Heading Out

I'm getting up at 4:30 tomorrow morning. I'm being picked up at 6:00. I've laid out mouse poison in various spots around our house. Here's hoping it works better than the traps have.

I'll be at a work conference for the weekend, and probably won't have access to the internet, so I probably won't be posting until at least Sunday night.

Picture nearly 300 mennonites converging on a 5 star hotel for a weekend. Now picture me in the middle of it. Now picture me spending my Saturday trying to corral somewhere between 30 and 50 Mennonite children, who speak varying degrees of English, while teaching them a craft project. Yeah. Really looking forward to it.

This has been a very long and hard day, and, given the fact that I don't sleep very well to start with, and the fact that I have to get up at 4:30, I'm heading for bed.

Headline that caught my eye

Pope Remembers John Paul as Sainthood Pleas Grow

How I've Been Feeling Lately...

I've been a little cranky and overwhelmed with life lately (okay, I can hear those of you who've talked to me in the last week or two dieing of laughter out there at my understatement. stop laughing at me!)

Anyway... I came across this cartoon on The Naked Pastor today, and had to laugh. Seems I've had this slightly cranky conversation with Jesus an awful lot lately. The "you do realize that even if you manage to keep me from drowning, it'll still take a miracle to get me to solid ground again" conversation.

You can see the cartoon here.

The Beauty of Shyness - Henri Nouwen

Another great thought from Henri Nouwen

The Beauty of Shyness

There is something beautiful about shyness, even though in our culture shyness is not considered a virtue. On the contrary, we are encouraged to be direct, look people straight in the eyes, tell them what is on our minds, and share our stories without a blush.

But this unflinching soul-baring, confessional attitude quickly becomes boring. It is like trees without shadows. Shy people have long shadows, where they keep much of their beauty hidden from intruders' eyes. Shy people remind us of the mystery of life that cannot be simply explained or expressed. They invite us to reverent and respectful friendships and to a wordless being together in love.

In the News...

I have a post on depression in the works. I've been thinking a lot about that topic again lately, exploring it and turning it over and over again in my thoughts.

In the meantime, here are some headlines that caught my eye in my morning perusal of the news:

India Sends Warning to Dalai Lama

Necklace Found in Peru Oldest in Americas

UN Workers Kidnapped in Somalia

Ugandan Rebel too Ill for Peace