Greetings, darlings,
Is October turning out to be your “oh-my-God” month, too? ‘Tis always thus for me, and I always forget that fact until I am in the midst of it.
I live for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the fun thing that I can turn my mind to when ministry thoughts get too numerous and frantic, ahhhh, table settings, ahhhh, what side dishes shall I make, ahhh, do I have candles left over from last year? Ahhhh, the guest room is in pretty good shape, not much to do there.
Ahhhh, how lovely to think about hospitality to friends as a nice little break from tackling the to-do list. When life gets this busy, I remember the story about the rabbi. You know this story. The man asks his rabbi, “Rabbi, you’re a man of study and prayer, tell me, how much time do you devote to prayer every day?” And the rabbi responds, “I pray for an hour every day.” The man responds, “But Rebbe, you’re a busy man, active in the community, leading and attending so many activities, preaching every week, writing articles, how could you possibly spend an entire hour in prayer every day?”
The rabbi says, “Yes, I’m busy. Some days are so full I wonder how I can possibly accomplish everything I am committed to doing. On those days… I pray for two hours.”
I am reading Macrina Wiederkehr’s book The Song of the Seed: A Monastic Way of Tending The Soul as a kind of private retreat this month. It’s a little lectio divina, a little journaling, contemplative prayer, and the silence I need. I sit with my dog and cat, light a candle, and sit with it and my Bible.
I am trying to go to bed by 10 PM. No television, as it stimulates my brain too much. Not even “Glee” or “Project Runway.” I need silence, emptiness, breathing.
This is what’s on my mind: church service Sunday, Installation sermon also for Sunday, car goes in for repairs tomorrow morning dissertation revisions due Nov. 3 newsletter column board report launching Community Dinner conversations with community leaders food pantry pastoral visits phone calls to return ordination sermon and trip to DC to deliver it in four weeks friends visiting from out-of-town next week visit to godson in Maine Coming of Age class on 10/24 Book review for the Alliance 10/20 Guest lecturing at Andover-Newton next month.
Top of that list might be “personal health.” It should be. So let me amend my list.
One thing I want to do today is take a 45 minute walk (at least) and cook up some batch meals to freeze. I need to cut down on sodium, most of which I can easily accomplish by staying with my own cooking and not letting Trader Joe’s do the cooking for me. I said to my doctor, “I don’t mind being fat but I do mind being sick” and she said, “It sounds like you’re ready to lose weight.” I said, “Yep” and she said, “Thirty pounds will help a lot.”
So there we go.
What’s on your mind? What prayers may we say for you?
PB-You must have read my mind..or at least my life! Seems like I can not keep up with what day it is or what is coming up on my life. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to contemplate! I have also discovered every time something pops into my head and I worry or fuss over it I try to immediately change it into a prayer. Must say I seem to be praying without ceasing!
I think I may have to take your advice and stick with a early bedtime. Perhaps my memory will improve…
Prayers, Amelia
I’m having one of those weeks too. Wouldn’t have been so crazy on it’s own but the internet not working at home & the car needing emergency surgery didn’t help much. I’m planning December’s sermon & thinking Embracing the Darkness might just be what I need to be writing these days.
I had 6 medical appointments this week,I am so glad they are all behind me. I am recovering from wrist surgery. Today, the surgeon told me he is ready to operate on my elbows. I told him I would call him when I was ready…and its not going to be for a long time!
What a lovely invitation, PB. I am praying for YOU that you enjoy the healthy food you are putting into your body, preferably in good company with loved ones.
As for me, Hmmm…. how might you pray for me? That I keep patience with all the drama in church life, that I continue to find ways to love the unloveable, that I take care of myself so I will be available for the above. Thanks for the thought.
Hmm, can I ask for a prayer even though I’m not in the ministry? (I come here for the fashion tips and the UU ministry 🙂 )
I need help breaking free of whatever it is that is holding me back.
Thank you so much for these words, coming at a time in my life when I relish the reminder of breathing, care of soul and self, and a life open to periods of prayer in many forms.
Blessings!
How could you pray for me? I too am ready – mentally – to lose weight, but cannot seem to stick with it. Persistance, strength, I don’t know what I need.
And of course, there is the process that has been consuming me since I graduated seminary last May – finding a call. Rather, having a call find me, since I have realized that there is absolutely nothing I can do to speed the process up. Currently, I am waiting for the call committee to process our first interview to see if they want to talk further.
I pray for peace for you and your readers. Peace of mind, peaceful nights, and the peace that passes all understanding.
PB- I know how you feel! I had to turn on the light at midnight last night so I could write a ‘Things to think about later’ list.
I found a fabulous prayer as well as writing the list: “”Let me not seek out of Thee what I can find only in Thee, O Lord, peace and rest and joy and bliss, which abide only in thine abiding joy. Lift up my soul above the weary round of harassing thoughts, to Thy eternal presence. Lift up my soul to the pure, bright, serene, radiant atmosphere of Thy presence, that there I may breathe freely, there repose in Thy love, there be at rest from myself and from all things that weary me, and thence return arrayed with Thy peace, to do and bear what shall please Thee.”
Blessings,
EJ [And back to you, sister. Thank you for this beautiful prayer. I’m printing it out. – PB]
Urgh -yes. I’m at the church on my day off, having had two congregation members die in the last 24 hours. Tonight I’m off to the city to see my daughter in the Holt Renfrew show (!!!), and then back to the village for more visitations and funerals and God Herself only knows what.
But you’re right – I should get offline Right Now and take the dog for a walk.
– blessings to you
[You too, dear! Breathe deep. – PB]