DOING GOOD THINGS ~ a Christmas reading

"Each time we do good things, something living and beautiful is created - in us, for other's, and in the Lord's kingdom.  We do the action, and the Lord brings life - a sense of connection with others, some kind of joy, a feeling of gratitude or love..."

Maybe I just chaff at putting the cart before the horse, but I feel strongly the importance of looking a these words from the point of view of our natural experiences before our spiritual.

It seems to me that the person taught from an early age to take wise actions, to learn as much as he or she can about areas of interest, and to be open to discussion, evaluation & revaluation will be inherently open both to fresh perception and mastery.

fresh perception and mastery.  What wonderful skills to instill in a child, within both natural & spiritual worlds.  That is the way that we bring forth new wonders into the world.  Through new perceptions, which lead to mastery.  

We do the action, and the world follows.  If a child - or adult - is taught & experiences that from their earliest actions & interactions, the segue into applying it to the spiritual is a natural next step, to doing the next spiritual step, clearing the way for All That Is to make the actual changes.

Exciting stuff!

A Genuine Desire to Know ~ from a Christmas Reading

The reading - using as text the Annuciation - touches on the teaching that Mary symbolizes a longing to know the real truth behind things in our spiritual life and in our walk with All That Is.

Hmmm....  A good starting point to getting to that gut-level awareness is to know the real truth behind the things of our natural life. If we can get there, it becomes an excellent starting point for knowing real spiritual truth.

A genuine desire to know...  That has unimaginable power even without hitching it to spiritual truth.  Seems to me that a genuine desire to know is experienced as a lifelong curiosity, on a natural as well as on a spiritual plane. 

I, for one, highly respect the genuine desire to know practical, comparatively mundane worldly things.  That mastering them, being loyal & steadfast in making them part of daily life, helps us develop the tools that help us uncover, embrace, then stay loyal & steadfast to spiritual truth.  

Let me have a genuine desire to know every type of truth, to recognize it as truth for me, to hold it close to my heart.  And let me never stop searching & learning.

HOLY FEAR ~ a Christmas reading

This always confuses me.  

The commandment given most often in the Bible is just two words - Fear not.  

No other commandment even comes close.

I get the two different types of fear -  that we are NOT supposed to fear that which is not sacred but that reverential fear is Divine in origin.  

But I still don't get WHY keep saying to "fear not" without so much as a hint of qualification???

Willing To Be Led - a Christmas reading

Those who are in a state of innocence wish to be led by the Lord and not by themselves.  They love what is good & find delight in what is true.  They live content with their own,  whether it be little or much.  They receive just as much as is good for them – those receiving little for whom a little is useful, and those receiving much for whom much is useful.

This slightly condensed wording of the 12/01/12 Christmas reading – Willing to be Led – would have frustrated & confounded me a few years back, maybe even just a couple.

Now, I get it. 

My view is not of little or much wealth, but talents.  Look around – it’s clear that some people are endowed with an abundance of personal gifts & talents, while others have far fewer. 

Lori Soneson Odhner absolutely astonishes me with the number of talents she’s developed over the years, at their range & depth. 

Dave & Candy Zeigler are another example of friends graced with a variety of talents, which they’ve developed over the years. 

Lori and Dave & Candy do work that the larger world recognizes & values, but my guess is they’d do what they do even if it didn’t. 

The question isn’t, has never been, whether or not you’ve been graced with little or much.  We have what we have.  What we do with it, how well we develop what we’ve received so that it becomes a gift back to the Giver – that’s what all this taking up space on the planet is all about.  

The reading went on that those who love to be led by the Lord (All That Is), who realize that all their blessings flow from the Divine, “whatever they hear from the Lord (All That Is) – by whatever means – they do not store up in the memory, but instantly obey it; that is, will it and do it.”

Wow.  That’s a strong statement.  Once they’ve heard something they know to be true, there’s no dithering or dilly dallying – they put it into action.

Theresa of Avila  wrote, “Christ has no… hands, no feet on earth but yours.”   

That lays down quite the responsibility on us to put the truth we see into action – our lives literally manifest the Divine.  And when we don’t do what we know to be true, when we store it up in memory without living it in our lives, every day in every way – what does that say?

The reading got into some interesting, mind-stretching areas for discussion.  It describes as a “potent platform for good success – a willingness to dutifully do what the Lord (All That Is) wants us to be doing in our lives.” 

Powerful statement – but how do we KNOW what the Divine wants us to be doing in our earthly lives?  What does it mean to be “content” with what they have? 

At the how-did-I-get-this-old age of 60, “content” doesn’t mean what I once thought it did, at least not for me.  I’d say that Dave & Candy are content with what they have; doesn’t mean they sit on their hand & appreciate their talents & interests, but that they go out & express them, expand them, increase them.  I dare say they are, hopefully, more than content with who they are, but totally buzzed about it, too.

Same with Lori.  Never struck me that she keeps designing new quilts & coming up with new “marriage moats” & composing new songs because of some almost mechanical over-drive, but because doing expressing her talents is a celebration of the Divine.  They are content, not complacent.

I look at where my friends have gotten in their life work, and I see people who “hear & instantly obey by willing it & doing it.” 

When I’m around the three people whose lives I brashly (without permission!) used to illustrate my thoughts, I truly do get I get the feeling that they have an “abiding sense of peace, contentment, and safety in their lives.”

It’s typically not the most gifted “people person” who becomes a top marketing representative or the brilliant scholar who becomes a great writer or scientist.  It’s the one who honors whatever talents she has & uses them wisely & well.  Same with us all, whether we have been given much or a little.    Do we dilly dally over what we’ve got, complacent with our talents?  Do we dither away the hours, days, years debating with ourselves our next step?  Or are we open to being Christ’s hands & feet on earth, and when the next best step makes itself evident, willing it & doing it – aka ACT?  

Celebrating Successes

One of the greatest pitfalls to making progress in personal development is that humans rarely take a moment to give our selves well-deserved pats on  the back for progress made.  For whatever twisted reason - and it IS twisted, not as the Creator intended - we seem to gravitate away from celebrating successes.

Tonight, I celebrate a not-so-small success ~ I billed my grannie clients on the 15th, as I pledged a couple years back, yet rarely did.

Made a bargain, telling the clients' families (who handle the billings) that for every day I procrastinated, I'd take off an hour of time.  Have billed on time ever since implementing that policy.

Might not sound like much, but it's BIG to me; not only smart financially, but also because each success I rack up provides firmer foundation for the next success, and next, and next.

Over the next week, I'll be tracking HOW my time, my most valuable resource, is used.  What will illuminated?

Achieving Excellence....

Electrified as I read Finding Flow, "To achieve excellence, we must first understand the reality of the everyday, with all its demands & potential frustrations."

It's impossible to explain how thoroughly I was influenced by two - not just one, two! - dominant older siblings to look with distain on the "everyday."  

Not me, kiddo!  Not ever, I now realize.  Part of me say banging against the well-constructed, double-thick walled misconception that doing things the "everyday" way was special.  Yeah, like downright magical, 'cause that's the only way I could have steered clear of the everyday & ended up with anything substantial.  Made sense to them, because the things they were looking for out of life were not, are not, the things I crave.  Craved, but never to the point of recognizing the place where everything got messed up.  Until now.

Time to welcome demands & face up to, then transform frustration into satisfaction, even pride through well-considered & neatly executed actions!!

Letter it!  Keep it on the wall behind the computer!  Learn it - remember it - ACT on it!!

Ninja Poet

Well, the subhead of Maya Stein's blog is actually "Ninja Poet, Writing Guide, Creative Adventuress," but just the first two words are all you need to capture her spirit & a sense of her postings & shares.  

EDUCATION

" Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That's my position. I just haven't figured out how to do it yet. "   ~Aaron Sorkin ~

Mega Thanks to Elise G & Pat Achilles!!

First, to Elise, for reminding me about the advertisement opportunity in the Pat Achilles-designed playbill for a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance (my favorite!).  She mentioned it last month & I clean forgot it!

And a beyond-the-beyond thank you to Pat, who not only got a Pet-traits ad into the playbill, she added a black & white of MAX to my copy!!!  Incredible - it looks just splendid.

Glad I chose not to put in a notice for Cyber Access for the Technically Timid - why advertise when I'm not up to speed?

Super glad that what got in got in!!!

Crazier than December

Yep, that's my May!

Small Cozies

My experience with Mom & now with another older friend leaves me a firm believer in the therapy value of Small Cozies - fun jaunts out & about - for "senior citizens" (or ancients, as Mom described herself).  And I'm an equally big believer in helping older friends experience the changing of the seasons, of the time of day - winter into spring, late afternoon light to sunset to twilight to twinklings stars with silver moon.  


Looping through Rydal's curving roads in the midst of winter, wondering how things will look come spring, makes it all the more magical to drive those same roads months later, as we have over the past six glorious weeks, seeing what has been the most awesome spring I've ever seen.  


We talk about the once-bare branches, now busting out with a fierce abundance of blooms.  We notice how the trees that were in flower two weeks ago are in leaf now, how the crab apple trees picked up the baton when the ornamental pear set it down, how the dogwoods are taking over for the crab apple, how the colors seem surreal - especially the deep, vivid magenta.  It's mind-boggling, the amount of miles I've logged onto my loyal & true car, but soaking in spring's glories is a limited time opportunity.  


This past Tuesday was especially magical.  An older friend, battling cabin fever, asked if I was available for an outing.  Typically, we head up for an afternoon ramble in bucolic Bucks County, ending a leisurely drive with a sip & nibble at one of several favorite spots.  But this time, I suggested we get together in the early evening, after her supper.  She was startled by the suggestion, but agreed.  (Like my dear old Mom, she's up for anything that smacks of adventuring!)


And so we were off, on a beautiful early spring evening, on a carefully planned sprint into the center of Center City, taking what is, in my opinion, the most beautiful drive in the world - through Chestnut Hill to the Lincoln Drive, up the Kelly Drive & across the river at the East Falls Bridge, up the West River Drive past beyond charming Boat House Row & epic architecture of the Art Museum, back across the river onto the Parkway, up to Parkway to loop around the magnificent Logan Square fountains, back down the parkway - flags of the nations snapping to our left & right - nipped down the Kelly (East River) Drive to the Lincoln Drive (savoring a glorious sunset on our left just as we had gloried in the sun-tinted clouds on our way up), back a different route through Chestnut Hill, then onto the Cheesecake Factory to close the evening with a sip & nibble.


Along the way - less than 90 minutes - we encountered people out walking dogs, couples walking, parents with children in tow & babies in strollers;  just before heading back over the river at the Art Museum, a peloton of cyclists zoomed past us (we'd see them heading back into the city on our return down Kelly Drive); we marveled over the in-line roller skater making his way up the Parkway, smiled at a throng of friends gathered near the imposing Free Library, and marveled anew as we drove up the Kelly Drive, a stream of runners, walkers, cyclists & skaters to our left, a flow of activity.


It was one of the best "small cozies" I've ever been on.  I knew the drive it would be wonderful - that particular ramble was one of Mom's all-time favorites.  Never took long  - never much more than 90 minutes from our door to a welcomed cocktail at a favorite spot.  But throw in Tuesday's glorious early evening sky & sunset, and our drive felt like a bit of a magic carpet ride! 

Off to Travis Gallery!!

John & I are whisking Anne off to the opening reception at Travis Gallery's this evening! She had a wonderful time at the Gratz & Artists Gallery shows last Saturday; am sure she'll find this one especially fun - lots of our friends have pieces in the annual "Byers Bucks Fever" show.

Must stop for $$ on the way ~ will cap off with dinner at Pineville Tavern, dearly beloved by all three of us!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

LambARTville, NJ!!

Well, >I< think it should be spelled that way!!

John & I are knee-deep in doing preliminary poster designs for Lambertville's Shadfest 2012 art event. Such fun last year ~ will submit at least a week before final deadline. Much more enjoyable to have breathing room.

Gathering John's artwork - from personal collections & "for sale" pieces - for his mid-summer art show at Bank of Princeton-Lambertville ~ ~ from cold, hard steel to warm, soft fur. Thrilled to the tips of my toes to be part of it; his art will grace the walls, mine will fill the display case. Planning to pair up my "for sale" pieces with others spotlighting the creative process & the power of art (in which context, plan to include the pink hippo Mandy made for me when she was in 6th grade, still one of my greatest treasures).

Looking at the pieces I've gathered together that I've made makes for a startling new awareness of how powerful words were & are in my life.