Celebrate someone - the whole someone...

I have been watching a TV show called Monk. It's a show all about a detective who has obsessive compulsive disorder and a number of phobias.  All of Monk's flaws create such a great character and really his flaws accentuate his brilliance.  I love watching this show because it makes me feel normal (really what is normal anyway!) but also because it shows that flaws are not the only part of a person. Although Monk is odd people accept that in the same way they accept his brilliance.  So when you think about someone to celebrate, yourself or someone else,  think about about the whole person accepting the flaws and the brilliance equally - all of them are what makes a great character!

Time

So we fell back and I loved it this morning because I feel all rested and like I slept in for an hour or so... But this got me thinking about time and how time can fly by so quickly and I didn't get to do all I wanted - or needed - to do.  My husband Scott loves the picture by Salvidor Dali called The Persistance of Memory.  I love that image of time melting because it feels like that sometimes.  It also reminds me that Time is a construction of our society... we have made time into something we understand but to do that we have all kinds of rules about it.  I often think that if we have put time in a box to make it into something we understand then what else do we have to give rules to so we can get it.  Thnk about some beliefs you hold and see if they have rules and boxes so you can get it. What would those beliefs be like if you didn't put them in a box?

cakes

Have you ever watched Ace of Cakes? They are the most amazing group of young adults who work together to make incredible cake.  I am always amazed that they can create such art and then let people eat it! i guess it is like the mandalas that the Buddhist Monks create.... They make these beautiful art pieces out of sand then when they complete the mandala they brush it away.  It is a lesson in impermanence (something that is not permanent).  It is a reflection on the way life is...nothing is forever we can never tell when something - someone -will be gone.  So I like Ace of Cakes because it reminds me that i need to live my life fully, make beautiful things and have my cake and eat it to! What have you done today to live your life to the fullest? 

Check out Charm City Cakes  

Check out cool mandala images and info

Moving Mountains

People often talk about exciting or difficult things by saying "it was like moving mountains." Well, I think right now I will say all difficult or exciting things are like moving houses. I don't mean picking up a house and moving it but packing all the mounds of stuff and moving it to a different house. Why would I say this you ask? Well we are in the last stages of packing to move into our new house so it is both exciting and difficult. I am at the point of wondering why we have so much stuff? Do we need it all? How did we get so sucked into being rampant counsumers? Will we ever get everything packed? Does it multiply when we aren't looking? Will I ever find things once we get to where we are going? So sometimes life is like moving houses exciting and difficult all at once!

Time Flies

Wow! I can't believe it is September all of you are back at school and summer vacation is fading fast......... Is it that time flies when you are having fun or that time slows down when you have to do stuff that isn't as fun? So what part of your summer flew by? What was most amazing? Here is my most amazing moment from the summer.

Yeah, i know it looks like a rather bad and boring picture of water but it actually a picture of the coolest encounter i have had with nature. So it started with kayaking on a river in Coutenay thinking we would not see much sealife. Then we started to see them, seals splashing and diving or just poking their heads up to look out of the water and watch these odd creatures floating in the river. When we thought we had seen the coolest thing it got better. The white spot in the water is a very large and dead Salmon being wrestled, rolled and eaten by a large seal. There were four of them each taking turns eating this Salmon and we had front row seats - close enough to them to get splashed! It was a moment when i truely realized how people could be so passionate about this world that god has made. I saw the beauty of the seals and wondered how people could destroy them? I also realized that if people don't spend time with nature it becomes really easy to not care for the earth because we stay far away ; we don't see the impact of what we are doing.

So think back to your summer.... did you find a moment to connect with nature? Did you have time that flew? Are you ready to come back? Maybe we can find some some ways to make time fly.

Shhhh....

I haven't been writing lately, have you noticed? I have been saying to myself it's just writers block... there's just nothing coming to me. Tonight I was sitting in my car getting ready to drive home and I just paused for five minutes and that is when it came to me.... I don't have writers block I have listeners block! I have not been stopping long enough to hear anything most of all what God is saying to me. So now a short break to give a brief explanation of "God talking to me". This is the ongoing conversation I have with God - me talking sometimes in my head and sometimes out loud, sometimes really out loud - Then there is me stopping - stopping doing, stopping the busy making, stopping the chaos, stopping the running. I just sit still. As I let my thoughts slow then I have space to hear the thoughts, ideas and directions that God places in my mind. How do I know they are from God? Sometimes it is obvious because the thought or idea or direction is just too sane or too out there to be my own. Sometimes I can feel my mind and body relax with a sense of peace and calm that I don't find until I listen for God. Sometimes I just know that I am not alone - that God sits with me. It is the times that I listen that my faith feels nurtured and I feel faith growing and stretching. So what was the point of this moment? Recognition of the busy I put myself into - that in our society our culture we say it is not just OK but expected that each of us with be busy, running, on the go, really involved in all we can be. This idea is not just adults it's kids too! How many activities have you done this week? How much time have you spent on homework, a project for school or practice for one of the many things you are involved in? I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing but a life with go needs the balance of a life with stop. I was part of the planning group for worship at presbytery (our wider United Church gathering) and the theme was 'Be Still' - a theme of rest, rejuvenation and relaxation. The worship for the weekend embraced Psalm 46:10a "Be still and know that I am God." In my hunt for multimedia insight on this passage I found this great Video done by Jim Clark who is a Student Minister at Fox Valley Christian Church in Batavia, Illinois. Check it out then ask yourself when are you still enough to listen?

Check out Jim's Blog http://tyndalespot.blogspot.com/

Super Heros

In January one of the youth went to Hawaii and brought back some wonderful photos, check some of them out in the previous post. Last month we had a night about images and how powerful they are and then we had a night about how powerful words are. So what happens when we combine those two? Superpowers! have you ever wondered what a word superhero would do? Look it's Super Word Woman she can spell tall words in a single bound, stop speeding insults with her mouth and is mightier than the word Supercalifragilous Expialidocious! Her sidekick is Projector Boy with his super projector vision he is more powerful than computer processor. Together they are invincible against ads that make you want to buy things you don't need, bullies who want to hurt you with their words, and games where killing is cool. With Generator man not even Blackout Boy can defeat them! Think it will be the next hit for Marvel Comics?

Superhero picture http://www.suckatlife.com/digital.html and the artists blog http://blowatlife.blogspot.com/