This and That

I came home from Advance Conference last night very tired and very satisfied. The last keynote that we heard was by Amy Gopp who is now the director the Week of Compassion for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She is a world traveler with a heart for others and a truly inspiring speaker. she started her talk with this quote:

I felt in need of a great pilgrimage
so I sat for 3 days
And God came to me.

Here are some quotes from her talk on spiritual growth and compared it to growing vegetables and flowers.

"Growth is a process - often not easy or thoughtless"

We need to know what to plant where,when to deadhead and how to week. "New life can't happen until that which is dying is clipped off."

There is such a thing as "root rot" when we water something too much and don't know when to back off.

She told a wonderful story about visiting a woman in Haiti and saying to her "I will pray for you." and then the woman responded: "I will be praying for you because it is far more dangerous to have too much."

"God won't grow your garden for you."

Anyway, I just write all of this because it is ideas that I am still chewing on.

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My reading has been consumed by two books and soon I will buy the third. They are "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl who played with Fire." These are the books of the summer and I loved them both. The character of Lizbeth is so quirky and the plots are so well constructed that I just have gotten lost in these books. No wonder they are on the best seller list.

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I went to the movies tonight and saw "Eat Pray Love." I had read the book and really enjoyed it. Here is what is good about the movie - Julia Roberts is really pretty and so Is Javier Bardem. And actually so are the places that are highlighted - Italy, India, and Indonesia. Much of what made the book interesting was not in the movie - or hinted at. So, not a great movie - but good enough and reminded me of the book and what I liked about it. I would give it 2 stars if you read the book. 1 star if you didn't.

2 weeks left of my sabbatical - I am determined to enjoy every moment.