Cairns

These are two of several cairns erected in my church sanctuary during Lent.

I recently created a cairn of my own for a class I teach. Several persons were unfamiliar with cairns.

A cairn is a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or a marker. I have most often seen them marking hiking trails. Several times I have created cairns to mark a place outdoors where something moved me profoundly and it seemed I encountered Holy Mystery. I consider my journal a place where I erect cairns of words that also "mark" small and large movements of Spirit in my life.

One dark night cairns marked the treacherous path across a black lava field. Small beams of light from my flashlight found the next cairn and the next cairn... and slowly the path revealed itself.

"Wise pilgrims we, as we bless the cairn

bless the sometimes broken

sometimes silken path

we call our lives..." (Jennifer Hoffman)

Build a cairn to mark a special moment!

Look for cairns guiding your life!

The Mango

The picture to go with the mango post!

Mangos...and Questions About Food

Today I bought fresh mangos! I sank my teeth into the most delicious, sweet, drippy mango...from Guatemala!!!!! I enjoyed every bit of the mango...but, I wondered IF the farmer had received her or his fair wage for all the work in raising the mango. I thought about all the fuel/energy used to get the mango to the Costco in Lancaster, PA, where I bought it. I wish I could grow mangos in my back yard...then, I wouldn't have to think about such things. Meanwhile, I'm really grateful for a ripe, juicy mango...and I think it's a good thing to wonder about the origin of our food!!!! (I looked it up - plural mango can be spelled two ways!)

Sticking my neck out!!

Today I'm sticking my neck out by posting my blogsite on facebook! Even as I type this I feel a tightening in my throat! Am I ready for this?!

I've been inspired by how much I love reading the blogs of others! So, I'll just add a few lines now and then and see what happens.

One Starfish At A Time!

I'm always moved by the story of the guy who very early in the morning before the townspeople got to the beach to gather starfish for commercial killing would walk the beach and gather one starfish at a time and hurl it back into the ocean as far as he could throw! The weather didn't matter. He faithfully executed his "mission of mercy" day after day! No action is too small or inconsequential. It matters for the one! Each one doing their small part contributes to the good of the whole. (By the way, I threw this one back into the Atlantic Ocean!...with a firm commitment to a "yes!!!" for hope-filled living!) I read this little starfish story again today in a book called The Promise of Paradox - A Celebration of Contradictions in the Christian Life by Parker Palmer.

Accepting Errors!

Already I see a gramatical error in one of my posts this afternoon. This is very hard for me!! I'd have to delete the whole post to correct it...so, I decided I'd simply acknowledge that the wrong use of "than" bothers me, but not enough to delete the whole post. Good practice for me to accept imperfections.

Experiment with photos in blogs

Okay...got my first photo uploaded.

This is the love of my life and me on the island of Bartolome in the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador.

And this is me enjoying quiet moments with sea lions on a serene beach.

Okay...got my second photo uploaded.

Think I'll call it a day!!

To Blog or Not to Blog??

I can't decide. Do I want to write a blog? It's been several years since I created this one. Do people really have time to read these things? Do people want to read blogs? I really enjoy the window into the person's experience that a blog offers. Recently I've been delighted to read my daughter's blog and see the pictures she posts and the creative writing she offers. And, I LOVE reading the blogs of several of my nieces. It makes me feel close to them. So, I think I'll just write something today...and not put any expectations on myself.

Today's Christian Education hour at my church gave me a lot to ponder! I've been wondering...in fact, it seems it could actually be a little nudge...to consider what sort of community involvement I might be drawn to. Today, I could imagine myself becoming part of a "circle of support and accountability" for sexual offenders released from prison. I want to offer something that links to my commitment to "hope-filled" living...and if just one person is spared another prison sentence and comes to live life more abundantly...than, that is worth it. It's the "it matters to the one star fish thrown back into the ocean" idea. I especially like blogs with photos and I have no clue at this moment how to do that...so my next blog might be an experiment with a photo!