Category: Meditations

Aug 28

And Things Go On….

I am at a loss.  Things are quiet.  School is delayed.  I don’t have a schedule as such.  There’s the photography club lunch on Tuesday and church on Sunday.  I need more structure.  I am thinking things will be better next week.  School is still scheduled to start on Wednesday.

I will be picking Elaina up for sure.  Damion maybe, at least for the first week.  Logos starts back the next Wednesday, on September the 6th.   I have volunteered to help with the meals.  I am thinking I may start helping with the community garden on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings.  I keep thinking I should try to do the Cancer Support Group on the first Wednesday of the month at 3pm.  But it’s almost impossible with school pickups. 

Tracy thinks she should get a regular job and wants me to pick up her kids from school and keep them until she gets off work. She vacillates though between getting a job now or continuing to Door Dash until Tim is able to get back to work full time. 

If the older boys have sports practices and I only have to pick up Elaina, the Cancer Support Group is more feasible.  

I’m also feeling called to make a cash donation on Sunday mornings.  The kids don’t see the check I mail every month and I’m feeling like I get credit for that anyway.  Doesn’t that mean that I’ve already got my reward?  Admittedly, it’s not exactly a public thing.  I mail the check with all the other bills and no one knows about it except the people who handle it. Still I get a statement from the church regularly stating how much I’ve given.  Cash in the offering plate on Sundays would be more anonymous, like our giving is supposed to be done.

I am still trying to get the credit cards paid down so I can make a larger donation.  Something closer to 10 percent.  Maybe next year.  I paid off one, then ran it back up.  It’s a never ending cycle.

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Posted in Current Events, For Your Consideration, Inspiration, Meditations, News, Random Thoughts

Jun 05

Mary or Martha?

The first Monday of every month is my CWF meeting.  That acronym stand for Christian Women’s Fellowship.  We have a visitation portion while everyone gets settled, a short business section, including an offering, then a lesson.  The lessons vary greatly.  For several previous years we used a Bible study guide called Just Women (embracing life).  It was interesting, but we frequently found it difficult to apply the lessons to our own daily life.  This year our Leader, Mary Haylee Hancock, suggested we find our own way.  She began the year with an extensive dig into Esther that culminated, after several weeks of study, in a Purim celebration.  Encouraged by the success of this, we have continued to find our own way. 

This month, she turned the lesson over to Mary Zimmer.  Mary brought us to consideration of the difference between Mary and Martha in the book of Luke 10:38-42.  Martha is the doer, she worries about cooking, cleanup, all the preparations for guests.  Mary is the worshiper who sits at Jesus’ feet listening and learning His ways.  She then asked who, in our own lives, were examples for us of Mary and Martha, of the two different attitudes toward life.  Everyone had good examples and the discussion flowed well.  Finally, Mary Zimmer suggested we think about starting a Women’s Retreat to turn our thoughts more toward a Mary type of situation.

Next month, we will assemble in the church library to learn more about what books are available and choose one to report to the group about in August.  It sounds like another good discussion lesson.

I forgot to do my daily exercise by walking while I was in town, so I walked around the yard a couple of times when I got home and plan to do a Yoga session this afternoon.  I’m trying really hard to keep up the exercise routines I’ve scheduled.  I need to develop more stamina if I’m going to be able to indulge in hiking during our vacation.  Less than two weeks to go.  I am very excited.

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Posted in Church, Exercise, For Your Consideration, Inspiration, Meditations

May 29

Seven Ways from Sunday

I guess I’ll address Meditations first.  I have run into a strange section of Discovering Fire.  Apparently, there is a resurgence of Psychedelics in various parts of the country.  Out of curiosity, I searched for psychedelic drugs in Google and found many references, including one from Harvard Health Publishing  that agree, somewhat, with the book.  From what I read, I don’t think it will be something that affects me any time soon.

Next up is Memoirs, I guess.  Jim is trying to rope me into his Ancestry researches.  Apparently, he needs help badly.  Since he’s been concentrating on the Pearson side, I looked at the Moore side first.  It was a mess.  Before I can look backward on Mama, I find that I need to straighten out her generation.  I’m still trying to sort out the fact that he forgot Uncle Willard was married twice and three of his children were from the first marriage.  He had them all listed under Aunt Theda, in spite of the fact that she was only 7 years old when the oldest one was born.  I’m trying to find more information on his first wife and get his record straightened out.  Jim says it’s addictive.  We’ll see.  So far, it just seems frustrating to me.

Finally, Health and Exercise.  I’m going to try to follow my workout schedule this week.  I’m still refining it, but the skeleton is there.  Since this is the first full week of no school pickups, today is the first day of my current lifestyle.  Today, is Yoga and I’ve set it up for an afternoon session with some of my videos.  Tomorrow will be walking since I’ll be going into town for the photo club lunch.

It’s kind of strange that we still call it that although the photo club was disbanded before that pandemic and topics of discussion at the luncheon are more about trains, sports, and general gossip than photography nowadays.  As for photography, I watched a video that Jim shared on the old photo club Facebook page today.  It’s a link to a Youtube video.  I’ve done a lot of the things all along, but it’s a good reminder as I get ready for our June trip to Washington State.

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Posted in Current Events, Exercise, For Your Consideration, Health, Meditations, Memoirs, News

Oct 12

Current Meditations Continue

Well, we had the discussion group and it went well.  Even though I hadn’t had the negative experiences of the book, I did find things to contribute.

I am still reading.  I finished The Heart of Christianity and I’m now working on The God We Never Knew, both by Marcus Borg.  Along the way, I’ve discovered details about the author that I never imagined.  He said he was in his thirties before reaching a point that he accepted God as real.  I know that many people question the existence of God in college.  I have decided it’s not really college that causes the doubt.  It’s a level of maturity.  I felt that way myself in my early twenties and I didn’t go to college until I was in my forties.

As I told the book discussion group, I tried to think of the world and my life without God and it scared me to death.  I cannot conceive a world without God.  The current book I’m reading is explaining a different concept of God.  It is a God all around us idea.  I am still working on understanding it.  More later….

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Posted in Inspiration, Meditations

Jul 25

Current Meditations

Back during Lent, I set myself a daily obligation to read something God oriented on a daily basis.  I’ve been doing it ever since.  I’ve actually gone through several books by now.  

I started with Kissing Fish by Roger Wolsey and am currently on Healing Spiritual Wounds by Carol Howard Merritt which is for Kara’s next Book Discussion group.

Along the way, I’ve read The Final Days of Jesus by Shimon Gibson, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time by Marcus Borg, and A New Christianity for a New World by John Shelby Spong.  

I was slogging through Hear Then the Parable by Bernard Brandon Scott when the Book Discussion subject came along.  Since I wasn’t really enjoying the parables being dissected that much, I put it aside temporarily.  

For the future, I have The Heart of Christianity and The God We Never Knew both by Marcus Borg.  Borg is one of my favorite authors so I’m fairly sure I’ll enjoy those.  I’m not sure I’ll go back to the Parables.  It’s much more like a literature class discussion on poetry than I bargained for.

For the most part though, I’ve enjoyed going in depth on Bible subjects.  The current reading for the discussion group has hit home as well. 

I am finding it thought provoking although I don’t feel like I have any personal experience.  I was raised in my Disciples of Christ church. I’ve never been exposed to the negative Christianity that this book is exposing.  I knew it was there.  I guess we’ve all heard of “fire and brimstone” preachers.  It simply hasn’t been my experience.  I’m reading quickly through it, then I plan to go back and try to do the exercises at the end of each chapter.  The discussion isn’t until September 6th.  I should have plenty of time to absorb it.

 

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Posted in Church, Inspiration, Meditations, Religion

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