All Hallow’s Eve.

Enjoying the sweetness of a life just beginning

Remembering those I love but see no more.   

At this time of the Thinning Veil

may we remember All Saints

and All Souls

who have ventured before us

into the Otherworld,

which at all times

lies just a breath beyond us.

At this time of the Thinning Veil

may the gift of memory

serve us well

in keeping those loved ones

who have moved on in their Journeys

gently present in our minds and hearts.

At this time of the Thinning Veil

may the veil of our own hearts

be likewise thin and permeable,

that the Love and Wisdom of the Ages

might encourage and enlighten us,

as the One Who Is Love Itself

beckons us ever forward

toward our own wholeness and completion,

Through Yeshua, the Christed One, Our Lord,

Who is the Word of God,

The Lamp unto our feet,

The Light unto our path,

The Very Light of the World.

Amen.

All Hallows Eve 2007

Cheryl Anne Mohr

My name is…

to be comfortable in my own skin. to know who I really am. to hear God whisper my name. today’s prayer.

the trick of the see saw.

I had a thought this morning.

I woke up, opened the curtains and it was raining again.   

but I refuse to complain.   I refuse to say I’m tired of the rain.

If some places like Atlanta are looking a day when the will run out of drinking water because of the "drought"  I refuse to even be grumpy about the rain.   I mean after all this is the USA, the wealthiest country in the world comprising only 5% for the entire population but that uses 25% of its energy.  This is the USA where we statistically have more malls than high schools.   So I refuse to complain about the rain when we, who live in the country who has plenty, could pontentially in some places run out of drinking water (granted I will say that the fact the average American consumes 159 gallons, while more than half the world’s population lives on 25 gallons of water a day — our consumption of water might have something to do with it as well). 

So I’m not complaining that once again I have wet clothes slung over a door drying.   

But I will say this. 

I’m trying to live a more balanced life … time for work, time for rest, time for play, time for prayer, time for community, time for solitude ….   It would be really helpful if a balanced life was modeled for me in creation.   You know, as opposed to an entire week of rain after months of "drought," a more balanced approach to the weather (or we could call it seasonally appropriate).   

Needless to say it does make me wonder if the lack of balance in creation is correlated to the lack of balance in just my life, but in most of our lives.

when it rains it pours.

Grandma still says it.   "lovey, when it rains it pours."

and it’s been raining and pouring this week -  I came in tonight from walking Bugs, wet again.   It never seems to be raining when I set out but I am pretty soaked by the time I’m home.    I went to hang up  my wet clothes over the door when I realized that I didn’t have any room left on that door because my clothes from this morning were drying.   and then I looked over and saw that the next door also had clothes hanging over, dry now, but at one point this week, they too were wet.

I’m not sure I’ve walked Bugs once this week without getting wet.   

But some how it’s fitting.   walking in the rain. 

because as Grandma says, when it rains it pours.

I have a 14 year young friend who’s really ill and still in the hospital (day 8 I think).

Another young friend’s mother has surgery tomorrow for breast cancer.

An older friend was in the ER all night for stomach pains and is looking at having her gall bladder out this week.

a friend further away: her rain started pouring a while back - like almost a year - and it hasn’t really let up since.

a friend from long ago lost her baby through a miscarriage last weekend.

and my nearest friend - well his clouds rained all day.

when it rains it pours.

so honestly all the rain, all the wet clothes, the frizzy hair … not really so bad this week.

in fact tonight I realized when I continued to walk the long way home even after it had begun to pour once again, the rain was actually somewhat steadying …some what comforting … some what cleansing…  somewhat prayerful … and somewhat hopeful.

At some point it has to stop raining.   the sun will come out.   and my clothes will dry.   

but until then, even in the midst of the pouring rain, Bugs still has to go out.

And we still must walk on.      

   

busy morning

it’s saturday morning.

man seems slow and groggy this morning.

but the world is busy.

the leaves are blowing in the breeze.

the sun casting it’s autumn glow.

and the birds.

my goodness the brids are busy this morning.

the blue jay hopping about on the grass only then to hop higher into flight and land on the bird feeder beside the window sending the four titmouse and two chickadees back to the trees.   

But the titmouse have been busy as well, sorting through all the bird seed, tossing out that which I can only assume is not gratifying to their little taste buds.    And the chickadees … well they are just doing their sweet little chickadee thing.

The best part of the busyness outside my window?

I’m just sitting, sipping on a cup of tea, curled up in my chair watching it. 

storms.

I don’t do storms.

I don’t mean the little summer thunderstorms.

I mean I don’t do those big "severe" thunderstorms that make my weather radio go off.  You know the ones that usually land Bugs and I sitting in the bath tub.   

And it’s not so much the thunderstorms, themselves, it’s those tornadoes that seem to come on the edge of them.   

so this evening, I started to get nervous about the coming storms and began joking to my friend that he should stay and protect Bugs and I through the storm.   He astutely pointed out that if he was here, he couldn’t actually protect us from the storm.   He wasn’t superman and therefore couldn’t single handedly pick up a tornado and toss it into space.

I felt quite silly for a moment cause he was right.  What he said was true.   And I knew this.

But it’s not really "protection" that I needed through the storm (though what I wouldn’t do for a basement or cellar on some nights living at the end of Tornado Alley).  No, it’s presence.    It’s someone to sit beside us and wait the storm out.   It’s the assurance of someone beside us as we face our fears.    It’s not someone to fix it or make it go away or create a magical force field so we can’t be hurt.   No.   It’s the courage and comfort that comes from the assurance that we don’t sit through the storms alone.   

so alas once more, I’m not just talking about the storm front hitting middle tennesse this evening of October 18th, 2007.   no, I’m talking about life.   about friends.    about community.   about my God.

Piglet sidled up next to Pooh.   

"what?"  said Pooh.

"nothing,"  said Piglet taking Pooh’s paw,

"I just wanted to be sure of you."   

-AA Milne.    

   

confessing “a day”

what was it Paul said,  something like I do what I shouldn’t do, what I don’t want to do; But then I don’t do what I should do, what I want to do. …   

that’s the translation according to Sally’s memory of course.   I could be remembering it completely backwards and completley inaccurately.   

but sitting on the sofa after having "a day" on all levels,  that’s all I’m coming up with.   

one of those humbling days.

one of those days when I do what I don’t want to do, what I know I shouldn’t do but somehow what I keep doing while simultaneously being unable to do what I want to do, what I should do.   

I don’t even think it’s fair to say that my spirit was willing today, just my flesh that was weak - maybe overall but definitly not in the details, not in what came out.

Glad I get to try again tomorrow.

And for that at this momemnt, I am ever so thankful.    

Everything I needed to know I learned from games?

Soooo  Jesus boxing?   Jesus playing tennis?   Jesus swinging at a baseball?  and my favorite, Jesus bowling.    Who would have thought of it?   Who would have dreamed it up? 

umm that would be my young heroes playing on the Wii. 

I tried to persuade them last night that it would be theologically best perhaps to always let Jesus win on the Wii.    Father Bob came through and thought the whole concept of Jesus so big on the screen bowling was a bit over the top.

And maybe it was a bit over the top.   

Maybe it threw a theological curve ball at the thought of Jesus losing.   

But this morning all I can do is smile and laugh at what I witnessed last night.   

These young friends of mine, are so taken and intrigued with this hero called Jesus that they set up the game so that they can actually play Jesus and be Jesus.    

I can’t help but wonder that perhaps if we spent a bit more time playing Jesus (bowling as Jesus or bowling with Jesus) even if it’s on a screen and through a game system… maybe,  we would actually end up a bit more like Jesus in real life.

A Warrior Princess.

Your heart is needed.

You must be present and engaged in order to love well and fight on behalf of others.

-John Eldredge

Sometimes I think though - that the hardest person to fight for, is myself. 

in your eyes.

so Miss Janey got me thinking today.   

thinking a bit more about life.

what you see depends on where you’re looking.

if you see depends on if you’re looking.

the richness of life might then, really depend on what you’re looking at.

blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see…