take just a moment...

"To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds,..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:54:33 -0400

““To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.””

- Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ashley and I at the Sawtooth School for our ceramic class!!! :)

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:48:25 -0400

Ashley and I at the Sawtooth School for our ceramic class!!! :)

Kitty face!! :)

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 20:26:09 -0400

Kitty face!! :)

There’s nothing quite like a nap on a rainy day…

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:22:25 -0400

There’s nothing quite like a nap on a rainy day…

Why Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" Video Makes Me Uncomfortable... and Kind of Makes Me Angry

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:44:55 -0400

jazzylittledrops:

So this video started going around my facebook today, with about a dozen of my female friends sharing the link with comments like, and “Everyone needs to see this”, and “All girls should watch this,” and “This made me cry.” And I’m not trying to shame those girls! I definitely understand why they would do so. And I don’t want to be a killjoy. But as I clicked the link and started watching the video, I started to feel a slight sense of discomfort. I couldn’t put my finger on why that was, exactly, but it continued throughout the whole thing. After watching the video several more times, I have some thoughts…

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"Praying It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small..."

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 11:19:12 -0400

“Praying

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.”

- Mary Oliver

Let the container gardening adventures begin!! :)

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 19:24:23 -0400

Let the container gardening adventures begin!! :)

Just your usual Saturday morning… :)

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:53:16 -0400

Just your usual Saturday morning… :)

Eeeeek!! My apple tree graft is budding! :)

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:12:31 -0400

Eeeeek!! My apple tree graft is budding! :)

Spring Comes

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:42:36 -0400

Has anyone else noticed that the liturgical calendar and the academic calendar seem to sync up from time to time? Think about Advent… The eager awaiting spirit we hold as we celebrate the birth of Jesus lines up with the anticipation of surviving fall exam week and beginning Winter Break. As a last semester divinity student, Lent’s unique spirit of endurance, intentional discipline, and dim-yet-present hope echo within my soul (and on my calendar) as graduation approaches.

This final year of Divinity School has been the most challenging of the three for me. I battle daily with self-doubt, fear, and answerless questions. Beyond the countless theological questions, I cannot run from the unanswered questions within my own self that ceaselessly bombard me as I traverse these last few months. Am I really cut out for ministry? Was what I interpreted to be a call really a call? Is ordination on the horizon in the coming years? What is this ever-elusive thing I keep hearing about called self-care? What can ministry look like in non-congregational settings? Am I going to find a position in a nonprofit or organization that gives me life? Has this all been worth it? Am I any more spiritual or knowledgeable than when I started classes two and a half years ago?

As I’m thrown into a place of reflection nearing graduation (as if the entirety of divinity school wasn’t reflective enough…), I think of the richness in images found in nature, particularly gardening. I’m planning spring/summer garden for this year and have been amazed over and over at the mystery of the growth process. Like planting and working a garden, my divinity school career has met its fair share of messiness, inconvenience, and failure. Plans were subverted, unexpected barriers sprung up, and chaos seemed to rule. Yet, I cannot deny that I have caught a glimpse of the breathtaking potential of beauty out of chaos, and growth out of the dirt. I may be overstating the divinity school experience, but as I think of the journey I’ve made throughout the years, I think of myself as a seed being gently placed into the earth. Watching the growth of a plant from its beginning as a seed to its fullness as a productive plant is undeniably an incredible experience. I feel like a rooted yet fragile sprout, not yet blooming; I have weathered an undoubtedly treacherous part of the journey with much nurture and maintenance, but I have much growth ahead of me.

Though the slow, steady walk toward my diploma this semester is nothing really like the slow, steady walk of Jesus to the cross (and resurrection), I see some parallels. The human Jesus must have had questions, doubts, and fears, wondering if his life and journey were worth it. Yet, there he was, in a particular place and time, for distinct, yet seemingly invisible purposes. This Lenten season, I await the beauty and renewal of Easter. I find myself here during Lent, in my final semester, actively waiting for the renewal of the earth in spring, the celebration of God’s living presence in Easter, and a completed chapter of my life in graduation. I traverse this academic season with a similar spirit as I do the liturgical season of Lent; I walk the divinity school halls daily with the hope of endurance, strained discipline, and a dim-yet-present hope that this bud will bloom, that graduation (and the set of adventures thereafter) is coming.

*** This was written for the Fidelia’s Sisters publication of the Young Women’s Clergy Project. See the original post here: http://youngclergywomen.org/spring-comes/

Just walked the @wakediv labyrinth. :)

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:45:15 -0400

Just walked the @wakediv labyrinth. :)

"How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all of its beauty? It felt the..."

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:02:45 -0400

“

How
did the rose
ever open its heart
and give to this world all of its beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light against its being,
otherwise we all remain too
frightened.

- Hafiz

”

Classic Literature Re-imagined for Smartphones

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:03:00 -0400

Classic Literature Re-imagined for Smartphones:

Classic literature re-imagined for smartphone era. :) #nerdalert

The 10 Coolest Dead Languages

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:44:00 -0400

The 10 Coolest Dead Languages:

Yes. :)

"People must not only hear about the kingdom of God, but must see it in actual operation on a small..."

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:12:52 -0500

“

People must not only hear about the kingdom of God, but must see it in actual operation on a small scale perhaps and in imperfect form, but a real demonstration nevertheless.

-Pandita Ramabai

”

Compost for the Mind: Food, Faith, & Justice Conference Reflections

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:43:51 -0500

Compost for the Mind: Food, Faith, & Justice Conference Reflections

Center in NC Receives Grant to Promote Local Foods

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:21:08 -0500

Center in NC Receives Grant to Promote Local Foods

Compassionate Winston-Salem Initiative

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:01:27 -0500

Compassionate Winston-Salem Initiative:

Winston-Salem friends - see the note below from a group of community members who are seeking to see compassion all around our city. I invite you to join me and others in taking part in this initiative! See the note below from Jerry McLeese from Interfaith Winston-Salem —

“In Winston-Salem, we see individual and corporate acts of compassion daily. It’s who we are. And, for the volunteers who comprise Interfaith Winston-Salem, it’s the brand – the identity – that we want everyone to associate with our city.

That’s why Interfaith Winston-Salem is mounting an effort to have Compassionate Action Network International declare us a City of Compassion. You can join the effort by signing the Charter for Compassion at http://charterforcompassion.org/ .

Send a note to us at jmcleese1@yahoo.com and we’ll add your name to people named below who subscribe to the Charter for Compassion.”

100 Trips to Take in Your Lifetime

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:51:59 -0500

100 Trips to Take in Your Lifetime:

I’ve done 4 of these… lots of traveling to be done! Humbled and thankful that I’ve been able to travel throughout my life!

- Got lost in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul
- Viewed sunset at Santorini, Greece
- Wandered Christmas Markets in Germany (no hot wine, though)
- Waded in the Dead Sea in Israel (didn’t get to float, though)

"Why wonder about the loaves and the fishes? If you say the right words, the wine expands. If you say..."

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:19:00 -0500

“Why wonder about the loaves and the fishes?
If you say the right words, the wine expands.
If you say them with love
and the felt ferocity of that love
and the felt necessity of that love,
the fish explode into many.
Imagine him, speaking,
and don’t worry about what is reality,
or what is plain, or what is mysterious.
If you were there, it was all those things.
If you can imagine it, it is all those things.
Eat, drink, be happy.
Accept the miracle.
Accept, too, each spoken word
spoken with love.”

- “Logos” by Mary Oliver, in Why I Wake Early