Monthly Archives: September 2011

mere christianity . by c.s.Lewis

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You know, if you hang out with someone that is infected with something, you might end up getting infected too.  Maybe it could be a “good infection.”  C.S. Lewis talks about the one good infection that will enter into your life, your body, your mind and your heart.  I happen to know that this particular condition will grow and continually change the way you feel, think and see.  It will share with you it’s own life.  You will experience some side effects, but hey, it will all be good in time.  And, then, after your body dies, there will be a new and better life for you, made by the one that is in you.  Now, that’s one good infection.  
Beyond this talk of good infection, the best part about knowing your need for and seeking Jesus, is that you have a reconnection, and relationship that you didn’t have before.  Yes, that is really what your life becomes. A relationship between you and your maker.  No one knows you better than your maker or Loves you more for that matter.
Well, i suspect that if you are a believer, that you already know this.  And if you are not, well, you might not be so inclined to want to hear about it.  But, you just never know what might happen with words.  I’m just the one that types them.
Group reading of Mere Christianity

play together . one

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play together
canvas detail
ingredients: acrylic…that’s it so far.

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Are we to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face, or what’s behind it?
pablo picasso

voices and friends . poetry reading

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Welcome to our second voices and friends.
I just had the best time listening to all of you read last week.
You all did a great job!  Yea!

Last weeks post is here.
The “voices and friends group” on Facebook is here.
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This week was a week of noticeable transition.  CJ and i were getting accustomed to getting up and out the door in the mornings, as it was our first week off of summer time and back on to school time.  Which is mostly CJ getting herself ready for school, and me getting ready to drive her near enough, in the backed-up line of cars, to let her out.  She gets out of the car and walks at the point when the students are walking faster than the cars are moving.  Which is not too long of a walk, so it works out fine.

I have started on a painting, and it’s going a bit slow, but, i am liking the process.  It is very much like feeling my way along a ledge on the outside of a building…and then being pulled through a window now and then.  I think that i might take detail photos of certain areas as we go along.  yes…we.  As for me, to make (what most of us call) art, i must (and like to) interact and collaborate (play together) with my Creator.  It is in the painting process that i have been learning this, along with the comprehension that the interaction,  collaboration and play can (and probably should) take place in other aspects of my life as well.
And, of course, in the middle of it all, was this feeling of going back in time, or being in some kind of limbo or stillness, as many things have been said and done in remembrance of the loss and changes that took place, ten years ago, on Sep. 11, 2001.
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God’s Word

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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Nearer my God to Thee

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Through the the joys and losses in this life… God is.
Draw near to Him.

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Nearer, My god to Thee
(info. and photos from wikipedia)

The verse was written by the English poet and Unitarian hymn writer Sarah Flower Adams (1805–1848)  at her home in Sunnybank, LoughtonEssex, England, in 1841. It was first set to music by Adams’s sister, the composer Eliza Flower, for William Johnson Fox‘s collection Hymns and Anthems.    


Bethel 

Bethel is mentioned several times in Genesis. It is first mentioned in Genesis 12,[3] but the best-known instance is probably Genesis 28,[4] when Jacob, fleeing from the wrath of his brother Esau, falls asleep on a stone and dreams of a ladder stretching between Heaven and Earth and thronged with angels; God stands at the top of the ladder, and promises Jacob the land of Canaan; when Jacob awakes he anoints the stone (baetylus) with oil and names the place Bethel. Another account, from Genesis 35[5] repeats the covenant with God and the naming of the place (as El-Bethel), and makes this the site of Jacob’s own change of name to Israel. Both versions state that the original name of the place was Luz, a Canaanite name.

mere christianity . by c.s.Lewis

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C. S. Lewis













For several weeks now i have been reading the book “Mere Christianity” and posting on one chapter at a time, along with a few other people.  I link my post on, Wednesdays, with the rest of the group, at the blog of the host.  And i usually read the other posts.  I have never been to book club in a friend’s living room, where the people meet and discuss books together and eat chips or little vegetable sticks.  This book club is different.  This particular, on-line, book reading group has readers that take something away from each chapter and then allows that to give-way to creative expression.  There are posts such as poems and personal stories which allows the writing to take on another layer of interest.  And i really like seeing everyone’s unique ways of thinking, writing and relating.
We have just finished reading the chapter titled “Time and Beyond Time.”  Where the main focus is on one of the attributes of God.  This one being, omnipresence, or being present everywhere at the same time.  Time meaning what humans live in, and what God does not live in.  We live one moment at a time.  The author, C. S. Lewis, says this, “If you picture Time as a straight line along which we have to travel, then you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn.”  Of course we have to think of things like a line on paper, in our human mind, because we can’t even start to imagine life without time or seeing all time or being in all time.  No matter.  For, even though i am an expert on time travel, because i watch Dr. Who, i don’t really need to know how God does what He does.  All i need know is that i Love the Lord and He loves me, and that He is with me always.
Our link hosts are Jason Stasyszen and Sarah Salter.  The links have been at one host one week, and the other host the next week.  They like to trade off and share the load.  I always forget who is gathering the links on which week, but they seem to be able to keep it straight. ..❀ n.r.

starry night

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I woke up early this morning.  It was a little after 3:00 am.  I tried, to go back to sleep, and nothing felt right, and i wondered if someone was dying, or if something big and terrible was happening, because i was just wide awake.  And there just has to be a reason, right?  Well, anyway i eventually decided to get up.  I knew that my husband and eldest daughter would be up at 4:00 am. to catch a flight to New York.  So in the meantime i went to the living room for awhile.  There was a nice fuzzy blanket next to the couch, and i gathered it up and wrapped it around myself, to go outside on the porch.  We have a couple hammock chairs hanging there, and i found one to be a comfortable place to snuggle up and gently swing.  As i swung i looked out at the darkness, with just enough light to see shapes of things and no colour.  Just different shades of grey.  The moon, that was shining in my eyes when i first went to bed, was now gone from sight.  The stars were shining white in the clear dark sky.  And there was no hint of a breeze, but, there was still a crisp coolness on my face.  The air was clean and fresh to breath.  There was little sound.  Just a few cars on the road a couple miles away.  
Sometimes He just calls us out, to be quiet together.

one word at a time

Every two weeks there is a word prompt for Tuesday’s “One Word at a Time Blog Carnival.”  Peter Pollock is the host. And Peter’s blog is where we (or you) can add a link to a post on carnival day (like today). And this time the word is “innocence.”  You are welcome to click on over and read a couple of the posts that are linked there and share your ideas. ❀

Yes, there was such a thing as innocence.  No matter what has been done to us, or what we have done in this fallen world, our heart still knows what innocence was. Our desire is to belong, to be whole, to be accepted. We lost our own innocence, and we know it. The mad pursuit to fill the loss, with all the things that innocence is not, is what we tend to do. But our heart knows better. Our heart recognizes the daily portion of God’s Grace, and the sureness of His promises.  Our heart’s desire is to be with Him.

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Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing they do not hear or understand.

In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.

From Matthew 13 

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Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.

From Matthew 22

poetry, friends and school

Today i am very wiggly excited to have blog friends recording their voices and leaving the link on my post.
Voices are that extra layer of icing.  One more dimension of my friends.  One more way that we are sharing.  It’s totally fun to hear the words and voices.

It’s is good to get to know people better and have these places to connect.

I am also thinking of my youngest, CJ starting high school tomorrow.  She and I still need to go to the store for a few last minute things.

The weather is looking good today.  Sunny is what we need, as we had so much cool cloudy weather, this year.   The grapes are a bit behind normal, so we need a few extra weeks of sun, before that old rain returns.  But, we won’t think of rain today.  No…not today.

note: L.L. , the “Mindfulnes”s book sounds good.   I am almost done with “Mere Christianity.”

On In Around button

voices and friends . poetry reading

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Today is the first Monday gathering of the links of people that want to share poetry in a very special way.  That way is by reading the poetry aloud.  I love to be read to and i love to hear poetry.  I hope that there will be several people that give this a try.  If you need time to think about it, there is still the listening, so click on those links and have a listen.
There is a web page called soundcloud that is easy to use and they give free time for recording and trying out what they have to offer.  All you do is go there and sign-in, press a couple of buttons to record something, read into your computer microphone, do this until you have a recording that you like, and press another button to save it.  Then you can post it on your blog page.  After you sign-in, the instructions are pretty easy.
If you would like, it would be nice to have the written words posted along with the recording.
Remember to come back here and share your “post link” (on mr. stinky linky) along with (i hope) the many others.

Since Mr. Stinky and SoundCloud are not behaving well together on my blog, i now have a blog that is just for my poetry sound recordings.  You will see my post link below.

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