Seeking Authentic Voice

MaryBeth, over at RevGals invites to write about what we are reading for this week's Friday Five meme: 1. Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen 2. Women and Redemption by Rosemary Radford Ruether (only about 25% through this book, will take awhile to finish it; very good). 3. Radical Wisdom by Beverly J. Lanzetta (I've finished this one, but still thinking about it, excellent book!) 4. Real Simple, April edition 5. Absence of Mind by Marilynn Robinson (I finished this, but still thinking about it. Very thought provoking.)

Jan, over at the RevGals blog invites us to name five signs of spring: 1. Baby bunnies in green grass 2.  Dogwoods in bloom 3.  Planting the garden 4.  Spring flowers in bloom 5.  Easter egg hunt

A reflection on Lent 4B  -  Numbers 21:4-9;  John 3:14-21. When I was a little girl I used to visit my great-grandmother who lived outside Pocatello, Idaho, in a big yellow house on a family farm. My great-grandfather, and his parents before him, farmed the land. The front of the house was on a dirt road with a deep ditch that ran between the house and the road. I remember playing in the front yard of this house where my brothers and I would find frogs and garter snakes near the ditch. I had no fear of snakes and would readily pick up a  baby garter snake like I’d pick up a kitten.  Years later, as a college student, I lived near several beautiful national parks in southern Illinois. These parks were prime hiking areas through rugged terrain, the remnants of glaciers which left huge rocky bluffs, dark forests, and deep freezing cold lakes. This was a natural habitat for venomous snakes; rattlers and black water moccasins, among others. The distinctive noise of a rattle snake a

Over at the RevGals, Karla offers this Friday Five: 1.  What have you got going on today? I hope to get my sermon written today, because my husband is off work tomorrow (he often works on Saturdays) and the church has a fundraiser for the youth pilgrimage this summer. Thus, there will be too many distractions tomorrow to write a sermon. So far I have already ridden the recumbent indoor bike for 60 minutes and read "Feasting on the Word" in preparation for writing the sermon. I have a few ideas..... 2.  What about a prayer request, how can we pray for you today? I am still on the mend from six weeks of viral/bacterial cold/bronchitis/sinus infection crud, prayers for ongoing healing are appreciated.  3.  What makes you curious? After years of interior peacefulness, my inner life is being stirred up. I have no idea what this means or what will come of it. I don't particularly like it, especially at my age (58), when all I really want to do is settle in until retireme

Melancholy. Say it's this winter. It started off warmer than usual, and left me hopeful that winter would breeze by without much impact. November and most of December were easy, no snow, nothing extraordinary. I thought, I can do this. I can make it through winter. Then it all came tumbling down. Snow and bitter sub-zero temperatures that left one perpetually chilled. Cold and ice took hold of everything and forced me indoors, hibernating with a cup of hot tea. How long can it last? Surely not long, I thought. But it has lasted, relentlessly cold and snowy until I can barely stand the sight of the sun reflecting off the frozen surface of snow that lingers like a bad house guest. Say it's the cold virus that struck me in late January. How bad could it be, I thought. A week, maybe two? I drank Airborne and consumed Zicam. Then I lost my voice to a bacterial infection from the chest gunk cold residue that made a home in my bronchial tubes and voice box. Ten days of antibiotics