Why celebrate Christmas?

Like many modern Christians, I no longer believe that the historical Jesus was born of a virgin birth, nor that three wise men followed a special star to come and worship a baby born in a manger, etc. I do believe, however, in the idea of incarnation. That God dwells in each of us - without exception, and that for me is a miracle. That you and I, and our most annoying companions on this journey of life, we all have both good and evil in us.

That is why the story of Christmas is resonating with me this year. I can celebrate the story, not because it really happened in history, but because it points to a concept that amazes me.

Harold Clinehens, Jr., says, "The miracle of the Incarnation is not that Jesus comes to the rescue when violence or catatastrophe threatens to overpower us; it is that it is made complete in our transformation. When people like you and I begin to find the will to make deep changes in our lives to fulfill the longing for peace and simplicity and holiness, that is Jesus' life lived in us."

And this passage from Tom Erlich:
" I imagine God as a keeper of to-do lists. Probably several of them. In all likelihood, God's attention wanders over a vast landscape. I don't see God's to-do lists as plans -- activities that must occur and outcomes that must be achieved -- but as desires that engage creation in a dialectic. ...
What was Mary, then? The very center of creation, the pivot on which all history turned, a lens into the entirety of divine history, as an ambitious Church would assert? Or was Mary an item on God's to-do list? "Who will bear this child? Ah, a young girl in Galilee said Yes. Her partner agreed. Now, to whom shall my angels announce this birth?"
The point of such an imagined to-do list isn't to minimize God's intentions, but to get ourselves off the pedestal. God's intentions are so much larger and deeper than anything we can imagine. An entire creation is at stake, not just a small tribe of Hebrews or latter-day Christians.
Rather than rob the Incarnation of its power by portraying it as small enough for us to schedule, ritualize and dogmatize, maybe we should rejoice that we exist on God's to-do list, be glad for those who say Yes to God, and imagine what else is on God's lists."
Back to the dream idea of previous posts....
Merry Christmas!

Dreams

A while ago one of my posts consisted of asking myself, "What is my dream?" I probably didn't explain myself well -why concern myself with my dream? Well, Tom Ehrich states it well in his medication of today. He says, "For it is dreams that truly compel us. Not rules, not laws, not the serene certainties of religion, not work assignments, not contracts, and certainly not compulsion by threat, reward or grim necessity. It is dreams that get us out of bed and into the world, out of isolation and into relationships, out of selfishness and into kindness, and out of despair and into faith. The most wonderful thing a parent can do for a child, or a partner for a loved one, or a manager for an employee, or a friend for a friend, is to encourage dreaming. The unkindest cut is to stifle another's dreams by ignoring or dismissing them."

San Xavier Mission

This is one of Richard's best photos yet!

Good-bye to our tree!!!!

Due to high winds and heavy rains, we lost our giant mesquite tree.

This is the before.

This is the after. How sad...

Southern Arizona landscapes

Mt. Lemmon

View of southern mountain ranges
The end of the world?

Rugged landscape

More rugged landscape


Bisbee

Old mine with active running water

Red hillside

Nashville at Christmas time (a little early)

Strange horses

Hotel fountain in slo mo

Giraffe with cello

Zebra with guitar

Trees changing colors

Hotel

Los Angeles in November

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)

Part of sculpture made of airplane parts

LA Skyline and Disney Center

City Hall (the one you see in all the Dragnet movies)

USC rally in Tucson

Spirit Squad


They start them young!

Tommy Trojan

Thanksgiving for life and death

Today I woke up thinking of death, which of course is the ultimate change in our lives. As often occurs, Tom Erlich once again touched me in his column today. He says, "Things 'pass away'... The new day is good because God is in it, not because we resisted change for another 24 hours. Learning to love life means learning to accept change. For change is the very heartbeat of life. Not a mistake, not our failure to manage, but the throbbing of God's life within us. That's why death isn't to be feared, for God's heartbeat continues. That's why we can rejoice at a new day filled with surprises."
What a wonderful way to view life and death - God's heartbeat continuing on in the universe. The trick is finding solace in that when we do face death...
Love to all this Thanksgiving Day!

It's our Anniversary!

18 years together. What a blessing.

What is my dream?

I spent the Sunday - Wednesday of this week at a conference, and just like many conferences, it started out with an opening session with a guest speaker. And the theme of the keynote speech - pursue your dream. Such a common theme, but this time coincidence led me to think about it. On Monday, I started a 40 day sequence of spiritual development messages from the writings of Joan Chittister, and what was day 2' s message? Immerse Yourself in the Quest for Meaning.... So what is my dream? What am I searching for, and how will I know when I've found it? Do you know what is the deepest longing of your heart? Food for thought.

I really like watching women's soccer

This weekend was sports spectator weekend. Richard and I went on Friday evening to see the women's soccer match between USC and U of A. What fun! I don't think I have even been to a women's soccer match - just watched on TV a couple of times. It was entertaining and fun.

Then yesterday we went to see the women's volleyball match between the same two schools. Even though the two teams were evenly matched and it was exciting up to the end, I guess I'm spoiled by the old USC volleyball team we used to go to see occasionally. This year's team just isn't on the same level. Still entertaining, though.

I need to get out more on the weekends....

Isa - a High School Self Portrait

This portrait was stored at floor level in one of the bedrooms of the house, and shortly after Isa and Luis left for Washington, leaving Porky in our care, we heard Porky whining in the bedroom. He was laying on the floor looking at the portrait! We had to turn it around so he wouldn't be so sad.

Porky's Neighbor and Best Friend

Peekay

More DC Pictures

Macro shot of flower buds in Isa's yard

Another macro shot

Aquarium Coral 1


Yellow fish in aquarium coral

More coral!

Ducks by the lake at the Jefferson MemorialIsa by the lake at the Jefferson Memorial

Bird nesting at the Baltimore Aquarium

Song Girls and Band at Friday Night Rally

Trojan at Friday Night Rally

Forbearance and the Desire for Peace

Forbearance - I haven't used that word in a long, long time - if ever. But as often, Tom Ehrich in On a Journey, has touched me talking about "mutual forbearance". He states, "Mutual forbearance is the heart of a good friendship or long-lasting marriage. It's the glue that allows any human community to function. If we don't grin and bear it when people behave the way they do, we will spend our lives bristling, retaliating and hiding."

And then I turn to Phillip Newell, Christ of the Celts, who talks about the desire for peace, saying, "I believe that [the desire for peace comes] from a place deep in the human soul. It may be a place that we have become distant from. And it may be a place that has become hardened over by the pain and bitterness of life's experiences and divisions. But it is deep in the heart of our being. It does not belong exclusively to the Christian soul or the Muslim soul or the Jewish soul. It belongs to the human soul. And it is cause for great hope."

I think that each of us journeys in life toward death, and during that journey if we can soften up that hardened place in our souls - because all of us have hardened more or less - then we can bring forbearance to light and find a measure of peace.

Richard's visit to Washington and Virginia

Portrait Shot of Isa
USC Band and Song Girls at Friday Night Rally

USC Band and Song Girls Entering Hall

Flower with Fly in Isa's Back Yard (macro shot)

Another Macro Shot of a Bud About Twice the Size of a Head of a Pin

Falls at the Aquarium in Baltimore

Light and Dark Coral

Green Coral

Silouette of the Thomas Jefferson Statue in the Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument

Washington Monument from the Lake

The Perfect Storm!
This is Porky after Isa gave him a bath. He had just come from the groomers, and wallowed in the neighbors' dirt.

Ah the unpredictable and predictable life!

Just when you think you have it all together, then comes the whammy. The mice ate through the dryer and almost caused the house to burn down! The roof needs re-coating. The pool needs a new cover and a grab bar....
Enough of whining! There are plenty of things to be joyful about (and "joyful" is not an exageration - at first I wrote happy and then I said to myself, "That's an understatment!"). Most of all, the wonderful people in my life. Thank you for just being you - each of you!

Richard's coming home!

It'll be so nice to have Richard home again. Coco keeps waiting for him, so if she could write she would be saying the same thing!

Boundaries

Once again, Tom Ehrich's daily column called On a Journey speaks to me deeply. It's about boundaries. He says, "Some [boundaries] are necessary for personal integrity, of course, and safety. But many boundaries simply keep inconvenience and discomfort out. They reinforce a sense of self that isn't as large or loving as God would have us be."
Funny how that concept really fits with my last post to this blog. This must be a lesson that I need to hear over and over again.
Thank you to everyone who shows me where my boundaries are!

Water is life giving

I have taken the liberty of grabbing a portion of the Arizona bishop's blog about the Anglican Lambeth Conference which just finalized in England. This is his quote:
"Joan Chittester, in speaking of the nature of a Rule of Life, tells the story of someone who visited a huge sheep station in South Australia. After driving the vast expanse of the ranch, the visitor asked the rancher, "I see you have herds of livestock all over your ranch, but you have no fences. How do you keep your sheep on the ranch? The rancher responded simply, "We have wells."
I hope my actions today can be life giving, like the wells, and not constricting like fences. Wish me luck!

Life is Preparation for Death

I recently listened to a podcast from Speaking of Faith, which was an interview with Kate Braestrup, Unitarian Universalist minister and chaplain for the Maine Fish and Game Department (I hope I have that agency name right). Among the many things she had to say, one was that all our lives we are preparing for our deaths whether we realize that or not. If one accepts that premise, then the questions often asked and supposedly answered by religion about life after death, etc., become less meaningful. The question is more importantly what are we doing while we live? In Spong's words, are we loving wastefully? God is to be found in the love we show right now, in this life.

It sounds rather trite, but it has profound implications for how we live our lives, especially since your life or my life may be over sooner than expected.

Wedding Dresses Galore

Boy, what an adventure it is to choose a wedding dress! Isa looked beautiful in every single one. She must have tried on 100 dresses, or more! It is really wonderful to be able to share this experience with my daughter - to share her desires and doubts, her excitement and planning.

I must say that she had it all planned out - the try-on sessions were scheduled perfectly, we never lost our sense of humor, and it was all just great. The "sweatshop" building sure was spooky - a building full of halls and doors with no signs on them, just numbers, and a very protective doorwoman at the entrance to the building. We had the whole range, from a tight space shared by several other women trying on gowns, to a spacious all-to-ourselves session with the designers themselves, and everything in between.

New York City has it all. Plus great places to eat in between try-on sessions, and gracious cousins who gave us a place to stay. This was an experience to never be forgotten. I even kept a diary of each day's happenings!

Life goes on

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted anything. So many things have happened recently, some very important to me and many more simply transitory and fleeting. I won't remember most of them a few months from now.
But what I have learned is that I am very grateful for the deep connections to a few people that I have in my life. Those connections bring mostly comfort, sometimes a wake up to reality when they call to my attention my self centeredness or my callous disregard toward them, and sometimes sadness. But what would life be without them?
Every time I walk Coco I listen to the Vespers service recorded by the Catholic nuns who live in the convent on Country Club. At the end of the service they always remember those whose lives are closely linked to them. I am grateful for that because it prompts me to also remember the deep connections I have. Remember in the Hebrew sense - remembering is not just recalling, it is re-living, it is bringing to consciousness and giving meaning to those deep connections today and now. What a gift!

How often do I venture outside self interest?

Tom Ehrich, in his daily "On a Journey" email, often makes me ask myself questions. This is the passage that made me think today.
"The reality, of course, is that any time people gather to deal with life, especially suffering and unfairness, the context is profoundly religious and political. This is where God will be found, "working the crowd" of victims and mercy-givers, helping people to connect despite a world bent on division, helping God's beloved to see the holiness of life and to venture outside self-interest."
Good question for me today. Where is my self interest, and how far outside of that boundary will I dare to go today to realize the holiness of life around me?

Coco in La La Land

Look at that white face!

Life's strange happenings

The other night I had a dream that I had a tumor on my lung and that there was no hope of a cure. Usually I don't remember my dreams for long after awakening, but for some reason I thought of that dream several times the next day.
Then, on the evening of that next day, I got a call from my cousin, to whom I haven't spoken in at least ten years. She told me that her sister, my other cousin, had died of lung cancer over a month ago.
So strange.
My heart goes out to my cousins and my aunt. Grief can be so raw some times.

More photography samples!

The door of a remodeled house in downtown Tucson
La Placita

Parking structure across from La Placita