- yoga this morning
- a quieter afternoon, with lots of time to read
- getting lost in a whole other world and culture as I read
- the little red wax encased wheels of Babybel Cheese
- an evening full of enjoyable conversation
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 215
Today's Daily 5:
Saturday Morning
It's Saturday morning and I'm officially kicking off a more relaxed weekend than I've had in quite some time.
At the present moment, I'm still in bed, though I won't be for long.
In about an hour I have to catch a bus to my usual Saturday morning yoga class. I almost talked myself into skipping it today, but reminded myself just how much better I really do feel when I take those 90 minutes or so to exercise, to meditate, to be quiet. So, yoga it is.
I have to get the sheets from the bed I sleep in at mom and dad's into the laundry before I go, too. They have company coming to stay tonight, and when there is company coming I get displaced from the big queen-sized bed with a comfy mattress, to the smaller full-sized rather firm futon across the hall. It's firm enough that if the company will be there for more than a night, I usually give up my escape to mom and dad's and go home to grandma's, thereby ensuring that my whole body won't ache from the hard mattress. But this is only one night of displacement, and going "home" to grandma's tonight would cost me my lovely Sunday morning of sleeping in, and then having time with a completely empty house in which to just relax. And that is a price I'm not willing to pay. So, I'll wash the sheets, clean up the bedroom that is "mine" most of the time, and move my things across the hall for a night.
Other than yoga, though, and a bit of cleaning in preparation for the houseguests, I have NOTHING planned for this weekend. Or at least nothing firmly on the schedule. And that feels beautiful.
And with that, I'm off to crawl out of bed and start the day! Hope it's a great one for all of you!
At the present moment, I'm still in bed, though I won't be for long.
In about an hour I have to catch a bus to my usual Saturday morning yoga class. I almost talked myself into skipping it today, but reminded myself just how much better I really do feel when I take those 90 minutes or so to exercise, to meditate, to be quiet. So, yoga it is.
I have to get the sheets from the bed I sleep in at mom and dad's into the laundry before I go, too. They have company coming to stay tonight, and when there is company coming I get displaced from the big queen-sized bed with a comfy mattress, to the smaller full-sized rather firm futon across the hall. It's firm enough that if the company will be there for more than a night, I usually give up my escape to mom and dad's and go home to grandma's, thereby ensuring that my whole body won't ache from the hard mattress. But this is only one night of displacement, and going "home" to grandma's tonight would cost me my lovely Sunday morning of sleeping in, and then having time with a completely empty house in which to just relax. And that is a price I'm not willing to pay. So, I'll wash the sheets, clean up the bedroom that is "mine" most of the time, and move my things across the hall for a night.
Other than yoga, though, and a bit of cleaning in preparation for the houseguests, I have NOTHING planned for this weekend. Or at least nothing firmly on the schedule. And that feels beautiful.
And with that, I'm off to crawl out of bed and start the day! Hope it's a great one for all of you!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 214
Today's Daily 5:
- Wearing (and smelling) my favorite perfume for the first time in ages
- sun sparkling against grass wearing a fresh coat of heavy, early morning frost
- snow covered mountains in the distance
- good deals on some groceries
- some blog posts that moved, challenged, or encouraged me
- days that feel like spring even if it probably isn't really here yet.
- made a new recipe (oatmeal orange muffins. a longtime favorite that I've eaten many times, but never actually made)
- it's the weekend!
- getting engrossed in the newest book I'm reading
- the wonders of melatonin that means that after years of not sleeping, I'm finally managing to sleep several hours in a row most nights.
A New Awareness of the Groaning
I'm hesitating, even as I sit down to write out these thoughts. They seem so very....Christian. It's the faith that I ascribe to, though a word whose public expressions and definitions I don't always love. And yet, these are the things I've been pondering lately, and that is what this blog space has been for nearly six years now - a place to write out the bits and pieces I'm pondering. To wrap words around those thoughts and give them form.
I'll probably never forget the first time I became aware on a deep, internal level, that Christ's death was necessary in part because of me.
It happened nearly two decades after I first invited Him to be the Lord of my life, kneeling next to my mom, against an itchy couch, on dark brown shag carpet.
I was in a Catholic church, and it was Palm Sunday.
Catholics mark Palm Sunday differently from the culture in which I'd been raised. Protestants are joyous, celebrating the triumphal entry. Services are full of construction paper palm leaves and children waving them, marching around the auditorium, singing Hallelujahs. Two decades or more of observing faith, and I was pretty sure what I'd find when I sat down in a pew for a Saturday evening mass.
I was wrong.
A few moments acknowledging the palms, the triumphal entry at the beginning, and then the account of the Passion.
It was a responsorial reading. The priest read the role of Jesus, others the role of the major players, and the congregation, well, we read the part of the crowd. And so I stood there, crying out with a hundred or so strangers, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
It was a bizarre and personal experience, fully unexpected, and bearing with it a deep thankfulness for grace.
I found myself thinking about that moment again this past Sunday, as I read a professional code of ethics for one of the classes I'm taking.
Again, it feels odd to say this openly, but as I read the ethical code, I was struck deeply by the fallenness of the world. As I read the code I thought about how codes of ethics, particularly this one, designed to protect those with limited abilities, mentally, emotionally, or physically, would be so unnecessary if we only loved and valued and respected life. If there wasn't sin, and a fallen nature, we wouldn't need this.
It is, quite frankly, an uncomfortable, and unpopular thought. It's not one that sits easily, even for me, and I ascribe to the theological beliefs from which it comes. It feels intolerant and judgmental.
And yet, we have code after code designed to protect those who should not need protection - the weak, the ill, those who have some sort of limitation. Code after code of things that should be common sense if we simply valued people, loved them deeply as ourselves.
I don't have conclusions to draw. The moment of awareness on Sunday caught me off guard, and has left me uncomfortable all week.
I'm thinking a lot about the passages that speak of all creation groaning for redemption, for resurrection, to be made new. And this week, as I sit with these questions, these awareness, as they make me uncomfortable, as I think about things I've been reading, as I follow news stories from Africa, the Middle East, Japan, I feel that groaning, and I pray for things to be made new.
I'll probably never forget the first time I became aware on a deep, internal level, that Christ's death was necessary in part because of me.
It happened nearly two decades after I first invited Him to be the Lord of my life, kneeling next to my mom, against an itchy couch, on dark brown shag carpet.
I was in a Catholic church, and it was Palm Sunday.
Catholics mark Palm Sunday differently from the culture in which I'd been raised. Protestants are joyous, celebrating the triumphal entry. Services are full of construction paper palm leaves and children waving them, marching around the auditorium, singing Hallelujahs. Two decades or more of observing faith, and I was pretty sure what I'd find when I sat down in a pew for a Saturday evening mass.
I was wrong.
A few moments acknowledging the palms, the triumphal entry at the beginning, and then the account of the Passion.
It was a responsorial reading. The priest read the role of Jesus, others the role of the major players, and the congregation, well, we read the part of the crowd. And so I stood there, crying out with a hundred or so strangers, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
It was a bizarre and personal experience, fully unexpected, and bearing with it a deep thankfulness for grace.
I found myself thinking about that moment again this past Sunday, as I read a professional code of ethics for one of the classes I'm taking.
Again, it feels odd to say this openly, but as I read the ethical code, I was struck deeply by the fallenness of the world. As I read the code I thought about how codes of ethics, particularly this one, designed to protect those with limited abilities, mentally, emotionally, or physically, would be so unnecessary if we only loved and valued and respected life. If there wasn't sin, and a fallen nature, we wouldn't need this.
It is, quite frankly, an uncomfortable, and unpopular thought. It's not one that sits easily, even for me, and I ascribe to the theological beliefs from which it comes. It feels intolerant and judgmental.
And yet, we have code after code designed to protect those who should not need protection - the weak, the ill, those who have some sort of limitation. Code after code of things that should be common sense if we simply valued people, loved them deeply as ourselves.
I don't have conclusions to draw. The moment of awareness on Sunday caught me off guard, and has left me uncomfortable all week.
I'm thinking a lot about the passages that speak of all creation groaning for redemption, for resurrection, to be made new. And this week, as I sit with these questions, these awareness, as they make me uncomfortable, as I think about things I've been reading, as I follow news stories from Africa, the Middle East, Japan, I feel that groaning, and I pray for things to be made new.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 213
Today's Daily 5:
- sleeping in
- getting a ride to my destination for the day, and not having to carry what I needed for the day and for the weekend with me on the bus
- getting an errand done (hooray for dropping off my taxes! fingers crossed for a decent return!)
- A pork and mango taco
- a treatment from my mom
- finishing up all of the homework that actually HAD to be done this week - I can take the weekend off if I want (probably won't since next week is busy, but I could, and that feels great!)
- Lindt Petits Desserts Hazlenut Chocolate Mousse (oh my goodness SO good!)
- really good mini-cupcakes at house church (I normally don't like cupcakes, but these were really tasty!)
- house church conversations and laughter
- marking quite a few items off my list of "to do's" for the week today
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