Singing Heart

Today my heart is singing. The sticky oppressive heat promises to go away for several days once some storms have passed through. The rose bush which has promised new blooms finally has produced; I have 3 roses in the bud vase. The Rose of Sharon bush which also holds promise finally has some slight streaks of color in its buds. Two pine trees were planted today behind my condo to replace the ones that died last fall. I found a lovely serving bowl at the consignment shop for $3. 

My husband wanted to eat lunch at the Grace Village dining room today. While eating, a man and wife joined us. It appeared that she had rolled him in his wheelchair from the rehab section. As we chatted, we learned that she will be moving into the vacant condo down the block from us August 1st, her husband joining her when able.

 Then, I finally sat down and read the blogs I follow and learned that I was 1 of the 5 winners of Leslie Leyland Fields' blog give-aways. She is sending some homemade jam and what I most want, her book Surviving the Island of Grace.

 The package never arrived. I had been told it could take a month as it would go on a small boat from the island where she lives in Alaska to a post office and then to the mainland. But after 3 months I figured it would not show up. It did not.

It is a sad commentary on the poverty of my soul that it so easily soars when the beggar’s bowl is full of lovely things. My heart is full of gratitude to God; but when circumstances and things are hard, the gratitude is not so easily given. 

I just finished The Hawk and the Dove (a Christian fiction trilogy) by Penelope Wilcock that so poignantly describes the soul’s struggle with reconciling loss and suffering with God’s goodness and love. It is a story of a 14th century monastery and how the individuals of the community must come to grips with these lessons in their relationships with one another and with God. A good reminder that whatever fills the bowl of life, God does love us.

 

 

 

 

The Response

As the beggar’s bowl fills up, he accepts what is proffered. Beyond acceptance, comes thanksgiving. Not always easy to do when the gifts are hard to swallow. What does God want from us?
Brother Lawrence reminds us: “He [God] does not ask much of us—an occasional remembrance, a small act of worship, now to beg his grace, at times to offer him our distresses, at another time to render thanks for the favors He has given, and which he gives in the midst of your labors, to find consolation with Him as often as you can. …The smallest remembrance will always please Him.”
In other words, He wants a love relationship and an acknowledgement of our need for Him. But we so often get caught up in the tasks of living, that we fail to pause to remember who has granted us life and is sustaining us. It takes a conscious effort to focus on the presence of God in our lives. This beggar needs to put the distractions aside more often and remind herself that God is always in the midst of His child thru His Spirit. There needs to be more remembering.

More Collection Jars

I like the idea of a blessings list or gratitude notebook. I often reflect on my blessings, but it seems like listing them day after day would be very repetitive. After reading Gretchen Rubin’s blog The Happiness Project, it occurred to me that I could modify the concept into a “happiness notebook”. I would try to be present in the now of my life by making notations of what made me feel happy that day. It has not been daily as some days I did not succeed in living in the moment and got dragged down by hassles or was too tired after a busy day to reflect.
I have a little rose-colored silk-covered book a friend who had lived in Japan gave me long ago. It is about the size of a small diary or address book. It has been perfect for my listing. Sometimes, there are only 2-3 notations per entry; other times over half the page is filled. This small bound book is handy to leave sitting next to my chair where I can jot down items while resting a few minutes throughout the day.
What has astonished me is how much happiness I have re-reading the entries. It brings back good memories of outings, an especially beautiful sunset, even news events like the Chilean miners being rescued. These things would have faded from memory without being written down. It makes me realize how rich life is.
It wasn’t until I thought about the idea of  “collection jars”, that I saw another way we capture good times: our miniature box (printer’s drawer) full of mementos from trips. The “storyteller” figurine in Santa Fe was exactly what I wanted, but the fishing fly from a sporting goods store only popped into my mind as a representative choice of Montana when I spied it. The slots in the drawer limit what can fit, but there are many options. I have seashells, tourist spoons, blown glass figures, carved wooden trinkets, a leather hiking boot from atop a box of Swiss chocolates.

Let’s see that makes 5 collection jars: this blog, my journal, my gratitude book, the printer’s drawer, my folders of decorating and fashion style photos. That doesn’t include my scrapbooks and photo albums, the more conventional ways to capture memories.

What kind of collection jars do you have?