Tuesday, May 27, 2014

"I envied his rapport with God..."

Grace


When the young professor folded
his hands at dinner and spoke to God
about my safe arrival
through the snow, thanking Him also
for the food we were about to eat,
it was in the tone of voice I use
to speak to friends when I call
and get their answering machines,
chatting about this and that
in a casual voice,
picturing them listening
but too busy to pick up the phone,
or out taking care of important
business somewhere else.
The next day, flying home
through a windy
and overwhelming sky, I knew
I envied his rapport with God
and hoped his prayers
would keep my plane aloft.


"Grace" by Linda Pastan from The Last Uncle. © W.W. Norton, 2002.  (buy now)

From "The Writer's Almanac"

Friday, May 23, 2014

Quakers Are Weird? Yepper!

My friend Jana Llewellyn recently wrote "The Bible says that the Jews are God’s chosen people. Author Anne Lamott says that the Presbyterians are God’s frozen people. I decided last week that the religious sect I’m a part of, Quakers (also called The Religious Society of Friends), are God’s weird people.

That means I’m weird, too."

That means I'm weird, too -- which is a badge I'll add to my "bad" badge.  Not bad as in "evil," but bad as in not being very good at being a good Quaker.

Jana offers seven tips to help us deal with the not so good weirdness we Quakers sometimes experience/demonstrate --

First and foremost, we need to live a life that focuses on a deep inward connection to God.

Second, each of us needs a personal and daily practice of communing with God.

Third, stop talking about being Quaker. Stop navel-gazing. Reach out.

Fourth, cut your beard.

Fifth, humbly minister to other Quakers.

Sixth. Get out of the past.

Seventh: Look for the best in everyone you meet.

This essay is warm, quirky, funny, biting, and helpful.   Every Quaker and every Friends meeting should read the whole thing -- which you can here: God's Weird People

Tuesday, May 06, 2014

"The Garden" A Guest Post by Kathleen Deyer Bolduc

In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. James 1:21 (The Message)

This morning I bring my Bible, journal, and cup of tea into the garden. A light mist hangs over the fields across the road, and I am surprised to see tender green shoots of corn forming rows where yesterday there was nothing but dirt. All around me, Dame’s Rocket thrusts purple and white spires toward the skies like holy hands reaching toward heaven. Boxwood shimmers greenly in the breeze, and a yellow weed at the fence line bursts into flame as a sunbeam peeks through the clouds.
The words of Psalm 63, my reading this morning, reverberate through my mind. “O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is.”
In the sanctuary of this garden the desert landscape of my heart—that dry and dusty place where worry and anxiety about my son, Joel, who has autism, sometimes threaten to overwhelm me—turns to an oasis of green, flowing with streams of living water. Prayer rises up within me as praise.
No wonder poets and songwriters often refer to the garden as a metaphor for prayer.
            And yet, gardens are not always lush and beautiful. Think of the garden in the midst of drought. Parched plants wilt. Green leaves turn to brown. What was abounding in exuberance just weeks before suddenly sags under the weight of cloudless skies with no promise of rain in sight. Nothing will revive the drought-stricken garden like a soft, gentle, soaking rain.
            It is no different for the gardens of our hearts. Sometimes, in the words of my son Joel at the end of a major melt-down, “We need Jesus!”           
            As the mother of a son with autism, I was first drawn more deeply into prayer because of an intense thirst for God’s presence. I was desert-thirsty, parched for the living waters Jesus promises in John 4:14: “. . . but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The more I spend time with God the more the garden of my heart blooms with an unquenchable love for the things of the Spirit. I need God’s presence just as my garden needs the rain.
Take some time today to be quiet and meet with God. Listen to what rises up from within. Have a conversation with God. You may have questions to ask Him. Ask, expecting to receive an answer. Tell Him what’s on your heart. Be honest with Him. Bare your vulnerable places. And then, once you’ve emptied your heart, simply listen. He has much to say to you.

Lord, I thank you and praise you for your living waters. Open me up, Lord. Open me up to your thirst-quenching presence. Water me, Lord. Water me.

·         Where do you most often meet God? Nature? Bible study? Service? Worship? Journaling?
·         How might you establish a pattern of going there to pray on a consistent basis?
·         In what way do you most often pray? Do you feel “pot-bound”? Might God be calling you to a new prayer avenue?
·         What kind of prayer will help you more often to be aware of Jesus’ presence with you?

Excerpted from The Spiritual Art of Raising Children with Disabilities (Judson Press, 2014)
Used with permission


The mother of a 29-year-old son with autism, Kathleen Bolduc is a spiritual director in Oxford, Ohio, and The Spiritual Art of Raising Children with Disabilities and Autism & Alleluias. Kathy blogs at www.specialneedsparenting.net
the author of several books on faith and disability, including
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Join Kathy at a free webinar: The Spiritual Art of Raising Children with Disabilities: Learning to Let Go and “Be” - Thursday, May 22nd, at 1 pm. If you can’t attend at that time, register and participate at your leisure. You are promised an hour of rest and refreshment using art, music, and Scripture. Sign up here:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/381076121
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One lucky reader will a free copy of this good book.  To enter the contest, all you have to do is leave a comment about the blog post or leave a question for Kathy about the book.  You'll have until Wednesday evening at 8:00 to be entered into a drawing to win the book.  To enter, you must leave an email address with your comment (so I can contact you to get your mailing address for the book!).  Books can only be send to addresses in the United States and Canada.

Monday, May 05, 2014

Book Giveaway! The Spiritual Art of Raising Children with Disabilities


Last week I posted on Kathleen Deyer Bolduc's new book, The Spiritual Art of Raising Children with Disabilities.  And tomorrow, Kathy is going to do a guest blog here on her new book.

To support that, Judson Press is going to give one lucky reader a free copy of this good book.  To enter the contest, all you have to do is leave a comment about the blog post or leave a question for Kathy about the book.  You'll have until Wednesday evening at 8:00 to be entered into a drawing to win the book.  To enter, you must leave an email address with your comment (so I can contact you to get your mailing address for the book!).  Books can only be send to addresses in the United States and Canada.