Weekly Ponderings (16 May – 22 May)

These ponderings originally appeared one per day via MailChimp.
This weekly version keeps them in one place for people who missed the daily postings.
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Habits
As a survival mechanism, habits that have worked in the past turn out to be life- and time-savers, except…
…except when they don’t.
Except when the old lesson doesn’t really apply to the new situation. Except when our prejudices are over-active and the category into which we put a person or an idea isn’t accurate.
Except when we don’t perceive or pay attention to the difference between, say, a rock and a hand grenade.
Except when the old habits become so habitual that they stop us from experiencingthinking anything new.
I invite you to notice one of your habits today.
Then I invite you to try something new instead.
[You can read more about habits HERE.]

The photo is a windmill in Nebraska — it reminds me to dance with fresh air and spirit.

Silence
I don’t know about you,
but I am guessing that most of the world
could follow Yogi Berra to great benefit.
He once said,
“If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.”
Now, that’s a novel idea…

Joy-Crazy
After four grey days in a row, I am feeling cranky.
Then I stumbled on these words from the Sufi poet, Hafez (c.1325 – 80):
Slipping on my shoes,
boiling water,
tasting bread,
buttering the sky:
that should be enough contact with G-d
in one day
to make anyone crazy.

And I am cranky?

Object-ively
Some days I find myself looking at the objects that reside with me with curious eyes.
I realize I am pondering my inner being right here, right now.
Who am I…and would anyone be able to discern that from the stuff with which I am surrounded?
Do the more visible (material) choices I make reflect the person I want to be? or do they reflect some other person from some other time? Or do they reveal something about me that I would do well to pay attention to.
How about you?

[You can read more ponderings on this subject HERE.]

Perfect(ish)
As someone who leans toward perfectionism, I have been surprisingly by the adage,
Anything worth doing,
is worth doing badly.
I realize that everything I cherish most in my life has only been possible
because I was willing to begin by doing it badly.

In and Out
Faith and Money Network is arguably the most challenging of the organizations to which I am connected in a steady way. (Sojourners runs a close second.) In spite of the name, the Network is about as far from the Prosperity Gospel folks as you can get and still be in the same universe.
In this election year when we are being asked to make decisions that can upbuild or destroy the common good, I pass along these demanding and imperative words of Huffington Post contributer, Delonte Gholston, from a recent post:

“To our downfall, we ignore the voices of the prophets that point to the corruption, bribery, and greed of a people whose faith and appetites have been turned ravenously inward rather than graciously outward. A faith [read: ‘life’ if you prefer] turned ravenously inward is concerned only with our own families, our own fears, our own hopes, ‘A faith [life] turned graciously outward is one concerned with the love of neighbor, the transformation of both the cities and the countryside, and the love of our enemies….”

Blessed
It has been a hard week around the world. Friends have lost parents. Strangers have lost whole families in a downed airplane. Refugees have lost homes. LGBTQ colleagues have lost rights.
We can curl up and give in to despair or we can reach for strength, connection, and hope. I am clinging to the lifeline of my trust, as thin as spider silk across the abyss. Here are the words I am spinning to carry us both.

May we be blessed with the courage to claim love.
May we be blessed with the love to confront danger.
May we be blessed with enough danger to spark gratitude.
May we be blessed with the gratitude to act with generosity.
May we be blessed with the generosity to be honest.
May we be blessed with the honesty to be courageous.ministry,’