Friday Five: Frozen Edition

So I'm part of a blog ring called RevGalBlogPals which is an AMAZING assemblage of role models in ministry and faith.  Every week, there's a Friday Five post.  As I am currently procrastinating, here's my entry for this week's challenge:

1. For The First Time in Forever: Tell us about a magical first snow day – for a child, a transplanted southerner, or maybe you have a great story from the first snowfall in your area this season
2. In Summer: Tell us what you look forward to when it’s warmer again.
3. Reindeers are Better than people: We are in the business of loving people. But sometimes… Well, it’s a bit of a stretch to love. Do you have a tip, a mantra, or a perspective that helps?
4. Fixer Upper: Since we are in the season of Lent, what are you doing in the area of self-improvement?
5. Let. It. Go. What would Elsa do? Are you de-cluttering? Moving on? Accepting a hard reality? Finding freedom?

Bonus: Frozen, thawing out or thawed, share a picture from your winter this year!

from my frozen-shut patio door
as the snow on the railing
was slowly collapsing

1.  For the First Time in Forever:
As young marrieds, after a couple of years' sojourn in Louisiana courtesy of the US Army, we moved back north.  I remember the first snowfall we had that year - just before traveling away for Christmas.  We were outside shoveling (really sliding the shovel along the driveway, it wasn't much), and I ended up wandering down the street, marveling at the sparkle and the lightness as if I were a child all over again.

2. In Summer:
I'm really looking forward visiting my favorite walking/hiking trails when it's warmer again.  Nothing resets my spiritual batteries like time alone in nature.  There are plenty of places to go and find what my soul craves, but my body is not a fan of sub-freezing temperatures.

3.  Reindeers are Better than People:  
I try to remember that hurt people hurt people.  When someone seems difficult to love, I try to recognize that they are likely bearing a hurt that I do not know about.

4.  Fixer Upper:  
I've been doing daily spiritual readings from a new devotional I bought (morning and evening), although I've let it go (HA!) over the last few very busy days.  There were a couple that just didn't click with me and after a couple of 'eh' days I drifted from the practice.  Time to try again!

5.  Let It Go:
I am trying to eat my way through the cabinets and freezer, making use of things I already have in the house as much as possible.  I've been doing this for a couple of Lenten cycles now and it's been a great practice.  It frees me up from excess and from the guilt of "Oh, I should use that..." as well as inspiring more creativity in the kitchen.

Into God's Time

        For this hour, we step away
From clock time, and into God time.

Forgive our obsession with
concrete metrics. So often,
it is how we are measured.
But as an investment and
an experiment in your realm,

we will stop measuring
timeliness and productivity
just for this one hour-ish, though
        it does not come naturally.

In this pocket of God-time and God-space,
carved out from the everyday,
        our hearts say let your kingdom come.
Amen.


For the 2nd Sunday in Lent (Narrative Lectionary text Matthew 20:1-16)

A Word for the Drowning

He was sad.  Oh, so sad.

His dear cousin – the one he had met even before they were born – dead.

He had been about his work for so long:  calling disciples, mentoring them - telling stories, healing people, instructing them and sending them out to serve.  He was becoming an A-list public speaker, the kind people flock to listen to whenever they come to town.  His mother and brothers came to visit, and he turned away from them.  He said, I haven’t come to bring peace, but a sword.

So full of fire, he was.  So busy.  John had to send word from prison, asking “Are you the one? The one we’ve been waiting for?”  They had been apart since baptism day at the Jordan.

And now he was gone.

The world wouldn’t leave him alone to grieve.