Other6

Just found a neat online community at http://www.other6.com/home.aspx  Where did you find or need to find God today?  Per the Sacred Space website, "This site is based on 'examination of consciousness'—a prayerful review of the day intended to help people recognise God in their daily lives."  

advent 2010

I've enjoyed the gift of a growing appreciation of and participation in the season of Advent over the past few years.  There are a number of books, websites, and other resources to use as we celebrate this time of year.  Currently I'm enjoying:

http://www.sacredspace.ie/
The Jesuit Communication Centre in Ireland puts out a booklet of daily readings and considerations for Advent.  They also have guided retreats for Advent that you can download and follow.  Also scroll down the page and take a look at their online prayers and "Living Space," commentaries on the daily scripture readings from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP); I was pleasantly surprised by the level of thought (or prayer, I should say) they put into the entries.

Simply Wait:  Cultivating Stillness in the Season of Advent by Pamela C. Hawkins
Hawkins gives a theme for each week of Advent:  anticipation, hope, patience, and obedience.  Each section is divided into "Responding to the Word," "Readings," and prayers.  I have been looking forward to using this book all year.  I was captivated by the first page:  "ANTICIPATION...Wait with this word for awhile before you turn the page.  Let Anticipation settle into your thoughts.  Let this word soak into your life.  Let it spread across your imagination as you look toward Christmas.  Do not hurry.  Wait.  And when you have taken some time with this word, turn the page."

In previous years I've also enjoyed the book Watch for the Light:  Readings for Advent and Christmas, a collection of daily writings from various authors.  I love the diversity of the authors and the selections, from Meister Eckhart to Sylvia Plath, Bernard of Clairvaux to Annie Dillard, etc. etc. etc.  Readings go from Nov. 24 to Jan. 7, the day after Epiphany.

You might also enjoy this website:  http://www.ekklesiaproject.org/ which offers a variety of readings from the diverse body of Christ.  The Advent reading includes the scriptures for the week from the BCP. 

You can find the BCP online at http://www.bcponline.org/ - scriptures are under "The Lectionary" - we began Year A on Nov. 28, the first Sunday of Advent 2010.

May we all be able to pay attention, wait, listen, and receive what God has for us in this time.

yelling with grandpa

There seem to be only 3 or 4 different commercials on the channels Grandpa likes to watch, and they are played over and over and over.  We're all sick of them.  Today for the millionth time, the lady on the Medicaid commercial said, "Sign me up!"  Grandpa looked up from his puzzle and yelled, "Somebody sign her up!"

fun with grandpa

Today when I got to Grandpa's he asked me, "Do you know what Thursday is?"  I decided to tease him and said, "Yeah, it's Thursday."
"But do you know what day it is?"
"It's Thursday."
"Yes, but do you know what special day it is?!"
"Yes, it's Thursday."
"OH COME ON!"

living with people versus living alone

1.  You have to wear pants.
2.  You don't have to wear a bra if you walk slow enough.
3.  You have to shower more often - or at least think about it.
4.  They come up behind you and whistle and scare your pants right back off.
5.  You get to pay them back.
6.  If you move in with family, you get to see your relatives more often.
7.  You get to see your relatives more often.
8.  People eat your food.
9.  You get to eat their food.
10.  They throw your food away; the food that you just bought 4 days ago!!!
11.  They feel bad and you get to play mind games with them.
12.  You need to consult with someone before you buy milk, or you need to be prepared to drink a lot of milk.
13.  You can't eat/drink shared food items straight out of the carton - you have to actually dirty a dish.
14.  They block your car in the driveway.
15.  You get to practice precision driving skills at 7:00 a.m., or you get to wake them up.
16.  They share or do all of the yard work - hallelujah!
17.  On Sundays they bring in your paper and bake cinnamon rolls - and share!
18.  They change the oil in your car, then give it a thorough cleaning-out. 

(I highly recommend moving in with at least one retired person.  It also helps if they love you and you love them back.)

fun with grandpa

Today when I went into Grandpa's room/space at Mom & Dad's house, I was a bit groggy from a fitful night's sleep.  Grandpa was extra perky.  "That," he said, pointing to his book of word search puzzles, "almost fell out of bed."  Grandpa likes to tell silly jokes, so I thought this was one of them.  "It did?" I said.  "How?"
"Huh?" Grandpa said.
I put the book on his tv tray.  "Are you still working on #10?"
"Yeah.  Can you count that high?"  (giggles)
"Ha ha."  I shove Grandpa and open the book to puzzle #10 and point to it, "So how did this almost fall out of bed?"
"Huh?...No, this," he said, holding up his mechanical pencil, "is almost out of lead!"  My brain's so big it clogs up my ears.  It's fun to make a non-senile elderly person wonder if he's becoming senile (eye roll).

Grandpa talks to himself when he's working on his puzzles.  Today he said, "I can't find 'DEEP'...it's so deep I can't see it...(checks word list)...D-E-E-P.  P-E-E-D.  Peed."  "There you go, Grandpa," I said, "just look for 'peed.'"  Grandpa giggled.

Grandpa asked me to get out his remote-control car the other day.  I turned it on and handed it to him, and he immediately did a beautiful parking job then made sure I knew how talented he was.  I say he got lucky.

 

 

The other day he was looking at the "Kansas Most Wanted" pictures in the paper.  Just as I opened my mouth to say, "Are you in there?" Grandpa said, "You know, you should be in here." We did find two Andersons, though, so we decided the paper must've printed the wrong pictures.

As Grandpa's physical health has declined over the past year, the list of things he can no longer do continues to grow.  But yesterday he told a visitor, "I am really fortunate.  I have people to bring me meals and I get to fill up this trash can every day (pointing to one by his chair) and someone else empties it."

just checking

Every once in a while, I like to check on the laws of physics and make sure they still apply.  There's "new math;" who knows, maybe there's new physics.

1.  If I drop this big, heavy box into this trash bin with some sawdust at the bottom, will the sawdust fly up and into my eyes and mouth?  Yep!

2.  If I stare at this green light but am lost in thought and don't move, will my car move forward anyway, since it's got 150,000 miles on it and it's seen plenty of green lights before?  Nope.  Will my fellow motorists appreciate this experiment?  Nope.

3.  If I put on my pull-over hoodie backwards, will the hood swivel around to its proper place, or will I pull the hoodie down only to find that the room's suddenly turned solid blue?  The latter.

4.  If I back down a hill without looking where I'm going and step in a hole, will I fall?  What do you think?