Life Is Now = One With Life

Well Happy Birthday to...me! And what a happy day it is.

I had not considered that 45 would end up feeling better than 35 or even 40. Originally, I planned on throwing myself a party and calling it "Halfway There". Could have been a fun way to mark mid-life.

I tossed the idea when a 52 year-old man I know claimed he just marked his mid-life. So...I suppose I had better enjoy this moment because mid-life is obviously just an opinion. Eckhart Tolle has noted that:

"Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be"

As MinisterDad always says...

Your 40's are the best years of your life...you have the wisdom of life experience and the energy to still enjoy it!

Thanks to yoga, hubby and some very energetic little people I feel quite good indeed. It is a blessing to know that in God I live and move and have my being. It is a double blessing when I remember it and am grateful for each NOW moment.

Another favorite quote by Tolle:

"Once you have made peace with the present moment, see what happens, what you can do or choose to do, or rather what life does through you. There are three words that convey the secret of the art of living, the secret of all success and happiness: One with Life. Being one with life is being one with Now. You then realize that you don't live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer and you are the dance."

So, I suppose MinisterDad is right...wisdom and experience beat it hands down over worrying about age.

And so, for my birthday I wish you all the presence of this moment. I wish you NOW. Hey, its all we really have.
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When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1Corinthians 13:10-12)

Just A Thought

This passage popped into my head at the end of yoga the other day. Suddenly, it occurred to me that this has all to do with our creating the kind of world we experience.

One person can feel bitterness and suddenly with the bitter bank full -- life seems nothing but toxic, annoying and quite against your every move.

Another person can feel gratitude for the most difficult and even painful steps along the way believing that even in pain there is learning, growth and goodness. To that one life is one big gift waiting to be opened again and again.

What you treasure is where your heart lies also. Bitter or better...the choice is ours.

These Are The Days

Hubby took on a HUGE project building a compost container fit for a King. Along the way there were helpers of varied sizes and degrees. And me, being process-oriented can't help but believe that the time spent together creating something useful will stay with the children long after the leaves have become soil.

At least that is my wish.

At first I could not envision this compost box, then I tried to find one 'on line' that would be 'easier'...but The Swiss Watchmaker prevailed and created a masterpiece worthy of the Patek Philippe seal of approval. And, he created something that I never even thought of...memories. However trite that may sound when I see that it seems that all is right with our world.

Smart and talented. What a gift he is.

The Meaning of Michelle

I just read about the new TIME magazine entitled "The Meaning of Michelle". I commend it to you, because I do just love her.

I saw a photo essay taken from the magazine which included this wonderful quote from Mrs. O. herself:

"I get all touchy with kids, because I think if I touch them and I hug them, that they'll see that it's real, and then they'll relax and breathe and actually kind of enjoy the time and make use of it."

This is a woman who connects with people...whether it be The Queen of England or inner city school children. She understands her role and has the presence of mind to ask herself how others might be feeling being around her.

That is just classy in addition to being kind. Is it any wonder why those little girls look so smitten? (see photo #5)

What many underestimated was the impact that Mrs. O would have while serving in this role. My guess is...they ain't seen nothing yet!

Surprised By Joy

Ministermom was rather quiet this week...working on a sermon took all my writing and thinking time. And...it took me nearly another week to recover! My sermon writing muscles were a bit weak.

I was filling the pulpit for a colleague who was out of town. It was expected that I preach from the pre-assigned scripture readings for that week (the Lectionary). Hence, the need to write a fresh piece of inspiration!

As God would have it...one of the readings was from John's Gospel. Jesus, in preparing to leave his disciples, gives them some final words.

I say these things to you that my joy might be in you and that your joy may be complete.

JOY!

I love when that happens.

And so it was that I embarked on a solid week of thinking, reading and writing about JOY!

I really love when that happens.

Aside from anything else I said to the congregation last Sunday was the reality that all those Joy Words really rubbed off on me! It was an important lesson on the power of beliefs and thoughts to effect a change in our attitude.

We are surprised by joy...as many writers and theologians have said, and I concurred.

And what a pleasant surprise it is.

A Super Hero Among Us

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all those moms and like-moms among us. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...among other things!

With Gratitude to all the hard work and love you provide...

And thank you for the children who continue to teach us all who we are and what we can be.

Have a blessed day!

Don't Lie, Don't Hide, Don't Discriminate

I had lunch with some new clergywomen friends yesterday and the subject came up regarding performing civil ceremonies for gay couples.

In the United Church of Christ this was never a problem because the denomination is Open and Affirming of all persons without respect to race, creed, color, or sexual orientation.

These clergy gals are Presbyterian and the PCUSA is not open...nor are any of the other Protestant Denominations except certain districts of the Episcopal Church. This matters tremendously for three reasons:

What are clergy to do when, as states legalize same sex unions, couples come looking for "a wedding" blessed by the church. Can clergy be encouraged to FOLLOW THE LAW of the state?

In the pews sit good-hearted people: parents of gay children, teens questioning their emerging sexuality, closeted Christians looking for a community of faith. Don't they deserve to be a part of the community as well?

And finally, what are talented, committed Gay Christians, called to ministry to do when their denominations won't ordain them as openly gay persons? Is there a religious version of Don't Ask Don't Tell? Would any one want to live like that? All of the clergy women sitting around the table personally knew of talented, committed clergypersons living such closeted lives in congregations who "just pretend not to know".

In a parallel universe the United States Military is dealing with the same issue. Obama promised to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell. He has not. It is still illegal to be openly gay and serve our country in the military. Our commander-in-chief has had to follow suit by not stopping the firing of service men and women who come out.

The most recent and poignant example of what a waste this is comes to us in the story of Dan Choi, Iraq Veteran, West Point Grad and Arabic Language expert. Watch him here talk about his intentions to repeal his discharge. At the 5:30 mark in the interview he talks about it being time for the military to move from Don't Ask, Don't Tell to Don't Lie, Don't Hide, Don't Discriminate.

Well said.

I would love to see the The Church, especially progressive minded Protestants follow suit.

Know Hope.

Get Your Stuff Together

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

So reads the book of Proverbs.

It is a verse that came to mind as I watched a video of Michelle Obama speaking to a group of students at a Montessori Charter School in Washington, D.C. Here, we see our first lady talking to children about what they can do to be a part of a newly implemented White House Student Intern Program. What she tells them is that they have to "get their stuff together". Be prepared. Do what you gotta do, what you are told to do by others who love and care for you and want the best for your future.

Pay attention, listen, be respectful, work hard and take responsibility for the life you were given...namely, your own.

What greater message can we give to our young people in a time when so many feel as though life is spinning out of control: If you get your stuff together, you will make a great way for yourself. You will be a fine, important contributing member of this country, of this world.

A great message from a terrific First Lady.

May Day! May Day!!

Sometimes the joy of parenting can seem a bit out of focus, cloudy at best.

It is a sentiment I have felt and one that I hear from mommy friends all the time. Our idea of what having and rearing children would be like rarely matches with reality of life in the trenches.

When it is worse, it is often much worse. Thankfully, there are enough times when it is better than we could have imagined as well. The hope is that, on balance, we come out ahead.

At the end of one of my murkier days, I happened to be in a doctor's office and picked up a copy of Newsweek. I always start magazines from the back page (always have). What I found was This piece by Anna Quindlan. It is well worth the quick read. The money quote:

"Parenting is a much more separate, solitary activity than it used to be," says Harold S. Koplewicz, the director of the NYU Child Study Center, where Brotman also works. It used to take a village to raise a child, but there isn't a village anymore. Instead of extended family, there's a playground where everyone pretends everything's fine, and a computer screen behind which women can say, under cover of mommy blogs, "How come this is so hard for me?"

I guess that explains the plethora of said "mommy blogs", some of which seem to find fame and fortune in complaints about the drudgery of life with a toddler.

Honesty, it seems is the first step into finding and experiencing the joy that we know is there.

And, I would add that recognizing how often WE feel like helpless children ourselves can remind us of an even greater truth. We are all on a journey and we are not on it a lone.

There is the wisdom of all who have parented before us; the strength and guidance of the one who Parents us still.