THE MESSIAH OF DO-OVERS

Not often, but sometimes, life gives you a chance for a do-over - to make up for something you should have gotten right the first time around. And sometimes, if you are really lucky, you get to do it with the same parties involved. Now this happened to me recently and even though it won't go down in the books as a great happening, it was for me a small miraculous blessing. So when these things occur, I look at them as divine intervention (even though my family teases me about divine intervention). And then the thought struck me that Jesus was the master of do-overs. Well, maybe not in those exact terms but He did proclaim this message over and over again. I am sure that if you look at the gospels you will find countless examples of do-overs, especially for Peter - three times in fact!

Grateful Days

My favorite daily e-mails come from a site called Gratefulness.org . Their most recent newsletter had this poem which so beautifully reflected my current hopes for our country and this man who has offered us his leadership in most troubled times.

SONNETS TO ORPHEUS: II, 12 (stanza 1)

Desire change. Be enthusiastic for that flame
in which a thing escapes your grasp
while it makes a glorious display of transformation.
That designing Spirit, the master mind of all things on earth
loves nothing so much in the sweeping movement of the dance
as the turning point.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Br. David Steindl-Rast

No Place Like Home

Dorothy from Oz said it best! No matter where my travels take me, I am always so happy to return to such a beautiful space. Home is where I charge my battery - where I ponder over my rag tag treasures. It's so quiet now with no more children - just an empty swing hanging midwinter filled with snow to bring me so, so many wonderful memories on a brisk chilly day. Never ever any more ordinary days come this way - just grand ones like today!

MOON SHADOWS

Moon shadows have been visiting the past few nights creating a diamond display in the fresh snowfall. I stand in wonder and awe of God’s presence here in the mountains. There is so much I can not understand or figure out, but I know God is here with me at all times. Faith is such a gift!

For those who believe no explanation is necessary, for those who don't none will suffice.~attributed to Joseph Dunninger