly today by doing things like sending an email referring to a specific attachment, and forgetting to include the attachment.
So, I continue to pray, and to work to reign in my scattered mental processes. To wait and pray and hope and think and love. Not such a bad place to be occupying I suppose.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Discombobulated Prayers
I'm rather discombobulated this morning.
It's been a very odd couple of days, and this morning, in the midst of my distraction and discombobulation, my heart is being driven to prayer.
Today I'm praying for:
It's been a very odd couple of days, and this morning, in the midst of my distraction and discombobulation, my heart is being driven to prayer.
Today I'm praying for:
- a family on the other side of the world who are facing some unique challenges at the moment, and grieving the loss of a friend
- a family here in the city, whose youngest son is facing some significant health challenges again
- a very dear friend who is facing some rather sudden and serious health challenges this week
- peace to come in the midst of many unsettled situations
- joy and rest and healing
- friends preparing to travel
- and others who are crying out for Jesus to meet with them and bring clear next steps
- the coming of the kingdom in a myriad of large and small ways
- the eyes to recognized the coming of the kingdom
- my parents as they seek to encourage, minister, and strengthen and re-establish relationships with those they love in West Africa
- simple provisions
- eyes that see, ears that hear, and a heart that understands
- (and a mind that is willing to allow for eyes that see, ears that hear, and a heart that understands)
- so many to know the deep love of Christ
- an ability to accept that deep love deeply within myself
It's been a distracted several days. I forgot to bring vitamins with me this morning (and will have to take all of them at supper instead), and breakfast too (though thankfully I keep food in my desk for just such a discombobulated day.) I sliced open my left ring finger while cooking dinner last night (thankfully not too seriously). My heart feels scattered, and is waiting for news on so many fronts, and yet, it is bursting into prayer.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Reading
I added a few titles to the list of books in my side bar that I've "read" this year.
To be fair, at the moment, I'm counting it as having been "read" if I make it 100% of the way through either a book book, or an audio book.
My friend LP/CA recommended a pair of audiobooks on her blog a while back. "Funny in Farsi" and "Laughing Without An Accent" were both well worth the time I spent on a couple weeks worth of commutes and evenings playing a computer game that I spent listening to them. They were funny and poignant stories of adapting to life in America and the world, and really did make me laugh aloud quite a number of times.
Reading is something I've always loved, but have struggled to do for much of the last six months as I've struggled with some other things in my life. I started reading at four years old, and I honestly can't remember a time when I haven't been lost in one book or another until these last several months.
But, a few weeks back, the desire to read slowly started returning, and my attention span and eagerness to travel through a book has slowly increased.
Tonight, I finished a book for the first time in several months. "Chasing the Dragon" by Jackie Pullinger. I've been encountering an ongoing theme lately of the importance of giving testimony to the things Jesus has done. The importance of the testimony in both creating faith for more works of God, and in simply remembering the wonderful things God has already accomplished.
I've been in a space where I needed to be reminded of some of those testimonies, in my own life, and in the broader world, and "Chasing the Dragon", though simply written, quite nicely accomplished this. With tale after tale of the miracles she encountered working with the heroin addicts of the walled city in Hong Kong, Pullinger has managed to stir my heart to again begin believing for the bigger things offered in the kingdom of God. And for that, I'm immensely grateful.
To be fair, at the moment, I'm counting it as having been "read" if I make it 100% of the way through either a book book, or an audio book.
My friend LP/CA recommended a pair of audiobooks on her blog a while back. "Funny in Farsi" and "Laughing Without An Accent" were both well worth the time I spent on a couple weeks worth of commutes and evenings playing a computer game that I spent listening to them. They were funny and poignant stories of adapting to life in America and the world, and really did make me laugh aloud quite a number of times.
Reading is something I've always loved, but have struggled to do for much of the last six months as I've struggled with some other things in my life. I started reading at four years old, and I honestly can't remember a time when I haven't been lost in one book or another until these last several months.
But, a few weeks back, the desire to read slowly started returning, and my attention span and eagerness to travel through a book has slowly increased.
Tonight, I finished a book for the first time in several months. "Chasing the Dragon" by Jackie Pullinger. I've been encountering an ongoing theme lately of the importance of giving testimony to the things Jesus has done. The importance of the testimony in both creating faith for more works of God, and in simply remembering the wonderful things God has already accomplished.
I've been in a space where I needed to be reminded of some of those testimonies, in my own life, and in the broader world, and "Chasing the Dragon", though simply written, quite nicely accomplished this. With tale after tale of the miracles she encountered working with the heroin addicts of the walled city in Hong Kong, Pullinger has managed to stir my heart to again begin believing for the bigger things offered in the kingdom of God. And for that, I'm immensely grateful.
Home sick...
Funny how it works.
I was feeling fine this morning (albeit a little bit sleepy), but about mid-morning my stomach carried out a coup.
So, I'm at home.
I've just graduated from bed (where I spent the last three hours) to couch (where I plan to spend the next several, perhaps even until bedtime.)
And, while I had things on my plate that could have been done today, there was nothing too urgent that I didn't manage to take care of before I left the office. And, to be fair, an enforced day of rest, in an empty house, is really not such a bad deal. A few hours of drifting in and out of sleep, planned to be followed by several more of dvd watching, reading, writing, and just generally engaging only in activities that can be accomplished from a horizontal pose, is not such a bad thing.
I was feeling fine this morning (albeit a little bit sleepy), but about mid-morning my stomach carried out a coup.
So, I'm at home.
I've just graduated from bed (where I spent the last three hours) to couch (where I plan to spend the next several, perhaps even until bedtime.)
And, while I had things on my plate that could have been done today, there was nothing too urgent that I didn't manage to take care of before I left the office. And, to be fair, an enforced day of rest, in an empty house, is really not such a bad deal. A few hours of drifting in and out of sleep, planned to be followed by several more of dvd watching, reading, writing, and just generally engaging only in activities that can be accomplished from a horizontal pose, is not such a bad thing.
Monday Morning
It's chilly outside today. The wind blew viciously all night, and it's cool and not supposed to get very warm at all today. Which means the skirt I unthinkingly put on this morning was probably a bad idea.
It's a new month, too.
And it'll be a busy one.
I spent hours yesterday, with dvds playing in the background, staring at the pages of my journal, and writing. Trying to process a week that included crazy dreams, unexpected meetings, roommate tensions, family stuff, and a number of milestones or rather emotional moments with God.
It perhaps helped a little.
Timing to me is always a funny monster. This morning I received an emailed prayer request from a family I have minimal contact with, but a family that appeared in a dream I had last week. The prayer request had nothing to do with the dream, but the timing of it made me pause.
And I smiled, just a little, when I came into work this morning and flipped the calendar over to the quote for the day. Not so much because of the quote, but because it was a quote from Clare of Assisi, whose life has also deeply impacted me in this crazy last year and a half. (The quote read, "Transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead itself through contemplation.")
There are so many things that must be done this week, and high on my priority list is arranging a place to live, and settling a moving date. I will be far less stressed and far more equipped to handle the coming month if those two things can be removed from my plate.
And, I've made fun plans for Saturday. I think I'll wait to share. But I'm going to indulge something I've been quietly thinking about for quite some time. Something I've thought about so quietly that both of my roommates commented that it seemed quick, and wondered if it was a thought through plan, or an impulse decision. Something that makes me smile at the ridiculous nature of it. And I've found a friend to come along and take photos!
It's a new month, too.
And it'll be a busy one.
I spent hours yesterday, with dvds playing in the background, staring at the pages of my journal, and writing. Trying to process a week that included crazy dreams, unexpected meetings, roommate tensions, family stuff, and a number of milestones or rather emotional moments with God.
It perhaps helped a little.
Timing to me is always a funny monster. This morning I received an emailed prayer request from a family I have minimal contact with, but a family that appeared in a dream I had last week. The prayer request had nothing to do with the dream, but the timing of it made me pause.
And I smiled, just a little, when I came into work this morning and flipped the calendar over to the quote for the day. Not so much because of the quote, but because it was a quote from Clare of Assisi, whose life has also deeply impacted me in this crazy last year and a half. (The quote read, "Transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead itself through contemplation.")
There are so many things that must be done this week, and high on my priority list is arranging a place to live, and settling a moving date. I will be far less stressed and far more equipped to handle the coming month if those two things can be removed from my plate.
And, I've made fun plans for Saturday. I think I'll wait to share. But I'm going to indulge something I've been quietly thinking about for quite some time. Something I've thought about so quietly that both of my roommates commented that it seemed quick, and wondered if it was a thought through plan, or an impulse decision. Something that makes me smile at the ridiculous nature of it. And I've found a friend to come along and take photos!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
