FRIDAY FIVE: Life is a Verb

Jan from RevGalBlogPals writes:

Jennifer recommended this book, which I got because I always value Jennifer's reading suggestions. The author of Life is a Verb, Patti Digh worked her book around these topics concerning life as a verb:

Say yes.
Be generous.
Speak up.
Love more.
Trust yourself.
Slow down.

As I read and pondered about living more intentionally, I also have wondered what this Friday Five should be. This book has been the jumping off point for this Friday.

1. What awakens you to the present moment?
Something of Creation - feathered, furred, blooming, silent, singing, human, animal or plant. Something that pulls me out of the mechanical, intellectual, power-driven human existence and back to the Creator.


2. What are 5 things you see out your window right now?

leaves fluttering in the breeze
that elusive wren (I wrote about yesterday) singing on the fence
hydrangeas blooming
vines growing over the arbor
weeds... lots of weeds! (But I've left them alone so long they are blooming... how cool is that!)

3. Which verbs describe your experience of God?

humbled
loved
cherished
saved
encouraged
called
running (to/from -- depending on my honest reaction to life!)

4. From the book on p. 197: Who were you when you were 13? Where did that kid go?
I was in 8th grade. Unsure. Not convinced I could do anything. Taking Latin. Loving reading, music, singing, playing piano. Dreaming of writing. Parts of her are still unsure about herself, but not of God. Instead of Latin, it's Greek, and instead of 8th grade it's grad. school! (LOL) The musician doesn't get as much expression these days. It is something I am working on... The writer is often confined into Turabian, and yet I am learning how to have my own style in footnotes and suppositions.

5. From the book on p. 88: If your work were the answer to a question, what would the question be?
Why did you wait so long to do what you know you need to do for God? (I was going to cop out and say "what do you do all day?")

Bonus idea for you here or on your own--from the book on p. 149:
"Go outside. Walk slowly forward. Open your hand and let something fall into it from the sky. It might be an idea, it might be an object. Name it. Set it aside. Walk forward. Open your hand and let something fall into it from the sky. Name it. Set it aside. Repeat. . . ."

I think I will do this later... maybe on my next silent retreat, coming up in July.

Peace-
Deb