ABIDE

MORE ABIDING!  -- LESS RUSHING!

So many of us are driven, 

rushing, running, fretting, stewing, 

pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing!

I am offering all of us (myself included)  some gifts.

Let's take them like vitamins.

Learn to ABIDE:

• Linger
• Remain
• Breathe
• Rest
• Be
• Dwell
• Stay
• Be Silent

Immerse yourself 
in something greater than yourself.

Inhabit each space a little longer.  

Be there with real presence.

Create a "sacro speco"for yourself

and then enjoy that SACRED SPACE.

Thank you for taking time 

to care for yourself and others.

Mashed Potatoes

I'm terribly behind on my blog, or am I?  When one is doing something just for writing practice or for fun, or just because you want to, is it possible to get behind?  Some of my friends seem to think so.  Repeatedly friends have been asking me, "are you returning?"  "Where have you gone?  they asked.  "Are  you stewing about a proper subject matter on which to expound?" one of them asked.   "Oh, just write about mashed potatoes for about five minutes," someone suggested.   I shared that with someone who was on a weekend retreat here at St. Scholastica last weekend.  She happened to be a pun-er  and her response was, "Oh you should be able to whip that out in no time."

So mashed potatoes it is!  Actually mashed potatoes is a very vivid memory from childhood.  Sunday dinner:  Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and homemade ice-cream!  Mountains of mashed potatoes we seemed to have even when times were tough.  But I must go back yet further to the origin of their birth out in the field, at the edge of the deep woods.

The planting came first.  Earth freshly plowed, I walked along the rows dropping pieces of potatoes.  My young friend, Opal, had explained to me, "You must leave an eye on every piece of potato you plant.  It can't see how to grow without its eye."   Made sense to me!  But that was when I was still young and uncomplicated--not so very grown up and perhaps closer to the source of wisdom.  I would help cover the freshly planted potatoes -- earth all patted down over the pieces of potatoes I would dream of what they were seeing down there in the dark.

In the book, The Singing Creek where the Willows Grow,  the precocious child, Opal Whiteley, waxes eloquently about harvesting potatoes.  Quoting Opal, she says:

"When the potatoes were in piles, I did stop to take looks at them.  I walked up close; I looked them all over.  I walked off and took a long look at them.  Potatoes are very interesting folks.  I think they must see a lot of what is going on in the earth--they have so many eyes.  And after I did look those long looks as I did go along I did count the eyes that every potato did have and their numbers were in blessings."

After planting the potatoes the waiting began.  I forgot about them for awhile...when harvest time came we would plow them up and put them in piles according to sizes.    Although I didn't get quite as dramatic as Opal while digging for potatoes I, too, remember having conversations with them and sometimes I named them.

 Eventually they made it to the cellar. I was sent to the cellar when it was time to make mashed potatoes.  Carefully I chose the potatoes, washed, peeled and cooked them with a little seasoning.  And then the mashing began.  I used one those old fashioned smashers since we didn't own an electric  mixer back in those days.   Sometimes (if no one was looking) I would more or less attack the potatoes kind of like Sam did in the movie Bennie and Joon.  (In this movie Sam was a very young version of Johnny Depp)  This took the edge off the work and made it rather enjoyable.

The end of this story is a very good memory of our family sitting around the old wooden table having dinner, the mashed potatoes with a little dill sprinkled on the top was a very important part of the menu.

So many memories came to me as I reflected on mashed potatoes.  Those were good times and hard times and I still believe that working together to put a meal on the table is more fun than going to a restaurant; but that is only when everyone works together.

And what about you?  

What do you remember about mashed potatoes?

God in an Apron

Try to imagine this scene.  You are  sitting at the table with Jesus and his friends on the night before he died.  A confusing sorrow overshadows you; yet, a mysterious hope has settled in your heart.  Suddenly, Jesus is standing in front of you.  He looks into your eyes and immediately you are filled with an awareness of your tremendous worth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Supper was special that night

There was both a heaviness and a holiness

hanging in the air

We couldn't explain the mood

It was sacred, yet sorrowful.

Gathered around that table

eating that solemn, holy meal

seemed to us the most important meal

we had ever sat down to eat.

We were dwelling in the heart of mystery

though dark the night

Hope felt right

as if something evil

was about to be conquered.

And then suddenly

the One we loved startled us all

He got up from the table

and put on an apron.

Can you imagine how we felt?

God in an apron!

Tenderness encircled us

as he bowed before us.

He knelt and said,

"I choose to wash your feet

because I love you."

God in an apron, kneeling

I couldn't believe my eyes.

I was embarrassed

until his eyes met mine

I sensed my value then.

He touched my feet

He held them in his strong brown hands

He washed them.

I can still feel the water

I can still feel the touch of his hands.

I can still see the look in his eyes.

Then he handed me the towel and said,

"As I have done so you must do."

Learn to bow ~~ Learn to kneel.

Let your tenderness encircle

everyone you meet

Wash their feet

not because you have  to,

because you want to.

It seems I've stood two thousand years

holding the towel in my hands,

"As I have done so you must do,"

keeps echoing in my heart.

"There are so many feet to wash,"

I keep saying

"No," I hear God's voice

resounding through the years

"There are only my feet

What you do for them

you do for me."

by Macrina Wiederkehr

taken from Seasons of Your Heart

I Anoint You With Joy

We have been explicitly asked to perform our Lenten observances with  joy and so I would like to introduce you to Stella with hopes that you will be anointed by that joyful look on her face.  Stella lives at Crystal Bridges in Arkansas http://www.crystalbridges.org/ and can be found outside the museum on the art path.  I trust you will make plans to visit her soon.   I'm very much aware that she doesn't look as though she has been fasting during Lent.  Actually she portrays the metaphor of abundance, and that is what I wish for you during this holy season.  About mid-way through Lent I always find myself longing for a double portion of discipline to enhance my original desire to deepen my spiritual life...and so I would like to anoint you with spiritual gifts for our continued journey through this holy season.

I anoint you with an abundance of joy, faith and love.  I anoint you with courage, vision and hope.   I anoint you with compassion, trust and gentleness.

I anoint you with rocks and stones, blossoms of growth, sunsets and sunrises, the air and the wind, rivers and mountains, the morning, the evening and all of the hours of the day.  I anoint you with creation and of course with the Creator and the Spirit of Jesus.  I anoint you with Christ.  

Mt. Nebo Arkansas

 

Mt Harbor Resort Arkansas 

Port Phillips Bay near Melbourne Australia

I ANOINT YOU WITH LIFE!

Continue your Lenten Exercises

with an abundance of joy.

Mardi Gras

Today is known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.   Some like to think of it as a time of partying before the great fast of Lent; however many people who celebrate Mardi Gras see little religious significance to the day.  As for me, I believe our attitude about special seasons and our reflection on the event is really important.  I see nothing wrong with having a glass of wine or a special meal on the evening before Ash Wednesday.  The gift I long for, though, is moderation.  All is to be done with mindfulness and  joy.  Even the scriptures tell us not to look gloomy when we fast.  (Mt 6:16)

Because I live in a monastic community "Fat Tuesday" has also become for me a time to discern my Lenten resolutions.  How do I want to make this season a time of growth and renewal.  What would I like to add or subtract from my life?

In the Rule of St. Benedict, the chapter on Lent begins as follows,  "The life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent.  Since few, however, have the strength for this, we urge the entire community during these days of Lent to keep its manner of life most pure and to wash away in this holy season the negligence of other times."

Before Lent begins we are asked to choose a spiritual book to use for reflection during this season.  Having recently been reminded that my new book, Abide: Keeping Vigil with the Word of God, would actually be a good book to use for the Lenten Season because it consists of 40 scriptural meditations,  I almost chose my own book.

However, as I continued my discernment I was drawn to Meg Funk's book,  Lectio Matters:  Before the Burning Bush.  I would like for this season to be a deepening of my love for this ancient monastic prayer that is thankfully being restored in our monasteries and beyond.  

In a sense, Lent is a standing before the burning bush of transformation and renewal.  I would like to be caught up in the fire.   And so tonight at our Mardi Gras Party I will don my mask and in the midst of the fun will also use the moment to ponder who I really am under that mask.   

HAPPY MARDI GRAS EVRYONE!

The window's gifts

Each day we receive valentines from the Source of all Life.  

This morning, on the vigil of Valentines Day,  I went to the window 

to check out my new valentines.

They were waiting for my grateful presence:

a snow covered branch

a leaf clinging to the ledge of the window

a woman walking her dog

the dance of the tree branches

the glistening silver sky

the new day.

And of course 

there are other windows 

and other days

always offering valentines.

So let's receive! 

It's a good practice,

a lovely morning ritual 

for almost any day.

The valentine Pooh Bear, Piglet and I 

would like to give you

is the gift of today

No matter what the weather,

receive today.

“What day is it,?" asked Pooh.
"It's today," squealed Piglet.
"My favorite day," said Pooh.”

Claim the beauty of the Night

Dear God,

We give thanks for the darkness of the night where lies  the world of dreams.

Guide us closer to our dreams so that we may be nourished by them.

Give us good dreams and memory of them so that we may carry 

their poetry and mystery into our daily lives.

Grant us deep and restful sleep that we may wake

refreshed with strength enough to renew a world grown tired.

We give thanks for the inspiration of stars, 

the dignity of the moon

and the lullabies of crickets and frogs.

Let us restore the night and reclaim it as a sanctuary of peace, 

where silence shall be music to our hearts

and darkness shall throw  light upon our souls.

Good Night.  Amen.

--Michael Leunig, A Common Prayer Book

Collins Dove 1990