A Prayer for New Wine

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Virginia

Here’s a prayer from Virginia’s care-giving journal that resonates today…

O Lord Jesus, wouldn’t it be grand to be there, in the Heavenlies? Basking in Your love, hanging out in Your presence? No more sorrow. No more pain. Joy everlasting. Love everlasting.

But, Lord, we’re in this hashed up here and now. Trudging on, trying for joy (with Your help) but most days making a mishmash of it.

Jesus, You turned water into wine at that wedding feast in Cana.  You “saved the best wine for last.”  There is that assurance, that maybe the best wine is to come? Like, I’m getting older, is there more to look forward to?

I know that grapes are not drinkable – they must be crushed to become wine.

Oops! Haven’t we done enough crushing, O Lord? Can you turn the watery version of grape juice in my life into vibrant wine, sort of miraculously? Can you take what’s bitter and add the sweetness of Your love to make it taste better?

Swirl it in vs. crushing it in?

O Lord, please help! Please lead me, guide me, infuse me (with Your wisdom), diffuse (my anger) resurrect (hope), implant (joy), impale (all that’s bad within me), lift up (the good), grow (the weak bits), strengthen (my faith), increase (love), decrease (my fears), heal (what’s broken & a little fixing too?)

Ease (the hurts), forgive my failures (with mercy, O Lord, please have mercy on me!)

Grace me up, Lord, to be and to do, from what drags me (my soul, spirit, will to do) down.

Please pass Your peace through the angst clogging my arteries of hope, that they may flow freely in the power of Your love. Becalmed. Trusting You, to will and to do.

May Your Joy, O Jesus, be my strength today (and always!)

Not my will, but THY WILL be done.

Amen.

grace, peace & new wine (prayers for)

Virginia : )

“And he saved the best wine for last…”

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Quickie Quote: Perfection

Posted on March 3, 2018 by Virginia

Here’s a quickie quote to for our hearts to mind-munch today.

“The Lord measures out perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them.”  St. John of the Cross

grace, peace & perfect love

Virginia : )

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Toppling the cups of our lives

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Virginia

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” Ray Bradbury

This quote from multiple-award-winning writer Ray Bradbury presents a challenge: what are we putting into the cups of our lives? Are we filling them with things that motivate our creative beauty vibes? That fuels our imagination? Powers our dreams? Or, are we filling our cups with bitterness that leaves a nasty taste in our mouths (& those we encounter.)

Beauteous offerings tend to slosh within whilst teetering toward toppling when fear stymies forward momentum. Fear of inadequacies, of crashing, of failure, of the unknown.

‘Tipping ourselves over’ – maybe it means actively pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones, to try new things that we never knew we had the gumption to do? Maybe there’s beauty honing in on that (whatever that may be?)

Therein lies the tricky part: how far to tip over, so we can eventually extract ourselves from such topples to see if anything beautiful managed to find its way out. (It’s a challenge to view much of anything whilst bumbling about on the ground.)

This quote also presupposes there is beautiful stuff inside us, which might require a bit of faith when woeful mantras fill the airwaves of our minds and hearts, often fractured by fears and failures.

But, taking initiative to topple over is taking a risk (of sorts.) Setting aside our fears of freefalling into the unknown, unwrapping our insecurities to unravel in the space between doubt and inertia.

Maybe that’s were the beauty of our lives resides. Where we have the faith to believe something beautiful is there – and is worth sharing, as we topple it over for others to see.

“Each day in our world beauty is born anew.” Pope Francis

grace, peace & toppling beauty

Virginia : )

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HELP! HELP! BATTLE STATIONS EVERYONE!!

Posted on March 1, 2018 by Virginia

Faithful readers may remember a blog Virginia posted in December about our beloved Williamsburg Regional Library (click here to re-remember: no bah-humbugging around) but now WRL needs my help and your help, too!!

HONOR IS AT STAKE HERE, PEOPLE!  And a bit more, besides, like determining the best public library in the U.S.A.

After 4 weeks in the ELGL national competition pitted against seemingly insurmountable odds (like Houston area libraries in the Final Four) WRL has made it to the National Championship against Pueblo, Colorado. Now, I’ve already done my bit & voted for WRL (plus posted a selfie on FB, something this red head never does) but after reading this editorial from the Pueblo Chieftain my dander is up.

“History buffs may remember that Williamsburg was Virginia’s capital from 1699 until 1780 and an important town during the American Revolution. It’s fair to say the pace of life there has slowed down considerably since those heady days.

Historical accounts about Williamsburg in post-Revolution times have described the town as “sleepy.” In a June 26, 1912 editorial, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch had this to say: “Tuesday was election day in Williamsburg, but nobody remembered it. The clerk forgot to wake the electoral board, the electoral board could not arouse itself long enough to have the ballots printed, the candidates forgot they were running, the voters forgot they were alive.”

Ok, so if you read the editorial you will laugh (it is funny) but we like books here in Williamsburg & treasure our libraries!! Yes, we’re a small town, but sleepy? I think not. (At least we read books before we sleep.) Plus, we have fun scify conventions like MarsCon (in its 27th year here) and even Richmond’s RavenCon relocated to Williamsburg the past few years.

Then there’s the College of William and Mary. The oldest public university in the U.S. founded with a royal charter from King William III & Queen Mary II of England in 1693.

Williamsburg also promotes love (even on cloudy days.)

Our libraries are amazing (check out the WRL website) offering classes, resources, programs, concerts, helpful staff and BOOKs (in all forms.)

As your Lenten good deed for today, take a minute to help our small town library against those big cowpokes in (the much larger city) of Pueblo. (If you’re from Colorado, consider it your good deed to skip the vote – no good deed goes unnoticed & all that.)

You can vote for our Williamsburg Regional Library until Friday at midnight by clicking here (it just takes a minute, literally.)

ELGL National Champtionship Williamsburg vs. Pueblo

grace, peace & BOOK BATTLES

Virginia : )

“I cannot live without books.” Thomas Jefferson (who graduated from William & Mary!)

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28 February: HaPpY BiRtHdAY DWIGHT!

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Virginia

Today is my brother Dwight’s birthday. This morning as he was feted at breakfast with a feta & roasted onion omelet, he said, “I just want to have fun, now that I’m fifty-one!” An apt sentiment with celebratory vibes as we thank God for the gift of his life.

Dwight matching it up with Papa (5 years ago)

Dwight’s life is rather miraculous. Born with a hole in his heart all those years ago, the doctors told my parents he might not make it to 10 years of age.

Papa often recounted what happened during one of Mama’s MCV hospitalizations when my brother & I were toddlers. (That’s also when Papa learned how dirty cloth diapers made it from the messy pail into nicely laundered piles.)  Dwight & I both woke up with a terrible croup cough in the middle of the night, so Dr. Dewalt told him, “bring the littlest one in.”

Dwight was hospitalized several other times as a child due to the doctors’ concern about his heart. But the hole eventually closed up, miraculously, and Dwight ended up helping take care of Papa’s last 13 years here in Williamsburg before he passed.

My brother is so humble. He is such an inspiration to me. He has a heart of gold. Solid. Ever since we were inseparable as children (‘two peas in a pod’) I always knew he had the biggest heart of anyone I know. Steadfast. Generous. Talented. Tenacious. (He has two masters degrees from top universities.) He has a zest for life & does joy all the time (punning it up regularly.)  His infectious humor lifted us daily during Papa & Mama’s caregiving & continues to buoy me today.

Life is a gift. We often take it for granted, but birthdays provide an opportunity to be grateful (altho we can certainly try to do grateful every day) & to celebrate. Yes, it’s Lent. We don’t focus as much on joy – but this whole season is about the love of God, which surely is something to rejoice about.

“Birthdays are important. On our birthdays we celebrate being alive. We should never forget our birthdays or the birthdays of those who are close to us.  They remind us that what is important is not what we do or accomplish, not what we have or who we know, but that we are, here and now.  On birthdays let us be grateful for the gift of life.”  Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey

HaPpY BIRTHDAY DWIGHT!

grace, peace & birthday cake(s)

Virginia : )

p.s. Texting back & forth this morning with our older brother Dean (who got Dwight started in fun puns), Dwight shared his sentiment: “I just want to have fun now that I’m 51.” To which Dean replied, “Now that I’m 56, I just want to get my kicks!” 🙂

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Going with The Flow

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Virginia

Here’s a pic & quickie quote for our hearts to ponder today….

Johnston Canyon @ Banff National Park, CANADA

“True love is inexhaustible; the more you give, the more you have. And if you go to draw at the true fountainhead, the more water you draw, the more abundant is its flow.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

grace, peace & flowing love

Virginia : )

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Irrigating Hearts with Hope

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Virginia

On this cold dreary Lenten Monday, here’s something to contemplate. As we pass through the wounded paths of our lives, we often leave pieces of brokenness strewn around the most difficult junctures. We can let bitterness turn those broken bits into arid deserts devoid of love, or we can take a different approach.

“Our brokenness is the wound through which the full power of God

can penetrate our being

and transfigure us in God….

Yes, through our wounds

the power of God can penetrate us

and become like rivers of living water

to irrigate the arid earth within us.

Thus we may irrigate the arid earth of others,

so that hope and love are reborn.”

(Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche)

grace, peace & Hope-filled irrigation

Virginia : )

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Transfiguring Transformative Love

Posted on February 25, 2018 by Virginia

On this second Sunday of Lent our Gospel reading recounts the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:2-10) when Peter, James and John beheld the glory of the Lord.

Traditionally this took place on Mount Tabor.

Mount Tabor (Galilee, Israel)

As Jesus transfigured in front of them, Peter, James and John “saw His glory.” Their humble teacher was transformed with dazzling, brilliant Light.

The glory of God bestowed with transformative love. “This is My beloved Son…”

“…Thine is the Kingdom, the Power & THE GLORY…”  We say it every day in the Lord’s Prayer, but do we think about what it means? Do we ask that all we do be for God’s glory?

This morning Father Glass lightheartedly shared, “I became a priest for the glory.” He quickly added, “For God’s glory!” We chuckled, but then he nailed us with the challenge: are we seeking to give our lives over for the glory of God?

We can be ‘occasions of blessings’ and transformative love for others or we can be harbingers of despair and abdication.

Which way do you think gives glory to God?  hmmn.

An old hymn begins, “To God be the glory, great things He has done, so loved He the world that He gave us His Son…”

LOVE!! LOVE!! LOVE!! LOVE!! LOVE!! LOVE!! LOVE!! LOVE!!

“THE GLORY OF GOD IS THE HUMAN PERSON FULLY ALIVE.”
St. Irenaeus of Lyons

grace, peace & transfiguring transformative love

Virginia : )

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TIME…Time…TIME…Time…TIME

Posted on February 24, 2018 by Virginia

Today Virginia is out of time (LoL!) so here’s a previously shared (still relevant) post…

Out with the old, in with the new.  Sure, we’re supposed to do that @ New Year’s, but Lent is a time to get rid of old stuff cluttering up our hearts and minds & strangling our wills to do new things we have been nudged to do – but never seem to get around to it.

When do we have THE TIME? 

Time tends to bulldoze our lives with commitments, duties, family and work as we madly dash (or trudge along) making it through each day.

If it’s important, however, we make time for it. Not to add any (extra) Lenten pressure, but Jesus did say: “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for the least ones, you did not do for Me.”  Of course, we can flip that around to what He said earlier in Matthew 25, “Whatever you did for one of these least ones, you did for Me.”

Maybe we are doing lots of things that help others in our spare time (or maybe it’s our work? like a doctor or nurse or teacher or pastor or priest or relief & development worker or business owner or as a full-time mom or student or what what…)

But how do we view time?

We sometimes look at what we do as the same old, same old stuff.  Humdrum.  What does each hour bring? More of the same as we pressurize ourselves to keep running from deadline to deadline without taking time to blink. Or we just do the next thing by rote.

So, here’s today’s Lenten challenge: take some time to consider, how do I view time? Can I ask God for wisdom & verve to meet each hour expectantly – that His love & grace & mercy & peace & joy may rise anew within my heart to see & be new beginnings where I am?

“Each new hour holds new chances for new beginnings.”   Maya Angelou

grace, peace & (hourly) new beginnings

     Virginia : )

p.s. After last week’s horrendous shooting in Florida, I’ve been wanting to do a blog post about gun violence – but Gwen over at play-grand.com posted something today that says it straight up. (Gwen & her husband Pepper were my high school Sunday School teachers & dearly beloved by my parents & especially me!)

Please check out her blog by clicking here: play-grand, “B.S.”

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Cloudy Day Son-Shine

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Virginia

A quickie quote for us to mind-munch on this cloudy Lenten Friday…

“I cannot feel

That all is well, when darkening clouds conceal

The shining sun;

But then, I know

He lives and loves; and say, since it is so,

Thy will be done.”

S. G. Browning*

grace, peace & cloudy day Son-Shine

Virginia : )

(*from Daily Strength for Daily Needs, one of my favorite devotionals compiled by Mary W. Tileston. My edition is literally in tatters, but thankfully also have a version on my Kindle!)

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