Subtle Illness

Afraid of Being Hurt

We may need most to pity persons who have had no problems too big for themselves. Such persons have no remembrance of pain and loss and a crying in the night which will let them hear this in the life of another. Perhaps of all people they are the most lost---lost to self and to a world acquainted with grief.

Somehow we keep our lives so well hidden from one another that we do not guess that we are not alone. Distrust is among our subtle illnesses. We were given hearts for "reciprocal trust," but fear has built high walls. We are afraid of being hurt, and when we talk, we make ourselves vulnerable. What we say can be used against us or betray our loyalty to another, and so we add isolation to our own burden and the burden of others.

Elizabeth O'Connor

Source: Journey Inward, Journey Outward

S.H.E.

A Timely Prayer

Bring us home, O Lord.

When our bodies ache, our minds fail, our cells turn against our very being---bring us home, O Lord, to your perfect healing of our mind, body and soul.

When we are angry and impatient with our brothers and sisters, when we are unfriendly to the stranger, when we harbor fears and resentments---bring us home, O Lord, to your perfect love.

When our money runs low, our homes are lost, our children go hungry---bring us home, O Lord, that we might have life and have it abundantly.

When we tolerate human suffering, ignore the plight of the foreigner, allow nation to rise up against nation---bring us home, O Lord, that we might live in your perfect peace....

Paul Mowry

via Inward/Outward

Stable?

Oh Brian - you made me laugh out loud this morning at 6:30 AM! (Atlantic time!)

From today's StoryPeople:

stable as long as nothing else in the whole world shifts
(so don't get your hopes up)

Narrative law

Provocative thoughts from Donald Miller on his blog this a.m.:

"Many people are moral for religious reasons, stating their morality comes from the Bible or a sacred text (which, while these books can influence morality, are not written with the intention of defining a moral code. If they are, they are terribly written and the authors couldn’t land their point.)"

More here: Donald Miller: On Morality and Narrative Law

Surrender

If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it. ~Toni Morrison

image taken at the Oregon coast - summer 2008

Best snack evah!

Mmmmmmmm....Pepitas!! I have talked about roasting pepitas in my facebook update so often, and I get so many questions about it that I thought I would document the process, ala Pioneer Woman (but without all of the beautiful bokah photos and humor she is so well known for) so that others might be able to enjoy them too. So easy!

Take raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds w/out the shell) - I get mine at the Bulk Barn. If you're not in Canada you won't know what that is, but it's a lovely little chain of bulk stores across the country - their dried (unsweetened) mango is the best ever!

Toss as many as you can eat in a pan, no oil - just like you'd roast pine nuts or almonds. DON'T WALK AWAY - this is important as nuts roast quickly once they decide to roast and you can have a big smokey mess on your hands if you learn this the hard way - trust me! :]

Keep them moving - they are green to start, will toast up nicely and begin to talk to you in the pan. Rice Crispies have nothing on pepitas!

Once they start to shed their skins a bit you'll hear them snap and see the floaty bits of skin start to rise in the steam you'll know they're almost done. The smell is almost as good as the CNE nut carts in the Ag Building, almost (and it won't set you back $7.00 for a tiny bag of nuts!)

Put sea salt (I had to use Kosher Salt as I'm out of sea salt) into mortar & pestle and pulverize to a fine dust.

Sprinkle on nuts

Enjoy!

Dirty laundry

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. "That laundry is not very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband "Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

from my dear Anj

Out of Tune

All music jars when the soul is out of tune.

Miguel de Cervantes