News for today's 2018

EUROPE

6:46 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFl7RQD1dtzuOHl2eM7llR1q_3ObVV9_E-gwfGJvbVf0WTl9uJWpEQSyfZ8SBoLCnuI7aZzyHUhKbAurGZptxGbX0L1CeXj607DfY68BVq9eCvkpWGXkaxWMlQiStxa-NHndNUj8jqresE/s1600/5141-european-union-flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFl7RQD1dtzuOHl2eM7llR1q_3ObVV9_E-gwfGJvbVf0WTl9uJWpEQSyfZ8SBoLCnuI7aZzyHUhKbAurGZptxGbX0L1CeXj607DfY68BVq9eCvkpWGXkaxWMlQiStxa-NHndNUj8jqresE/s320/5141-european-union-flag.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 24pt;">EUROPE TURNS ON ITS LEADERS</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">I</span><span style="font-size: large;">t was a bitter weekend for Europe. In elections across the continent, voters expressed displeasure with their political leaders. The results were no surprise and reflected deep concern about economic policy and, especially, the impact of the austerity measures that have been adopted to fight off insolvency.</span></span></div><table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="width: 250px;"> <tbody><tr>  <td style="padding: 0.75pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">While tough choices are necessary, they are unsustainable if they do not enjoy public support. The only question now is how deep the disaffection goes: If voters do not believe that their political system is fair, then the results are likely to shape not just the composition of European governments but their very structure.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The highest-profile election last weekend was the second round of the French presidential ballot, in which Socialist Francois Hollande upset incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr. Hollande will be the first Socialist to occupy the Elysee Palace since Francois Mitterrand's 14-year presidency that ended in 1995. The election was not really close: Mr. Hollande claimed a victory margin of 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent. Mr. Sarkozy conceded defeat 20 minutes after the last poll closed.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The real determinant of the vote was the economy. Unemployment in France tops 10 percent, its highest level in over a decade. Growth is anemic, the trade deficit is growing and the public responded to Mr. Hollande's call to raise taxes on the rich and increase government spending to create more jobs. That posed a stark contrast with the austerity that Mr. Sarkozy backed in tandem with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Greek voters are equally disgusted with their leadership and they showed their contempt in a parliamentary ballot also held last weekend. In that election, New Democracy and PASOK, the two parties that supported the bailouts by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, were hammered, picking up less than 40 percent of the vote between them. They held a strong majority in the previous parliament.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Monday evening, the New Democracy party leadership announced that it was unable to put together a coalition government. Being the largest single party in the legislature with 18 percent of the votes, it had the first opportunity to forge a government. Failing that, the task falls to the leftist Syriza party, which came in second in the vote, and which opposes many of the key planks of the bailout plan. It is reaching out to other parties on the left that share its view on the bailout package.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The rejection of the two mainstream parties and the rise of the fringe on the left and right is as stark a repudiation of the political status quo as can be imagined. Unemployment in Greece is near 22 percent and more layoffs are sure to follow as the EU/IMF austerity package continues to bite.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The problem for the next government in Athens, no matter who leads, is that the country soon needs the next tranche of loans from the IMF and the EU stability fund. But there must be another €11 billion in spending cuts. Failing that, the country is bankrupt.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">And while the prospect of a sovereign default or the Greek departure from the euro is worrisome, more disturbing still is contagion to other European economies like Spain or Italy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">While France and Greece seized the headlines, the anti-austerity mood is spreading. In council elections in Britain held last week, the conservatives were drubbed by Labor. With more than 4,700 seats at stake, Labor gained 823 councilors, the conservatives lost 405 and Lib Dems lost 336.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Conservative politicians dismissed the results as ordinary for midterm elections, a more accurate assessment suggests that it is anger and dismay at government policies that have plunged the country back into recession.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A similar outlook was evident in Italy's local elections, also held on Sunday. In those ballots, center-left and fringe parties also scored gains at the expense of the mainstream parties. With unemployment nearing 10 percent, the full scale of voter unease will be apparent in the second round of voting later this month.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The final piece of evidence are elections in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. There, the ruling Christian Democratic Union won 30.8 percent, its lowest share since 1950. Its coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party, fell to 8.2 percent, about half its turnout in the last ballot. Social Democrats won 30.4 percent; working with its traditional Green Party ally, which came third with 13.2 percent of votes cast, and other left parties, they are likely to form the state government.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">While this is a local election, the results show shrinking support for Chancellor Merkel, also of the CDU, and reduce her party's influence in the upper house of Parliament.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Austerity is taking its toll, not just economically but politically too. Of the 17 governments that use the euro, 11 leaders have been forced from office since the financial crisis began in 2009. The Greek government is likely to return to the polls in a few weeks if a stable coalition cannot be created. France holds parliamentary elections next month.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">If the progressive surge continues, the complexion of French politics will be transformed with the Socialist Party holding the presidency, both houses of Parliament, nearly all regions and two-thirds of French towns.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Mr. Hollande's first order of business will be meeting with Ms. Merkel to find common ground to forge a consensus among Europe's leading powers. Austerity must be softened and a path to renewed growth established.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Rejecting leaders is one thing; the rise of extremist parties across Europe is another. Politicians must now worry whether voters have lost faith in political parties — or the political process.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

EUROPE

EUROPE TURNS ON ITS LEADERS I t was a bitter weekend for Europe. In elections across the continent, voters expressed displeasure with their...

Ten traits of the teacher I would like to be...

9:08 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: small;"></span>  <br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>This is a guest post from Sean Hampton-Cole who teaches Geography to senior students at Crawford College in Lonehill, Johannesburg.  When I read this post on his blog </i><a href="http://ideasoutthere.posterous.com/"><i>http://ideasoutthere.posterous.com</i></a><i> I really liked his thoughts and asked him if I could use it on our SchoolNet blog as a guest post. I have never met Sean, but it must be great being a student in his classes. </i></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I would consider myself a good teacher if I were able to get even most of these right…</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Sets up an atmosphere of trust, openness, supportiveness and collaboration where ideas and opinions can be exchanged without fear of failure or ridicule.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Leads by example by being passionate about the learning experience.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Inspires and nurtures innovation, creativity, critical thinking and individual expression.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Possesses a general knowledge of other fields of study and incorporates this knowledge into lessons, encouraging connections between different fields of knowledge.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Has an original and unique style of teaching (follows a spontaneous, intuitive and original methodology).</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Encourages students to learn experientially by exploring, manipulating, researching, questioning, finding connections, experimenting, thinking, and reflecting.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Knows the importance of fun, humour, personal stories, relaxed / informal / open-ended instruction and games in the classroom.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Makes good use of learner-centred activities in order to get them interested, thinking and innovating.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Treats students with respect, integrity and care.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">☺ Allows students to fail safely.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div></div>

Guest post Inspiration Ten traits of the teacher I would like to be...

This is a guest post from Sean Hampton-Cole who teaches Geography to senior students at Crawford College in Lonehill, Johannesburg. When ...

Oh Hey, I'm Back

7:22 AM Tukiyooo 0

I've been absent from The Big Weight.  I'm also pretty good at stating the obvious.<br /><br />I haven't had a lot to say these days, as I've gained/lost the same +/- 5 lbs.  As I had been stating for several weeks now, I've had an incredibly hard time getting my mind back in the healthy eating game since about February. I eat out of boredom, and that's the bottom line.  BUT, I'm not giving up no matter how many failures I have.  I'm going to lose this weight no matter how many "re-starts" it takes.  <br /><br />I had a brief email exchange with fellow blogger <a href="http://www.nothankstocake.com/" target="_blank">Kelly @ No Thanks to Cake</a>, and she reminded me that she blogs for her, not for others (thank you SO MUCH for your encouragement Kel!).  As much as I agree with this, clearly I was in the mindset of thinking about what my readers would want to see.   Does anyone really want to keep seeing someone fail who had been on quite a roll previously?  That doesn't sound very inspiring.  But The Big Weight, at the end of the day, is for me.  The more I document my journey here, the more beneficial for  me whenever I do have these stumbling blocks along the way.  I can go back and see what worked before and try to apply those methodologies again.  But if I'm not here writing it down, then I don't have a point of reference.  So hey, here I am again... stumbling around aimlessly or not!<br /><br />Rarely am I able to do both things well on my weight loss journey - I can either eat perfectly (which is rare), staying within my PointsPlus every week, OR I can get in my allotted goal for exercise.  As is typically the case, I've been tearing it up at exercise!  During the weekend of April 28, I <i>ran</i>, not walked, <i>RAN</i>, two 5K's!! <br /><br />On Saturday, I attended the Civista Health & Wellness 5K, which caters to both runners and walkers.  I typically try to run some of the 5K, but I've never been able to do the entire thing.  As the race began, I found this lady who was running at a good pace and I thought, "I can do this.  I'm just going to follow her as long as I can."  And so that's what I did.  I just paced myself according to her and I ran the <b>entire </b>time!  I gave myself positive self talk throughout, reminding myself to breathe, relax my shoulders, and to pace myself.  I did <i>so well</i> and I was incredibly proud of myself!  I also let that lady know what an inspiration she was to me at the end - and she was just as grateful for my kind words to her as I was to her pace-setting. <br /><br />Needless to say I was rather sore after that 5K, but I tried to stay active the rest of the day (by going shopping :) ).  I got this suit for a work function.  I am a very anti-black suit person.  That's all women seem to own and I like to go against the grain.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_nIusXljs1fBifeEGfbTVht3DPpvtIYxvc3Y9qj_bHvomFv2AlQcfkier5r3TQnZ8jun0KOmsji_1_uP2GxAaYJB0T5ErNQtLOsYBE5cbtQG-DHPS3sO15KOnDp5vThB5l8pxx7Eqb80/s1600/white+work+suit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_nIusXljs1fBifeEGfbTVht3DPpvtIYxvc3Y9qj_bHvomFv2AlQcfkier5r3TQnZ8jun0KOmsji_1_uP2GxAaYJB0T5ErNQtLOsYBE5cbtQG-DHPS3sO15KOnDp5vThB5l8pxx7Eqb80/s400/white+work+suit.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just call me Dr. Pritt</td></tr></tbody></table>Anyhow, the very next day I had the March of Dimes - March for Babies.  This was a 5K that is geared toward walking (and I raised $225 for it).  As much as I wanted to say "I ran my first two 5Ks every back to back in one weekend!" I knew I had to be reasonable about it.  I was very sore when I woke up Sunday morning, but as we lined up for the walk and the adrenaline started pumping, I knew I wanted to give this run a shot.  So I did, and I went about the same method: set a nice, reasonable pace and kept encouraging myself that I could do it.  I wasn't out for speed, but for simply finishing without stopping.  I'm not gonna lie though, it was tough - I was sore and also the entire last mile of the race was uphill!  BUT, I did it!!!! I ran the entire thing and I had tears in my eyes <strike>walking </strike>running (I just remembered!) back to my car. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5JOCKlZnAEntyePrMq3oy-uCqxGL3hE_PVv8XLTcPrgWqn_TpC3iQBBnvT6sh5HPkLJzdKqdI3z_ZRhDfcJgl1S2z27t9iS-_JtNrU58UrXBp9ljEb7GGKL-BKVSg-zBEr6jKsOjk4A/s1600/march+of+dimes+race.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5JOCKlZnAEntyePrMq3oy-uCqxGL3hE_PVv8XLTcPrgWqn_TpC3iQBBnvT6sh5HPkLJzdKqdI3z_ZRhDfcJgl1S2z27t9iS-_JtNrU58UrXBp9ljEb7GGKL-BKVSg-zBEr6jKsOjk4A/s400/march+of+dimes+race.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">after the March for Babies</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"> <b style="color: #674ea7;">I ran two 5K's the entire way through in 1 weekend!!</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I <i>do </i>have a LOT to be proud of on this weight loss journey!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><iframe bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="200" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N7433.148119.BLOGGEREN/B6533663.591;sz=200x200;ord=[timestamp]?;lid=41000000026530730;pid=48363;usg=AFHzDLswlymL68hwQrdIDtArGhJ6C4BHKQ;adurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.abt.com%252Fproduct%252F48363%252FNikon-25472-.html;pubid=541254;imgsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.abt.com%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2FBDP_Images%2Fbig_d3100.jpg;width=200;height=158" vspace="0" width="200"></iframe></div>

I've been absent from The Big Weight. I'm also pretty good at stating the obvious. I haven't had a lot to say these days, as I&...

Chasing Daylight & finding happiness

11:40 PM Tukiyooo 0

I'm reading a really good book, Chasing Daylight by Gene O'Kelly. Because of this book, I had one of the best days I've had in a very long time. The author, a CEO of a major global company, tells the true story of the last three months of his life. He had inoperable brain cancer. When he's diagnosed, he's told by two top neurologist that he has three months to live. I know this sounds terribly depressing, but it's not. It's one of the most uplifting and moving books I've ever read. It's about how to live your life. It's really making me stop and reassess my life.<br /><br />I took the day off from work and decided I wouldn't feel guilty about it. I had a hectic weekend getting the final paperwork together for my guardianship implementation plan and inventory for my sister. I put the finishing touches on it this morning (it's about 100 copies), had seven copies made at the UPS Store. Had my original notarized and certified mailed to the Alaska Court. Then the four other copies sent to the the four interested parties. I'm so glad that's finished. It was a huge project and has been hanging over my head for two months. It's not due until May 28 so I'm getting it sent in a couple weeks early.<br /><br />Today I decided to take my sister to have her hair done, color and cut. There's a 40% discount on Monday's at the salon for the month of May on Mondays. Since their services are rather pricey that's a great savings. I also had her brows waxed and tinted. She loves getting her hair done (something I personally hate), so she was very happy on the outing.<br /><br />Before I left to pick her up, I read a few chapters of Chasing Daylight. It really put the whole sister thing in a different light. Instead of feeling like it was chore to be with my sister, it felt like a gift.I had a whole different attitude about it. We had a really fun time together. After her hair and brows were done, we went for a walk near her home (the assisted adult family home). It was a spectacular day. Sunshine and 75 degrees. We walked (well, she "wheelchaired") for at least 15 blocks, then turned around and went back to her home. There was a perfect breeze and it was a perfect day. <br /><br />When I came home, I decided I'd do more of the following in my life. These pictures are from this afternoon.<br /><br />Enjoy the cherry blossoms in our front yard. There have been years (and this one almost one of them) that I barely even noticed this amazing tree. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AAfvNstB22wD7MTCkIGkHi4gaT7an2tNwQ2Dtf9zvmVuaHOCG_h-zkR62XcQfQV2jAM3k3c419hzOmPWKg4eASEhFL4cbHV3LcFq8mipKNH4wsLZKEqMt2BrDSI-B6xMFdmCSFFKO_cO/s1600/20120426_192354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AAfvNstB22wD7MTCkIGkHi4gaT7an2tNwQ2Dtf9zvmVuaHOCG_h-zkR62XcQfQV2jAM3k3c419hzOmPWKg4eASEhFL4cbHV3LcFq8mipKNH4wsLZKEqMt2BrDSI-B6xMFdmCSFFKO_cO/s400/20120426_192354.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />Enjoy the perennials that come to life without any help from me. The bleeding heart is so beautiful. Again, there have been years when I saw it from the window but never even stepped outside to appreciate it. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgugB4RhM5R38zW8B5p8QcSXqxrWD8EudDrLcpcgdTidWIfYlPwRmyHQc-LjYzN_hYR-IMk3o_m5I1b3tP3HPmfFFvsSoDkQyWhiKNsZbMq3hoch1WHXbh2GbW_MyhIht3wRwR6-Z5isrMT/s1600/Flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgugB4RhM5R38zW8B5p8QcSXqxrWD8EudDrLcpcgdTidWIfYlPwRmyHQc-LjYzN_hYR-IMk3o_m5I1b3tP3HPmfFFvsSoDkQyWhiKNsZbMq3hoch1WHXbh2GbW_MyhIht3wRwR6-Z5isrMT/s400/Flowers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Look up at the sky, under the umbrella of our huge maple tree. I love this tree.  <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStBOrEsI-UNz0kfi9P3XrcKxG7YqQRIZ-8HKu-PD0Jmf0h3FSe9Tc6BfSDnwDMCTh4QjPJ8adn8ji10fVx-cDRh2d3uXfQCfalYJF-5cDEAzlsEHghKX1cKND11Tldwwu404PVddxKnXL/s1600/Maple+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStBOrEsI-UNz0kfi9P3XrcKxG7YqQRIZ-8HKu-PD0Jmf0h3FSe9Tc6BfSDnwDMCTh4QjPJ8adn8ji10fVx-cDRh2d3uXfQCfalYJF-5cDEAzlsEHghKX1cKND11Tldwwu404PVddxKnXL/s400/Maple+tree.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Spend more time with this guy, Mickey (fondly referred to as Mickey Mouse...get it, a cat named after a mouse). This is the coolest cat I've ever met (but I say that about every pet I've ever had). But guy really is special. Comes when he's called, cuddles when I want to cuddle, and loves to wrap his paws around my ankles when I come home, forcing me to pick him up. Who could resist?<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkFv_irytS9KlMmCRgLmQpIKUtE2e-repIPIRi6Z8jQL8nPxtTLiRcparIuXwvfo_wzBCd15ZOygtlk9alt71kHDgGANOW3Kk592tOpUcACt4VX7P6qzpWvRkjZ8JmYB7mMx83pb2G-fm/s1600/Mickey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkFv_irytS9KlMmCRgLmQpIKUtE2e-repIPIRi6Z8jQL8nPxtTLiRcparIuXwvfo_wzBCd15ZOygtlk9alt71kHDgGANOW3Kk592tOpUcACt4VX7P6qzpWvRkjZ8JmYB7mMx83pb2G-fm/s400/Mickey.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Work less. Yes, I mean that sincerely. This was my cubicle about two weeks ago. Someone put up police tape as a joke because I told them to all stay out of my cube! I had work that had to get done and couldn't talk to anyone! Yes, work less is one of my goals. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSnQfev8dIW6FZGVi75XRe-SH2dKPwpgyS9OzuccEEXPXUFxR2vg_vM3hXIqml4he71GbMi2HSbtkk1e1-h9dupOK25oRXu_CFcYbBO4FWvA44JQWMId_mkOebmwe8l6WIK4jgYjZyXul8/s1600/PoliceTape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSnQfev8dIW6FZGVi75XRe-SH2dKPwpgyS9OzuccEEXPXUFxR2vg_vM3hXIqml4he71GbMi2HSbtkk1e1-h9dupOK25oRXu_CFcYbBO4FWvA44JQWMId_mkOebmwe8l6WIK4jgYjZyXul8/s400/PoliceTape.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />Eat great food. This was my dinner. And yes, that is a small hamburger in the lower left corner. It's grass fed, 1/3 of a pound of beef, and it did taste delicious. I rarely eat beef, but today I wanted beef, so I had beef (soaked the fat out on a paper towel - but really, didn't worry too much about it). There's avocado on the salad and olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dressing. It was my only meal today and it was wonderful. I didn't intend to only eat one meal today. It just happened. Not a big deal.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLjOQCyCnmSi_-1-gNNNMAlr_wIRTUcWDBAtlaO8IMy38KQF8QFzd6WoiGayQL7ZTVZ_oV0KuJK-4t_6Io5UazlhNa0U8qx3gIchyF509a8yg-Wy_4VBG5Tk4Oc1xohYr6eYAPNkN7ArIj/s1600/Salad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLjOQCyCnmSi_-1-gNNNMAlr_wIRTUcWDBAtlaO8IMy38KQF8QFzd6WoiGayQL7ZTVZ_oV0KuJK-4t_6Io5UazlhNa0U8qx3gIchyF509a8yg-Wy_4VBG5Tk4Oc1xohYr6eYAPNkN7ArIj/s400/Salad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Ah, the sun. I love the sun. When it shines here in Western Washington, I want to stop and just appreciate it. We don't get enough of it, and I want to soak it up when it's here.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQpe5hYE5-JhEfPn2TSv8OVhhVFBLZJW79nToyzuUvofy7hfp_Sq2ej9VI2rSW-THziEo6vx8J5mq8Kfi0lJCLRmBB8I1BW58NqoWQj76weE5EPCQMW7lq7uHFsYqehkKSo3LQivrvQ_2/s1600/Sun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQpe5hYE5-JhEfPn2TSv8OVhhVFBLZJW79nToyzuUvofy7hfp_Sq2ej9VI2rSW-THziEo6vx8J5mq8Kfi0lJCLRmBB8I1BW58NqoWQj76weE5EPCQMW7lq7uHFsYqehkKSo3LQivrvQ_2/s400/Sun.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>My bare feet in the cool, moist grass. It felt great! <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzJaIP7jnjF4CZ4XckxYLDUAw8dvQ22C5OVVqSJiV9UbeCoWKEh1FhsKVA__LEKkfmYY7cGSkmo2dU91Axmzml-IF5M6FzmxYfCAzehQpedMGTViL3YhFq_1IaCk0j1mkHfbc-5GhHNLk/s1600/Toes2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzJaIP7jnjF4CZ4XckxYLDUAw8dvQ22C5OVVqSJiV9UbeCoWKEh1FhsKVA__LEKkfmYY7cGSkmo2dU91Axmzml-IF5M6FzmxYfCAzehQpedMGTViL3YhFq_1IaCk0j1mkHfbc-5GhHNLk/s400/Toes2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Read more, and read better quality books. The last three books were stroke books (possible therapies, the details of what happens during a stroke and after, how to prevent a stroke, etc.). They were as depressing as it can get. I need to read books that fill my soul. Chasing Daylight is one of those books. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyfm1A7iqI_ixnNJlSqySHj3v0HpUqXe28R-iG9Hd9C3AEhhdSYw5rQUACmum4hl9w9dw3RhC28N_UASM9A8V61tuv8cWGUB3XKs2AuzTbjmVJEbgWgx8TnzwLevgNITnc1Z8CajS4VFn1/s1600/read+more.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyfm1A7iqI_ixnNJlSqySHj3v0HpUqXe28R-iG9Hd9C3AEhhdSYw5rQUACmum4hl9w9dw3RhC28N_UASM9A8V61tuv8cWGUB3XKs2AuzTbjmVJEbgWgx8TnzwLevgNITnc1Z8CajS4VFn1/s400/read+more.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />Eat fresh, perfect, sweet strawberries. These were incredible strawberries.  <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgtr8n8TFP5qApnXYC_mTSMrZeRh_KMYSHRC3ZmBGpFMiJTCytbae83_00dHcUnuILMMSzGe_mIaMEKh2XPHu9uivzkxB3h-KEeVSchRqp4VNsq8XtsjfM7GNu6usfUzXM6N7P5XC9941/s1600/strawberry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgtr8n8TFP5qApnXYC_mTSMrZeRh_KMYSHRC3ZmBGpFMiJTCytbae83_00dHcUnuILMMSzGe_mIaMEKh2XPHu9uivzkxB3h-KEeVSchRqp4VNsq8XtsjfM7GNu6usfUzXM6N7P5XC9941/s400/strawberry.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />There's a whole life to live. It's not a downer to be alive. My sister isn't a downer. In fact, she's an inspiration. To have gone through what she's gone through in the last seven months and still laugh at herself when she does crazy stuff (her world is a little upside down and backwards), well, she's nothing short of amazing. <br /><br />I think I found my happiness.<br /><br />

Chasing Daylight & finding happiness

I'm reading a really good book, Chasing Daylight by Gene O'Kelly. Because of this book, I had one of the best days I've had in a...

wrap it up

10:02 PM Anonymous 0

A few weeks back I mentioned a <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/04/there-is-pill-for-that.html" target="_blank">brainstorming moment</a> brought to you by the number 4 (aka my 4-year-old daughter Amelia).<br /><br />To recap: my bedroom has a new coat of paint and is ready for some 'flair', Office Space style.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB6zyuStmt69Y4jbjeM9ZTbrfHkUl2S0Ftq1lev250Q_D2gBUcTBwUW8ld9Gx9juOMw4HDZHTN1QrO72pD4ewAR1FbYfyJmajvpnmL4JkuJbgME1edxx9Ojckt9qyockrIWbiq1X9z3xjf/s1600/P4075807.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB6zyuStmt69Y4jbjeM9ZTbrfHkUl2S0Ftq1lev250Q_D2gBUcTBwUW8ld9Gx9juOMw4HDZHTN1QrO72pD4ewAR1FbYfyJmajvpnmL4JkuJbgME1edxx9Ojckt9qyockrIWbiq1X9z3xjf/s640/P4075807.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />I had to start somewhere so I grabbed a mirror I was luke warm on. But when I stepped back to eye my trusty template, I decided some wrapping paper might be that little somethin' somethin' the space needs. Only less carnival-ish wrapping paper.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1Bf7QsgVeZnpAWHbcKTgEpH_qTS8xRIrdqG2XHPIDT5GvppL367mprbmneNq-5QA_bbEeoZPekqX4T42cInVWVeizl_AEpeGw3zO67x2uiKYlAFamr5HfLJL4JhtInr_ivBnLBT32O_Z/s1600/P4226037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1Bf7QsgVeZnpAWHbcKTgEpH_qTS8xRIrdqG2XHPIDT5GvppL367mprbmneNq-5QA_bbEeoZPekqX4T42cInVWVeizl_AEpeGw3zO67x2uiKYlAFamr5HfLJL4JhtInr_ivBnLBT32O_Z/s640/P4226037.JPG" width="422" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For those of you that can't see inside my head, I was thinking something more like this</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdqSEKQDUVtKQlcp3_NINxnYv8s443oWqGJh4yEOGnn4ppKMg8jeEENVEBKlc283AuMUm9qJcESEKl0Ns9hYpOJWjHNo8T-p6nWlzxtJpajc7OVGVJhcWw3z4rMpBZFJ82alZBBC7Dzm7/s1600/6896205649646125.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdqSEKQDUVtKQlcp3_NINxnYv8s443oWqGJh4yEOGnn4ppKMg8jeEENVEBKlc283AuMUm9qJcESEKl0Ns9hYpOJWjHNo8T-p6nWlzxtJpajc7OVGVJhcWw3z4rMpBZFJ82alZBBC7Dzm7/s400/6896205649646125.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://pinterest.com/ladybaum/bedrooms/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Or this. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8e7LAcDt5Pg8banCUnS_cLwPtRhv55Grxk9Qp_XE8z5XVW9xCN8s1DOp_dSOA9lFXlCeWabUc-0yzPOC4gSqixuw-4sLfORyIgDZrupOwp1dbZ65tolq02seBir78NDkA6OEPyKMds-w/s1600/DSC_0032.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="443" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8e7LAcDt5Pg8banCUnS_cLwPtRhv55Grxk9Qp_XE8z5XVW9xCN8s1DOp_dSOA9lFXlCeWabUc-0yzPOC4gSqixuw-4sLfORyIgDZrupOwp1dbZ65tolq02seBir78NDkA6OEPyKMds-w/s640/DSC_0032.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2012/02/chinese-wallpaper-in-acrylic-frames.html" target="_blank">Little Green Notebook</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And yes, I know that those examples feature lovely and possibly pricey wallpaper. But I'm on a budget baby, so I'm going for the look for less option. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I wanted to stick with the blue pallet I had (in my mind) and go for something soft, soothing, dreamy. Don't those words make you feel sleepy and relaxed? Your getting sleepy...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After a long conversation with myself at the art supply store (please tell me you talk to yourself while shopping) I found a winner.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLmc-wEaiBy7ER2OvkhDpuifwtFa4bPEC1OlSbsvUegr1iUGFcOKc_xl3fvOdZ_S_8JoekqyaSZVgGon5rpw08SQGTE_boGg3hEOTPAxHdgTP2KpsX83sh9FGOWhVlaRyqqpwusid3bqb/s1600/459089.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLmc-wEaiBy7ER2OvkhDpuifwtFa4bPEC1OlSbsvUegr1iUGFcOKc_xl3fvOdZ_S_8JoekqyaSZVgGon5rpw08SQGTE_boGg3hEOTPAxHdgTP2KpsX83sh9FGOWhVlaRyqqpwusid3bqb/s640/459089.jpeg" width="452" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dogwood Wrapping Paper via <a href="http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Dogwood-Wrapping-Paper/3650.040/459089.html" target="_blank">Paper Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Lovely Chinoiserie inspired dogwood. With great pops of black. A room is not complete with out a bit of black. (feel free to knit that on a pillow)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To hang the paper I used <a href="http://www.command.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/NACommand/Command/Products/Catalog/?N=5924382&rt=rud" target="_blank">3M Command Poster Strips</a>. I bought the bulk pack and used 8 strips on each sheet.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfEIzMITjaoi7Bd980EWSJseWMh5GvaD80UeY4Ye4TUEarQlBSLEqEGKzIL0Cjxeu9xZu09w0r-OVofPgOoewV0L5aoGP9Izz7e21VKMGW3_-O841IYHm4Wv22mgy0sSJH3FA8C0Q9gqi/s1600/00051131847644_rgb_E.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfEIzMITjaoi7Bd980EWSJseWMh5GvaD80UeY4Ye4TUEarQlBSLEqEGKzIL0Cjxeu9xZu09w0r-OVofPgOoewV0L5aoGP9Izz7e21VKMGW3_-O841IYHm4Wv22mgy0sSJH3FA8C0Q9gqi/s640/00051131847644_rgb_E.jpeg" width="442" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Starting at the top of the wall I positioned the first paper exactly where I wanted it to sit between the window and the other wall. Then, I put the second piece below that, layering it over the first piece just slightly in order to have the pattern flow a bit better. I repeated this until I had covered the wall from ceiling to floor. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The paper is 20" x 30" a sheet and I used 3 pieces for each wall@ $3.50 a sheet. So for just over $20 I had myself two budget friendly panels.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3loHNdqnxuwus_SBUuRiqy74ScQVAU0GOCq8OuDz4O2I02-wvbANLy8vidpgGEVWQ5XjF6KQLkmf4VougPf-tye-7znD-ZBVQBFidE6GjN41DLQHMckkgosefJN7UHa3MnlCn706uVsC8/s1600/P5056313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3loHNdqnxuwus_SBUuRiqy74ScQVAU0GOCq8OuDz4O2I02-wvbANLy8vidpgGEVWQ5XjF6KQLkmf4VougPf-tye-7znD-ZBVQBFidE6GjN41DLQHMckkgosefJN7UHa3MnlCn706uVsC8/s640/P5056313.JPG" width="544" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this picture is how I learned that I needed to overlap the pieces</td></tr></tbody></table><br />A good start, but it needed to be framed to look 'finished'. I thought about getting some wood trim but then immediately thought about needing to prime and paint and cut said trim so that was quickly axed. Instead I went with the <strike>easier</strike> softer option of black grosgrain ribbon. (more black)<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />The command strips were wider than the ribbon so instead I just lightly glued it to the paper...not the wall. Glue + wall = hubs takes glue gun away.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOtprap7pWGYb4lJqBf4x6HDzoGnRA_c5jVkbmksmlvdXASjkhjpE6wwrrjtFnzUuDKEVgwRahzbLWWHP95sWUecIicx1K4RPi6rKjpxGDrxUCearrq-xrc4bfvQbBxrEEpNtzC4fpWBTp/s1600/P5056309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOtprap7pWGYb4lJqBf4x6HDzoGnRA_c5jVkbmksmlvdXASjkhjpE6wwrrjtFnzUuDKEVgwRahzbLWWHP95sWUecIicx1K4RPi6rKjpxGDrxUCearrq-xrc4bfvQbBxrEEpNtzC4fpWBTp/s640/P5056309.JPG" width="422" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the branches don't look black in this picture but I promise they are</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I repeated the same process on the other side and with that, all done.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ-oJNMFyQxgCtrb-xRqS7XtjoMNXwEhTlHaWy3di03YY0lQSlTzJdbDG6vs-XvAddqqTyOA0Hk-ydfMLU4uGNHTViR0xEYUc74jfqbWPSsD9CsuPV5DiH6URNM0kXjrjDEMe9Ysx5BMYS/s1600/P5056314.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ-oJNMFyQxgCtrb-xRqS7XtjoMNXwEhTlHaWy3di03YY0lQSlTzJdbDG6vs-XvAddqqTyOA0Hk-ydfMLU4uGNHTViR0xEYUc74jfqbWPSsD9CsuPV5DiH6URNM0kXjrjDEMe9Ysx5BMYS/s640/P5056314.JPG" width="422" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Both panels took about 45 minutes. It would have been even shorter if I lived in a newer house that had  plum walls. Nothing is level in this joint. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnbSHm-gvPQpq7Eu_v7cFCo8H44NwggGAcxTL15wBpUw4Xd67Wo3E5m5CHpJbRO2z5TFocq8PZHC0wUEkxUUJ26qNwHxdwpTfKWOqDC2ZhkAWkxmMFh8tIs6eEK-jGI-IMV6W13ZEejLGQ/s1600/P5066328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnbSHm-gvPQpq7Eu_v7cFCo8H44NwggGAcxTL15wBpUw4Xd67Wo3E5m5CHpJbRO2z5TFocq8PZHC0wUEkxUUJ26qNwHxdwpTfKWOqDC2ZhkAWkxmMFh8tIs6eEK-jGI-IMV6W13ZEejLGQ/s640/P5066328.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I am pretty smitten with my little panels. And I don't think you would know it was wrapping paper if I hadn't told you. Damn, I shouldn't have told you. Look at my expensive wallpaper!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyWtqUEC1a9adyYIXVJ_H65djXD8D9EK_WhdqtvMJSYKuduwIoF3BXl10Gvgq6WBPjgCnFxXYCubl06XhWe1OXIjywVM25cCI-cySokuo7ubWF43_tE9LNDRnzE79r0V4FlO9h97F_AaE/s1600/P5076333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyWtqUEC1a9adyYIXVJ_H65djXD8D9EK_WhdqtvMJSYKuduwIoF3BXl10Gvgq6WBPjgCnFxXYCubl06XhWe1OXIjywVM25cCI-cySokuo7ubWF43_tE9LNDRnzE79r0V4FlO9h97F_AaE/s640/P5076333.JPG" width="440" /></a></div><br />Can't show you a wider shot of the room yet as there are several more projects going on up in there. (how's that for a tease?!)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXnm3HbESyhwMA2r4PzYI_L-ZcB8dcgame5_R98dKtZN3P2LpfLtoKlGqL_ib8fI8Q4USz7yldJ3sAXYp3jWHZnN-ZSA5Sfx6SU03Ekf861KrpXKwBLm245p3yRNU8RzszbigY_MJ8VpV/s1600/P5076342.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXnm3HbESyhwMA2r4PzYI_L-ZcB8dcgame5_R98dKtZN3P2LpfLtoKlGqL_ib8fI8Q4USz7yldJ3sAXYp3jWHZnN-ZSA5Sfx6SU03Ekf861KrpXKwBLm245p3yRNU8RzszbigY_MJ8VpV/s640/P5076342.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />I am sooo happy with it. I love the look and it gives the room just what I needed to get my groove back. My design groove that is. My other groove is just fine thank you very much.<br /><br />What are you grooving on in your house these days?

wrap it up

A few weeks back I mentioned a brainstorming moment brought to you by the number 4 (aka my 4-year-old daughter Amelia). To recap: my bedroo...

To Be Or Not To Be The Church: A Time To Live And A Time To Die

5:30 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Last Sunday, in a small desert town in Arizona, I delivered a sermon which I imagine would offend some good people I know. It would offend people of good faith, people I respect. So I feel the need to explain myself. A sermon speaks mostly to the heart and that is only half the story. This essay speaks to the head, to explain what lies behind the feelings I shared and why I believe it was important to share them. This post concludes with the sermon. First, the explanation:</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">It is fashionable today to espouse contempt for the institutional Church, to work to dismantle it in the expectation that once the Church is gone a more authentic spirituality, uncontaminated by religion, will spring up. I believe this idea of Christianity after religion, a faith without a faith community, is a pipe dream. The stories, traditions, music, rituals, and symbols of a religion provide the language in which religious experience can be expressed from one person to another and thereby shared. But more than that, it takes such a language (comprised of story, ritual, etc.) to make any experience, including religious experience, coherent and comprehensible. Rene Jules Dubos (A God Within) has made that point more persuasively that I could. But here’s an example:</div><br />I recently saw an art photograph by Robert Park. It was a picture of a waterfall. Pretty enough, but there was something more to it. Park explained what he saw in the picture. Anyone could see three boulders in the lower right corner, a large one, a slightly smaller one, and a substantially smaller one. In these three rocks Park saw a father and mother holding a child. Anyone could see several boulders in the lower left corner. Park saw in them a group of people coming to visit the newborn child. Anyone paying close attention could see in the rock face above the boulders a pattern of indentation in the rock wall behind the water fall. Park saw in it the form of an angel watching the holy scene below.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I submit that Park could not have seen these images without a heart level familiarity with Luke’s Nativity Story; and that such a familiarity does not come from having read it once, but from some connection – even an estranged connection – to a community of people for whom the ritual retelling of that story is a constitutive, group identity forming ritual.</div><br />There are experiences we cannot interpret, process, retain, or even acknowledge without the framework of religious symbols lived out and enacted in community. That is why 19<sup>th</sup> Century Europeans were apt to have visions of the Blessed Virgin but not dancing Dakinis, while Tibetans of the same era saw Dakinis and not Mary. <br /><br />The loss of institution eventually entails the loss of ancient story, the loss of symbols that shape us instead of merely expressing an idea we have made up in our rational minds. Deinstitutionalization is part and parcel of the progressive “disenchantment of the world” to quote Bruno Bettelheim. Whether we sell the buildings and declare “the Church on 2<sup>nd</sup>Avenue dead” matters deeply to the future of the human soul.<br /><br />So why is the institutional Church suspect? First of all the Church is the safest institution to suspect because it is the most dispensable institution in our utilitarian framework. We hate institutions – somewhat rightly, somewhat wrongly – for reasons I will get to momentarily. But most of them we are stuck with. They serve practical functions. Since the rise of industrial capitalism we have measured value by utility, practical utility. That philosopher Joseph Pieper said utilitarian measure of worth is what led to totalitarianism in the 20<sup>th</sup> Century. It has devalued art, music, literature, and above all faith. If we still want faith, we may try to do it on our own, but the Church is not necessary to make our computers get on line, to keep the traffic flowing, or send our benefit checks. We hate government, schools, and Wall Street, but we know we cannot do without them from a utilitarian standpoint. So the chief scapegoat for our anti-institutional ire is the dispensable Church.<br /><br />But what are institutions and why do we despise them? In his magnificent short book, On Thinking Institutionally, Hugh Heclo says (I am paraphrasing simplifying) that institutions are networks of people committed to each other and bound together by<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>shared commitments to values passed down from the past and entrusted to us to bequeath to the future. They are the context of committed relationality – to be distinguished from capricious relationality as endorsed by Fritz Perls’ immortal aphorism, “I am not on this earth to meet your needs. You are not on this earth to meet my needs. If perhaps we find each other, that’s beautiful;” or Glenn Campbell’s “It’s knowing that my sleeping back is rolled up and stashed behind your couch . . . that keeps you ever gentle on my mind”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>--<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>that is to say relationality that is whimsical, shallow, and usually ephemeral. When we institutionalize our relationships by making commitments rooted in a reverent regard for the past and a hope of the future, then we engage in relationships that are inconvenient precisely because they challenge our egos and change us at the deepest level of our being.<br /><br />Why then are we anti-institutional? Current literature sounds as if the Millennials invented suspicion of institutions. But Gen-Xers tell me they are anti-institutional. Baby Boomers went to the barricades against the system. Remember Donovan Leach’s sardonic recitation of the forces of oppression “i.e. the church, i.e., the school, i.e. the government.” Before the Boomers,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>the Beats and the Bikers rejected institutions. De-institutionalization was a watchword of Vatican II in the 60s, Harvey Cox wanted to junk the institutional Church in 1965 (The Secular City), and Bonhoeffer was dreaming of a “religionless Christianity” in the 40s. This is a lament and protest that has been beating for generations. It deserves attention – deeper, more thoughtful attention than it is getting from many of us, even those who are gleefully setting about to take the Church apart.<br /><br />There are psychoanalytic explanations for our ambivalence about institutions in general and the Church in particular. But they are reductionist, unpersuasive to those caught in the ambivalence, and to use those explanations would be to act out the very dehumanizing quality of institutions that people rightly resent. Better to start here: Something has gone grievously wrong with our institutions – all of them – “i.e. the church, i.e., the school, i.e. the government” – for generations. Who is to blame? A lot of people, but I intend to pick on Isaac Newton.<br /><br />Why blame a devout physicist? Because he gave us the mechanistic model of the world. He gave us the culture-shaping paradigm of mechanistic determinism which eventually manifested as behaviorism and then neurological determinism in our understanding of human beings. If we understand each person mechanically, then what are we to think of groups of people? We came to see institutions as power structures, like great industrial machines in which we were cogs. Institutions were themselves dehumanized and became dehumanizing in turn. <br /><br />Which of us does not have stories of our own humanity being co-opted or dismissed by an institution for its over-riding and generally impersonal agenda? The Church has not been an exception. Every time a priest has snapped at a nervous acolyte for handing him or her the wrong piece of cloth, a precious person has been sacrificed to an impersonal institutional agenda. Every time issues of faith and feeling are resolved by parliamentary procedure with motions, seconds, and votes producing winners and losers, that is another. Every time a church leader looks on a visitor and sees a potential pledge unit, Sunday School teacher, or building and grounds chairperson, that is yet another. Every time a church says “We need some young adults. We need more children. We need. . . . We need . . . . We need . . . .” the Church betrays its servant soul and becomes a devourer of human beings.<br /><br />Our institutions are still stuck in that archaic mechanical model – archaic since quantum physics discovered that reality, even physical reality, is at its deepest level interpersonal, interconnected – not mechanically, but organically. The universe is not a machine. People are not machines. And human institutions are not machines – though we have molded them to act as if they were.<br /><br />In their seminal work, Presence: An Exploration Of Profound Change In People, Organizations, And Society, Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski and Flowers say that there is a fundamental difference in a machine and an organism. In a machine the parts are all different from each other and can be replaced by an identical part that was not previously integrated into the machine. But a human cell is a different thing entirely. Each human cell contains the DNA of the whole person. It is not a cog. It contains the whole within each part – rather like a hologram. But the cells are differentiated in function. There are eye cells, hand cells, foot cells (remember Paul). Only malignant cells fail to differentiate. <br /><br />The parts of a human body participate in an organic whole while retaining their individual nature and role. There is something distinctly human about it. It is also rather like the Trinity which the Church is intended to represent. Unity and diversity held in a dynamic tension. What are the implications of this organic view of the world, the person, and the human institution? I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>don’t know. I honestly would not dream of doing more than suggesting a few tentative possibilities:<br /><br />What if the Church did not see its survival as its purpose but rather took seriously the mission of spiritual and social transformation – nurturing and catalyzing, without dominance, force, coercion, or manipulation, the process of growth and creativity in individuals, groups, and other institutions?<br /><br />What if the Church stopped forcing square blocks (people) into the round holes of our institutional needs – we need priest here, a deacon there, a treasurer here, an altar guild worker there. What if instead of manipulating people into the jobs we dreamed up before we met them, we explored the talents and passions of the people and let ourselves be reshaped – organically – to fit them instead of molding them into cogs of the machine?<br /><br />And what if when we do challenge people to grow, to develop new strengths and passions for service, we did not do so to get them to meet an internal institutional-survival need, but rather to address the human needs of the community outside our walls?<br /><br />What I am asking broadly is: should we kill the Church or humanize it? Once we understand what institutions are for – when they are true to their reason for being and have not betrayed it by calcifying into static power structures – then it appears that dismantling our institutions is about as life-giving as most divorces. When a marriage is bad enough, one has to leave it. But does one leave a bad marriage or does one leave marriage itself? There is a vast difference. Marriage itself is a context that deepens love, grounds it, roots it, nourishes it over the years. Just so, the Church – when she is true to her calling – does that for the spiritual bonds among people, spiritual bonds which are essential to truly human life. The Church, for all her failings and all her betrayals of her true nature and purpose, has made my life richer and more human. Hence, this sermon:<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today we celebrate a Confirmation. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In an infant Baptism we celebrate God’s unconditional love.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We don’t get to choose whether God loves us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We don’t get to decide whether God accepts us.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are the beloved children of God <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>-- forgiven, redeemed, treasured and cherished <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>– like or not.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But we do get to decide how to respond to that fact.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Confirmation is how we express that response.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">God invites us to respond to divine grace<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>by joining together in a bond of love,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>by taking our place in the family,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>by accepting our role as fellow ministers in the mission.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today it runs against the grain of our culture to join anything.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If a group of people organize themselves for a common mission,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>if they make commitments to each other,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>we call that an “institution” and we say <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>“Who wants to live in an institution?”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nowadays, everybody’s “spiritual,” whatever that means.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But nobody is “religious,” because being religious<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">           </span>means you have to get mixed up with other people,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>and people are hypocrites, judgmental, superstitious, naive.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">They are too moralistic or not moral enough.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In other words, they are human.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And truly spiritual people are too – well, too spiritual –<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>to dirty their hands with a shared faith<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>or a common mission.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">20 years ago when I was a priest in Georgia,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>everyone belonged to a church <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>whether they believed anything or not.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But today in the American Southwest,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>it takes guts to join a church.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In this place, at this time,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>Confirmation means something <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>– something special, something brave.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today’s lessons are perfect for Confirmation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In Acts, Philip tells the Ethiopian eunuch about Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And the Eunuch says, “Ok I believe. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>Therefore, it follows as the night the day,</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> I want to join the family of believers. Baptize me.” <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A thousand years before Philip, the Psalmist wrote today’s Psalm,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>“My praise is of him in the great assembly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course the Psalmist went out into the country and found God in nature.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course the Psalmist prayed in solitude and found God there.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But instead of keeping his private spirituality all to himself,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>he joined with the family of faith <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>to praise God “in the great assembly.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nearly half a Century after Philip, St. John wrote his famous letter<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>about what it means to belong to a family of faith.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God;. . . <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whoever does not love does not know God . . . . .<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyone who says ‘I love God’ <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>and hates a brother or sister is a liar.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>cannot love God whom they have not seen.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">St. John says it clearly and repeatedly,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>Christian faith is not an idea about God we have in our head.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s a commitment from the heart to God’s children, <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>the human race starting with our family of faith<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">           </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>and spreading out to all people.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The love John means is not an emotion, but a commitment<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>like a marriage vow. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">You will hear those vows today,</span></span><br /><br /> <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">           </span>– to continue in the Apostle’s fellowship, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>the breaking of bread and in the prayers <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>– to seek and serve Christ in all persons<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>loving your neighbor as yourself <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>– to strive for justice and peace among all people <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>and respect the dignity of every human being. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This Christianity isn’t an opinion in our head.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It isn’t a feeling we have when staring at a candle <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>or listening to praise music.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s a way of life – a way of life ordered by a commitment<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">           </span>to other human beings.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is this family of faith we call the Church perfect?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">No. It isn’t perfect. It is human.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Church is flawed, fallible, people stumbling along as best we can,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>but stumbling along together.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In our Gospel lesson Jesus says, <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>“I am the vine and you are the branches.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When we join the family of faith, we graft our souls<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>into the Spirit of Christ. That’s the vine.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We like the vine just fine. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Loving Jesus isn’t hard.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But what about all those other branches?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Those other branches are the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other branches, our fellow Christians,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>may irritate us, may rub us the wrong way.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our fellow Christians may do bad things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">They may embarrass us.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But where do we look for Jesus?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the Bible, yes – but look at those vows again.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Where do we look for Jesus?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“seek and serve Christ in all persons . . . .”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We promise to look deep into each other’s hearts,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>to look deeper than each other’s faults and foibles<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>to see the Christ light glowing like an ember or a tiny flame.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyone who claims to be “spiritual” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">           </span>-- anyone who claims to love God and Jesus,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">           </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>but hates his brother or sister <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>– anyone who is too good, too smart, and too cool<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>to get mixed up with those Church people hasn’t got it.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">St. John says he is a liar.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We seek Christ in the face of our all too human brothers and sisters.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we consider today what it means to be part of this family,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>I want to share three things from my experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I became a Christian again at age 30,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>I had found Jesus in prayer and sacrament.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I didn’t have much use for the other people in the Church<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>but I decided to put up with them <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>since they were part of a package deal.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There’s a saying, “The problem with inviting Christ into your life<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>is that he brings his friends.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The second part of my experience is that I have done <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>a lot of spiritual practices over the years.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have done long and arduous meditations.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have fasted, prayed, and spent weeks on solitude.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But the hardest spiritual practice I have ever done<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>is seeking and serving Christ in my fellow human beings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I did it for the love of Jesus and sometimes it was hard.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But here’s the third thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I sought Christ in those all to human brothers and sisters,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">           </span>that’s where I found him.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Being a part of this all too human institution,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>the Church, the family of God,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>has been the most beautiful, the most meaningful,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>the most truly life-changing experience I have ever had.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This rickety temple has been my home<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>and I love it with all my heart.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So to our newest member, I say welcome.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To those who have been here all along,<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">            </span>I thank you for being Christ to me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>

To Be Or Not To Be The Church: A Time To Live And A Time To Die

Last Sunday, in a small desert town in Arizona, I delivered a sermon which I imagine would offend some good people I know. It would offend p...