Well, here I am ... finally. It has been weeks (months?) since I last posted. It's not that things weren't going around in my head. Somehow they just never made it to paper. But a friend posted a blog this morning that got me to thinking; and if I'm going to do it, I HAVE to do it today ... before the month runs out. What I learned in August.
A darling friend, Annie Downs, posted what she learned in August -- an idea that she herself received from her friend. After reading Annie's list, I wondered the same about myself. August seemed to buzz past; but surely something was attained during the fly by. And so I opened my journal to the last month and here's what I found.
1. Power just is. Out of context that may seem a little strange so here it is read within the text of Awaken the Sleeper by Nick Castellano. "Vision should not be forced. Force is about you. Force takes energy. Stand in power; power just is." I seem to want to make things happen, and quite frankly, that can be very tiring. If I could just remember to "stand in power" and let God do His thing. The world would be such a better place.
2. 'Tis good to try to see the world through God's eyes than always trying to see God in the world.
3. There are women in my life whose flames have burned brightly and reminded me of my own small flame. You know who you are and I bless you this day. Oh, that may I be a candle that stirs others' flames to new life.
4. "It's one thing to go through the Bible, it is quite another thing for the Bible to go through you." That was a quote from my friend Len Sweet's mama. Mabel Boggs Sweet was one smart woman.
5. Don't push the river; just trust the power of the flow. (See #1.) God has astounded me recently by the way He has allowed an opportunity to just fall in my lap. Now if I can just remember the flow of that river.
6. "Rake the muck this way. Rake the muck that way. It will still be muck. In the time you are brooding, you could be stringing pearls for the delight of heaven." Yep.
7. When you are identified with the kingdom, then when you speak the kingdom speaks, when you act the kingdom acts." E. Stanley Jones, The Way. I truly want to be about kingdom living. Which leads to number
8. "The kingdom belongs to God and no amount of human conniving can figure it out." -- Barbara Brown Taylor in Bread of Angels. So I guess what I need to do is just stand in power and trust the flow of the river.
9. "... in the end, love alone remains." God is love, and all that we really are is a manifestation of the eternal love of God." -- James Finley and what he learned from Thomas Merton.
And lastly,
10. Cabot cheese is totally lactose free.
Just an ordinary moment...
