More Sacred moments...

It has been a great trip back to Nebraska.
There a a few people I would have loved to see and couldn't,
(Jim, Jack, Pat, Deb, Lisa & Patty, but...

I had 18 hours with Brad,

I had more than that with Melissa, Justing and Cale,



and I was able to go to Miechelle's hooding ceremony.


And if that wasn't enough...
I had two wonderful nights with Matt and Charlie,
and a great conversation with Bishop D.

I get to see another old friend tomorrow and then I head home.

But in spite of all these Sacred moments...
I am ready to go HOME!

and Home is in Oregon now.

79 and counting

The last week has been a bit stressful making it difficult to find the sacred in every day.

Last night was about as stressed as I have been in a while, But thanks to a listening ear I was able to settle down and make it through the evenings events.

I ended up at my 79th children's concert last night.
79 seems like an large number of concerts to sit through over the years and I know I will hit a hundred before the kids are out of school.
I struggle to go to these and not feel as if I am wasting my time.
But the look on Jacquie's face when she saw me, and the enthusiastic waving made me glad I was there. It was a holy night.

This morning I am sitting in PDX waiting on my flight to OMA. The week will be fast and furious with lots of people to see, the celebration for Miechelle's graduation, and all too little time for my grandson and daughter.

But I am glad to be able to steal away for even a short time.

So I am waiting, I am trying to let go of all I left behind, and I am striving to just be present and find the sacred in every day.

Something Sacred...

Something Sacred is at stake in every moment.

I've been reflecting about this lately.

I am reading a book by Ken Gire called Seeing What is Sacred: Becoming More Spiritually Sensitive to the Everyday Moments of Life.

If anyone is reading my blog I imagine you are thinking the title alone sounds 'flaky' and would be enough to make you run away.

But, not me.
I was drawn to the book.
I think I was drawn to it primarily because of the title.
I was also drawn to it because I don't think I do this very well; notice the sacred.

(It helps that I have read other books by Ken and liked them.)

I don't take the time to find God in the everyday moments of life, yet I know God is always there.
I want to notice more.

I made time to just lay on the couch with Laura tonight. As she gets taller and we both get bigger I realize these opportunities are limited. I also made time for myself tonight. Music only I like, and lots of hot water and bubbles.

It seems to me that much of what is sacred gets hidden in the ordinary day to day activities in our lives. For me to take notice, for me to see something of the sacred, I need to slow down, reflect more, notice more.

I learned that the word reflect comes from two Latin words: re, meaning 'back' and flectere, meaning 'to bend'. To reflect then is to bend back something. I guess much like a mirror bends back an image of ourselves.

Learning to be more reflective isn't easy for me.
It takes time.
It takes quiet.

It takes quiet time alone for me to be reflective and there isn't much of that in our household.

But I am making a concentrated effort to at least take notice, to watch for the ordinary, everyday moments where I know something Sacred is at stake.