Reflections for Lent 2019 – Day 9 I really hate it when an experiment is an unmitigated failure. Of course, I’m sure you could argue that an experiment is never a failure if you learn something from it. I get that. And yet… With lots of reflection over the course of this past year, weContinueContinue reading “Sidewalk flowers: Experiments”
Tag Archives: Lent
Sidewalk Flowers
Reflections for Lent 2019 – Day 1 It’s one of those wordless children’s books where the pictures tell stories and convey more meaning than a million pages of text. Jon Arno Lawson and Sydney Smith’s Sidewalk Flowers is a story in which a child and her father are walking through a city together running errandsContinueContinue reading “Sidewalk Flowers”
“Failing” Lent: Day 18
Breathe. Why is Lent—this time of introspection and growth, this time which is supposed to be about taking time, this time which is supposed to be about stripping away and wandering in the wilderness—so crazy busy?? I am looking at my calendar through the month of March and feeling a tad overwhelmed and stressed aboutContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 18″
“Failing” Lent: Day 17
Monday is a good day. It is a day full of small groups. We have one that meets in the morning and one that meets in the evening. We are reading a book together called Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab by Christine Montross. I loved the book when IContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 17″
“Failing” Lent: Day 10/11
I think I’m actually on Day 12 of Lent at this point (and as I finish this, day 13). I have fallen behind in my reflections. I kind of figured I would … it’s really hard to think of something new to write every day that is appropriate to share and vaguely interesting. I’m sureContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 10/11″
“Failing” Lent: Day 9
For months now, I have been struggling with being tired. Really tired. The kind of tiredness that seems to have seeped into my bones. Of course, I’m incredibly stubborn, so I have mostly just pushed through it. I’m pretty good at not letting how I feel stop me from doing what I feel I needContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 9″
“Failing” Lent: Day 7&8
I want to talk a little more about the labyrinth. On Wednesday, I spent most of the day crawling around on the floor to tape all the tiny little blue “stars” together into circles and then to open the circles up to form a path and then to add details at the turns. As IContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 7&8″
“Failing” Lent: Day 6
There are hundreds and hundreds of little tiny irregular blue dots all over the floor in the fellowship hall at Salem. At certain angles, they look randomly placed as though someone tossed confetti in the air and this is how it landed, but if you look a minute you’ll notice that all the little dotsContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 6″
“Failing” Lent: Day 5
I sat down to write last night and stared at the screen. I finally gave up and went to bed. It had been a good and busy day, but I was exhausted. Because I was so exhausted and kind of grouchy most of the day, I didn’t really get what God kept hinting at forContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 5″
“Failing” Lent: Day 4
This morning my devotion turned out to be looking out the window. I was supposed to read something, but this was all I got to. It was all I really needed. There was a fresh layer of maybe two inches on the ground, which seemed a dusting after the 30″ we got last week. ItContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 4″
A Wandering Aramean…
The texts for Sunday, February 17, 2013 (Lent 1C): Deuteronomy 26:1–11; Psalm 91:1–2, 9–16; Romans 10:8b–13; and Luke 4:1–13 “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor … The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he broughtContinueContinue reading “A Wandering Aramean…”
“Failing” at Lent: Day 3
Today was my first “fast” day. It had been a long time since I had fasted last—mostly, I stopped when I started having food issues (I developed an intolerance to egg a long while back) and then gave up meat pretty well full time. I figured that my life was really pretty centered around dietContinueContinue reading ““Failing” at Lent: Day 3″
“Failing” at Lent: Day 2
Today, I have nothing much to report about “messing up” per se, so I thought I’d talk about my experience of busy-ness. I noticed it today—especially this morning as I sat down to my devotional text from Hildegaard… The practice that I’m using to explore the devotional text is Lectio Divina. It is a wayContinueContinue reading ““Failing” at Lent: Day 2″
Failing at Lent: Day 1
As of today, February 13,2013, the season of Lent has begun yet again. Lent is my favorite season of the year, and I have marked it’s passing in numerous different ways. Some years I had strict disciplines that excluded large portions of my diet for the full forty days (which, I almost kept perfectly). SomeContinueContinue reading “Failing at Lent: Day 1”
Dust
The texts for Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2012: Joel 2:1–2, 12–17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10; Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21 In a very little bit, I will dip my thumb in a little oil and a little ash and trace the sign of the cross on the foreheads of those of you who’d like to come forward. AsContinueContinue reading “Dust”
Jabbok Dawn 