Wednesday, August 30, 2006

how they met

as i was dusting tonite, a book that's been tucked into the back corner of my bookcase caught my eye. it's called how they met by nancy cobb. it's an anthology of how famous couples met and when they knew they were in love. i bought it when i was doing bridal consulting years ago. it just got me to wondering about my friends out here in cyberspace. how did you meet your spouse/significant other? what was the moment like when you realized you'd found that one someone to do life with?

i'm looking forward to hearing your stories.

Monday, August 14, 2006

belay on

belay: To secure (a mountain climber, for example) at the end of a length of rope.

when belaying someone, the belayer when ready says "belay on". this command lets the climber know the belayer is ready to keep them safe. the climber responds "on belay" to let the belayer know they've clipped in and are now depending on them for safety.

i have a friend who's going thru a difficult time. i want to help them but i feel helpless to do so. i've offered my prayers and encouragement as i can and while i know prayer is the most important thing, my prayers feel small and meager.

for some reason, i started thinking about belaying. it's so tangible when you're belaying someone. you feel the tension on the rope, you pull out slack or give the climber slack in the rope as requested. it's a tactile way of helping a friend, of keeping them physically safe.

if there's such a thing as an emotional belay, i say to my friend, belay on. i'm here for you. i only wish such a thing could be as tangible as the rope belay.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

fun aunt mindi

one of my favorite things in life is being aunt mindi to my nephews and godchildren. and i've had fun this week being aunt mindi.

i have a godson who'll be 14 in november and we've been iming. tonight i was also iming with his younger sister who's 10 and her best friend. it's been great to connect with them since i don't see them as often as i'd like because they live in ok and i live in ca. it was also kinda fun that when i told them i was coming for a visit in a couple weeks they were excited.

and speaking of that visit, i'm flying thru denver to meet my cousin's 5 yr old daughter and fly with her to nana's in tulsa. she actually calls me her 'fun aunt mindi' and is very excited about us flying together to nana's. i hope she still is when we go thru security in denver and mom & dad stay behind. i plan to have a few special treats to distract her just in case. either way, it'll still be a good trip.

the badge of busyness

i wrote this article for National Network of Youth Ministries monthly newsletter. i saw a link to it on a friend's blog. it was a little surreal. i've written a couple articles now and i'm still startled when i run across them online.

but this one feels a little more vulnerable. as i relooked at it tonite, i realized how much i still need to pay attention to the level of busyness in my life. one thing i've been doing this week is spending time in my hammock swing. i've taken books with me but i end up just thinking, praying and daydreaming. sitting in the swing is something i'm going to try and do more days than not when i'm home as an intentional way of slowing down and just being. feel free to ask me how i'm doing with that.

so how about you? what's something you can do to be intentional about slowing down for at least a few minutes?