Evening

I went to church for the first time in a while tonight, with my brother, and a friend of ours.

I badly needed to meet with Jesus tonight.

I got home from work in a particularly bad mood.

Church was well.. ok.

But I did meet with Jesus, for a few fleeting moments, during the worship set, and again as the church prayed for a family that's been struggling mightily.

It was a non-eventful evening.

Non-eventful, but full.

My thoughts are racing. Not things that are ready for public consumption yet.

Goodnight.

We became those people

I have to laugh. It's 2o past nine, and all of us in our house are in our bedrooms, with the doors shut, in bed. At 20 past nine.

We have become the people we used to mock. The ones who are quite young, but insistent on needing rest. "I need rest for work."

ah, well...

I'm okay with being one of those people for the moment!

Sunday

It's been a mostly quiet day.

I actually slept a bit last night. It took a while to get there - the fears from the previous night's nightmare were strong - but I eventually got there (and thankfully didn't have any more nightmare's either).

I got the oil changed in my car this morning.

I bought a new nose ring.

I picked up Chinese take-out and ate it curled up on my bed, wrapped in a blanket.

I went out to buy a birthday gift for my dad.

We have a big extended family party tonight. Never my favorite activity. We're celebrating something like 6 birthdays that have happened in the last 6 months or so. We used to be able to get together for all of the birthdays as they happened, but these days we just have two or three big parties a year.

I love my family, but they excel at the fine art of talking about nothing for hours on end. And I find I have little patience for that. But hey, there'll be fantastic food, and probably lots of laughter, and for a few hours I can definitely pretend to be interested in the random minutiae of the life of my grandma's sister's neighbor.

And then, hopefully early to bed, because tomorrow starts another busy week.

Quiet Saturday

This has been a relatively good day.

I wasn't sure that would be the case. I woke out of the most vivid, violent and brutal nightmare I've had in quite some time.

Tea helped.

Dressing myself in clothes I loved, and putting on make-up helped.

Accomplishing all but one of the errands on my weekend list, and finding some surprise bargains in the mix helped.

Making a few pages in a scrapbook-style book of quotes that I keep helped.

Making a very cool pair of earrings (pewter look swallows) helped.

Errands with one of my roommates helped.

And now, we're waiting for a snack to finish heating up. When our other roommate gets home from her day of hiking, we're going to go our for dinner someplace. J and I have decided that cooking is overrated, and we'd had plans to do something as roommates for a week or so anyway. We're thinking Greek food. There's a Greek restaurant near our house that we've been wanting to try.

Here's to an unexpected, quiet, and restful Saturday, and to hoping tomorrow brings more of the same (minus the nightmare of course!).

A Challenging Mission

I've been reading parts of Matthew in Eugene Peterson's "The Message" paraphrase the last few days, and I find myself challenged by these thoughts and words, from and about Jesus. (The copy I'm reading from is an old one, without verse numbers, so I'm not going to include the references for you, but just some of the bits and pieces that are catching at me.) They present an interesting sort of mission statement - for Jesus, but also for those of us who have chosen to follow him.

"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God flavors of this earth."

"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world."

"Be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."

"When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, fro then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves."

"In a word, what I'm saying is, GROW UP. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives towards you."

"Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace."

"Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!"

"Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met."

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

"Don't be flip with the sacred."

"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need."

"First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life."

"He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives."

"Don't begin by traveling to some faroff place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously."