Silverwalk Hermitage

I am not about man bashing or gender bias. I do not like Nike because they use Michael Vick to sell their wares despite his heinous crimes to dogs. This is a compelling video because so much of the world sees women as expendable instead of the true treasures and resources we are. Oh, and do look beyond any poster child to the real child, the real girl, the real family. Thank you.

Cover of "All Will be Well: 30 Days With .

My fiduciary career is as a nurse.  Healing has always been part of my make-up though not always blatant.  I grew up with two sets of friends – those in my studious, A grade and horse group,  and those on the fringe, who tended to be ostracized for no fault of their own except they were born “different.”   Guess what?  We are all born different, thank you, God.  I have never understood not treating someone as less than; I may be rude but it won’t be because of perceived difference.   I may be nice but it won’t be because of your pedigree or birth place.   One of my “different” friends had the best birthday parties; another kept me up to date on the love life of my high school crush, which wasn’t always appreciated but I understood her concern.

Healing is on my mind because I just finished two nights at work and because of our nation’s birthday holiday on Monday.  I am tired, TIRED, of sound-bites by Democrats and Republicans plus the talking heads ad nauseam pandering to the “American people” but not getting the work done.  Do they really have no clue of serious it will be for our country to allow it to go into default by not raising the debt ceiling?  Do both “sides” understand that “both” sides are responsible for the situation we are in today in our economy?  There is no blame more to one than the other – we are in this together – let us heal one another no matter what our political affiliation.

I try not to get into politics here but you know, Jesus did.   He did not deny the Law, he did not deny the dedication which the Pharisees and scribes demonstrated to the Law.  What, to me, seemed to bother Him was the putting the Law before people.  Making the rules more important than service, than meeting the needs, than healing.   Note the quote from Leo above.  People and relationships are what last.  Political heroes?  President Gerald Ford – in pardoning President Nixon, he knew he was cutting his own political ambitions down, yet he acted on behalf of the country – so we could heal.   I watch the politicians who work first for us, then for re-election.   God first, people second, everything else later.

On a communication board in a patient room the other night, someone had written “Be healed.”  Wow.  So much more to those two words than the physical and emotional I deal with as a nurse; there is also the spiritual which I have been sharing of late.  I added my own favorite quote – “All will be well.” ~ Julian of Norwich.

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Silverwalk "Marina" at height of local flooding

As I drove from home late this morning, I noticed and took time to listen to the bird song along the road still muddy after the receded flood waters.  We are having rain again this weekend.  It is not of the amount and magnitude previous; in fact, it is a blessing as it is helping to clean and clear that which was left sullied, soiled and odoriferous.   I talked to some neighbors this afternoon who had been completely cut off for almost a week.  They and their home did well, but they expressed their concern for me, having heard from our mutual vet what I had lost in my basement.   Everyone has pretty much returned to their daily normal routine with the added exception of cleaning up after the water.   People here are accustomed to flood.  They watch out for and are considerate of neighbors yet deliberately not intrusive.  I am praying for those in Louisiana who are affected by the opening of the spillway to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  I read today this is the first time in history all three spillway/levees have been opened since being built after the 1927 Great Flood.

I know what the real Great Flood was – the one Noah and his family survived by listening to God, building a ship on dry land long before the waters came.  How silly he must have seemed to some.  Yet, it seems to me, in that long ago era, people’s lives were not as compartmentalized as ours seem to be.   The life of faith was part of the life of business which was part of family life.  One flowed into the other.  I  hope our lives flow into one another, too.  It is best for people to carry their faith into their business – one still needs to study, to apply one’s principles but do so in a manner giving glory to God.  Noah did this – and yet, certainly, he was not a perfect person.  God uses and loves imperfect people – which is all of us.   Thanks be to God!

How are you glorifying God in the everyday?

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We are alive.  I pray for those more affected than we.  For those who lost their lives in these storm systems – over 200 from Wednesday’s storms alone.  We have power….and Power.  I pray those affected remember their Power especially should they not have power.  I rest in gratitude today in the sunshine for the friends who kept us safe yesterday, for the predicted overnight storm which did not materialize, for those with whom I have been in touch who are doing ok.  We are all hindered in different ways but we are alive.   Let us remember those who are not and their families and friends, who, in their grief, are concurrently contending with loss of homes and businesses….God is there, here and everywhere.

For what are you grateful to God today?

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Tibetan endless knot

SECOND READING [Romans 14.13–end]:

“Let us therefore no longer pass judgement on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling-block or hindrance in the way of another. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

This was part of the Oremus meditation from today.  It really set me to some serious lectio devina, which is why I wanted to comment on it this evening.  I understand that the “eating” of which Paul speaks is metaphorical for any stumbling block we would, intentionally or un-intentionally, put in front of someone else which would cause them distress in their faith journey.   If someone insisted I take Communion, for example, what a stumbling block and hindrance to my faith that would be.  I cannot swallow – the thought of crushing the Body of Christ and swilling it through my feeding tube with some of His Blood is abhorrent.   I personally take Communion, as an Abbot made known to me, by intention.   Thus, I meditated carefully particularly on the first sentence in bold.  Let us not pass judgement but strive to never put a stumbling block in front of others.  How can I do that?

• I can actively listen to what is being said or demonstrated.  Why do they feel this way?  Am I hearing what is being said or asked?  How can I make sure?  How can I help change their or my mind?
• What do I do day-to-day which creates stumbling blocks to others?  This can become part of my daily Examen.  In the menu, I have placed a link to an Examen page to help us use this excellent method of prayer.
• What do others do which I perceive as hindrances?  Are they truly hindrances or is my pride blocking my changing or perception?  I very often these days, when someone is driving extremely slow, back off and pray, wondering why, offering the driver to God for direction, for safety…

Right now, my neighbors and I are all hindered by flood waters.  A colleague of mine has been even more hindered than I but did plan well and remained safe.   We are making ourselves more available to one another, watching for needs.  A neighbor friend up the hill called to be sure I was ok as well as my dogs.  Well, the dogs are put out – they don’t get it when neighbors’ have to park their cars along the road in front of our home; they don’t understand the boat in front of our fence used to get people to and from homes and vehicles.  The dogs, for the most part, are in the back yard for now as part of the field is now a lake.  We are not judging, we are caring for one another.  We are checking up and making sure others are safe.  While we are hindered by nature, we are trying to not hinder one another.

Go and do likewise.    Think carefully.  Do you hinder and judge others?   Consider how to avoid this – consider how faith, which does not hinder, could help relieve you of your judgements….and those you may perceive against yourself.   Be honest with yourself.   Read the passage…dwell on it….read it again.   Take it to God and ask for His light to illumine your understanding.  Be blessed.

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Image via Wikipedia

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”

~ Habakkuk 3:17-18

I am reminded today of how fragile our normal lives truly are.  I was reading some online articles about the earthquake in Christchurch, NZ.  So many lives lost, so much destruction during a time when most everyone was about their daily business.  The quote above fits very well today in the light of their distress and loss of life.  I can never take for granted that tomorrow or this night will be “normal.”  I can only trust and rejoice in God that whatever may come or not, She will enable me to climb heights hitherto unimaginable.

I am reminded today of the uproar in the Middle East, where the Muslim countries are being up-ended by protesters tired of the status quo, demanding more responsiveness from their governments and some losing their lives, both in Egypt and particularly in Libya.  As I listen to the response of my country, the USA, I wonder how tolerant we as a nation truly would be should this happen here – and then it did, in Wisconsin….not the same premise but a similar protest en masse.

As these people come together assisted by the Internet and a desire for change, I worry about that particular change – who will really lead it?  who will really end in charge?  But, after today, I will remember Habakkuk – when all seems lost, I will yet rejoice in the Lord and I will pray.

“Lord God, much is happening on our blue marble, this planet you made we call Earth.  I pray for those suffering, who have died, who are seeking to help in the tragedy of NZ‘s earthquake, knowing You are there.  I lift up our Muslim sisters and brothers in the Middle East as they seek a better future and more responsive government, putting their lives on the line – I pray the governments which emerge are compassionate, seek the common good, and at last, find Jesus Christ as the Messiah.  I recall to you our fellow countrymen in Wisconsin, where good people face a loss of benefits because our economy was so greedy in the past.  Be with all those involved – help them reconcile not as red and blue, Democrat and Republican but as Wisconsin citizens.  I lift up those unmentioned here, of whom I know not but they are in need but You know; the Holy Spirit moves among them in Haiti, in the Sudan, in the Koreas, throughout our world and beyond.  All this I pray in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for always.  Amen.”

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