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