Thought #3 Try to share their poverty

It is easy enough to tell the poor to accept their poverty as God's will when you yourself have warm clothes and plenty of food and medical care and a roof over your head and no worry about the rent. But if you want them to believe you--try to share some of their poverty and see if you can accept it as God's will yourself!
-Thomas Merton

Rags to Riches

This past week I had the chance to go to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Churchwide (National) Assembly here near Walt Disney World.  I had the pleasure to see some friends from school days long ago, and some new friends from Facebook.  I missed a few too.  We all said we were doing well, but I lied, and maybe they did too.

There we stood in the richness of polished marble floors, rich vestments and altarware made just for the occasion, georgeous fabric art that made me feel so inspired and copies of icons that reminded us we were citizens of another realm, and all these riches belong to The Other.  I am inspired to design some quilt squares with blessings attached!  Oh to belong to a church that knows how to enjoy the beauty of art and music that has stood and will stand the test of time.

This quote from Merton reminded me that we are also called to barefooted living among the poorest, too.  It was easy to pass approval for programs to fight malaria, or stop bullying, but Merton reminded me of Francis of Assisi, and of Jesus who were living in rags, and sharing those.

I ask myself, rich as I am in the midst of my poverty, how do I share now so that when I get that paying job, and family members get work we will not indulge ourselves but give to others.  So I bought a meal to share with the too thin woman on the median, and I will hire someone to paint more of these house quilts with a blessing so I can have them in stock.  Got to build this new start of a business, hire the unemployed, reach out and touch someone, let the blessings flow, build communities of trust and care,  these will last!  This is true rags to riches.

Thought #2

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
~Philippians 4:8

Think on the things that are positive, Paul writes, the pure and lovely, admireable, excellent and praiseworthy.  Easier said than done, I think in my lower moments when I ask, myself what is right?   Certainly the first things I think about that are "lovely" are loons upon a northern lake, dancing on the surface of sparkling waters, with the scent of pine on the warm air.  That's where I went when I was laboring to deliver my daughter (Happy #18 on the 18th!).  Now when I am wondering what in the world is happening, I recall this verse used in my sorority days. 

What are the beautiful things?  Children playing together and laughing?  The cats chasing a feather around, raindrops on roses in a parched land, rational voices discussing the needs and coming to agreement, no one bullied.  (So beautiful!).  Each positive all the more appreciated and enjoyed because of the constrast with the possibilities that the world could produce.   Contrast health happy children in a safe society, versus children hungry and sick in a theater of war unprotected.  Rain to a thirsty land, water running in trickles from up stream spreading to all who need rather than the stopped, stagnant, polluted, or piped away element.

The quilt square that comes to mind for this thought is a contrast of many threads and colors, balanced and working together. This is called a Hindu kolam, the play together of contrasts.

Thought #1

Do you have dreams, thoughts that float around and maybe don't seem to connect or make any sense in the big scheme of things?   That has been happening to me, all my life.   I heard a call to ministry as a tween and followed that passionately.  As one high school classmate wrote, my "calling was quite clear, she traipsed off to the east."   I studied for a religious career, then came to a seemingly dead end.   So I studied family systems to begin some type of counseling, and ended up making my living as a artist and business woman for a while.  Later I was surprised by an offer to move hundreds of miles from family and it ended with my ordination as a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  After years in the pastorate I am studying as a counselor and have started to have dreams about putting it all together. 

Faith, I told my daughter today, is not about thoughts as in beliefs, but rather about thoughts that are creative and trust that the creative forces would come together to make sense of the world, and our lives.  It is about stepping out when we cannot see the road ahead, but we hear the song on the wind and we follow.

The song on the wind has been coming to my ear for years but recently there is an interesting harmonization.  Conversations have come together with pieces like a quilt.  Craftspersons and artisans have shown me some of the potential to micro businesses.  In this time of joblessness that was significant.  Over dinners I heard dreams of others to help the outcasts of our society.  Bits and Pieces coming together.

Right now I volunteer as a chaplain and bereavement counselor for a hospice.  People at the end of life get rid of the trappings and get down to basics, dreams unfulfilled, regrets and guilt, hopes and dreams.  We cannot put things off.  Now is the moment we have.  It reminds me of an old Finnish proverb "Yesterday is a memory, Tomorrow a dream, Today is a gift, that is why we call it the Present."  [I know it is probably not just Finnish.]

My present is planning for my dream.  I am looking for expertise, assistance, donations of all sorts.

Soon I will be helping the felons and others make a living though a project (yet to be named) that will have a Katie's Kitchen and Luther's Table, a retreat/Acts 2 community, and a small manufacturing business called House Quilts [(TM) (c) pending] where we make the smaller version of the "barn quilt" and custom make, or production create 2'x2', 4'x4' or the full sized 8'x8' building decorations popular in about 25 states.

This is a non-profit venture, for reaching out and caring.  It is time for my work of generativity (had to add a little psychology there).