faith fridays: on the need to kneel

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephpetepickle/3656752841/

For today's "Faith Fridays" post, I attribute inspiration to a reflection I read on the blog of memoirist Heather King over at Shirt of Flame titled, "Why I Kneel."

To be honest, I hadn't thought too deeply about my own need to kneel until I read Heather's post. Funny how we writers inspire one another in that way, bringing to the fore that which had been buried or at least set aside. I found the post moving and the conversation that ensued in the aftermath interesting. People feel strongly about whether to kneel in worship and what exactly it signifies.

What I've known instinctively for some time now is that I was made to kneel. There is something within me that knows when the time is right for this stance. Certain times and situations beg that I surrender, let go of my upright stance and make way for something greater than my own power, to acknowledge that I am the created, and God is the Creator.

Heather says this about kneeling:

"The very fact that we’re praying means we’re already receiving what our hearts long for. To open ourselves to reality. To move away from isolation and toward communion. To die to self-reliance and come alive in wonder and mystery. Acknowledging our vulnerability, we’re in solidarity with every other sick, suffering, broken person in the world. With our heads bowed, our ears are closer to our hearts. On our knees, we’re the same height as children."

Wow. That just struck me as being so vividly what's on my own heart. I especially like the last two lines, about our ears being closer to our hearts, and being the same height as children.

I think of how many times I have bent down to listen more carefully to what my children have to say, to meet them on their level. How many times has God done this for me, His beloved? How many zillions of times has God come down to my level to meet me where I am at?

The more enamored with God I become, the more I desire to surrender and make way for a will other than my own, the more I am inclined to kneel when the time is appropriate.

It can happen very spontaneously, like the time I went to visit my friend dying of cancer. I hadn't seen her in two weeks, and in that time, things had changed drastically. The sight of her rapidly decomposing body literally brought me to my knees. Seeing her lying on the bed barely breathing, I found it impossible to stay standing. I literally dropped to my knees right then and there, in front of a few others who had come to say goodbye. I was powerless over the sight of my friend and I submitted, through my body, to what was happening. It was a posture of shock, sadness, surrender, love.

Sometimes, standing proves impossible. The knees buckle, and one is as low as one can be.

Though not all may agree, our diocese encourages we give a short bow before receiving the Eucharist, and since incorporating this into my reception of the Lord at Mass, I have felt the power of the life-giving bread more acutely. I bow because I desire it. It feels natural and right in that circumstance. It has helped me be more mindful of what I am doing and why.

We speak through our words, but we speak through our bodies, too. My sense is that we were made to kneel, and when it is done out of eager obedience, in glad surrender, it can be a posture of love.

Just as I've bent my knees to listen better to my children, so I desire to bend my knees to listen better to my God.

Q4U: How does body posture affect/enhance the way you worship?

writing wednesdays: writer spotlight christina capecchi

If you've ever wondered what freelance writers really think about their work, or how they work, or why they're freelance writers in the first place, I invite you to meet a young but very accomplished writer/editor/columnist and friend, Christina Capecchi.

She's a Minnesota gal who's really got something sweet going in her work. While you're over there, let her know you've stopped by.

Enjoy!

PGM

mama mondays: fall colors from camp wilderness

Green

Beige

Brown

White

Gray

Purple

Red

Pink Plus

Blue

Orange and Yellow

Q4U: What are your favorite fall colors?

faith fridays: 7 quick takes friday (vol. 29)

Welcome back to “7 Quick Takes Friday,” an occasional feature that offers a glimpse of where my thoughts have been lately.

-1-

QUOTE WORTH SHARING: I heard this on Catholic radio this morning and it was one of those quotes that grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

"When we are whom we are called to be, we will set the world ablaze." -- St. Catherine of Siena

I mean, isn't this what our whole existence here on earth is about? To discover whom we are called to be, and then to go about being that? I really believe that it is. And every time I hit upon that thing that I'm here to do, I feel my very soul come alive, as if it is igniting from within.

Here are a few moments from my week in which my heart lit up for a bit:

-2-

SACAGAWEA: Never mind the controversy on how her name is spelled and pronounced. "Bird Woman" is my favorite of the Lewis & Clark voyagers. And I was thrilled to learn my youngest daughter had garnered the part of Sacagawea (Hidatsu spelling) in her school musical earlier this week.

I lent her my beaded pendant hair tie, the same one I wore as a boys' basketball cheerleader my junior year of high school at the Montana Class B basketball championships.

Peek at her performance at the bottom of this post.

-3-

BAD HAIR DAY: If you didn't read about my son's bad hair day earlier this week, you can read it here (hopefully after you've finished the rest of these quick takes!).

-4-

FIELD TRIP: On Monday, the same son mentioned above set off for his kindergarten fall field trip. A friend and I, another kindergarten mother, followed behind in our van.

Destination:

We were welcomed by:

The kids had a great time running through the hay-bale maze:

And peeking through holes purposefully placed:

And riding on a horse-driven rig to look at spooky displays along the river:

And looking through what was left of the fall pumpkins in the patch. It's not surprising that some of them were rotting:

The snake zucchini was interesting, too:

It ended with each child getting to pick a small pumpkin to bring home with them:

-5-

WHAT I'M READING:

-6-

NEW BABY: Beth and I went to my friend's house yesterday to meet her new granddaughter. There's nothing quite like new life!

-7-

CAMP WILDERNESS BOUND: Our family is heading to our annual fall trip to a Boy Scout Camp near Park Rapids, Minn., later, where we'll undoubtedly hear plenty of ghost stories and camp songs and enjoy a few nature hikes with our college friends.

For more "quick takes," visit Jennifer @ Conversion Diary!

Q4U: With whom do you join forces to set the world ablaze?

writing wednesdays: forum column october 2010: is technology a parent's friend or foe?

It's Wednesday, Writing Wednesday. Find my most recent Forum parenting column, in which I grapple with straddling the technological fence, over at Peace Garden Writer today.

Here's a hint of what you'll find. Remember this:

Finally, before you head over there, try cracking this code: C u l8r!

PGM

04ad0580-2ce4-4993-a380-0c9eda41a0ff

1.03.01

mama mondays: playing with scissors

Why my 5-year-old didn't go to school Friday morning:



All's well that ends well...


I had some accompanying text but decided this post really didn't require too many words.

If you came for words, though, you'll find some associated with this link. A writer friend of mine who writes a column for The Criterion archdiocesan newspaper in Indiana mentioned Peace Garden Mama in her piece last month. I thought it was fun she included some of my thoughts in her column.

Hope you have a Magnificent Monday!

PGM

3d166411-098f-4966-96b3-7125a4823d15

1.03.01

faith fridays: the magic beanstalk

Once upon a time, in a minivan far away, there was a boy, age seven, who wasn't having his best school year, but not his worst one either. Everything was just so-so. Boring is one of the words he would use to describe most of his days.

But this isn't really his story. It's the story of a bean that he planted in a cut-up milk cartoon one day at school, and how he brought it to his mother after school, in the minivan, and said, "Here's my bean plant. It's kinda dumb."

His mother looked at the beanstalk. She didn't think it was dumb at all, though it did look pretty scrawny. It would have been so easy for her to toss it out, along with the myriad papers that had come home from school each week; the ones that get a quick once-over and are then sent to the refuse pile, along with the other worksheets that have outworn their usefulness.

She put the plant in one of the cup holders inside the minivan, not sure what really should be done about it. She noticed some old water in a water bottle from two soccer games ago and thought, "Why not?" So she watered the bean plant. "You never know -- something might happen," she said to herself. But truthfully, she had very few expectations, and didn't really expect the plant to live.

The mom forgot about the tiny, shriveled beanstalk for a few days. Life went on, busy as ever, and many things were passed around in that van, from soccer shoes and lollipops from the bank to gym bags and more papers. The plant had mostly been forgotten about. But then, nearly by accident, she happened to look down at it one afternoon while looking for a pen, and she noticed that that shriveled up plant had changed. It now had a spark of life within it, and it had grown. Despite its imperfect environment of a noisy, busy minivan, the beanstalk seemed to be saying to her, "Look, I'm not dead. I'm not dead at all. I'm alive!"


The mother smiled. She found some more old water from another container in the van. She watered the beanstalk again. The next day, it had grown even higher, and the bend in its middle had all but disappeared. The bean in its center, the seed that had started the whole thing, clung furiously to the stalk, a reminder, it seemed to her, of how far the beanstalk had come.

She looked at the plant again, amazed at the analogies forming in her mind. She thought of her own life and the points at which she'd wanted to give up on herself, and how, with just a little water, sunlight and the right temperature, she began to push up through the earth and open to the sun. She thought, too, of her children, and how little it takes, really, for them to thrive. Just someone to believe in them, to offer a kind word was really all they needed most days. She thought of everyone with whom she had come into contact, people on the verge of losing hope, and it gave her renewed hope, this green plant that once seemed in a stance of despair, to be reminded of how little it takes to nudge something into new life.

"This is a story about survival," she said out loud to herself. She smiled at the plant, whispering a thanks for all it had taught her. She chuckled, too, at its persistence, at how it had not wanted to give up, even when a few voices thought it should. And she knew, without a doubt, that if she were to continue to water that plant, transfer it to the right soil, keep orienting it to sunshine, it eventually would grow all the way up into and past the clouds and into life everlasting.

The End.

Q4U: What have you helped thrive this week?

3d166411-098f-4966-96b3-7125a4823d15

1.03.01

writing wednesdays: 'highlights' from honesdale

Recognize these folks? See more on my writing blog, Peace Garden Mama. Thanks for taking the time to click twice for me today!

PGM
Recognize these folks? Wh

mama mondays: my new happy place

Yesterday morning, I had to say goodbye to Pennsylvania.

I caught this shot of the windmills on the way out of Honesdale:

From the sky, you can gain a more vast perspective of the changing leaves:

I've been away from home since Wednesday, absorbing the amazing experience of hanging out with a group of seven other writers and a workshop leader on a tiny spot of heaven-on-earth called Boyds Mills, Pennsylvania.

Aside from sleeping in our cabins, we spent most of our time at the home site of Highlights for Children magazine founders, Garry and Caroline Myers.



It was an intense but transforming weekend made even better by what felt like perfect fall weather in the Pocono Mountains and an amazing array of food, which was beautifully prepared by a trained chef and offered to our hungry writer bodies on a regular basis throughout our stay.

I will be dreaming about and processing my most recent visit to the Poconos for a very long time, both with my traveling partner and sweet writing buddy Mary...

As well as the rest of the crew (my other writing buddy, Lenore Look, is the cute gal front left, and my new writing buddies make up the rest of this beautiful group):


Ahhhh....

But today, back to reality. Mary and I traveled all day yesterday, going from Wilkes-Barre to Detroit to Minneapolis together before parting to head to our respective cities. I got in about 8:30 last night, and before I'd even set my suitcase down, it was plain I'd arrived home.

"Mom, can you wash some clothes for me?" my 15-year-old said. Forget about a, "Hey, glad you're home," or anything of the sort. "Actually, my clothes are getting too small. Can you buy me some new clothes? Like, soon?"

Uh...can I put this suitcase down?

This morning, I woke to the screams of my 5-year-old in the hallway outside our bedroom. "I don't know where my shoes are!! I'm not gonna find my shoes!!!"

A few moments later (I'm still in bed at this point), my 7-year-old comes into my room. "Here, you need to sign this," he said, thrusting a sheet at me. In my groggy state, it was hard figuring out what I was supposed to be signing, then I realized I was agreeing to the fact that I'd heard him read a story out loud (which I hadn't) and that we'd read together some questions at the end (which we hadn't). He told me quickly about the story and the answers. Check. Sign.

"Moooooooooooooooooooooom! Your printer isn't working and I need this printed out for homework today. I need your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It was my 13-year-old, panicked, in tears and yelling from my office.

How easy it would have been to just lose it at this point, but I didn't. I just kept thinking about those golden leaves falling gently from the deciduous trees outside my cabin windows in Honesdale, about the homemade pumpkin pie I'd consumed the night before, and how it felt to sit in the office of the founder of a magazine I've admired since girlhood and flesh out my own story, sun streaming in from the south, blue jays flitting around on a nearby tree, cocoa-covered almonds and fresh lemonade sitting out in the covered porch in case we needed a snack.

"Here, you just go get ready. I'll take care of the printer," I said to my daughter.

"You know where my basketball jersey is?" my 10-year-old asked as I waited for my computer to reboot.

"No, I can't say that I do. Sorry," I said.

One by one, everyone rolled into the van, the youngest one with shoes, thankfully, but without a backpack, which he couldn't find in time. His nap-time towel is in there so guess he'll have to rest on his arms today or something.

"Have a good day," I said, blessing each of them on the forehead. "See you after school. Love you."

Remarkably, despite a late start, everyone got to school on time, and I drove away...in silence, with so much on my mind.

It's a busy, full life, and not always easy to move through even the ordinary, but it's going to be hard to ruffle me anytime soon. I've been filled up to the brim, renewed, and I'm ready to give a little of the loveliness I've just taken into myself back to others.

And whenever I feel tempted to lose it in the coming days, weeks and months, I'm just going to go to my new happy place -- a place called Boyds Mills.

Q4U: We all need a happy place, a place where we can go in our minds when things get stressful; a place where we can be restored, at least temporarily. Where is your happy place?

faith fridays: God is in Honesdale!

I don't know why exactly, but it seems that God keeps calling me back to this place, to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

My first time here was at age 15, between my sophomore and junior year of high school. I'd been given a chance to experience what is called a Girl Scout Wider Opportunity. The event centered on theater and dance and took place on the campus of East Stroudsburg University. But I flew into Scranton, and several days prior to event, stayed at a host family's home in Wilkes-Barre. And it was there, at age 15, in a state of feeling a bit overwhelmed by being in a new place far, far from home, that the incredible, life-changing thought came to me: "God is here. God followed me here, and He will always go where I go no matter where in the world I am, no matter how far from home."

I returned to the Pocono Mountains as a college student when I accepted a nanny position one summer for a family in Princeton, New Jersey. They had a cabin in the Poconos and we would travel there most every weekend. Again, it occurred to me that God had followed me to Pennsylvania.

It happened again this morning as I looked out the windows of the beautiful cabin where I'm staying during a writer's retreat and workshop on the homestead of the Highlights for Children magazine founders, Garry and Caroline Myers.


In fact, as I walked toward my cabin for the first time last night, I felt as if it were God who was welcoming me there. It was as if He were saying, "Good evening, my beloved child. See how much I love you?"



And He was with me still as I took a nature walk after breakfast:

God is everywhere, through the beautiful things I see and the beautiful people I meet. I'm constantly reminded of His goodness and profound love for me.

God is with me when I'm in Fargo, every moment, and He's most certainly here with me now in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, too.

Q4U: When do you feel the presence of God most strongly?

thursday special: happy birthday sweet girl!

I'm out of state at present, but had to pop in quickly with a special birthday post for my dear daughter, second of five and all-around great gal. She's smart, funny, thoughtful and capable of so much. I can't wait to see what you do as you make your way into the world, Olivia. I'm so proud of you and feel so blessed to have you in my life!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIV! Today, you're officially a teenager! (And thanks, Mom#2, for supplying the photo, which I couldn't be present to take today...)

writing wednesdays: my week with famous authors

It's been an amazing week for me in my life as a writer, and it's not done yet. Here's just one of the incredible authors with whom I've crossed paths this week:

To read more, visit Peace Garden Writer.

And now, I'm leaving on a jet plane. Bet back here on Monday!

PGM

mama mondays: undeserved blessings

A whole lot of things are going right at present, and I find myself feeling giddy about it all. Not that everything is perfect, but there does seem to be an abundance of the good stuff these days. I know that none of this is guaranteed to hold forever, and little of it is deserved, so I see it all as gift and choose to embrace it while it's here.

Just a few of the things that are making me smile these days....

1) This weekend, Shanley High School won Homecoming, 49-0! My oldest daughter (whose birthday is this week) enjoyed time with her friends at the game. (She's middle girl.)



2) I had the exceptional chance to interview a couple of my favorite Catholic radio people this weekend, not by phone but in person. In particular, I have been a fan of Dr. Ray Guarendi for several years now. He dishes out some of the best parenting advice with a healthy dose of humor each week on his program, "The Doctor is In," on Ave Maria Radio. It was a thrill for me to chat with him for a bit during the Marian Eucharistic Congress here in Fargo on Saturday. This event draws the Catholic faithful from all over the United States and Canada. Here I am listening intently to Dr. Ray answer my question, "What is the most challenging work you've done in your professional life?" His answer: "Potty-training my 4-year-old, hands down."


3) Later today, I get to have coffee with my writing mentor, the multi-talented children's author and founder of Ethiopia Reads, Jane Kurtz, formerly of North Dakota, currently of Kansas (and various other national and international posts). Read Jane's blog, The Power of One, here.

4) Tomorrow, my aunt will be in town from the Twin Cities to take in a special event with me. We get to hear best-selling author Kelly Corrigan talk here in Fargo as part of the Town Hall series. Can't wait for that!

5) On Wednesday, I leave for my writing workshop adventure in Honesdale, PA. My traveling partner and longtime, best writing buddy, Mary, will be meeting up with me in the Mpls/St.Paul airport. Part of the adventure will include a trip to Boyds Mills Press, where my book First Salmon came into being. To read Mary's rendition of our preparations, go to her blog, Play off the Page: Into the Clouds.

And honestly, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Again, don't know what I've done to deserve all these wonderful things (not to mention the good health of our family, a solid start to my business and more), but I feel like one of the luckiest gals around right now.

Thanking God for the grace He pours into my life so tenderly, and for all the people who add sparkles and joy to my world!


Q4U: What's one of your weekend highlights?