More signs of spring

Happy Opening Day!

It has been two months already

The pot is on the stove, tomatoes and beans and spices and vegetables and wine all bubbling together for an early dinner. And mom's pantry shelves are bare now, the last of her stores providing for us still.

 

Around every corner, I am reminded. In a spray of White Linen each morning, in the lemon oil for polishing dark wood, in the stacks of books and piles of paperwork. In the work, in the beautiful things, in a meal provided at the end of a lean month.

Her love calls to me still.

Thanks, Mama.

Sunshine and resurrection

Signs of spring....

 

After twenty one days of rain in March, yesterday's sun was like a heavenly spa treatment.

Every ray sings to me of resurrection.

In anticipation of Easter:

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels!

Exult, all creation around God's throne!

Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!

Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice O earth in shining splendour,

radiant in the brightness of your King!

Debate lessons

March Madness is not just NCAA basketball for us; there have been three debate tournaments in March.  Crazy.  I haven't had a chance to comment on debate tournament number two yet, and it needs a comment:

Ninety teams.

Rex and Lucy came in first.

*FIRST*

One hundred and eighty debaters.

Rex was the third place speaker.

THIRD.

We had sent Rex to San Diego with friends, so we were not there in person to celebrate.  But I do believe that if our windows had been open, and Rex had been listening carefully, he could have heard us screaming with excitement.

Congratulations, son!

And this last week we all went to Santa Rosa for the last part of Debate March Madness.

It was a different experience.

We laughed hard as Rex and Lucy had to debate three times in the men's locker room at the school where the debate was held.  There were no showers going while they debated, but once or twice there was a distant flush heard from across the way.  These are memories we will never forget. 

And when breaks were announced (breaks being those teams who had winning records and go on to debate in octofinals and quarterfinals), Rex and Lucy did not break.  Win the whole tournament a week before, no breaks this week.

I would say I am disappointed except that, when I got on the computer last night, I read these words on my son's facebook page:

That's called competition. You win, thank God for His blessing, and celebrate. You lose, thank God for His blessing...and celebrate with the people that won.

And I am thinking that I have a lot to learn from this wise young man whom I am honored to call my son.

Well done, son!!

The Friday Clive

The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you "love" your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.

Someone's gonna get hurt

I am the reigning champ of the family March Madness brackets.

 .

At the moment I have potential for a repeat.

 

Except for the son who took some risks; if he wins the next round, I am toast.

If I win the next round, he is toast.

It all comes down to today's games.

Go Wisconsin!  Go Duke!  Go BYU!  Go UConn!

March Madness is serious business around here.

Pre-order? Yes.

 

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996)

From Henry Nouwen via the wisdom that resides in the beloved Quiet Life Comment Section (often referred to as the QLCS):

I keep projecting my present condition onto the future. If I feel dark, the future looks dark; if I feel bright, the future looks bright. But who am I to know what life will be like for me tomorrow, next week, next year, or ten years from now? Even more, who and I to know who You will be for me in the year ahead? O Lord, I will not bind You with my own limited and limiting ideas and feelings. You can do so many things with me, things that might seem totally impossible to me. I want at least to remain open to the free movement of your Spirit in my life...O Lord, let me remain free to let you come whenever and however you desire.          Amen.

Bright sadness

Lent is called the season of Bright Sadness, because it is a time of both celebration and mourning.

That about sums up life right now. 

We have had so many things to celebrate lately.  Band gigs, debate victories, a piano recital, another Eagle Scout very close to his wings, more speech and debate excitement this weekend, daffodils blooming, sun occasionally shining, friends visiting, and everyone home and around the table.  Many, many reasons to celebrate.

But woven between all the celebration is a season of struggling.  The kind of struggle that has me flying awake at one in the morning, heart racing and mind frantic.  It takes me a long time to settle back down to sleep,  and it has me praying and breathing, breathing and praying, holding tightly to the ancient prayers that do not depend on my eloquence or my ability to know what I need.  I am incapable of eloquence and knowing right now.

This morning I woke feeling not quite so done in, and I headed out to drop my son off for his college classes.  As an aside:  car problems have ALWAYS figured into the despairing times of our life.  They themselves don't cause despair; they are just the waves erroding the cliffs, the bleach ridding the world of color.  And so when the drive shaft of our son's rather wonky truck was found to be falling out on the road on Sunday morning?  No surprise.  It was more of a, "Of course the drive shaft is there.  That makes sense" moment.

But back to my morning drive.  The car had no gas, and gas costs $3.84 a gallon, and we were pretty far from the gas station, and we were running late.  My response to these facts showed that I was fraying at the edges.  It was not just a need for gas, or even a fear of running out of gas; my response had that decidedly falling off the cliffs of insanity feel to it, a revved up, you never! you always! ring to it.  It showed the infrastructure of my mind for the shaking, weak and weary place that it is.  Fortunately my passenger was merciful; he even pumped the gas, and I could breathe again. 

But I do not like feeling so frail, so vulnerable, so easily rattled.

A few months ago, I visited the local Russian Orthodox Church.  At one point, the congregation lined up and each person had their forehead anointed with oil.  When I got to the front of the line, Fr. James asked me, "Do you know why we anoint your head with oil?  Well, in the scriptures we are called to anoint the sick with oil...and we are all sick, aren't we, Diane?"

And I wept. 

To have someone acknowledge that he knows I am "sick", that it is not a surprise or a disappointment or an inconvenience to him, overwhelmed me. 

The next time I visited, he asked me again if I knew why...and I said, "Yes, but would you please tell me again?"  Like a toddler with their favorite story, I needed to hear that good news one more time.  Pretty please.

So for now, as we are struggling with things that don't come down to circumstances or other people, but sadly come down to our own selves and our lifetime of choices, it is a deep comfort to remember grace.  God's grace, to be given as well as received, not deserved and yet freely given, the grace that slows my heart rate, steadies my breathing, and wills me back to sleep until the morning light. 

I am sick.  Anoint me with oil.

Band mom report: Gig #2

So...Zack is a rock star.

And it sure makes him happy!

Season of Transit.

The rumor on the street is they're legit!

The Friday Clive

There are no accidents. Our guide is Aslan.

~The Silver Chair~

More competition....more success....more excitement

This has been a busy few days for Rex.

No only were there two basketball games on Saturday, but there was a debate tournament on Thursday and Friday. When it rains it pours.

Debate good news:  they had a winning record for the second time, so that means they are going to be debating at NITOC (the National Invitational Tournament Of Champions) in San Diego in May.

Way To Go Rex and Lucy!!

photo courtesy of Susan Keller Photography

It was a great season

Rex's basketball season is now over, thanks to a brutal double-overtime loss.

Drat! 

FYI:  this is the required response.  

I happen to think 2nd place is pretty great, but the company line is "Drat!"

The Friday Clive

 “God lends us a little of His reasoning powers and that is how we think: He puts a little of His love into us and that is how we love one another. When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters: that is, it forms the letters because you are forming them. We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it.”       

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

 

HT:  Olive Branch Books

Proud band mom

The band has a name: Season of Transit.

The band has three "gigs." Here's one:

The band has a Facebook page.

Exciting times!

From her reading stacks to mine

The bookshelves at Mom's are packed with history books, biographies, cookbooks, mysteries and more mysteries, the best kind of books on the Christian life, and much more.

These are the first five choices for my bedside pile.

Thanks for continuing to inspire me, Mama.

*click on the images to see books at amazon.com