Write about a spiritual practice that keeps you connected to God and to others.
I try to engage people with whom I would otherwise just slip by. By this, I mean that I smile at people as I pass them on the street, on the campus, in the hallways, remembering that Christ is in them.
If I am walking on a sidewalk or across an intersection and a car waits for me (it's a state law that they have to give way to pedestrians in a crosswalk), I wave and smile, trying to look at the person in the eyes. I notice how much difference this makes to me, when I am the driver.
I speak to the grocery store staff and use their names if I can.
I think of it as "smiling nicely" at people and when I say it in my head, it's Anne Lamott who says it.
There are days, like this past Sunday, when I get somewhere (a busy Sam's Club in this case) and know that I am off balance, because I don't want to do any of these things, and in fact I want to start screaming and slapping people. And then I have to retreat and do some quick repair work. For me, and for the world.
NaBloPoMo Day 15: Something quick... a YouTube share, a picture, a haiku.. Short and Sweet Sunday.
The new Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, released this video on Saturday. I watched it and was comforted by his words, and then he invited viewers to pray the Lord's Prayer with him.
To me it was just as if he had made the invitation directly to me, and I wept as I said the words I've known all my life, hearing his voice along with mine. I am grateful for his soul and his leadership.
NaBloPoMo Day 14: Write a prayer for Japan or Beirut or Paris or Syria or Houston or Pyongyang... put the words out for all to see, even if your words are that you have no words.
What is the hardest part of a big project: getting the energy to begin, finding the time to work on it, or feeling down that it's over?
I'm kind of shocked that this is even a question. You mean, not everyone finds it utterly impossible to start?
(understand that this means I almost never start anything? and if I do, I rarely finish...)
Well, today I took a vacation day specifically TO start on my library room. I've made a good start. I need to go do some more. There is SO MUCH to do that it feels like eating an elephant, but I feel that I've taken some good bites in this time.
When you were 8(ish), what did you want to be when you grew up?
The title phrase, "When I grow up..." continues into a song from my childhood:
When I grow up
I want to be
A lovely ballerina
Just wait and see
Some day I'll be
A lovely ballerina
Clearly I am not and never have been such a thing. I took ballet at 7 or 8 and found out how unsuited I was for it, and how unlike my fantasies it was.
Then.
When I was 8-ish, and for many growing-up years, I wanted to be a nurse. As I grew up, and in school and college, I learned that literature was my native academic language, I eschewed the science I'd need to go on to nursing school.
I have scant patient experience in hospitals:
when I was 4 I was dehydrated and spent a certain number of nights in the hospital. I vividly remember having an IV started in my hand, which at that time I was sure was some particular form of torture.
when I was in my late 30's I got a chigger bite on my rear (camping!) that got badly infected. The doctor thought I might have MRSA or another really bad infection. I was there over Easter weekend.
But, I have a lot of experience with being in hospitals as an advocate for patients.
My mom had a lot of hospitalizations, my dad had a few; other family members had them; I was with my grandfather and my aunt as they died in hospital.
And every time, I watch the nurses and I think, "I could do that. I THINK I could do that. I bet I could."
Who knows what I'll be when I really grow up? :) (If I do?)
I had a little furnace mishap at church on Sunday. What's something you've done for your work that wasn't exactly in the job description?
Where I work, and have been working since 1996, the person who has been around longest seems to become sort of the "room mother" for the facility. When I arrived that was J. and now it is P.
And seeing how over-stretched P. was, particularly as we moved into a newly renovated building and she coordinated everything from the renovation to the move to the punch list to the whining (sorry, but there has been whining...we have humans here) I've been trying to help. I'm maybe the "apprentice room mother."
A few weeks ago P. took a rare and well-deserved vacation, and the person whose office is next to hers exclaimed to me, "Oh my gosh! When P. goes away, it's like the Apocalypse around here!" It can be very stressful to come to your good solid resource, the one who is always there and knows it all, and find that they are NOT there.
So: This newly, gorgeously renovated building is all kinds of environmentally sound. From the lighting to the HVAC, we are cutting edge. And, paper towels are verboten (as in, they are not provided by Facilities). So if you want to dry your hands or a dish in the kitchen, you must use the communal dishcloths (or cart your own from your office).
And if you want to dry your hands in the restrooms, this is your choice:
Yes, it's one of those fancy hand dryers that Sheldon Cooper gets so upset about:
Cue much whining...including, I'll admit, from ME at first. But I've gotten used to it.
You can see there's a little trough that collects the water the machine blows off of hands. Well, periodically the reservoir fills up, and then the machine starts BEEPING. Once I learned that all you have to do to stop that is get down on the floor with a cup and drain the reservoir, I figured all was well. I like being self-sufficient in small things.
So imagine my surprise, recently, when a colleague said to me, "Hey, I guess I really should tell P. this, but that dryer is beeping."
I said, "Oh, you don't have to tell P.! It's easy to fix it, you just drain the reservoir. Come let me show you how."
"Um...no, thanks."
What!? She didn't want to get down on the bathroom floor with me? I guess it's not in my job description, but when I weigh listening to the beeping until Facilities comes, and then THAT guy has to close the bathroom and get down on the floor...Geez.
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