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Emerging from Violent Illness

I have been so violently ill lately. A head cold, and little or no voice for about 8 days was followed with some wicked flu as a chaser. I think the worst is over, but I feel so wrung out.

I’ve composed a prayer for this time, and maybe it can be your prayer too, if you feel weak, depleted, or run down. Blessings to you. -Lisa

A Prayer for Help in Time of Weakness

Merciful God,

I lay weak in your hands, subdued by suffering.

My body aches, and I feel the remains of affliction.

Take up your child, dear God, and preserve me.

Renew my strength.

Pour into me your hope, and your power that I may return to health and wellness, in mind and body.

Your gifts are great, oh God.

And your righteousness endures forever.

Your compassion fails not, and we are cared for by your hand.

I love you.

Amen.

In the boat, in the storm…

Tsunami whirlpool, Japan

I saw this shocking photo of a boat being pulled into a whirlpool off the coast of Japan. Like a giant bathtub drain, the water is swirling downward into a crevasse in the ocean, and sucking in life with it. You can see a boat to the left of the whirlpool’s center. It looks a bit like a toy boat. Amazing. Awing. Terrifying. (Click the photo for enlargement).

I’ve been thinking about storms lately, as many have been, and I was drawn in by the visual of Jesus in the storm. It’s the story where he’s sleeping through one, and probably narcolepsy wasn’t a factor. But I must admit, sometimes people who sleep this soundly annoy me.

On a personal level, in my devotional practices, I was struck to sense the invitation of God to not stand in the boat, but to sit, and be still next to him. He does not calm every storm, but if I let him, he can calm me. Either way, standing up in the boat won’t help. The waves look bigger and more deadly from there. Sometimes we have to ride out the storms, and remember to not waste energy futilely by combating them.

Are you in a storm right now?
Please share some of your thoughts, today.

Sugar is my poison

The past week has been a doozie. On Fat Tuesday, no less, I decided to stop having carbohydrates. This includes sugars and starches. This is no easy task. Apparently, I have a bit of an addiction. I’ve never had a good grasp on cutting out sugar for more than 2-3 days.

This week, I also got a head cold, and lost my voice, and hardly have it back now, six days later. And I’ll just stop there, with my woes, because it’ll get too complicated.

At first I felt crazy without my best friend, sugar, and kept craving sweet things: candy, chocolate, cake, pie, bread, you name it. But after 3 days it’s like my body adjusted. I put a tad of frosting in my mouth from my son’s cake, and it wasn’t what I was hoping for. Very surprising.

And I’ve lost 5 lbs. It’s not easy to cut out sugar. Sugar is added to bread, meats, and plenty of things you don’t expect. Plus, I love rice, pasta, and bread…that’s all broken down into sugar….like BOOM. For me, sugar seems to hijack my metabolism and make it really difficult to shed extra pounds. I’ve gotten rounder in the last two years. Too round.

CRAZY STAT I LEARNED
In the U.S. each week, each person ingest 5 pounds of sugar (from various sources). Just read that again. For most of us, it makes us feel awesome for a short bit, with a sugar spike, and then there is a crash type of feeling later. This was worth the ride for me. But I’ve noticed having eggs and other proteins for breakfast keeps me satisfied and stable for about 4 hours, compared with 2 if I have juice or cereal or pancakes at breakfast.

BUT I LOVE SUGAR. The food fantasies were crazy.

This is the season of Lent. I didn’t give up sugar for lent. I haven’t given anything up for lent. I am trying to be more spiritually aware, and this time without sugar during what is also the season of lent, has been the one-two punch for me to stare my cravings in the eye, and not back down. I see that this sweet delight is a kind of poison for me on several levels. It’s sobering.

How does sugar play out in you life?
What sugary things do you like?
Could you give them up? Let Me Know.

Just a Narrow Strip

Tarns Hows, Lake Cumbria, UK

Reflection

When I used the picture you see here in the header section of this blog, it seemed like such a shame to crop it down to fit the format. The expanse of the photograph and the beauty of the scene is diminished when most of it is hacked out. Obviously.

I felt I had to give this scene of Cumbria Lake full exposure. So, here you are.

And…

This limited view concept makes sense on a larger scale too. Our default view is only a partial view. How easy it is to forget that.

We don’t know much about what lies off our perspective. We only know (or think we know), what we can visualize and grasp. Even just that bit may be mysterious or confusing.

An ugly scene or situation is only seen, in part. Our past is hindsight, at best, and our future is unknown. Unseen. What we have before us is a mere strip of the whole picture. The Big Picture.

I believe the justice and goodness of God will one day bring all things into better view. If we judge Reality by only what we’ve experienced, and seen first hand, we settle for just a small strip, and not the panorama. the panorama awaits. Hang on. It gets better.

Have you realized the smallness of your vantage point?
What things, in your circumstances or life, are likely much bigger than can be seen right now?

LENT 411 (+ link to great resource)

by Michael Arndt (click for link)

You don’t have to be catholic to get a lot out of this early spring season of lent. this time can be a perfect way to prepare your heart for the celebration that is basically the Superbowl event for Christians…Resurrection Sunday (a.k.a. Easter).

Thom Turner says that the focus of Lent is fourfold:
 Fasting
 Prayer
 Repentance
 Giving

Thom writes at the “blog-like” Everyday Liturgy site, and has made an excellent guide for Lent (click that) that I found very good indeed. Thom is an adjunct professor of English at Nyack College and the Senior Editor, forLiterary Arts of GENERATE Magazine, and is also a lay leader at The Plant, a church community in Mahwah, NJ.

I hope this helps your journey.
-Lisa