Swimwear

Recently spent some time on the beach in Puerto Vallarta. . .read this item in the news.    In Brazil bikinis are now made in larger womens' sizes.    Perhaps The Girl from Ipanema now  wears a 2X.    No more
Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini!

House Fire

Sarah and Darin and their family  lost their home in south Kansas City  to fire on Thursday evening.
Thanks to wonderful neighbors, friends and St.Thomas More parish. . .they have had support and comfort and all their immediate needs met.    Laura Story's words and music have meant a great deal to us this week.

          We pray for blessings.
           We pray for peace,
            comfort for family,
             protection while we sleep.
           We pray for healing, 
              for prosperity..
            We pray for your mighty hand to 
               ease our suffering.
            And all the while - 
           You hear each spoken need.
             yet love is way too much, 
              to give us lesser things.


             'Cause what if Your blessings come 
                through raindrops?
              What if Your healing comes through
                tears?
              What if a thousand sleepless nights are
                 what it takes to know You're near?
             And what if trials of this life
                 are your mercies in disguise?


                            Blessings      2011
                       Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing

Memorial for our friend, Diana

Adapted from an anonymous memorial contribution to the internet:

You can shed tears that she is gone, or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and wish she was still with us, or you can open your
  eyes and see she has left.
Your heart can be empty because you won't see her again, or you can be full
 of the affection you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday or you can be happy
 for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her and only that she is gone, or you can cherish her
 memory and let it live on.   
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back, or you can do what
  she would want - smile, open your eyes, love and go on.  .  .

The Merton Prayer

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.   I do not see the road ahead of me.  I cannot know for certain where it will end.   Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I  think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.   And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.   I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.   And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.   Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.   I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
                                         Thomas Merton   Thoughts in Solitude

Adult children are a miracle

We all gaze with wonder at the miracle of  a newborn.    I pause to reflect on the miracle of adult children.    One can recognize the threads of hereditary family traits, shadows of

the growing-up years, and shared values, yet the whole is ever so much more than the sum of the familiar parts.    The remarkable  people with whom they have chosen to share their lives, their varied life experiences, what they have learned from the inevitable crises of things that go wrong. . .who are these people who grace my household?     They manage the chaos and cares of raising the next generation, replete with problems  of which we could never have dreamed.   They carry out careers with dimensions we find hard to understand.    They make surprising decisions which their father and mother would never have made - and the results seem to work out quite well.  Adult children are truly a miracle.

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.     Kahlil Gibran

A Christmas thought

When God wants an important thing done in this world or a wrong righted, God goes about it in a very singular way.   God doesn't release thunderbolts or stir up earthquakes.   God simply has a tiny baby born, perhaps of a very humble home, perhaps of a very humble mother.    And God puts the idea or purpose into the mother's heart.   And she puts it in the baby's mind, and then God waits.

The great events of this world are not battles and elections and earthquakes and thunderbolts.   The great events are babies.  For each child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged with humanity, but is still expecting goodwill to become incarnate in each human life.
                                                                 Edmond McDonald   Presbyterian Outlook

This I Believe

I believe that the smallest molecule of construction in the cause for peace is our personal speech.   What we say creates a ripple effect in interpersonal relationships and the world of our listeners is changed for good or for bad.

When we speak appreciation and gratitude, worry and whining take second place.   My Aunt Pauline, who suffered from dementia in her last years, repeated over and over. . ."We all have so much to be thankful for."  If one has to be stuck in perpetual repetition, here is a mantra.

Studies show that our immune systems responds to positive emotions.   Speak health and your body functions better.

We cannot abandon critical thinking to become Pollyanna, feeling sure that  "everything will be just fine."  Evil and injustice require honesty and problem-solving.   However, if we always look for what is right and magnify the good, we create an aura of happiness wherever we are.

When we speak peace, we create good will.   This I believe . . .