The week in review 7

Stillness: Recalling God's Presence
I felt the presence of God while visiting Pastor Steve this morning. I assumed I would be the recipient of more grace than I was doling out, him being a pastor and all, but he really did set my mind and spirit at ease about his condition and about his location in the place of God. Twice this week = Bob being the first- I have come across people in terrible situations - brain tumor, spot on kidney - that would have put some people in a tail spin, whereas these men of God saw this as an opportunity to proclaim their complete faith in and love for God, come what may. Very cool number, what God does to you.


Gratitude: Expressing Thankfulness
I'm thankful for my Sunday night group, who took a great small group idea - we are traditional-loving Lutherans - and have created a mission to get good enough at niche worship services - Holden Evening Prayer, Chicago Folk, Taize, Compline, Lutheran Evening Worship - to be able to offer that to the community. It won't happen over night and it won't happen without practice, but it will happen. 

Reflection: Looking Back on Your Day
Not the day off I planned, but a blessed day nevertheless. 
Planned day: wake up leisurely, read the paper, watch a movie in the morning, read ahead for next week's class assignments, have a nice dinner and go play frisbee at night.
Actual day: woke up at 8 in a panic, remembering that this is the last day to get Maeve's loan application in. We filled out all the forms this week, but we hadn't heard definitively that all the paperwork was in correctly. The email said that while she had my loan application, she had not yet received verification that Maeve had filled out the counseling session, which is required. Our 8 am is their 4 pm, so I filled out Maeve's counseling session pronto, and our friend in the financial aid office kept hitting the "refresh" button, and her status kept coming back "submitted," but not "accepted." In a panic, I had Maeve rush down to the office (5 minutes after her last final of the year - yay Maeve!), for I have no idea what reason - to cheer on the computer?. 10 minutes after our friend in the financial office was supposed to be off work - and off for a week's vacation - the refresh came back accepted. Now, if it didn't come back "accepted," Maeve would not have had enough money for the last bit of tuition, would not have had any money as downpayment on her apartment, and wouldn't have any money to get back to England. Just under the wire.
It's 9 am.
Also in that morning email is a note from Pastor Steve's wife saying he was taken to the emergency room and that his tests were not good; and that his children were gathering around him. I told Pastor Brian, who went in on his day off too; I missed him by 5 minutes, but had a great time (see above). Another of our members was in recovery from surgery at a different hospital, so I thought I'd pop in and have a quick prayer with her; she was in recovery for two hours, so I didn't get home until 2:15, but I had a lovely chat with her church member care giver in the waiting room. Bloom where you're planted, even when watching Say Yes to the Dress.
Finally home, we talk to Maeve and set about the beginning of our major back yard project (see below) and I'm too tired to go play frisbee. We sit in the hot tub and crash.

Sorrow: Asking for Forgiveness
My wife keeps planting trees, I keep killing them. I can't tell you the number of times I've mowed over baby plants, weed whacked blooming plants and stepped on thriving ground cover, but I can tell you the most recent one - today. We severely cut back our 25 foot Japanese maple with a chain saw (Roh-roh-roh!) and one of the major branches fell on our fence. So my job was to turn the big branches into little branches. So I let the wood chips fly - not knowing (or forgetting) that there was a sapling Japanese maple right in the middle of all the branches. Bren was even thinking - well, we're cutting down the diseased and dying maple, but at least the new one will be there during the lean years. I'm a murderer.

Hopefulness: Resolving to Grow
I'm hopeful that I will be able to create a Lutheran curriculum for missional communities. Give me time, give me wisdom, give me strength.