Oh, sweet perspective.

School is pretty rough these days.  Well, one class in particular is pretty rough.  I made a not so hot (and I mean for real, not so hot) grade on a test this week, and it got to the point where I was wondering if I am perhaps pursuing the wrong career... So yeah, good times, since I've already invested a year and a half and quite a bit of money into this thing.

But today is a new day.  I'm still not thrilled with my grade, and I still have issues with the class in general, but life goes on, right?  Today I am being reminded that my worth and significance does not hang on my academic performance, and I am very very thankful for that.  My hope is not in school, and you know what?  It doesn't even rest in the outcome of an election.  Yet both of these things often occupy my mind and bring with them much anxiety. 

As with every time that life seems just too overwhelming, I am reminded that there is a deep abiding peace that can only come from Christ Jesus.  And I must seek it constantly, because the worries of this life are constant.  

So as the advent season quickly approaches, with weighty news of reconciliation and peace for the whole world, I am reminded that the peace can only permeate the world if it rests in our very souls.  And it is something that I have to seek at all times, because in the busyness and anxiety of this life, it is often a fleeting experience before I discover the weight of the world on my shoulders again.

So today I am praying another prayer of Walter Brueggeman:

"You God, Lord and Sovereign, 

you God, lover and partner, 

You are God of all our possibilities.

You preside over all our comings and goings,

       all our wealth and our poverty, 

       all our sickness and all our health, 

       all our despair and all our hope, 

       all our living and all our dying, 

And we are grateful.

You are God of all our impossibilities.

You have presided over the emancipations

and healings of our mothers and fathers;

you have presided over the wondrous transformations in our 

own lives.

you have and will preside over those parts of our lives that

we imagine to be closed.

And we are grateful.

So be your true self, enacting the things impossible for us, 

that we might yet be whole among the blind who see and 

   the dead who are raised.

that we may yet witness your will for peace, 

   your vision for justice, 

   your vetoing all our killing fields.

At the outset of this day,

we place our lives in your strong hands. 

Before the end of this day,

do newness among us in the very places where 

  we are tired in fear,

  we are exhausted in guilt,

  we are spent in anxiety.

Make all things new, we pray in the new-making name of Jesus."

And to that I say, Amen.

Morning in Oklahoma.

The sun was coming up in the country this morning as I drove out to a pumpkin patch to meet up with the Hearts for Hearing preschoolers.  It was too pretty not to capture, so I pulled over to show you what Oklahoma looks like outside of the city.  See all the cows? Well, they're there.

Then I made it to Chester's Party Barn where we: 

Fed animals.

Rode ponies (well, the kids did).

Went on  a hayride!

Walked through a corn maze.

And ran through another maze.

I took lots of super cute pictures of the kiddos for an art project we're going to do later this month, but I'm not posting them, so you'll just have to imagine their cuteness.  And they really are over-the-top cute.

Anyhow, fun times were had by all.  Now to study for midterm #2, which is tomorrow...

Love is my name.

I am curled up in my reading chair with a good book and a cup of green tea, letting the words of Thomas Merton sink deep down...

"To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love.

Love is my true identity.  Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character.  Love is my name.

If, therefore, I do anything or think anything or say anything or know anything that is not purely for the love of God, it cannot give me peace, or rest, or fulfillment, or joy."

From New Seeds of Contemplation.

Early Christmas!

I have always wanted to be able to sew.  It's an incredibly useful skill, but also one that allows for so much creativity.  My mom can sew, and she was able to make these curtains for my apartment:

She also made lots of my clothes when I was little, because I was rather picky and opinionated about what I wore...

Anyway, after years of wishing I could sew but thinking the whole deal was too complicated, I decided to ask for a sewing machine for Christmas.  I've been researching, and thought that the Bernina Bernette 65 was going to be a good beginner sewing machine, but also one with enough features that I can use it when I get better and want to make some more complicated things. 

On my way to go grocery shopping today, I stopped by the fabric store to have a look at it.  What do you know, they are going through a remodel and had a bunch of stuff on sale - including the exact model that I wanted for Christmas!  It was $100 off, so I called Dad and he said to go ahead and get it!  So here you have it, my first sewing machine:

I'm really really excited.  And I'm already thinking of a couple seemingly easy projects to start with.  

My 21st birthday present was a Kitchen Aid mixer, and my 22nd Christmas present; a sewing machine.  I'm sorry, Gloria Steinem, but let's just call this Betty Crocker feminism, ok?

Hilarious.

So, I love watching Ellen.  Thus far, my clinic schedule has allowed it, but it won't starting Monday. Boo.

I wanted to share just a little of the joy it brings me in the morning.  And P.S. Who knew Dennis Quaid was so funny?

Progress.

So remember when I embroidered a girl elf about a million years ago?  Well, I finally finished her male counterpart:

He's a cutie, no?

And, thankfully, his robot turned much better than the gimpy elf doll.

This fella and his little friend are going into frames of some sort to help jazz up my apartment at Christmastime (which is rapidly approaching!).   Now, on to my next project!  Sublime Stitching has tons of cute patterns, and I couldn't say no to patterns designed by Emily Martin at the Black Apple.   They are bound to be super cute.

You don't know what you're missing.

Wednesdays. 8/7c. 

Pushing Daisies.  Watch it.  Or it might not get picked up, and you will be dealing with a depressed Christie.  So check it out! 

Seriously, how can you not be dying to watch that?

The Noise of Politics

We watch as the jets fly in

      with the power people and 

      the money people, 

      the suits, the budgets, the billions.

We wonder about monetary policy

      because we are among the haves,

and about generosity, 

      because we care about the have-nots.

By slower modes we notice

      Lazarus and the poor arriving from Africa,

      and the beggars from Central Europe, and

      the throng of environmentalists

            with their vision of butterflies and oil

                       of flowers and tanks

                       of growing things and 

                               killing fields.

We wonder about peace and war, 

      about ecology and development, 

      about hope and entitlement.

We listen beyond jeering protestors and

      soaring jets and 

   faintly we hear the mumbling of the crucified one, 

   something about

       feeding the hungry

       and giving drink to the thirsty, 

       about clothing the naked, 

       and noticing the prisoners,

       more about the least and about holiness among them.

We are moved by the mumbles of the gospel,

      even while we are tenured in our privilege. 

We are half ready to join the choir of hope,

            half afraid things might change, 

                 and in a third half of our faith

                       turning to you, 

                 and your outpouring love

                 that works justice and 

                 that binds us each and all to one another.

So we pray amid jeering protestors

       and soaring jets.

   Come by here and make new, 

       even at some risk to our entitlements.

- Walter Brueggemann

Lately I've been finding a lot of wisdom in the prayers of Walter Brueggemann.  In this exciting, if not tense, political climate I thought I would share this one with you.