Taking it Seriously

This morning I woke having had a dream about writing a letter to my daughters.  In the dream I  am saying that I want this to be read a year after my death.

So, as I  dance around on the surface during the day - intellectualizing everything and escaping at night into Netflix, my subconscious is taking it seriously.

This morning I sat and read Teresa of Avila and listened to a song that is the beginning of a 9 day course through the Abbey of the arts.  The words for Teresa
"Do not be troubled, but hope in the Lord
for if you desire to do the will of the Lord
and do what you can for yourself
God will bring about in your soul all that you desire.

And the mantra for today - Let me not try to fly before God gives me wings

And the song - Christ within, before, beside, behind
Christ every hour, every day, everywhere

And I cry for the world and feel my deep concern - fear - for this world, for my community, for Steve and Paula who are home sick,  for Audrey who works in the hospital.  and  for me.

I realize that my staying home for the last four days has been ultimately a testimony to my importance and my irrelevance.  I was irrelevant to working at the hospital and  the polls and in church Sunday.  I didn't have to be there.  And I am important enough to God - and to this world - to do whatever I need to do to keep myself safe.  I confront my mortality and part of my prayer this morning is -

Keep me safe
to live more, love more, serve more
Lord have mercy

As I woke this morning from my dream, I thought about what I would want to write in that letter to my daughters.  It would be something about faith - and how believing - trusting - in the living God can give us everything we need to get through life.


I continue to spend time with Psalm 81 from today's lectionary.


I hear a voice I had not known:
“I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
 your hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you;
 I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
 I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
 O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
There shall be no strange god among you;
 you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
“I am the Lord your God,
 who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
 Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”

So, I listen for the voice that gives me courage and guidance in the midst of uncertain times.  I remember the ways God continues to free me and rescue me.  I will "open my mouth" to receive what God has for me today.

Here is a blessing for today by Maxine Shonk

May you be made holy when you are feeling FRUSTRATED and at wit's end.
When words fail your understanding and actions yield no results,
may you step away with God for that moment of silence that brings clarity.
May you be given the perspective of a brouder purpose and a wider vision.
May you see as God sees and be redirected toward what is good and true.
May the God of PERSPECTIVE BLESS YOU.

Amen