Inside the Minds of Valerie and Mike (and Anna)
Wonderings and thresholds have been part of my ponderings the past few weeks. Thresholds are a common image for liminal space, that time and space between what was and what is not yet. The time between what is known and not yet known. It can be a period of uncertainty, of watchful waiting, discernment, questions,... Continue Reading →
A few years ago, a friend introduced me to the One Word idea. Instead of a New Year's resolution (which quickly falls by the wayside), you pick a word as a focus and guide for the upcoming year. My choice of word usually offers multiple meanings and uses in different contexts. My first two words... Continue Reading →
Day 6, half way through the season of Christmas. Yes, the 12 days of Christmas are real, just not what is in the popular song. It’s Christmas 2020, so it’s been a weird one…subdued, smaller, a mixture of beginnings and endings. And in both good and bad ways, more of the same. Over the course... Continue Reading →
Have we lost our ability to wonder?Is it not enough to understand just enough to be amazed?Sometimes knowing leads to awe.Sometimes, it removes all mystery, leaving a hollowness.Can I be okay with the not knowing?As one poet writes…live the questions.Maybe we need to live the mystery, live the wonder.Watch and wait while wondering.I do not... Continue Reading →
Advent Vespers at Home It’s Advent. It’s the end of an unusually tough calendar year. It’s the beginning of a new liturgical year for the church. It will also soon be a new calendar year. Advent is a season pregnant with hope. It’s a liminal time of watching, waiting, and wondering (this year's theme for... Continue Reading →
Earlier this week I went up to our local Lutheran camp and retreat center, Mar-Lu Ridge, for a morning of quilt assembling. After we were all done, before I drove home, I went into the chapel. The chapel is an A-frame structure with a wall of glass behind the altar that faces west with a... Continue Reading →
That was the question put to me recently by my pastor. My initial answer…I didn’t know. Words were, are, failing me at this moment. Of course the question and answers simmered after we hung up. The short answer would be the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. At the moment, do I have a... Continue Reading →
Last year, Advent started with a weekend retreat focused on choosing hope, peace, joy, love, and life. It truly was life-giving even if it was a full and tiring weekend; and it carried into the whole season. This year, Advent carries some weight of Lent. Maybe that Lenten feeling is connected to a realization from... Continue Reading →
A couple of weeks ago, I listened to a podcast episode titled “What Are We Doing and Why Are We Doing It?” This podcast is an ELCA Youth Ministry Network creation. You can listen to it here, https://www.elcaymnet.org/3tcepisode11. In this particular episode, while the focus was on youth ministry, the topic really applies to the... Continue Reading →
The bright yellow caught my eye and changed my plans. I decided I could use a distraction. Someone had left a yellow gerbera daisy in a small vase at the center of the labyrinth. So I stopped and decided to walk the labyrinth, something I haven’t done in a while. But I wasn’t 2 steps onto... Continue Reading →
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