God Alone is Enough by Claudia Mair Burney

My long-time blogger bestie Claudia Mair Burney has just published her first non-fiction work for Paraclete Press. Titled God Alone is Enough, a Spirited Journey with St. Teresa of Avila - it is such a joy to hold the work of my dear friend in my hands. We have read each others words for more years than I can count and watching her journey has been a true joy.

I am the ninth step on a blog tour through the book and was asked to blog on Chapter nine - Ecstasy is Not a Drug - an appropriate chapter for a "redemption junkie" :)

Before talking about Chapter 9, I want to explain the book to those who aren't following the tour.

Claudia makes Theresa's writings so accessible. It is a beautiful primer for the saint(s) - and a beautiful introduction to centering prayer. It is fun, funny and filled with the reality of both the author's and the saint's struggles and joys. The only criticism I might make is that the cover shows a prim and proper woman in prayer - it belies the very nature of this book. If this book was my neighbor I wouldn't have to clean my kitchen, or even get out of my pj's before I invited her over for tea. It is as real as it is lively - just like my friend Mair.

I think a more "Rosie the Riveter" kind of sister on the cover would have been a more accurate visual representation of the sense of the book. Don't get me wrong - it is a beautiful cover - I just am such a visual person that I do unfortunately, at times, judge by said cover. Okay, on to chapter 9...

If anyone is at all familiar with St. Theresa and her Interior Castle you will know of her ecstasy.Theresa opines that there are four stages of prayer that the learner passes through. She uses the metaphor of watering a garden to explain:

"Now let's see how we need to water the garden, so we'll understand what we have to do, how much the labor will cost us, if the time and work we put into it is worth it, and how long it will last. Our garden can be watered in four ways: We can draw water from a well, which is a lot of work. Or you can get the water by turning the crank of a waterwheel and drawing it through an aqueducts. I've tried this myself and know it's not as much trouble to do as the first way. And you get more water.

Or you can channel the water from the flow of a river or stream. The garden is watered much better this way because the ground is saturated and you don't have to water it as frequently. This is a lot less work for the gardener.

Or the water may come from an abundant rain pouring on the soul; the Lord waters the garden himself, without any work on our part. This is by far the best method of all." (pg. 43, 44)

Chapter 9 is focusing on that fourth level of centering prayer - when God sends the rain - Theresa calls it "that sacred kiss" - this is the intimacy of the ecstasy with God that very few, myself included have ever experienced. Theresa explains, "The soul detaches itself from everything, daughter, so it can abide more fully in me. It is no longer the soul that lives but I. Since it is not capable of comprehending what it understands, there is an understanding by not understanding."

The holy longing for that level of intimacy with God - where our soul is joined with God has been lost to most of the church these days. We spend our time hauling water and building aqueducts instead of praying for rain. Centering prayer is a lost art form to the evangelical church and we are poorer for its lack.

This is a book I will be passing on to my daughter and one I'd use regularly with teen girls to teach on centering prayer. Thank you Mair, both for the book and for venturing into non-fiction. I adore your story and look forward to one day holding THAT book in my hands.

Finding the right name

There is nothing in your life
too terrible or too sad
that will not be your friend
when you find the right name to call it,
and calling it by its own name
hastening
it will come upright to your side.

--Laurens van der Post

Step 1

FFFOUND!

Mumford & Sons - Roll Away Your Stone

My Madi has introduced me to a new to me band - I am far behind on the amazing music scene - but will catch up quickly with Mumford & Sons - oh my. I watched "The Cave" on her fb page this a.m. and scooted over to their website and found their new live video on their song Roll Away Your Stone - black and white, foot stomping glorious!



Lyrics to Roll Away Your Stone :

Roll away your stone I will roll away mine
Together we can see what we will find
Don't leave me alone at this time
For I am afraid of what I will discover inside

You told me that I wouldn't find a home
Beneath the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal
And all the while my character it steals

Darkness is a harsh term don't you think
Yet it dominates the things I see

It seems that all my bridges have been burned
But you say 'That's exactly how this grace thing works’
It's not the long walk home that will change this heart
But the welcome I receive with every start

Darkness is a harsh term don't you think
And yet it dominates the things I see
Darkness is a harsh term don't you think
And yet it dominates the things I see

Stars hide your fires
For these here are my desires
And I won't give them up to you this time around
And so I will be found
With my stake stuck in the ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul

And you, you've gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine

First with ourselves

Openness is the sign of a fully human life. It leads to the capacity to give life to others. It is important to know our own selves, and that we are different from others, and to be compassionate, first with ourselves.

- Jean Vanier, A Human Future, November 04.

My new tag line

Blessed are the cracked for they shall let in the light.

Groucho Marx

I'll love you forever

Robert Munsch has always been my absolute favorite childrens author and now that I read-aloud 8x a week he is my very best friend. Yesterday the news hit that he has opened up about his long struggle with mental illness and addiction. This only makes me love him more. Anyone who takes a princess who has lost everything and gives her the chutzpah to stand up to dragons and shallow princes could never fall from grace in my books.

I hope this will allow parents to begin to have discussions with their kids about these difficult topics and that others will see the beauty that can come from pain. So thrilled that Annick Press and Scholastic are standing fully behind him as he finds healing and recovery.

Toronto Star - Robert Munsch lauded for addiction admission

CBC Canada - Robert Munsch speaks of addiction battle

Renovatus

“The only chance of renovation is to open our eyes and see the mess.”

- Samuel Beckett

via Today I Love

Hello mother

Two beautiful, very different videos on mothering. Absolutely love them both.

The first is an interview from StoryCorps that has been animated into a film short. 12 year old son with Asperger’s syndrome interviews his mum. Having my own 12 year old son I love to hear the way she honors his individuality with such honesty. His questions are so probing and insightful and this peek into their relationship is precious.

The second is for anyone who has ever gone away to camp, missed your mum and given the gift of your creativity in your time away - it's poet Billy Collins reading his poem called "The Lanyard"

Q&A from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Touching our fear

You see the problem with us is that we can be governed by fear. Fear of not being loved, fear of being abandoned, fear of suffering, fear of death. It is very important for human beings that we touch our fears -- to know where our fears are -- because we cannot let ourselves be governed by our fears.

- Jean Vanier, Address to the Business Community, April 05

100 months

While I was babysitting the daughter of my good friends Jeremy & Jennifer I got a chance to read some of Miroslav Volf's new book Against the Tide: Love in a Time of Petty Dreams and Persisting Enmities. It was a special treat and Jeremy left it out just for me (thanks Jer!) to read while she napped.

It is a book of short essays so I skipped around and sampled lots. The one that made the most impact on me was his piece on infertility. I don't have the book with me, so I can't quote it - but he wrote of the 9 years of infertility that he and his wife endured before the adoption of their first son. It resonated deeply with me as it was 9 years of trying before our beautiful Alinea came along. He used the term "100 months" and it made cry immediately. 100 months is a very long time - each and every month hating my body and feeling like a total failure, those months were the most excruciating I have ever endured.

Celebrating mothers day without a mom and without children is nearly impossible. I can remember refusing the lame carnation that was being handed out at the door to all of the mums in church that day. I could have punched out the man to tried to shove it in my hands like a consolation prize when I rejected it. Biting the inside of my cheek so I didn't yell at him or begin to break down in the foyer.

Today my Alinea is 14 years old and Jacob 12 - I can hardly remember the deep pain of those months because the joy of their arrival erased them from my active memory. Re-reading that essay brought back some of the emotion. I would encourage you to be gentle to those around you tomorrow - please don't increase their pain or their struggle with lame words that make you feel better, not them. Infertility is a horrible master and there are no words that can stem the pain.

I told my daughter yesterday about the 100 months of preperation we had for her arrival - and how that those times of lack made me a much stronger person and more ready to mother her when she arrived. I will never say that it was a gift or that learning could not have come in other ways - but I can look at that time now and realize that I am a better woman and mother because of it.

I Love Leftovers!

The opposite of a scarcity mentality is an abundancy mentality. With an abundancy mentality we say: "There is enough for everyone, more than enough: food, knowledge, love ... everything." With this mind-set we give away whatever we have, to whomever we meet. When we see hungry people we give them food. When we meet ignorant people we share our knowledge; when we encounter people in need of love, we offer them friendship and affection and hospitality and introduce them to our family and friends.

When we live with this mind-set, we will see the miracle that what we give away multiplies: food, knowledge, love ... everything. There will even be many leftovers.

Henri Nouwen

I know what I like

A Cultural Fable by Brian Andreas

Once upon a time there was a pig who spoke eight languages & did sculpture with pieces of wood & rusted metal he found on his travels.

One day he was out in the woods working on a new installation piece & he met a family from a small town in Tennessee. They had been walking for days.

The dad saw the pig & said what are you doing, little piggie? They were all quite surprised when the pig said working with counterbalanced forces using found objects.

They all stood around & looked at the piece for a long time. No one said anything. Finally, the dad shrugged & turned to the mom & said I don't know much about art but I know what I like & then they killed the pig & ate him.

First love

If you come in touch with that first love you will discover not only that you are loved unconditionally, but that the One who loves you unconditionally loves all of humanity unconditionally, with that same all-embracing love. And the fact that God loves you so intimately and personally does not mean that God loves anyone else less or differently. Uniquely, yes. But whether they are Nicaraguans or Russians, people from Afghanistan or Iran or South Africa, they all belong to the house of God.

And therefore, when you enter into intimate communion with the God of the first love, you will find yourself in intimate communion with all the people of God, because the heart of God is the heart that embraces the whole of humanity. That's why intimacy with God always means solidarity with the people of God. To put it more precisely: God pitched a tent among us and took on our flesh so that there is no human flesh that has not been accepted by God.

Source: The Road to Peace, Henri J. M. Nouwen

via

Best Car Repair in San Antonio

Google bombing for a friend - please disregard unless you are Google (or live in San Antonio and are looking for a good mechanic) :)

Kastis Automotive Repair in San Antonio

Nick Vujicic - A Life Without Limbs

I don't know if any of you remember a short film I posted a few months ago called "The Butterfly Circus" - it is one of the most moving, artful pieces of story I have ever seen. I highly recommend taking the 15-20 minutes it takes to watch. It is so uplifting and redemptive.

My friend from high school, Jackie, just posted a short video of the actor featured in the film giving a motivational speech - I was so excited because I had meant to do some research on him and the impulse got lost in the flow of life. His name is Nick Vujicic and he is a motivational speaker in Australia. He runs a ministry called "Life without Limbs". He's talking here to a group of high school students about body image, self worth and beauty. It's so beautiful to see the kids respond to his words. Watch the movie first and then come back and watch this clip - you will have invested about 30 minutes you will not regret, I promise!



You can find his DVD on Amazon - No Arms, No Legs, No Worries! - and he has a new book coming out in October - Life Without Limits.

Update on Nicola

Some of you may remember my friend Nicola - she of the riding elephant and brave travel adventure.

She just posted an update on the University blog that tracks her whereabouts and how she has spent the past few month. I just can't say enough about how much I love this girl - her courage and zest for life is extraordinary - so excited she's headed back east in the fall.

Nicola Gladwell - There and Back Again

No expectations

"When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or not. Freedom attracts wherever it appears. A free man or a free woman creates a space where others feel safe and want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements, and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person, there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom.

Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be."

Henri Nouwen

Finding Rebirth

Strangely enough, as anguish rises up in us, a new freedom comes to birth. We discover more deeply the small, innocent, trusting child within us; we discover new life.

- Jean Vanier, Seeing Beyond Depression, p. 69

Clear a decent shelter

You must be able to bear your sorrow; even if it seems to crush you, you will be able to stand up again, for human beings are so strong, and your sorrow must become an integral part of yourself, part of your body and your soul, you mustn't run away from it, but bear it like an adult.... Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears his grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate.

But if you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge--from which new sorrows will be born for others--then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply. And if you have given sorrow the space its gentle origins demand, then you may truly say: life is beautiful and so rich. So beautiful and so rich that it makes you want to believe in God.

Source: Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life

via

A new language

"During these years the Church has fought for self-preservation as though it were an end in itself, and has thereby lost its chance to speak a word of reconciliation to mankind and the world at large. So our traditional language must perforce become powerless and remain silent, and our Christianity today will be confined to praying and doing right by our fellow men.

Christian thinking, speaking and organization must be reborn out of this praying and action ... It will be a new language, the language of a new righteousness and truth, which proclaims the peace of God with humankind and the advent of his kingdom," - Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

via

Here's your Easter Sunrise Matt

Remembering who I am

"to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." (ee cummings, poet)

via four rooms

Espresso for my soul

Cheryl Lawrie has a gift for distilling her thoughts into beauty with an economy of words - like the best espresso she gives voice to the aching places of my soul.

Here are her 22 words of lent

i forget how hard it is

to remember to be human

to fail
to be fragile

tomorrow i will not try harder

Dreaming Big

Lighten up

"Humor is the prelude to faith
and laughter is the beginning of prayer"

Reinhold Neibuhr

Dangerous thoughts

Thanks Brian you made me laugh out loud today!

Filled to the brim with dangerous thoughts &
no where to put them since she lives in a small town &
everybody's always watching.

via storypeople

It was what I was born for

Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for--
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world--
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.










Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant--
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these--
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

Source: Why I Wake Early, Mary Oliver

via inward/outward

Minding my own business

I needed this today like a plant needs water. Thank you Martha dear!

Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy; meditate on these things. Philippians 4

[good things this morning.]

[question of the day: if we only meditated on things that fell within the list, above, how could we ever fall into despair or remorse? how could we ever get caught up in the hurt that comes with being gossiped about? or the pain of being hurt by what others think, say or do? if we mind our business and keep our focus on God, how can we think otherwise?]

Truly, madly, deeply do

Lenten Prayer

Beautiful and idealistic - a prayer from my heart - not because I am here, but I long to be:

We have chosen to fast

Not with ashes but with actions

Not with sackcloth but in sharing

Not in thoughts but in deeds

We will give up our abundance

To share our food with the hungry

We will give up our comfort

To provide homes for the destitute

We will give up our fashions

To see the naked clothed

We will share where others hoard

We will free where others oppress

We will heal where others harm

Then God's light will break out on us

God's healing will quickly appear

God will guide us always

God's righteousness will go before us

We will find our joy in the Lord

We will be like a well watered garden

We will be called repairers of broken walls

Together we will feast at God's banquet table

Christine Sine - via BeliefNet

When You Reach Me

Every so often a book comes along that weaves a story together so beautifully I am left in awe. As a wanna-be author these books teach me to reach and to stretch. When You Reach Me is one of those books. We just finished it last night as a family and all of us were so pleased and a bit sad it was over.

Rebecca Stead not only wove her own story, she brought the threads of one of my most favorite stories, A Wrinkle in Time, into it so beautifully and thoughtfully - and did it so well. She just won the 2010 Newberry Award and it is well deserved. To tell you any more would damage your own experience - all I can say is go read it before someone tells you some of the plot - you want to experience this unsullied. Madeline L'Engle would be proud.

Tesser well!

Perspective

At night, as I lie in the camp on my plank bed, surrounded by women and girls...dreaming aloud, quietly sobbing and tossing and turning, I am sometimes filled with an infinite tenderness. And I lie awake for hours, letting the impressions of a much-too-long day wash over me. And I pray, "Let me, oh Lord, be the thinking heart of these barracks." That's what I want to be.... The thinking heart of a whole concentration camp. I lie here patiently, and now calmly, and feel a lot better. I feel strength returning. I've stopped making plans and worrying about risks. Happen what may, it's bound to be for the good.

Source: An Interrupted Life: the Journal of a Young Jewish Woman, Etty Hillesum

This is exactly what I needed today - perspective.

Oh to be a thinking heart in the midst of my circumstances.

via Inward/Outward

The kids are alright

I have officially had enough of winter. I can feel it in my bones. This is the long stretch that makes me begin to doubt my sanity each and every year.
This was the last of the PostSecret cards yesterday. I usually read them Sunday morning, but there was a power outage down south because of the snow storm and he didn't get them posted until later. So I got to enjoy them with my Monday coffee instead of my Sunday coffee.

Seeing this reminder gave me a bit of late winter hope that spring indeed is coming.

Be more curious

At the end of last year I began to ponder and pray about some way to encourage Keith, Alinea & Jacob in the new year. I created an small art piece around each of these and this is the one that I made for Keith. I was reading my friend Mike's blog today Waving or Drowning and he had this video of the inspirational Seth Godin talking about curiosity - it is spectacular. Wanted to link the two here on my blog. Thanks Mike!

'curiosity' from Nic Askew on Vimeo.

Turn the faucet on

"If you’re going to be a writer,
the first essential is just to write.
Do not wait for an idea.
Start writing something
and the ideas will come.
You have to turn the faucet on
before the water starts to flow."
~ Louis L’Amour

(my western lovin' dad would be so happy I'm quoting his favorite author!)

via my new favo art blog: Daisy Yellow. Make sure to read her 13 tips for kicking your inner perfectionist to the curb!

Go wild

What she can do with imagination, markers & prismacolors makes me so happy - I am such a fan of Mary Englebreit - and I just love reading her blog. She doesn't post often, but she's really generous with her knowledge and it's so fun to just get a peek into her process.

Sunbeams

It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.

- Robert Southey (1774-1843, From A Word A Day)

via Deegy

Blackmail

I warned Keith he had better be nice to me or I'd post this picture on Facebook and tag it as him :D


via People of Walmart

Running against the wind

via vol. 25 (quote credit) (image credit)

One giant step

"Sometimes we have to "step over" our anger, our jealousy, or our feelings of rejection and move on. The temptation is to get stuck in our negative emotions, poking around in them as if we belong there. Then we become the "offended one," "the forgotten one," or the "discarded one." Yes, we can get attached to these negative identities and even take morbid pleasure in them. It might be good to have a look at these dark feelings and explore where they come from, but there comes a moment to step over them, leave them behind and travel on."

Henri Nouwen

Justice for all

True authority is exercised in the context of justice for all, with special attention to the weakest people, who cannot defend themselves and are part of the oppressed minority. A family or community authority, as well as having this sense of justice and truth, needs personal relationships, sensitivity in its action and the ability to listen, trust and forgive. None of this, of course, excludes moments of firmness.

- Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, p. 207

New year stories instead of resolutions

I sent this out on my facebook page, but don't want to forget it or have anyone miss it (Erin) because they are not in facebook.

Donald Miller blogged today about how to create stories around our goals to give them life and to inhabit them instead of having them cause us shame.

He writes:

A story involves a person that wants something and is willing to overcome conflict to get it. If you plan a story this year, instead of just simple goals, your life will be more exciting, more meaningful and more memorable. And you are much more likely to stick to your goals. For instance, rather than saying I want to finish getting into shape this year, I’ve written down that I want to climb Mt. Hood with a couple friends. I have a vision of standing on top of the mountain in May, taking pictures and all that. Now my goal has a narrative context. That’s just a simple story, and I’ve planned some stories that are far more difficult but I only use that as an example. If my goal were to lose twenty pounds, I doubt I’d stick with it. But when you have friends flying up from Texas to summit the mountain with you, you’d better believe you are going to be hitting the stairs. I have to, because it I don’t, my story will be a tragedy. Again, stories give goals context.

Make sure to head to his blog to read the rest of the post and grab a copy of his book A Million Miles in A Thousand Years like I'm going to very, very soon.

Donald Miller: Living a Good Story, An Alternative to New Years Resolutions

Happy New Decade!

And now, we welcome the new year,
full of things that have never been.

Ranier Maria Rilke

The Need to Tell

One of my bestie blogger friends sent me this link wondering if these words were meant for me. Erin knows my deep places and my story. The fact that she sent them to me with a "thought this might be for you" and a link made me gird up my loins before I read them.

"Most writers, like most children, need to tell.

The only problem is that much of what they need to tell will provoke the ire of parent-critics, who are determined to tell writer-children what they can and cannot say.

Unless you have sufficient ego and feel entitled to tell your story, you will be stymied in your effort to create.

You think you can't write, but the truth is you can't tell.

Writing is nothing if not breaking the silence."

--Betsy Lerner, The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers

She was right. Words have been very far way from me this past year.

The book is on order. Thank you Erin.

via Jen Lee

The problem with certainty

"Ignorance does not result from what we don’t know! Ignorance results from what we think we do know—but don’t! Most ignorant people are, in fact, quite certain."

Richard Rohr

Thank you Mike Todd!

Leaving our guns at the door

Longing for this today:

When we are free from the need to judge or condemn, we can become safe places for people to meet in vulnerability and take down the walls that separate them. Being deeply rooted in the love of God, we cannot help but invite people to love one another. When people realise that we have no hidden agendas or unspoken intentions, that we are not trying to gain any profit for ourselves, and that our only desire is for peace and reconciliation, they may find the inner freedom and courage to leave their guns at the door and enter into conversation with their enemies.

Many times this happens even without our planning. Our ministry of reconciliation most often takes place when we ourselves are least aware of it. Our simple, nonjudgmental presence does it.

Henri Nouwen

Merry Christmas!

Miracles are a retelling
in small letters
of the very same story
which is written across
the whole world
in letters too large
for some of us to see.

C S Lewis

love, peace, hope & new stories

Absolutely stunning art and stories:

Travel and Sing: Illustrated stories and poems

Free the Bumble!!

Just got invited by my friend on Facebook, Chris Coyle, to correct one of the greatest injustices of our generation - please read on to join our cause:

After seeing a show aimed at children in which a noble creature was taunted, baited, captured, tortured, maimed and mutilated and then used for slave labor and entertainment my daughters turned to me, horrified. I promised to do something, and I'm asking for your help.

A beautiful white ape-like creature with eerily human features and expressions once lived off in the wild frozen tundra of the polar region keeping a respectful distance from the nearest man. His icy eden was spoiled by a crazed capitalist prospector known as Yukon Cornelius who was determined to strip the area of its resources, be they gold, silver or peppermint.

Wary of outsiders following his encounters with Yukon, the gentle giant was understandably curious and terrified by a subsequent invasion by a sadistic elf accompanied by a sweet but confused reindeer. The reindeer was afflicted with a bright and shining nose. The presence of these two triggered our polar ape to give vocal warning and to follow them out to the perimeter of his territory along with the cunning Yukon.

A brief aside about the elf in question in case you doubt his character: some defect in his nature caused him to reject a life of bringing joy to children and to instead secretly delve into a fascination with inflicting pain on mankind of all ages.

After leaving the Yeti's stomping grounds the group went on to join a gang known as the Misfits who lived in colony much like Major Kurtz's. (editorial comment: have to admit, a gang led by a flying lion wearing a crown would be tempting. Moonracer, you are the coolest).

Conflicted about his 'friends' the reindeer returns to his turf, er, tundra but finds that his herd has strayed into the Yeti's domain. A natural prey of the beast, this was a foolish choice. At this point the story takes an ugly turn. Rather than allowing the Circle of Life, the the prospector and Hermey the creepy elf take advantage of the moment to bait the bumble into an ambush. Not content with rescuing the should-be meal, the twisted little Hermey pulls every tooth from the animals head and then he and Yukon mock the poor animal before attempting to push him to his death off a cliff.

In his attempt to kill the now harmless creature (who, having had his teeth pulled, unfortunately completely forgot about his fierce claws and his ability to deliver crushing eye-rolling blows using ice stalactites as a club) the penurious prospector also went over the edge.

As we find out later, the mutilated and humiliated so-called 'abominable' uses his own body to save his tormentor's life.

How is the benign benevolent Bumble rewarded for self-sacrificial act? Slavery. In one of the most blatant shockingly imperialistic quotes of the show, the treatment of the bumble is explained away as "I've reformed this bumble. He wants a job." Sick. Colonialism much? Maybe he wants his land, his teeth and his freedom!?!

I don't know what we can do but at least now you're aware.

Join Our Cause

(Thank you Chris - you have definitely missed your calling - OpEd for the Tribune is in your future!

etsy Finds

Love these so much!



via Amy @ Artsyville



via Valentina

From Away

This was a piece I did for my friend Idelette for her Advent Adventure series. I haven't written anything substantial in awhile, so I thought I'd include it here too.

“We’re pretty underwhelming” the voice said on the other end of the phone.

I reassured him, that stuff isn’t what we’re about.

He’s the director of the Masters program my husband and I are interested in. We were planning to visit the University to see if this was a place we could raise our family. We already knew the program fit our DNA, we had no idea what New Brunswick would be like though.

When we told people we were considering a move to St. Stephen we were told by our Canadian family that people don’t move to New Brunswick, they move from New Brunswick. It’s an area of the world that has been hit hard by progress, the brain drain and muscle drain of the lucrative western Provinces with the oil sands and industry stripped much of the able population from it’s shores.

One of my mentors in Pennsylvania, upon hearing our plans looked me in the eyes and said “Oh Heidi, you don’t want to move to New Brunswick, it’s barren.”

As a woman who struggled with infertility for the first nine years of her marriage that word created deep fear in me.

And yet it still called to us, we knew deep within us that this was the direction we were supposed to head.

We packed our trusty 20+ year old Volvo station wagon and headed on an East Coast Fall Foliage tour like we could have never dreamed of. It ended with Hurricane Wilma hitting the coast of Maine as we drove up the small two lane highway getting blasted by rain as the logging trucks sped past us.

Just a small town, a tiny University, that, from our perspective, had only existed for about a month, coupled with a sincere welcome deeply soothed our ministry trodden souls. This place felt more like home in one weekend than any of the other dozen places I had lived up to this point.

We had no idea how it would happen, but we knew that this was where we were supposed to be.

On our drive home we finally got to see the scenery we had missed on the drive up. Mountains, rivers, ocean, color, blue skies - a place pulsing with life, growth and richness. There was little sign of the scary barrenness we were warned about.

We packed everything we could (only half of what we owned fit into the moving truck) sacrificing many precious possessions we knocked the dust off our feet and prayed that the predicted blizzards would not delay our arrival.

Very early in 2006 we moved into our rented home and landed in a culture more foreign to us than any of our previous moves.

How could it feel so familiar?

Why did it feel like we’ve returned?

In the end those questions didn’t matter.

All we knew was that it did. It felt like home.

In conversation with the locals while we changed our drivers licenses, plates and set up our utilities we found ourselves in similar conversations. “Turner? Oh, you must be related to the Turners out on Little Ridge?” “Nope.” We’d answer. “Oh, then ones out in Oak Bay?” “No. We’re not related to anyone around here.” “Then why’d you move HERE? They’d ask, the same quizzical looks on their faces.

We’d talk about the University, how much we loved the ocean, how warm the people were and how we needed a change. Most of the time the expressions on their faces would deepen instead of ease. We found the quickest answer in an expression they use for tourists and interlopers. “Oh, you’re from away.” they’d state as if that explained everything.

From away.

How could that be? I finally found someplace that felt like home. Even more than the place I was born. No, I wasn’t from away, I’d think. This place knows me. This place is mine.

During one of the administrative tasks of changing over documents and registering utilities we ended up at town hall. They had the New Brunswick flag hanging with it’s white sailed ship and the Provincial motto written in Latin “Spem Reduxit”. I wrote those words down on a scrap of paper in my purse and googled it when I returned home. When I found out it’s meaning I wept.

Spem Reduxit - Hope Was Restored

That’s why this place felt so much like home.

The local joke is that your family can live here for generations and still be considered “from away”. They only consider those born and bred on the Bay of Fundy as locals.

Last spring I was celebrating with friends at a local tradition called a kitchen party - lots of instruments, singing and laughter. A friend had written a song using the motto, it is deeply moving to me. It’s called New Brunswickers Arise. I leaned over and whispered to one of my professors that I am going to begin calling myself a “New New Brunswicker” and he smiled, shook his head and said “Oh, you think it’s that easy, eh?”

Last August we finally bought our home here. We are putting down roots. Deep roots. Our family has begun to discuss how we plan to decorate our new home for the holidays. It’s exciting to know that where we decide to put the advent candle wreathe and the Christmas tree will begin a tradition that could continue for the rest of our lives. We are settling in. And no matter what the locals might think we are not from away anymore.

Add color to someone else's life - Be That Woman!

Thanks Mark!

Captured

“Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.”

~Hafiz

via swirly girl

Shane Claiborne in Esquire Magazine

"To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity."

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/shane-claiborne-1209#ixzz0XQ1fWBP4

A million dreams that roar

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!!

An Awesome Book

Thanks Andrea!!

Best ever yeasted waffles recipe

I'm posting this recipe here because I was glorying in the aroma the morning I made these on Facebook and friends have asked for the recipe.

These are the most amazing waffles - we got the recipe from Cooks Illustrated Holiday 2007 magazine. The difference from chemically leavened (baking powder/soda) waffles is that they crisp up so beautifully and are light and airy. You make the batter the night before and let it rise in the fridge (some yeasted recipes call for leaving out on the counter, but the yeast moves too quickly and then baking soda needs to be added and the batter gets a bit tangy).

I doubled this recipe with great results and got 10 square waffles from my Black & Decker Griddle/Wafflebaker (this was rated "best buy" both Cooks Illustrated and Consumer Reports - and it's affordable - I dream of the Kitchen Aid Pro, but this one makes really good waffles (better than the Krups Belgium Iron I have too - it does look like it was made in the 80's though).

Here's the ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 8 tblsp. butter (calls for unsalted, but i didn't have any so I didn't use the 1 t. added)
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (they go into long description of flours tried, all purpose was the best for this recipe)
• 1 tblsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. instant yeast (I used Fleishman's Rapid Rise)
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 t. vanilla extract

The night before:

Heat milk & butter in small saucepan over medium low heat until butter is melted, 3-5 minutes (I used pyrex measuring cup and the microwave at 30 second intervals until butter was melted). Whisk flour, sugar, salt and yeast in large bowl to combine (make sure this bowl fits in your fridge and that it has enough room for the yeast to double the batch overnight). Gradually whisk warm milk-butter mixture into flour mixture; continue to whisk until batter is smooth. In small bow, whisk eggs and vanilla until combined, then add egg mixture to batter and whisk until incorporated. Scrpae down side of bowl with rubber spatula, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and put in fridge for at least 12 (up to 24) hours.

The morning:

Heat waffle iron, remove waffle batter from fridge and iron is hot (batter will be foamy and double in size). Whisk batter to recombine (batter will deflate). Bake waffles according to your waffle iron instructions and INHALE one of the best fragrances known to man - oh my heavens - it is glorious!

Serve waffles immediately or hold in 200-degree oven (baking sheet w/ cooling rack to hold waffles, cover with clean tea towel - but remove towel for a few minutes before serving to re-crisp the waffles). It also recommends room-temperature syrup as the hot syrup soaks into the waffles too quickly and softens their texture (CI thinks of everything!)

Oh, and a side note - single ladies - if your man enjoys looking at Cooks Illustrated better than Sports Illustrated put a ring on it - you won't be sorry!

Enjoy!!!

The Butterfly Circus

20 minutes & a box of kleenex. You won't be sorry. Beautiful.



Thank you Matt!

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

Beautifully obvious

"It all looks so beautifully obvious--in the rear mirror," wrote the novelist and social philosopher Arthur Koestler. "But there are situations where [one] needs great imaginative power, combined with disrespect for the traditional current of thought, to discover the obvious."

(From Koestler's The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe, quoted in Thomas Homer-Dixon's The Upside of Down.)

via my friend Mike

The Building Blocks of Storytelling - Ira Glass

Ira Glass from NPR "This American Life" talks about the Storytelling - so good.

Available as a four-part series on YouTube: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 and Part 4

via Putting Things Off - The Importance of Abandoning Crap

An invitation to the future

this is an invitation to an amazing future & I can guarantee it because most futures are & even if they aren't there are better things to do than blaming me about it

via StoryPeople

Bitter

LOVE indexed!

Words fall in

As we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts.

So we place them on top of our hearts.

And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks, and the words fall in.

Source: Parker Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness

Add your thoughts at inward/outward

image source

I'm sorry

Great article on the difference between true apologies and apologia - based in the political arena, but useful as a metaphor for teaching in all areas - what is the real difference?

Joe Wilson, Obama and the Clintons: The Dance of the Apologists

Every pull

From the urgent way lovers want each other
to the seeker's search for truth,
all moving is from the mover.
Every pull draws us to the ocean.

-Rumi

I made a mess of me

Ya'll know I'm a huge Jon Foreman/Switchfoot fan - he posted this picture on his blog the other day and it made me smile.

Just got an email this a.m. of a video they put together of their new song "Mess of Me" - I love it already:

I am my own affliction
This sickness is myself
I am my own disease

I want to reverse this tragedy

I made a mess of me
I want to get back the rest of me
I want to spend the rest of my life ALIVE

Glorious! You really are beautiful on the inside Mr. Foreman!

Two Middle Schoolers!

First Day of Middle School
Grade 8 for Alinea
Grade 6 for Jacob

 

MY new library!

 

 

 

I was offered a job a few weeks ago to be the new part-time librarian at the Milltown Elementary School - I accepted and got to see my new library today! Isn't it pretty? You can't even imagine how incredibly excited I am to have this opportunity. Helping kids fall in love with words, stories and books - what an honor.

Libraries hold a special place in my history. They have always been safe places. To be in charge of creating a safe place for young minds gives me great joy.

Twins at heart

One of the most beautiful things the internet has given me is the understanding that I am not alone. I don't know if everyone feels this way, but I spent much of my life not fitting in, feeling odd, unique or really different in so many places I've lived. One of the great things that the world wide web has going for it is that it is self-sorting. Like finds like. And I have found some amazing people, kindred souls and realized that while I am different I am not unique or alone.

One of the most surprising connections I have made was getting to know Chris. We were born a world apart, 2 months and a few days in age, but grew up in such similar, but very different ways - I read his thoughts and words and feel such a deep pull. With his red hair he had as a boy we truly looked like we could be twins. I adore him and find deep meaning in his words and thoughts. We have never met, and may never meet, but my heart has a deep connection.

I noticed one day on a facebook update by Jon Foreman of Switchfoot that they were playing an unplugged show for a free donation to a foodbank in Boise Idaho - where Chris lives. I knew that this wasn't his music, but I fb'd him and said something like "go and record it for me, I sure wish I could be there" - not really thinking anything at all about him really going, but more just a cry from a heart that lives far too away from civilization to ever be able to do anything like that again, not complaining, it's just one sacrifice we make living on the edge of the world near to all of this beauty.

I didn't think much of it until I got a note from Chris asking for my address. I gave it to him, we were switching craft projects for a fb meme we did and I thought this might be that - what he did for me was so way better. He went to that square little coffee shop for me, waited an eternity, didn't even get near the concert, but stood in line forever to get Jon Foreman to sign a book that Chris knew I'd love. He'd done some research on Switchfoot and found that they did the soundtrack to Prince Caspian, and knew that I was a Lewis fan. He bought this book for me, and after he waited in line for hours when he neared the front they turned him away. Chris begged to have Jon sign the book for me.

It's one of the most kind, intuitive, thoughtful gifts I've ever received. The book is called From the Library of CS Lewis - selections from writers who influenced his spiritual journey. Thank you Chris, my twin brother from a different mother. I adore you, you are so sweet and thoughtful and I pray some day we will be able to meet f2f. This was one of the best house warming presents I could have ever gotten.

 

 

Home is where the art is

My Aussie friend Kel left this as a comment on my last post and it was too cute to hide there:

home is where the heat is
oops, the heart is
no, the art is

Thanks Kel - it is our deep hope that this home truly is where the art is and that we can touch the creative parts of ourselves here.

House Warming

Two godsends in the Turner family house - our lovely wood stove kept us cozy the other night when the temperature dropped, and our brand new wall oven got installed yesterday. We are happy, happy.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

1) I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost . . . I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in . . . it's a habit.
My eyes are open
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

by Portia Nelson

via Inward/Outward

A friend indeed (and need)

Many of you need no introduction to my beloved friend Claudia Mair Burney - better known to many of us in the blogosphere as the Ragamuffin Diva.

There is NO ONE in the world, (yes, even Annie Lamott) who writes my soul like this woman. She has wires and words into the heart of God like no one I've ever read before. Her story is one of pain and triumph and at the base of it all is a heart of a lioness that beats to an awesome drummer.

Mair has been through the ringer of roller coaster land these past few months - with the highest highs (her novel Zora & Nicky nominated for a Christy Award) and the lowest of lows - their old Eagle Spirit got stolen a few weeks ago.

Claudia, Ken & family are saving all their pennies to get down to Lexington to an incredible intentional community there - think Will & Lisa Samson - and she'll be doing work with women who have been trapped in human trafficking. They need to get out of Detroit ASAP and get down to Lexi so their babies can get into school and start their lives surrounded by a strong, beautiful community.

Here's Claudia's post: Will You Join Me In Love?

Life in Inkster, Michigan (think Detroit) has been rough and I really want to speed their progress if at all possible. So many of us support amazing causes and families overseas - I thought maybe, just maybe that generosity might help a little closer to home. Lots of small donations can make a huge difference online - if this could go viral we could really get that family a real start in the deep heart of Dixie. Are you with me?

Will you help?

Here's how:

1. Please use your blog, twitter account, facebook update - any online social networking you use to draw attention to this. We need to love on this family - Claudia is about as discouraged as discouraged can be right now - she needs to feel the love more than anything.

2. Pray - This family needs every level of support - this is a huge move with lots of details on both ends that need to be put in place and tied up - can you please ask God to prepare a place for them and a way to get them there?

3. Give - even tiny amounts online can help - lots of people giving small amounts can change everything.


Click ChipIn to donate

Trust me, this woman has already begun to make a big impact on the world around her - a strong community supporting them could make everything change.

Here's just a small sample of why she's stolen my heart:

The Naked Prophetess

For the Journey

Incarnation

A House Blessing

My house blessing from Kel (I love it SO much! Thank you Kellie!)

May you listen to your longing to be free

May the frames of your belonging be large enough for the dreams of your soul

May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering to your heart that something good is going to happen to you

May you find harmony between your soul and your life

May the mansion of your soul never become a haunted place

May you know the eternal longing that is at the heart of time

May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within

May you never place walls between the light and yourself

May your angel free you from the prisons of guilt, fear, disappointment and despair

May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you, mind you and embrace you in belonging

~John O’Donohue