World Refugee Day 2017

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Virginia

20 June is World Refugee Day. There are over 65 million refugees and internally displaced people around the world today. Imagine if you had minutes to leave your home fleeing violence and bombs – what would you take with you? In this brief UNHCR video, Cate Blanchett & other actors share what refugees took with them.

“We must not let ourselves be moved by fear in this country.” So spoke Eleanor Roosevelt on 28 November 1939 regarding the Jewish refugee crisis in WWII Europe. Her admonishment remains a strong challenge for us today.

Conflict battered refugees – mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons – need new homes today. Safe places to live and heal.

Let’s open our hearts to hear their cries today and every day.

restoring refugee lives  🙂

grace, peace & open hearts

Virginia

“People have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.”  Audrey Hepburn (actress & UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador)

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FATHERLESS ON FATHER’S DAY

Posted on June 18, 2017 by Virginia

Cherished and adored, two words that remind me of my father. And loved.

Although it’s been three years since Papa passed, there’s still a crater-sized hole in my heart. I don’t think that hole will ever get smaller because Papa loomed so large in my life. Center-stage with Mama, the two of them cheered me on with their love to do and be – whatever, whenever, wherever. Their deep love anchored this red head through good times and turbulent times: always there, a constant port in any storm.

Papa cherished me (& my 4 siblings) through our growing pains in childhood, the onset of adulthood, and as we muddled our way into middle-age-hood. He would say, “you are beautiful!” (With this pimply face & skinny legs, really Papa?)

He pushed us to pursue our dreams. He supported us. He made time for us.

Growing up in a boisterous family with five kids, sometimes it was hard for my younger brother and me to get a word in edge-wise. Papa made space for us to speak through daily ’round table’ dinner discussions. He spent time with us. He took ‘Section B’ (as we’re called, the three oldest = ‘Section A’) on monthly dates for dinner and every Walt Disney movie that came out. (There were many.) When we were a little older it was John Wayne westerns. (There were many of those, too!)

As I grew up these fun outings morphed into more serious encounters – a time set aside to seek his wise counsel and then he listened to me: my worries (even snobbish bratty ones), latest debacles, hopes and dreams (ever changing.)

An important part of cherishing is encouragement. Papa encouraged me to seek, to speak, to do, to be all that I was, and am, meant to be as his beloved daughter and precious daughter of God, our Heavenly Father.

When I moved away from home to work in D.C. and then overseas for many years, Papa & Mama called every week, faxed and emailed (as technology evolved.) They were always there for me. Even when several oceans separated us, I knew they had my back in prayer (their heavenly-hotline buzzing as I dodged bullets, stones, landmines and endured malaria, fractured ankles et all.) 😊

Papa always said, “the will of God will never take you where the grace of God cannot keep you.”

God dished out grace in many ways, in many places. But a big chunk of ‘hang-in-there-grace’ came through Papa and Mama. Despite incredible challenges, their example of faithfulness – to God, to each other, to us, to ministry – inspired me in hard places to pick myself up and keep going.

The will of God has now taken me to this place of being father-less on Father’s Day. I pray for God’s grace to keep me when my heart misses Papa. Lots!

I miss his larger-than-life presence, his love, encouragement, cherishment, the twinkle in his eyes, his sense of humor, his joy (even when as a bedfast quadriplegic he couldn’t move anything.) His zeal for life. His faith in God, and his faith in me.

Cherished.  Adored.  Loved.  All three, a gift from my father to me.

There is a crater-sized hole in my heart and life, but it’s filled with the legacy of Papa’s love: the love of Jesus in and through him to me.

Thank you, Papa!

We miss you!!

A blessed Father’s Day to you fathers out there. Treasure the moments.

Cherish, adore, love: see what your children become.

grace, peace & love legacies

Virginia  : )

Photo: Virginia “imping’ it (with her visiting Papa) on the Lawn as a 1st year student @ The University of Virginia many, many moons ago!

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Snapshots & Whatnots: BEAUTY (@ Butchart Gardens)

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Virginia

Last June we had a grand time visiting Canada (as detailed in my Victoria Day post) so today here’s a bigger peek at the beauty of Butchart Gardens in Victoria.

Beautiful blue flowers!

Morning stretches…

…walkways of wonder

cool trees…

…& more beautiful flowers everywhere!

Beauty around every corner…

even the leaves are BEAUTIFUL!

A harbor sighting…

and roses!!

…& WHATNOT

This short poem from Daily Strengths for Daily Needs inspired this post:

“To be the thing we seem,

To do the thing we deem

Enjoined by duty;

To walk in faith, nor dream

Of questioning God’s scheme

Of truth and beauty.”

Anonymous

Beauty can be seen in God’s heavenly paintbrushes busy around us, like at Butchart Gardens, but also within us as love softens our sharp edges when we tackle tasks & duties that press us with joy (vs. drudgery.) Beauty can be found in the faces of children, friends, in a lovely meal (preparing with love takes the flavor up a notch.)

Beauty can be seen & appreciated if we look for it, and is made more beautiful when we acknowledge it. “You are beautiful. That is beautiful.”  Uplifting.

May we be on the lookout for God’s beauty around us and within us today!

grace, peace & beauty

Virginia : )

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St. Anthony of Padua (and lost rings!)

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Virginia

Today we commemorate Saint Anthony of Padua (1195- 13 June 1231), a Doctor of the Church. Born in Lisbon to Portuguese nobility, he became an Augustinian scholar and priest until a procession of martyrs moved his heart to join the fledgling Franciscan order. He wanted to give his life for God in Morocco, but became too seriously sick there to do much of anything. Returning to Portugal his ship blew off course to Italy where he eventually made his way to the city of Padua, where he is still honored today.

“Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak.”  Saint Anthony of Padua

My introduction to Saint Anthony came in grad school during a month-long seminar course in Southeast Asia when I lost a gold rosary ring in Vietnam. Somehow it fell off the chain around my neck, along with a cross. When I noticed the undone chain, we immediately searched the floor (on our hands & knees), our retraced steps, every nook in our bus, and made calls to previous stops.

No rosary ring. No cross. Lost.

The ring and cross were just things. Not that important in the global context of conflict, poverty and injustice, but more precious to me than $ as both were special birthday gifts from dear Palestinian friends in Bethlehem when I turned 30. Irreplaceable.

A bit bummed out that evening, my grad school buddy Shahla suggested asking St. Anthony of Padua for help. Saint Anthony? I’m a huge St. Teresa of Avila groupie, St. John of the Cross, St. Ignatius, St. Francis (and so on) but didn’t know much about St. Anthony.

So, Shahla said a little prayer. (For my evangelical-this-is-freaking-us-out buddies, you know Jesus gets so busy answering all your prayers, He asks His Mother and friends to help out with Catholics. So, we ask them to ask Jesus for help. Kinda like asking friends to pray for something.)

The next day as we traversed the Vietnamese countryside, I miraculously found my rosary ring, and (icing on the cake) the cross, too. They had jumped off my chain somehow into a water-bottle holder (with a full water bottle.) How Shahla & I squealed! The lost, found.

(Next day after a hydrofoil trip I climbed up huge stairs to reach the top of this Jesus statue, huffing & puffing in the intense heat. Extra effort, but I was motivated!)

Kinda crazy! After that trip, I checked out St. Anthony to learn more.

Called the Hammer of the Scriptures, St. Anthony became one of the greatest Bible teachers of his time preaching to thousands, yet lived as a simple friar in the Franciscan order. He also worked to put an end to injustices of his day. My kind of saint!

Loved Jesus & lived Jesus.

Fast forward 9 years later, staying with friends in the Veneto region I had the opportunity to visit the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua: one of my main reasons for visiting Italy (along with the fabulous food!)

The Basilica is truly beautiful. Blessed there (literally) to be blessed (in English) by an Irish Franciscan priest, my visit could not have been more special.

Methinks, however, St. Anthony has a sense of humor. Approaching the entrance to this impressive church, my necklace somehow came undone (again?) & spilled out my rosary ring onto the pavement in front of me.

It made me laugh, and laugh, and thank God all the more for the life and faith of Saint Anthony of Padua.

grace, peace & (lost & found) rosary rings

Virginia  : )

p.s. Image of St. Anthony of Padua (my favorite) is painting by Raphael (1483-1520)

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CONVERTED TO COMPASSION

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Virginia

This morning a phrase caught my attention: “…and he was converted to compassion.”  The text referred to Saint Francis of Assisi, who left all his wealth to love on the lepers of his day, but what about us today?

There’s so much hate, greed, injustice, and inequality in our world. Everyone is jostling for followers to adhere to opinionated views, to convert to anything and everything.

Many from different faiths (mine inclusive) often try to convert others with rigidity, inflexibility and judgement. Love is squeezed out by rules.

Not sayin’ faith is not important (or that we should throw out the Ten Commandments and the Great Commission), but what about being converted to compassion?

Offering our hearts to be touched by the suffering of others? Feeling with them? Being one in heart, mind and spirit?

“Let us not use bombs and guns to overcome the world. Let us use love and compassion.” Mother Teresa (Saint Teresa of Calcutta)

During the election cycle I wrote about Civility (now needed, more than ever.) The root of civility is respect: respecting the dignity of others. Compassion takes civility to another level altogether. The root of compassion is LOVE: love for others (& ourselves.)

Compassion starts with us – inside – letting love in.

Picture: @ Jesuit Retreat Center, Wernersville, PA

Compassion lets love heal our hurting hearts, the scarred bits of our lives, then offers them up to become healing for others. (Keep in mind healing is a journey. It takes time.)

Add generous doses of kindness, gentleness, mercy and hugs of understanding.

Open hearts, open minds, open spirits: open to others and otherness.

Open to share love and pain, together. Maybe compassion can’t take pain away, but it says, “I’m here with you. I’m here for you. There’s real estate in my heart for your pain.”

Can we be converted to compassion today, and every day? Can we convert others?

grace, peace & compassion converts

Virginia

“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” Henri Nouwen

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WONDER WOMAN: Love, Truth & Compassion

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Virginia

In a super-hero movie, really? Truth, love & compassion? But Wonder Woman is not like the recent string of DC Comic films, it’s altogether something better. This adventure is about story, a good story (& yes, our hero kicks some serious butt along the way.) As she journeys into the world of mankind, we journey with her.

Wonder Woman has come a long way. She has a cool new uniform (can’t believe scuttlebutt about it. Compared to Lynda Carter’s outfit? Way tame!) We finally get her back story (one of the best parts of the film) and she has her own movie. Lots to celebrate.

Last night my brother & I saw an advance screening for which we plotted & planned. Watching Wonder Woman on TV was part & parcel of my childhood growing up in the 1970s. Along with the Bionic Woman, these strong women characters sent young girls like me a message: you are powerful.

A whole row of young girls sat with their mothers in front of us last nite, all wearing Wonder Woman t-shirts (mothers inclusive.) Chatting with them, they also plotted & planned eons in advance. We high-fived: GIRL POWER!

Wonder Woman delivers the message that girls can become powerful, super powerful, in a touching way. As the story opens Diana is a little girl growing up on a sheltered island of Amazon warriors. Her mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) grapples with coddling her vs. her aunt, General Antiope (Robin Wright), who trains her mercilessly.

When Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes into this ancient island world, he brings the horrors of World War I into the mix…and the story takes Diana from the security of all that she has known into a world at war.

Along the way there’s humor, compassion, friendship, love, and the quest for truth as Diana comes into her power and her place as a super-hero. It’s not clear-cut, as life (& often war) isn’t. That’s what makes this an engaging story, it takes time to build and draws us in. Kudos to director Patty Jenkins for making a great movie!

I liked Gal Gadot in the Fast & Furious movies. As Diana she shines with sassy curiosity, compassion and a big heart finding her way in a world gone mad. Gal is an Israeli actress. Although her Czech grandfather survived a concentration camp during the Holocaust, his whole family was killed. She said, “My grandpa taught me there is NO wrong religion. No wrong color. And no wrong race. I was taught to love all people for what their heart is. Light should always beat darkness as love should always beat hatred.” Before he passed he told her, “No matter how dark your life, you need to find your inner light.”

Just like she does as Diana in this blockbuster Wonder Woman movie.

grace, peace & wonder(ful) movies

Virginia : )

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snapshots & whatnot: windy waves, tides (& more besides)

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Virginia

THE SNAPSHOTS:

windy weather @ Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland

tide coming in @ Pemba Island (Tanzania)

…& WHATNOT

Here’s a quote for our minds to munch on after this week of terror, bombs & general craziness around the globe (& in our country.)

“Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of Love and then for the second time in the history of the world man will have discovered fire.”  Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

sunrise @ OBX

Here’s to harnessing (& sharing) the energies of God’s love to all we encounter today, tomorrow, the next day… and the day after that.

grace, peace & sunrises (of love)

Virginia : )

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Victoria Day (in Canada) for kindred spirits

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Virginia

Happy Victoria Day, Canada!! Last year my brother & I got in on the celebratory fun at the start of a two-week bucket-list trip organized by the Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver in British Columbia to the Canadian Rockies in Alberta.

We didn’t realize we selected a bank holiday weekend to travel. (Barely making our connecting flight in Toronto due to crowds should have been a hint.) On Victoria Day we had fun hopping on & off a tour bus all around the city, enjoying our first taste of Vancouver @ the Granville Island market, packed out with Canadians celebrating, bagpipes piping, and beverages imbibed to honor Queen Victoria. (Considered the mother of Canadian confederacy; since 1845 a good excuse for Canadians taking a day off to celebrate her birthday.)

even industry gets an art-lift on Granville Island

We purposefully padded our Rocky Mountaineer trip with a few extra days in Vancouver to see a friend while gadding about the city. When I was a young (& woefully clueless) 22-year-old, Edie became my first mentor…and dearest of friends.

As vice president of a Canadian company back in the 1980s (when few women held such leadership positions), Edie led hundreds of employees. (The World Expo building where she worked is still impressive.) She left her corporate position to use her myriad gifts in ministries in Washington, D.C. and beyond.

I’m continually grateful to God for Edie’s influence in my life. What she imparted formed the foundation of my professional toolkit impacting eventual leadership opportunities, but the biggest treasure came through our weekly fellowship: advice (always good), life lessons, spiritual sharing, and fun.

Edie is in her 80s now. When I moved overseas & she moved back to Canada, we kept up through letters, emails, occasional calls – but I had not seen her in over 20 years (although she is always close in my heart & prayers.)

Contacting her about a day together in Vancouver (just one as to not tire her out), I offered to pick her up in a cab (& assist her getting around, nothing too taxing?)

LoL! Edie arrived at our hotel bedecked in a chic turquoise top, svelte in white jeans, and proceeded to wear us out zooming all over Vancouver: a posh luncheon @ Granville Hotel Dockside Restaurant; a lovely stroll in the Rose Garden @ Stanley Park, a full outing @ Vancouver Aquarium (where as a member she gave us an insider’s tour), and a thorough driving tour of the city.

Baby beluga whale  @ Vancouver Aquarium

Other than her blondish (now whitish hair), Edie is still full of zip & verve & joy. We had such a grand time with her… that continued the next night. As a longtime groupie of Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, I arranged tickets to the Vancouver Symphony to hear one of his pieces played as part of the Last Night of the Proms concert, not really understanding what that meant: lots of God Save the Queen, Oh Canada & other patriotic Commonwealth goings-on interspersed with music (like Karl Jenkins) and – laughter! Haven’t laughed so much at a concert since we saw the Canadian Brass years ago.

Canadians know how to do humor (& have a good time, eh?)

Canadian shenanigans @Last Night of the Proms

Edie also had a ticket, so we reconnected for a celebratory meal before the concert & her insider’s guidage of the gorgeous Orpheum Theater. Driving us back to our hotel afterwards (@11:30 p.m.), she asked, “would you like to stop for drinkies?” 🙂

I hope when I’m in my 80s I have Edie’s verve & zip for life – and the joy, joy, joy that powers the love in her heart she so effervescently shares. Altho she retired when she turned 80, Edie continues to mentor women in the city… (and I was her first mentoree back in 1989!)

Edie @ Prospect Point in Stanley Park

The next day Dwight & I were up & out by 6:30AM for an-all day excursion to Victoria (on Vancouver Island) via the BC ferries… (& a hilarious tour bus guide who kept us awake with colorful stories throughout our 15 hour outing.)

Edie told us not to miss Butchart Gardens…

…a fabulous place of incredible beauty…

…and JOY!

Must finish this Victoria Day post with a pic from Victoria, the capitol city of British Columbia (& named for Queen Victoria), where I’m sure they’re celebrating.

HaPpY HaPpY VICTORIA DAY CANADA!!

grace, peace & kindred spirits

Virginia : )

 “Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”  Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

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snapshots & whatnot: motivational FiSH!

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Virginia

THE SNAPSHOT:

Going with the flow @ Two Oceans Aquarium in Capetown, South Africa

…& WHATNOT

“The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity.  Even a dead fish can go with the flow.”  (Jim Hightower)

… or maybe not.

Wherever you’re swimming in the rivers of life, if at times it’s tough going upstream against the current, keep swimming! keep swimming!! keep swimming!!!

HAVE COURAGE! HAVE COURAGE!! HAVE COURAGE!!!

…& DON’T GIVE UP!!!

grace, peace & motivational photographs

Virginia  : )

Photo:  Jamestown Island, VA

p.s. Shared this Jamestown photo previously, but today it somehow tickled my funny bone. May it tickle (& motivate) once again.

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Mother-less on Mother’s Day

Posted on May 14, 2017 by Virginia

Virginia is Mother-less on Mother’s Day for the second time (which doesn’t make it any easier.)  Sharing with you a post from last year…

After a spate of rainy days it was great to be outside today absorbing sorely missed sunshine. Couldn’t help but remember the many hours spent with Mama last year on the deck lounge chairs, enjoying the trees, the breeze, and the birds tweeting about us. Tweeting around us (not sure if they noticed us enough for bird discussions) but maybe we caught their attention. Papa always called us his two Virginias: the elegantly angelic Virginia, “Ginny,” his wife (with lovely white hair), and Virginia, his daughter (with flaming red hair.)

I hope I didn’t cause too many of Mama’s white hairs, but for sure, with five children we all probably caused a few (equally distributed, of course, since my siblings read this blog!)

Contemplating these memories, suddenly TWO BLUEBIRDS flew near our birdbath. A pair – a bright blue male and an almost disguised female, but yes, as she flew away the blue peaked out from under her wings.

Mama loved bluebirds, a sighting was always cause for celebration.

It’s so hard, missing her.  I miss Papa… but we had Mama all last year to hug on when our hearts hurt. We tried to pamper her (after 30+ years of their 58-year marriage looking after our wheelchair-to-bedfast-bound Papa, she surely needed it. Add the preceding 28 years of raising 5 children, there could never be enough pampering in the world for our precious Mama!)

I keep finding notes she wrote to me over the years. When I worked overseas she sent many small cards with encouraging words, written in her precious script. I put them in books & all sorts of places, but what joy to uncover them now. It’s like hearing her voice across the divide.

And then I remember the embrace of her love.  A few weeks before she died, Mama and I sat on the loveseat in the living room and huddled a hug of comfort that lasted awhile. I know she missed Papa all day, every day – they were like glue, stuck together (but oh what joy & fun they made together.)  In his absence she let us love on her, but she loved on us, too.

Every night tucking her in, I’d say, “Mama, we love, love, love you!” Repeating it loudly so my brother Dwight would hear his cue to come in. He’d kiss her on her left cheek while I’d get the right. Then she would say, “you know, I love you!”  We have her love notes, often slipped stealthily under our doors.  It was painfully hard for her to write the last few years, but how precious now her words, like gold.

When she couldn’t even speak that last bedridden week of Hospice, at one point she reached her spindly skinny arms up around my neck into a hug – a final embrace of her love that I will never forget.

It’s hard to be mother-less on Mother’s Day.  But I am grateful for the gift of my precious Mama’s love, and the legacy of her love – the love of God in and through her – shared in so many ways over so many days and years of faithful mothering.

Mama sharing love with Brighton Eve (#4 of her precious great-grandchildren, for whom she prayed every day…and for all of us, too….after them!)

Mama, we miss you! 

We love, love, love, love, love you!!!

grace, peace & love

Virginia

p.s. I wrote an ode to Motherhood many years ago that my siblings asked me to share @ Mama’s Memorial service. You can access it it by clicking here: Magnificent Motherhood.

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