It's doing THIS again...

It's doing THIS again! Except this time it's about 20 degrees and windy. Pure Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

I'm sticking to my warm house and slippers while I do some more homework and watch the 30% snow pile up. (Glad we didn't have a 100% chance. Wow!)

A nice pot roast is in the crockpot, and the cats all agree it's nap-thirtyfive.

sigh...

Friday Five: Social Media Edition

Kathrynzj from RevGalBlogPals writes:

I had the joy of spending time with Songbird last weekend, someone I would have never met had it not been for the blogosphere. Now we keep in touch using a large variety of methods: blog (hers a lot, mine not so much lately), FaceBook, twitter, text messaging, chat and email. So far there has been no Skype.

It got me to thinking of the pros and cons of these relatively new means of communication and interconnecting and so I ask you the following:


1) What have been the benefits for you of social networking (blog, twitter, facebook, etc...)
First of all, I discovered the RevGals when I was a newbie in seminary and wondering if I was the only (a) 3rd career pastor-in-training (b) woman in seminary (c) secret feminist (d) person trying to serve God and walking that line between "the 2 R's" (Rush Limbaugh and Roger Moore!)  To my delight, I discovered I had a plethora of cyber-friends and encouragers waiting to be found!

2) Which medium do you use the most? Or if you use them all, for what do you use each of them?I use them all!I have blogged since 2004 and have a family website (sadly unedited at the moment!) The blog and website are more oriented towards practical, thoughtful and usually whimsical writing. Facebook and Twitter and Skype are quick, easy ways to keep in touch with family and friends. Facebook has become a great way to connect in "the the real world" as I'm working on networking and preparing to find a job (August-September 2010, in case you are hiring!) Twitter is an easy way to update my Facebook and Blog "status bar" in one fell swoop, particularly via my cell phone.

3) If you could invent a networking site (with no limits on your imagination), what would it provide? What would it not provide?
Some kind of "speed dial" that would let me voice-activate update my status... ?

4) Who have you met that you would not have met if it were not for the 'miracle' of social networking?Back when I was trying to be more "whole foods" oriented, I met a bunch of women through a digest/email list. Some of them were pretty "out there" ("sugar causes cancer" etc) but we got to know a great family through that list. DebD and I are very different, but there is a kindred Spirit that makes us friends. We keep in touch via the web; her blog/Facebook is one of the ones I follow pretty faithfully.

5) Who do you secretly pray does not one day try to 'friend/follow' you?SNORT. Like I'm going to publicly write that here? Use your imagination.

BONUS: What was the most random/weird/unsettling/wonderful connection you made that would not have happened if it were not for the ease of which we can find each other in the computer realm?
The day that I found out I was going to be ordained, I managed to contact Mary Beth via phone, who was here in the DC area for a convention. My fellow ordinand and I had just decided that we were going to have a luau celebration theme, and she had just found a beautiful flower lei on the street! What a God connection! :)

More Beautiful You

Jonny Diaz has written an amazing song! I heard it today and thought, "Wow. What if every parent and daughter listened to this song and took the words to heart..."

Little girl fourteen flipping through a magazine
Says she wants to look that way
But her hair isn't straight her body isn't fake
And she's always felt overweight
Well little girl fourteen I wish that you could see
That beauty is within your heart
And you were made with such care

Your skin your body and your hair
Are perfect just the way they are

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don't buy the lies, disguises and hoops they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you

Little girl twenty-one the things that you've already done
Anything to get ahead
And you say you've got a man but he's got another plan
Only wants what you will do instead
Well little girl twenty-one you never thought that this would come
You starve yourself to play the part
But I can promise you there's a man whose love is true
And he'll treat you like the jewel you are

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don't buy the lies, disguises and hoops they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you

So turn around, you're not too far
To back away be who you are

To change your path, go another way --

It's not too late you can be saved.
If you feel depressed with past regrets
The shameful nights hope to forget
Can disappear they can all be washed away
By the One who's strong, can right your wrongs
Can rid your fears, dry all your tears
And change the way you look at this big world
He will take your dark distorted view
And with His light He will show you truth
And again you'll see through the eyes of a little girl

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don't buy the lies, disguises and hoops they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you

There could never be a more beautiful you!

Gray roots, part deux

Yesterday's blog wasn't meant to fish for compliments. (Honestly!) I just thought it was hilarious that someone could be so tacky (thank you, Mindy! perfect word!) and I was tickled to be considered in a previous decade, age-wise. But it was that little flare of conceit and vanity which popped up that made me stop and do a little self-assessment.

I'm frequently told that I don't look my age (and occasionally, that don't act it either.) I guess there has to be some benefit for having had oily skin as a teen, for staying out of the sun or religiously wearing sunblock because I quickly become sunburned, and for never having been a smoker. All those things play havoc on the skin. I also come from a good gene pool (thanks, Mom and Dad!) with longevity in my DNA. So while I liked the compliment, I realized that I don't look that young any more. I know that my face has more wrinkles than a few years ago. And as I drove home from the salon, I entertained for just a few minutes the idea that I might get my hair lightened or streaked or whatever you want to call it. While I love my stylist because she listens to me and doesn't give me a cut that can't thrive largely on neglect, she is in a business of selling beauty.

But this idea of "selling beauty" gets at a deeper issue. Who am I, anyway? What helps me see my true value, my purpose for living and life goals? It is not what is on the outside. Unfortunately, that's what is getting pushed on our kids at a younger and younger age.

Last night I channel surfed waiting for the news to return from a commercial break and came upon one of the most dreadful shows I've seen recently. (That says a lot.) It was the "Little Miss Perfect"pageant show on WEtv. I think that their advertising executives have chosen to promote the show from the seediest angle possible. Check out this clip which is their promo:

Sickening, isn't it?

That a girl (and her parents) can only consider self worth based on their beauty, glitz, talent and a "WOW" factor is wrong. Judges and parents keep telling a little girl that she has to present her "total package" yet it is all based on externals... what happened to her intellect, her gifting, her concern for others, her passions and interests, and, ultimately, her calling?  These words from Proverbs 31 came to mind...

 ³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
      but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
 ³¹ Reward her for all she has done.
      Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

Prov. 31:30-31 NLT

I'm not the perfect parent, and I will continue to make mistakes... but God help me if I communicate to my girls, or any of their friends, that what is on the outside is more important than the character and the heart of the person beneath!

Thanks... I think!

This afternoon, I made a quick trip to get my unruly shaggy head brought back into submission, since in the next few weeks I will be having interviews for a possible summer CPE unit. (CPE=Clinical Pastoral Education, or learning about yourself as a pastor and potential work in hospital chaplaincy.)

The shampoo gal says to me, "Gee, good thing you came in. Your roots are really showing. Time for a quick color touch up, huh?"

Me: "Um... No. This is my natural hair color."

Gal: "Oh. Well, it's really REALLY gray coming in. You might want to think about getting your hair colored."

Me: "Oh, I don't know. I've earned every one of them."

Gal: "Well, you'll definitely look old, like you're fifty or something, if you don't get your gray covered. And we have to keep working to look young in our forties, don't we?"

Me: "Well, that's a thought..."

I'm sure she meant well. (And I did not tell her that I left fifty behind a while ago... )

Friday Five: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Songbird from RevGalBlogPals writes:

By the time you're reading this, I'll be en route to a Great Big City to see my son in a play. I'll go by car and bus and train and no doubt cab and maybe even subway. Thus, our Friday Five.

1) What was the mode of transit for your last trip?
Family car. Another I-95 adventure...

2) Have you ever traveled by train?
Yes, a long time ago. When Bearded Brewer and I were dating (he was in DC, I was in metro NY), I used to take the Amtrak down to DC and then Metro it out to friends in Northern Virginia.

3) Do you live in a place with public transit, and if so, do you use it?
Only when we go to downtown DC. The biggest issue is finding parking at Metro stations!

4) What's the most unusual vehicle in which you've ever traveled?
A "taxi" in Nigeria which had people, goats and chickens all crammed in to a 10 passenger van. Everything was inside because it was the rainy season. It was hot, humid and smelly!

5) What's the next trip you're planning to take?
Hmmmm... Not sure. I don't think driving down to modular classes (intensives) counts. Probably back to the beach.

BONUS: Here's a picture of my first car... A 1978 Dodge Omni (basically a Volkswagen Rabbit knock-off!) It had a four speed manual transmission and an add-on AC unit under the dash. While it was great on snow with its front-wheel drive, it went through THREE batteries and FOUR alternators in ten years...

Calling

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.

If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.

May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.

Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Rilke's Book of Hours

Consolation and Desolation

Ruth Haley Barton in her book Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership writes about the inner dynamics of consolation and desolation, referencing St. Ignatius of Loyola...

Consolation is the interior movement of the heart that gives a deep sense of life-giving connection with God, others and my most authentic self in God. It is the sense that all is right with the world, that I am free to be given over to God and to love even in moments of pain and crisis. Desolation is the loss of a sense of God's presence. I feel out of touch with God, with others and with my most authentic self. It is the experience of being off-center, full of turmoil, confusion and maybe even rebellion.

Experiences of consolation and desolation are not right or wrong; they just are. They need not be particularly momentous; in fact, they might seem relatively inconsequential until we learn topay attention and listen for what they have to tell us. God's will for us is generally for us to do more of that which gives us life (John 10:10) and to turn away from those things that drain life from us and debilitate us.
~ Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, p 67

As I listen, wait and pray, I can ask for things which bring about God's abundant life in me, not the life-draining kind. Sometime the "abundance" overflows when I am shopping for mission trips. Or listening to a friend over coffee. Or even folding laundry... Other times it is when I am standing alone in the middle of the labyrinth, listening, waiting and praying for God's direction.

I am learning I do not have to 'do' to be blessed and restored to the abundant life. Thank God I am not always a slow learner...

Mary Daly

A Church for Starving Artists wrote a blog post on the passing of Mary Daly here... For some reason I had missed that news.

Like many of you, Mary Daly was the first feminist Christian writer I ever read (though I am sure there are some who will dispute whether or not she was a "Christian" and to them I say, "get over it!")

She brought a stunning ray of light into a dank, dusty way of doing theology. She challenged old hermeneutics and allowed many women, myself included, to see a clearer picture of Christ beyond the earthly depiction in the Gospels. She also tackled some pretty sacred ivory towers... things I am gutless to deal with at this stage of my life.

Rest in peace, Mary. And thanks...

Friday Five: "If" edition

Jan from RevGalBlogPals writes:

In EFM this week, our question was, "If you were a color, what would you be?" So that's where this Friday Five comes from, at least its jumping off place.

1. If you were a color, what would you be?
I'd be blue-hoo-hoo, blue-hoo-hoo, blue-hoo-hoo-HOooooo! (Sorry! Gratuitious Veggie Tales Reference!)

2. If you were a flower (or plant), what would you be?
No question. I would be a rose. A beauty with thorns.

3. If you were an animal, what kind would you be?
A cat. Probably because the idea of sleeping 20 hours a day appeals... and because we're a 3-cat household. I don't think I could be anything else.

4. If you were a shoe, what type would you be? I'd like to say a pair of Birkenstock sandals, muddy from the back yard... but I don't want to horrify my daughter. Probably I'd be a pair of my Rocket Dogs flats because they go anywhere, work with just about anything outside of formal wear, and still look great. I love Rocket Dogs! I can find them for a reasonable price at DSW, and they don't hurt my feet!! I've been eying these beauties and are waiting for the price to come down.

5. If you were a typeface, which font would you be?
Something that is not regular and regimented, but is still readable. Probably something sans serif and as far from Times New Roman as I can get and still be considered "professional."

Bonus: Anything connected with metaphors that you'd like to contribute.
Well, you might have noticed that my blog is "An Unfinished Symphony" -- the title and reason are a metaphor in themselves!

Life is an unfinished symphony. God holds the score in His Hands. Sometimes my life is a cymbal crash, and sometimes it is pages of counting rests. But always, He is the Conductor. (...and I hear the Coda He's written is out of this world!)