No Yah buts

When I was growing up, my Dad would make some statement like "Carol, you need to go bring the cows in from the pasture" and my response would be, "Yah, but...." And he would say, "No yah, buts". That phrase is in the same category with "what if" or "if only" or "I would, but". My former hospital colleague often quoted the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" that patients used to explain or justify certain behaviors. Another one that bugs me is "yes, but let's be realistic about this." That statement can throw cold water on just about any hopeful idea.

In 2009, if I have one resolution (other than once more trying to lose weight!), it is to say "Yes, I can" and "Yes, I will" to life. Barack Obama has inspired millions of us and we must not let go of that hope, that belief in positive change, no matter what!!!

At Christmas, Christians speak of the Light that came into the world, which the darkness cannot put out. That Light is available to and in each of us.

Teresa of Avila said,

"Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which He looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours."

And maybe no light but ours? I want to see that Light, hear, touch, smell, taste, and BE that Light. Shall we try--together?

Happy New Year

The snow falling outside is beautiful--huge flakes--and once again all the world looks pure and clean, at least here in mid-Michigan.

I have to take my dog to the vet this morning, which means fasting. She doesn't understand why she can't have her breakfast and I feel like a big rat! Am hoping we can find out why she's having seizures or at least find something to mitigate them.


It's New Year's Eve. I always wonder about all the hoop-la. For me, it seems more a time for reflection, maybe a bit of melancholy. And then tomorrow? Another new beginning and high hopes.

My most unusual New Year was spent in Los Angeles in 1965-66, when Norris was assigned to cover the MSU Spartans at the Rose Bowl. We had been married just a few months. I had never been on a jet plane, never been further west than Wisconsin, and felt like Cinderella staying in a lovely suite at the Los Angeles Biltmore. In fact, one night we attended a party in the suite where John F. Kennedy et al stayed during the 1960 Democratic convention.

I remember going to Disneyland, meeting Walt Disney, Bill Cosby, and couple of big name media people whose names now escape me. We sat in the official reviewing stand for the Rose Parade. Just amazing! Although sitting there for 3 1/2 hours without a potty break nearly "broke" both of us. :) Arthur Godfrey and Bess Myerson were in the CBS booth just above us. And a few rows down sat Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

On Christmas Day I spoke tearfully to my parents back in Michigan. Christmas in California just didn't feel like Christmas to me. We spent that day with some folks who had a nice car and we toured the greater LA area, visiting Marineland of the Pacific, driving through Hollywood, etc.

On New Year's Eve Norris and I slipped into a little gazebo-like bar behind the Huntington Sheridan Hotel in Pasadena and had a romantic drink together. The smell of flowers hung in the air and at times it seemed we were in paradise. However, reality was very real and we seemed to run each day from one photo shoot to another. It was exhausting and Norris did the work of three people, something he often accomplished. When we arrived home on Jan. 2, we were both very relieved to be here and not quite ready to return to work the next day. But what an opportunity it was and cost us very little.

Well, that was 43 years ago and this New Year's Eve is much different, but not that bad, as Garrison Keillor would say. I am grateful for the year past, the learnings, the adventures, the opportunities for love, the dear ones, both living and dead. May we all plant our feet firmly in the soil, lift our spirits beyond the clouds, and be part of making 2009 a great year. Yes, we can!

On the 4th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

The big question of the day is this: Is Christmas Day the FIRST
day of Christmas or is the 26th the first? If the former, Christmas season would end the day before Epiphany, Jan. 5. If the latter, Epiphany (Jan. 6) would count as the 12th day of Christmas. Now, I realize this may not concern you overly, dear reader, what with everything else there is to be anxious about. But I think it's very important. Especially, since 9.9 Americans out of 10, don't even know that Christmas BEGINS on Christmas Day. including most Christians. :)

Actually, I find it quite artificial trying to fit into the church's calendar when the culture is so counter to it. Yet, as I grow older, the shallowness of much Christmas-ing causes me to prefer following the ancient tradition. Because that tradition puts the emphasis on the birth of Jesus, the Christ. It is calming, sobering, and hopeful. It is not about getting, or even giving, as much as it is about acknowledging and thanking God for the awesome mystery and wonder that surrounds this Jesus baby.

We seem to think the holiday is about us--especially our families and other loved ones. And of course it does flow over into loving acts and gifts. But I look at the children singing in our kids' choirs, at their gorgeous clothing (especially the girls), at their parents or grandparents taking pictures or video of the"performance" as if it really is just about them. (One friend told me of a particular Christmas Eve service at a local church which was preceded by 45 minutes of musical "performing" and continued in the same vein throughout the service, with even the Scripture readings being cut short to have enough time for the performing. The congregation was more audience than participants.)

There is a fine line between singing in praise to God and singing for the aggrandizement of the musicians or the director. In the parish I attend, that line tends (at least with teens and adults) to stay on the side of praise. But with the little ones, not so much. I'm not blaming the children or their leaders. The adults in their lives are so smitten with them they can't even offer themselves to God without being preened over. They are being taught, over and over again, that they are the center of all that is, instead of God.

Well, if today is the 4th day of Christmas, and if my true love was actually here with me, I guess I'd be given 4 calling birds, whatever they are, and asked to stop my rant. So I will! May your Christmas be filled with gratitude to God and joy in offering yourself in service to the One who gives us ALL!

Love, laugh, listen, look, and breathe!

Our Island Home

Forty years ago today the Apollo 8 astronauts sent us this photo of our home and blessed us with words about "In the beginning..."
I remember how bleak the world seemed that year. Our daughter was a toddler and we feared for her future. I guess I still do. Perhaps 'twas ever thus.

The quote below was in a NYTimes column commemorating that significant, humanity-changing event. And even though he speaks as though all humans are men, I think his words are timeless.

“To see the earth as it truly is,” wrote Archibald Macleish on Page A1 of The Times, “small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold — brothers who know now they are truly brothers.”

In the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer there is a phrase in one Eucharistic prayer that speaks of God creating galaxies, suns, moons and "this fragile earth, our island home." It's hard to think of earth as fragile when one is "on" it. But looking at that beautiful little planet from afar, those words become believable.

We Christians believe that the fragile little One who came as God Incarnate is still the Christ of the Cosmos, living, loving, urging us, and all the universe, to turn toward our Creator and come home--to God, to ourselves, to our brothers and sisters, to this island home. Come home to redemption and resurrection to real Life. Come home to compassion, true stewardship, cooperation, acceptance, peace. Now is the time, if there ever was one. Forty years from now, when beings look at earth from space, what will they see?

In these full days, don't forget the One who gives you every breath you take. Breathe. Look. Listen. Laugh. LOVE!!!