- Genuine help.
- Good television.
- Great music.
Coming to the finish line of a wonderful weekend. I really wish it didn't have end. Such a satisfying two+ days and there is much for which to be grateful.
Friday night was Parents' Night Out at my church. When I worked there (during my second tour of duty as Christian Ed Director) we started having Parents' Night Out once a month. For a couple of dollars parents could leave their kids with me and teenagers and go out. We did it from 5:30 until 9:30 when I worked there so that folks could do dinner and a movie if they'd like. After I "retired again", PNO carried on. It's a bit shorter of an evening now but still very popular. And now, after a couple of years off, I'm back, hanging out with our kids once a month on a Friday night. It's an important thing to me. I know how precious time is to moms and dads and it's hard to get away together or alone to decompress or have grown-up conversations sometimes. I'm thankful for the teenagers in my parish who help with childcare for these evenings. They genuinely like being with little children and are so helpful and kind. They know just what to do for each one and truly enjoy one another's company on these evenings as well. It's a joy to be there--a privilege really. Really, really young ones and young almost-adults coming together and parents getting some well-deserved time to themselves.
I played "hooky" from church today. Or as my neighbor puts it, I was a heathen today. After all, I'd been there all night Friday night and then again yesterday morning for the celebration of the life of a woman who was filled with grace and an example of a life well lived for all. I'm so grateful to have known her.
Instead of church I went to Super Soul Sunday. That's Oprah's Sunday morning show that exposes all different types of spiritual living, spiritual authors, directors, people who have found a level of peace in their lives and have the ability to talk about it. The first hour is a rebroadcast of the previous week's interview. That happened to be Rob Bell today. It was followed by an hour with Mark Nepo. Rob Bell has been a favorite author of mine for several years. I used his radical teaching videos, Noomas, in my work with teens, and sometimes adults, at church. I love his way of thinking about God. Read Love Wins. It will change your life. I've had a couple of Mark Nepo's books in my house for a few months now. I've been reading the entries from The Book of Awakening, a daybook with the subtitle, Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have. Here's a bit from today's reading:
Thoughts about continuing to grow, whatever your age and stage. His latest book is called Reduced to Joy. Can you imagine? What if we were all reduced to joy.
This program, Super Soul Sunday, is amazing television. Oprah and her guests live tweet during the broadcast. It's like being in a discussion group at the same time and really enhances the experience of watching. During the commercial breaks there is a lot to read and remark on. I think this is what television and twitter were really created for--to gather groups of people together to learn and share with one another.
From the sublime to the fangirl. The GACTV network produced a show that chronicled Garth Brooks' amazing 3-year run in concert in Las Vegas a few years' back. Garth Brooks was my first adult singer-songwriter crush. I've never seen him perform live because he hasn't really been performing since I came out from under the baggage pile. This show, Garth Brooks: Blame It All On My Roots brought me back to my twenties. He was the first singer-songwriter whose music made me cry. And laugh. And dance when no one was looking. I'd have given a lot to have seen his Vegas act I think. I hope there is film of it somewhere that eventually makes it to market. During this solo, acoustic performance he took the audience through a list of the folks who influenced him from his mom and dad to "the Georges" (Jones and Strait) to James Taylor. It was said there will be a boxed set of these covers and his songs. I really hope so. He's an incredible human being with so much love and talent to share. I'm grateful to have stumbled on this show.
While spending too much time with my television today, I straightened out a year's worth of piled up paperwork in my office and hung some pictures that mean a lot to me in "my room." It's the room where I listen to music, write, try to keep up with bill-paying (not overly successful with that) and do my girl scout thing. It's the room that sort of makes a sort of statement about me. The books, the girl scout stuff, the pictures, the CD's, my music box collection .. all here with comfy chairs, computers for working and keeping in touch and eight, count them, eight windows. I love this space a lot. Tonight I'm watching Christmas movies on Hallmark Channel (confessions about that in another post some day soon). I'm grateful for the time spent nesting in here a bit today. I'm grateful for this space.
I'll probably stay up too late in an effort to keep a little more of this weekend to myself. There's a busy week ahead but for tonight I'm grateful for teens who genuinely care about helping, television that makes me think and music that moves me.
My cup runneth over.
I played "hooky" from church today. Or as my neighbor puts it, I was a heathen today. After all, I'd been there all night Friday night and then again yesterday morning for the celebration of the life of a woman who was filled with grace and an example of a life well lived for all. I'm so grateful to have known her.
Instead of church I went to Super Soul Sunday. That's Oprah's Sunday morning show that exposes all different types of spiritual living, spiritual authors, directors, people who have found a level of peace in their lives and have the ability to talk about it. The first hour is a rebroadcast of the previous week's interview. That happened to be Rob Bell today. It was followed by an hour with Mark Nepo. Rob Bell has been a favorite author of mine for several years. I used his radical teaching videos, Noomas, in my work with teens, and sometimes adults, at church. I love his way of thinking about God. Read Love Wins. It will change your life. I've had a couple of Mark Nepo's books in my house for a few months now. I've been reading the entries from The Book of Awakening, a daybook with the subtitle, Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have. Here's a bit from today's reading:
...we shed our many ways of seeing the world, not that any are false, but that each serves its purpose for a time until we grow and they no longer serve us."
Thoughts about continuing to grow, whatever your age and stage. His latest book is called Reduced to Joy. Can you imagine? What if we were all reduced to joy.
This program, Super Soul Sunday, is amazing television. Oprah and her guests live tweet during the broadcast. It's like being in a discussion group at the same time and really enhances the experience of watching. During the commercial breaks there is a lot to read and remark on. I think this is what television and twitter were really created for--to gather groups of people together to learn and share with one another.
From the sublime to the fangirl. The GACTV network produced a show that chronicled Garth Brooks' amazing 3-year run in concert in Las Vegas a few years' back. Garth Brooks was my first adult singer-songwriter crush. I've never seen him perform live because he hasn't really been performing since I came out from under the baggage pile. This show, Garth Brooks: Blame It All On My Roots brought me back to my twenties. He was the first singer-songwriter whose music made me cry. And laugh. And dance when no one was looking. I'd have given a lot to have seen his Vegas act I think. I hope there is film of it somewhere that eventually makes it to market. During this solo, acoustic performance he took the audience through a list of the folks who influenced him from his mom and dad to "the Georges" (Jones and Strait) to James Taylor. It was said there will be a boxed set of these covers and his songs. I really hope so. He's an incredible human being with so much love and talent to share. I'm grateful to have stumbled on this show.
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| Original artwork by my twitter friends @Lindsay_Gal and @CourtSusanne. Lindsay (Lindsay Gal Designs) did the lyric graphic and Courtney (Painting A Memory--look for her on Etsy) did the portraits. The top one is autographed by the musician. Two autographed CD covers complete this fangirl corner. |
I'll probably stay up too late in an effort to keep a little more of this weekend to myself. There's a busy week ahead but for tonight I'm grateful for teens who genuinely care about helping, television that makes me think and music that moves me.
My cup runneth over.
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