Just M.E.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Saturday night on the Plains...

We spent Saturday night with these guys...AMAZING!

(Chris, Barnard, Achilles, Chuck, and Caleb)

CANADIAN BRASS at TTU

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Friday Night Sister Fun

First Friday Art Trail at the LHUCA

Soaking it all up...

at La Diosa

with the Boys in the Band

and JOY!

STILL LIFE: "WW Bounty"

(It takes a lot of food to lose weight!)

Thursday, February 4, 2016

The Guilt Sisters: Shoulda, Coulda, and Woulda

I hesitate to write about this,

lest anyone be concerned for my safety,

or my current state of mindfulness.

There is such a "silver lining", however, that I shall

throw caution to the wind and proceed with the story.

I always lock my doors.

I just do.

Usually I enter through the garage, and I always secure

the garage entry door as soon as I make my way into my apartment foyer.

I rarely use my front door to enter or exit.

So, with that said, here's the deal:

I left my front door unlocked from Saturday until last night.

That's five days...and five nights.

I know. Bad girl!

Shoulda locked that door.

Shoulda known that door was unlocked.

Shoulda never let that door stay unlocked for five days.

So, what did I do when I realized it was unlocked?

I LOCKED IT, for goodness sake!!

(I may be forgetful, but I'm NOT stupid!)

"But,"

shout the Guilt Sisters in one accord,

"that still doesn't take care of what you should have known

and should have done five days ago!"

(The backstory is that I had a plumbing problem last Saturday,

and Ned, the handyman, came and fixed it.

He entered and exited via the front door, and...

well you know the rest of the story.

I know.

I shoulda walked downstairs with him when he left;

then I coulda and woulda locked that door.)

Okay, okay!!

Now that I'm safe again...all locked up nice and tight...

what's the point?

How many times do I/we blame and shame ourselves for things we

shoulda, coulda, woulda done differently

if only...we had!

What I realized in a whole new "hit-me-in-the-face" kind of way

was that because I didn't know the door was unlocked,

I lived as if it were.

I believed I was safe, and so I lived that way.

It was an unfortunate error on my part,

but it wasn't intentional,

and I had absolutely no awareness of it

until...I did.

We live out our days based on what we believe to be true.

That's all we've got.

When information surfaces at a later time

that gives us reason to believe differently, then, and only then

can we adjust, adapt, and recalculate based on the new information.

But to blame and shame ourselves for information we did not have,

well, that is dis-grace-ful!

I so easily forgave myself for the unlocked door; at least,

it wasn't life or death (fortunately!).

I was just grateful that I had the new information

and could act on it.

Click. Click.

I am learning to do that with other situations in my life,

situations in my past where I was doing the best I knew how to do

with the information I had at the time.

When, with time, new information surfaces,

information that might have changed my beliefs at the time,

I can feel so terribly bad that I didn't have that information earlier

and was even acting as if I didn't have it.

Well, for Goodness Sake,
I didn't!!

"God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference."

There was so much I could not change, even when I knew it.

But, I could never change what I did not know.

Now, that is grace-ful.

Thanks be to God!

(for the parable of the unlocked door...)

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 74 verse 16a:

"Yours is the day, yours also the night."

The psalmist who penned these words was writing from the ashes of the destroyed sanctuary. National calamity had befallen the nation. Everything had been torn down, profaned, and burned. Everyone was wondering if God had forgotten them, if the LORD had cast them off forever (verse 1).

It is into this time of desolation and grief that the psalmist's words defiantly speak: "Yours is the day, yours also the night."

It may be whistling in the dark; but it's more than that also. This is what true faith looks like.

Last night in a class at our church we finished watching the film "The Mission", starring Jeremy Irons and Robert DeNiro as two 18th century Jesuit priests serving a mission to the native peoples in South America. At the end of the film, the mission is attacked by colonial powers, all is destroyed, and the two Jesuits and most of the villagers are killed. It is a heavy and disturbing end. But then, just before the conclusion of the film a young village boy takes up and begins carrying the cross of one of the fallen Jesuits.

The final words into the film just before the credits are from the beginning of the Gospel of St John,

"The light shines in the darkness

and the darkness cannot overcome it."

Heartache, loss, calamity and devastation cannot be avoided in this

mission of living.

The experience of the darkness a part of the journey --

half of the journey.

And yet, the darkness too belongs to God. It too is tamed by God. In the end, it too will be swallowed up by God.

The light within us is most manifest in the darkness; the life we bear is most meaningful in the shadow of death. To God belongs the day, and also the night; and to God belongs the children of light even in the darkest of midnight hours.

From 2nd Thoughts by Ryon Price, Pastor of 2nd Baptist

"The Mission" is a film that Rob and I re-watched every few years,

and each time, we were moved to silence at the end,

listening to the music as the credits rolled,

not a word spoken.

It has been good to be part of this 2nd B class

these past two Wednesday nights,

to remember those shared, beyond-words times with Rob,

and to once again be struck by the images

of this powerful promise.

Light, even in the darkest of the dark!