And Last But Not Least...

Another new beginning... My youngest grandson celebrated his First Communion yesterday, so I went to church with is family. I took several pictures, most of which were blurry--don't know if it was me moving my camera or Eddy moving. He has a little bit of a problem being still :). I managed to get this shot of him, then the one below...
Doesn't he look like a little angel??? SURPRISE! Actually, he's a treasure, albeit a very funny one! He got to help carry up the gifts, and commented to his mom that "the bread really smelled good!" And he let it be known to his dad that the wine tasted good, too! The rest of us knew that by the way he kept smacking his lips when it was all said and done! No wonder Jesus said, "Let the little children come..." They're much more fun that we are, huh!

Another "End" or is it "New Beginning"???

I took pictures of this day with Jim's camera, which unfortunately is with him in Pennsylvania until the end of the week, so I'll have to post a picture later, but Jim's daughter "Robin-Bobin" graduated from Texas A&M at Corpus Christi on Saturday. It seems hauntingly odd to be graduating Jim's daughters--I met Robin when she was only six. It's been a joy watching her grow up. I WILL post a graduation picture when I geth the camera back!

A Very Busy Weekend of Endings and New Beginnings

I've shared the last three years with this group--my spiritual direction class. Friday was our last class--a day of prayer. We walked the labyrinth together.
The first time I walked the labyrinth, I walked with a large group--and I learned about community, about walking together in a large group, then finding yourself alone, with seemingly no one around, about giving those who need it a wide birth when we meet on the same path going opposite directions or giving each other just enough room to barely squeek by--whatever the other needs, about walking together with someone for a while, then taking a turn and not seeing them again, until they show up again on the other side of the "journey"...
We've walked together for three years (some of us are missing inthis photo), and now our paths seem to be going in different directions, yet we all know we're still in it together. I'm so grateful to have had this season in my life, and I love each of you that I've walked with. We still have a day of prayer in July, then graduation in August--then who knows??? One thing I've learned though, this isn't "the end", it's only the beginning of a new path--a path full of surprises, joys and sorrows, light and darkness, new opportunities for Love to be expressed through each of us to the world that waits for us--and for us to receive Love from unexpected "others" on the way.

Try reading these two books at the same time!

I don't want to be-labor my point, and I'm not saying Obama is Jesus, but reading these two books at the same times is very interesting. Thought provoking, to say the least.

The Seren-Dips Graduate!

Well, we've done it! Our Artist Way Circle officially graduated today, ceremony and all, and it was wonderful. This group of women has been "pure gift", and meeting with them and getting to know them over the past 3 months has been one of the greatest joys of my life. Each woman is a treasure! And we love ourselves as a group so much that we've decided to name ourselves the Seren-Dips (cute, huh!), and I have officially registered us with the Millionth Circle. If there was ever a forward-thinking group of women, this is it! :) Thank you Nancy Y. for having us in your home, and thank you Adalia, Annie, L'il Anna, Barbara, Ginger, Helen, Jeanette, Linda, Nancy S., Sharlyn, Sherry, and Tina for sharing your life with me. We are SISTA'S, and I love each of you a whole bunch!

Getting New Windows

These young guys are taking out all my single pane energy wasting windows and replacing them with highly energy efficient double hung windows...I was thinking this morning about the "prophetic picture"--my house getting all new energy saving windows. I like the picture! :)

Reading Political Stuff?

I've never read politically--used to consider myself "apolotical", until I realized that I just hadn't found "my spot", and I was being politically correct for the culture I had been raised in. But this man interests me. Reading his book has been a breath of fresh political air--he seems humble, reasonabale, and willing to listen and consider all sides. Balanced. And, yes, full of hope. I haven't hoped for this country for a long time, but there's a faint stirring of hope rising up in me. This guy isn't the magic pill, but maybe if more of us could listen, really listen to the "other"--maybe, just maybe....

Inner Authority

I worked in my yard for a while yesterday, and before I knew it, I was pondering Mary’s “fiat”, her “yes”. And I’m still thinking about it this morning. I’ve wanted a “yes” as resolute as Mary’s for many years, but this morning it means more than “surrender”—more that “I’m your handmaiden—whatever you want”.

You know, I’ll never be a “virgin”, and I’ll never again have a special baby, but I really believe Mary’s story has to be mine for today, or it’s not part of a transformational gospel. Like Meister Eckhart said, not to belittle the birth of Jesus, but it doesn’t do us much good that Mary conceived the seed of God and gave birth to the Christ, unless I am able to conceive that seed and birth Christ for today. So, in light of all that…

What did it mean for a woman in Mary’s day to say “yes”? We think we live in a patriarchal age, but a lot of changes have taken place since Mary boldly spoke her “yes”. In her day, it was still believed that a woman couldn’t have a relationship with God without a man’s intervention. She had no authority on her own to say “yes”.

I was pretty impressed a couple of years ago when I found out that the Aramic word for “virgin” simply meant “without the intervention of a man”. Even to this day, many of us in our current patriarchal society are taught that the man is the head of the house, the spiritual leader, the final authority. Years ago, I felt God calling me in a definite direction, but my pastor disagreed with me. He tried to talk me out of it, and finally in desperation turned to my husband and said, “Jim, as Sheila’s spiritual authority, what do you think?” I was flabbergasted—and Jim was, too!

Women are still deemed unworthy and/or unsuitable for the priesthood or pastorate in many denominations, including my own—based on a male-biased interpretation of Scripture and the science and reasoning of 2000 years ago. We’re still spiritually relegating women to second class citizens, because of the words of our spiritual forefathers, like Thomas Aquinas who spoke of a woman’s need to be governed by others wiser than herself when he wrote: “by such a kind of subjection woman is naturally subject to man, because in man the discretion of reason predominates”. (Emphasis mine) And this is only one example of a patriarchal culture that continues to subordinate women as the “God-given order of the world.”

All that to say that Mary defied those boundaries when it came to having her own personal relationship with Love. She heard Love speak for itself, and she believed what she heard in her own heart, and she chose to act on what she heard and believed of her own volition. She didn’t wait to have what she heard and believed correctly interpreted for her, nor did she wait to have the male spiritual leader agree with her, giving her permission to continue that relationship.

In fact, when her “spiritual authority” questioned her hearing and her response, a Messenger was sent to tell him, “Listen up—Mary heard right, and what she said is true. Believe her.”

For Luke to even include the story of Mary’s encounter with God is a pretty big deal.

So that’s what I’ve been thinking of over the last couple of days. Mary led the way for us, not as a docile, quiet little dependant woman, but as a brave, bold “thinking- for-herself” kind of woman—unafraid, or maybe courageous. She believed in her own inner authority, and her story encourages me really desire to KNOW for myself. She gives me courage to do this journey MY way. And I’m grateful Luke told the story for women of today.

West Meets East

We had a rare opportunity in our area yesterday; the Dalai Lama came to Houston for a visit, so of course a group of us headed to Rice University to see and hear for ourselves. It amazes me still that I am at a place in my journey through life that I can even hear another spiritual voice speak into my life--especially one from the East. But I'm there, and I welcome the balance the other half brings. Again, one of those paradoxes in life--there is no West without East, there is no us without them, and there is no complete without all the parts. My western mind has been so lopsided for so long, and my spiritual process has been so "partial"--it's a joy to be able to open to the other and to hear with an open heart instead of a closed mind. What I find is that we're all saying much the same thing. The Dalai Lama's talk yesterday was on compassion in our every day life--the same message Jesus spoke as he walked among us. And it's a message I long to hear and experience in my life--if I must err, may it be on the side of compassion.

The Dalai Lama is a humble little man with a joyful smile that radiates from inside to the outside. And he left us with a profoundly humble statement: If you've heard something today that you can use, then take it and practice it and make it yours. If you haven't heard anything that's useful to you--then just forget all that I've said and don't worry about it. That's another place I want to get to--a place where I'm willing to let go of my agenda and my "right-ness", trusting that each person I meet will find his/her own way. What a gift to have someone say, "Trust yourself to know the truth and to find your way."

After those wonderful words of wisdom and love, a few of us went and ate and shopped! A pretty grand day--one filled with simple pleasures and simple words.