Turning to One Another

I just finished reading Dr. Margaret Wheatley's book, Turning to One Another. It is a beautiful book. Full of hope and promise. Most of all I was struck by the author herself. I wish more people wrote of the future in this way. Many works seem to focus on blame and grievance. This one was steeped in respect and grace. It touched me deeply.

The very last page of the book contains a story from the Aztec people of Mexico:

It is said by our Grandparents that a long time ago there was a great fire in the forests that covered our earth. People and animals started to run, trying to escape from the fire. Our brother owl, Tecolotl, was running away also when he noticed a small bird hurrying back and forth between the nearest river and the fire. He headed towards this small bird. He noticed that it was our brother the Quetzal bird, Quetzaltototl, running to the river, picking up small drops of water in his beak, then returning to the fire to throw that tiny bit of water on the flame. Owl approached Quetzal bird and yelled at him:

"What are you doing brother? Are you stupid? You are not going to achieve anything by doing this. What are you trying to do? You must run for your life!"

Quetzal bird stopped for a moment and looked at owl, and then answered: "I am doing the best I can with what I have."

It is remembered by our Grandparents that a long time ago the forests that covered our Earth were saved from a great fire by a small Quetzal bird, and owl, and many other animals and people who got together to put out the flames.

It occurs to me that the little bird didn't ask anyone to join him. He didn't begin a campaign. He didn't write a book. He simply took what he had and began to work on the problem and in doing so inspired others to do the same until it was solved. Actions are always more powerful than words. (Even though I absolutely adore words.)

It is also interesting to me that an ancient culture in Mexico would tell a story that is very much like the Biblical account of Andrew bringing a boy to Jesus with five loaves and two small fishes to feed a crowd of over 5,000. Andrew asked, "But how far will they go among so many?"

A similar anecdote tells of a boy standing among thousands of starfish that had been washed up on the beach during a storm. He picks them up one at a time and throws them back into the ocean. His friend tries to stop him. "Why are you doing that when it doesn't matter? You can't save all of these starfish." As the story goes, the boy replied, "It matters to the one."

Another Biblical account is of a widow who put two small pennies in the offering box. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others."

When you are dealing with love, life, sacrifice and all the other important human themes, the small stuff matters. Possibly, it is all that matters.

New Tagline for Nancy?

One of the great things about the iPod/iPhone is that it keeps your whole music collection in play. While the radio or CD's in your car allow you to focus on flavors of the month, the shuffle feature brings up things you forgot you loved.

Lately I've rediscovered Keaggy, King and Dente's Invention (circa 1997). You know how you listen to songs sometimes without fully processing the lyrics. Well for whatever reason, "Watch my Back" continuously makes me think of Nancy-the-Insightful. I thought because of the music, but then I actually focused on the lyrics.

"You and me, we never had to fight in any wars
On some foreign soil in the pouring rain.
Livin' in foxholes. Shootin' some enemy.
Who we do not know in a place we cannot name.

But God knows that life is a war.
If you're gonna live, you're gonna do battle.

No matter what the weapons may be. (No matter what they be.)
No matter which enemy may attack.
Well it's you my friend that I would want to watch my back."

I can think of no truer statement of Nancy than if I'm ever in a foxhole I want her there with me. And while Nancy is incredibly insightful, I wonder if this isn't a better tagline.

Nancy-in-the-Foxhole.

Thoughts?

Things I wish I'd known earlier in life...

Some lessons can only be learned through experience. Still, there are things I wish I had known about the way the world works back in my 20's. Here are seven of them:

1. Being "nice" is a lousy aspiration for a girl. I was often told to "be nice." What is that about? I can think of a zillion things to be that are way better than being "nice." Be creative. Be passionate. Be kind. Love. Stand for something. Please, please don't waste your time being "nice." Yuck.

2. Shared experience creates connection. No one knows this better than people who have been in the military, but it applies on so many more levels. Doing things together as a family, friendships with people in similar life phases, summer camp... The reason it is such a significant principal is that you can use shared experience to deepen the relationships you want to deepen. Spending time with people...living in their world...laughing (or crying) together is what creates relationship. Oddly enough, this principle works in reverse. Friendships are difficult to maintain when there are no longer shared experiences. And maybe that's okay because...

3. Life phases. Deeply and beautifully enjoy whatever stage you are in and the people you are with, because it will change. Not only that, but the negative aspects of it will phase too. (ie. the life of an exhausted young mom changes when the youngest child turns three) I wish someone had told me how much things are transient. Like in the movie Groundhog Day, you are the only tangible thing that stays with you. So make yourself a good one. Your character matters.

4. You create the culture of your family. One of the things that most struck me was the strong culture of John's family when I went to the family reunion. Maybe this has to do with everyone living closeby in small towns, but quirks like all of his relatives being fanatical 42 players and obsessive about coffee (in John and Troy's case obsessive about iced tea) create family culture. Playing instruments and singing are part of that family culture. Not drinking out of a straw, checking the weather and being enamored of large diesel pickups are part of that culture. Create culture for your family. (For working moms, mornings, evenings, and holidays are your best opportunities for this.) Re-tell the stories, celebrate the inside jokes, give yourself and your family identity.

5. Money and "stuff" are tools. They aren't worth immersing yourself in or chasing after, but neither are they bad. Use what you've got. And whatever you do, don't hang onto "stuff." It's an anchor. Let your resources flow to others. For example, use cash to entertain friends, bless family, or support causes that matter. Any "stuff" you haven't used in awhile, give away. Books, clothing, and household goods are ineffective sitting in closets, cabinets and drawers. As a young mom who furnished her first home via Goodwill and things by the side of the road, finding cool things filled me with joy. Not only that, but many items get shipped overseas or recycled. Operating on this principle of giving away has the odd effect of bringing in more (which can't be held onto either).

6. Darkness hates light. Exposure is a powerful tool for changing the game. For example, sexual preditors can only operate because the victim keeps the secret. (I understand well the reasons are complex for why this happens, but hang in with me.) Bullies can only operate becasue people react in fear. People can backhandedly insult you with a smile on their face in a crowd because no one will immediately say back to them "that was ugly". (Well, I will, but that's a different topic.) People often use the metaphor of light as truth, and while I suppose that is true, I think the better metaphor for light is about exposure. Conviction is usually about exposed intention. If your intentions are good, exposing them is welcome. If they are not...Hmm...it occurs to me that when Adam was suddenly naked in the garden, that was about exposure.

7. God is love. The Apostle John writes about who God is in 1 John 4:16, as does David in the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all four of the Gospels. Any religious teaching or teacher that isn't absolutely dripping with love is on another agenda. The people you want to seek out are those who are flowing with love. Not the pink hearts drawn on a notebook kind, but the kind the Apostle Paul writes about: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs... That is what love looks like. And that is what God looks like.

I'm sure there are more things that I might add to this, but these are the things on my heart at the moment. I hope someone in their 20's is reading this.

Shakespeare, college, and a little black box theatre

Back in the day most of our friends at DBU were the theatre majors.

Theatre majors take a lot of flack (as compared to programmers, med students, pre-law or engineers), but regardless of the economic viability of acting as a profession, theatre majors are a heck of a lot of fun to hang out with. I've recently learned via Facebook that some 20 years later most are still working in their craft. (Take that you smug business majors who have changed careers six times!)

Some of my best memories are in the Room at the Top Theatre that once existed at DBU. (It was converted into something else when the theatre program got the ax in 1990.) As it turns out, one little show there was sort of responsible for my whole family...

The show was As You Like It in 1986 (I think). Troy joined the cast so he could be close to Rhonda-of-the-Comic-Strip-Pantyhose. They eventually started dating, got married, and had four amazing girls (my nieces). A girl quit the cast a few days before opening (allegedly she might have dated Troy and been annoyed that he was crushing on Rhonda), and Prof. Erickson asked me, an R/TV major, to step in (I believe the criteria was that I fit the dress).

He promised I had no lines, only had to learn blocking, and that it was easy.

What he didn't tell me was that I had to spend six hours at a tech rehearsal playing across from my ex-boyfriend--the completely exasperating John--Troy's brother. (We had just gone through the "Big Brownie Breakup" a couple of months prior to the show, but that's another story.) After six hours of looking down said dress (as John tells the story), we went on to do other shows together, fall in love, marry, and have two kids (the amazing Chase and Bethany).

Troy, Rhonda and John are now in business together. Though not officially employed at the firm, I insert my Marketing Diva self into the process periodically just for fun.

And all because of Shakespeare and a little black box theatre. Hmmmm...

Micro Economic Opportunities

Bethany asked an interesting question the other day: "Why am I seeing so many more Avon catalogs now?"

We were in a restaurant and there was one in the waiting area. We'd seen another somewhere else, and I've been ordering from my friend, Shannon.

John answered: "Because of the economy."

I'm familiar with creating micro economic opportunities overseas. (I own a handbag designed and produced by prostitutes who are trying to get out of the life in Vienna and a necklace of painted beads made by women in Uganda of recycled magazines and newspaper.) However, I hadn't really thought about that need in the US.

Our friends, Lisa and Scott are contractors. Lisa as a medical transcriptionist and Scott as a computer programmer. Like many others, the economy has hit them. Lisa recently started selling Shaklee. I went through the catalog she gave me and decided to get everything that I would normally buy at Whole Foods (vitamins & supplements, organic cleaners, skin care) through Lisa.

In doing so, we discovered a Joint Health Complex. John struggles with pain in his knees. After a week of taking the complex, John is able to play basketball again. (He is thrilled.)

Lisa is also thrilled. She is halfway to Director status and when she gets there, she will have health insurance--something that is cost prohibitive for most contractors. (Link to Lisa's online store here.)

I hadn't thought about creating micro economic opportunities here in the US, but the simple act of ordering through Avon or Shaklee or Premiere Jewelry or Arbonne or a host of other companies can produce micro economic opportunities in your own community. And it doesn't have to be complex. Just a matter of choosing to look for things you buy anyway and making the switch on the items where there isn't a huge difference in cost and can be a huge jump in quality (as I discovered with the vitamins.)

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar

Rhonda and Troy bought me a really fun book for Christmas by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein called:
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar.   It is educational and entertaining, but possibly one of my favorite parts of the book are the subheadings of the chapters. Which in and of themselves are insightful definitions of the topics.

Chapter 1 | Metaphysics - Metaphysics tackles the Big Questions head on: What is being? What is the nature of reality? Do we have free will? How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? How many does it take to change a lightbulb?

Chapter 2 | Logic - Without logic, reason is useless. With is, you can win arguments and alienate multitudes.

Chapter 3 | Epistimology - How do you know all of the stuff you think you know? Take away the option of answering, "I just do!" and what's left is epistimology.

Chapter 4 | Ethics - Sorting out what's good and bad is the province of ethics. It is also what keeps priests, pundits and parents busy. Unfortunately, what keeps philosophers and children busy is asking the priests, pundits and parents, "Why?"

Chapter 5 | Philosophy of Religion - The God that philosophers of religion like to argue about isn't one that most of us would recognize. He tends to be more on the abstract side like "The Force" in Star Wars, and less like a Heavenly Father who stays up at night worrying about you.

Chapter 6 | Existentialism - "Existence precedes essence." If you agree with that statement, you are an existentialist. If not, you still exist, but you're essentially out of it. (On the back cover, it says: Existientialism - You haven't lived until you think about death all the time.)

Chapter 7 | Philosophy of Language - When former president William Jefferson Clinton responded to a query, "It depends on what your definition of 'is' is," he was doing Language Philosophy. He may also have been doing other things.

Chapter 8 | Social and Political Philosophy - Social and political philosophy examines issues of justice in society. Why do we need governments? How should goods be distributed? How can we establish a fair social system? These questions used to be settled by the stronger guy hitting the weaker guy over the head with a bone, but after centuries of social and political philosophy, society has come to see that missiles are much more effective.

Chapter 9 | Relativity - What can we say? This term means different things to different people.

Chapter 10 | Meta Philosophy - The philosophy of philosophy. Not to be confused with the philosophy of the philosophy of philosophy.

Anyway, I am finishing chapter 10--a priority this morning, since I want to give the book to Carl. Who, of all my friends will actually know all of this stuff anyway and probably more deeply appreciate the humor.

Quirky sense of humor gets me every time

A quirky sense of humor gets me every time. Like the greatness of the "Dear John" letter that makes up the cover of Parallel Play's EP--a real one I'm told--which tragically makes it funnier. And--courtesy of Happy--I just discovered XKCD.com.

Of course, a quirky sense of humor is one of the things I most appreciate about my husband and my friends.

Speaking of...this morning for some random reason I woke up and laughed out loud at Jason Foster. Some of us from the office were eating on the patio at Flying Fish the other day. (Red beans/rice and fried okra with tons of Louisiana hot sauce for those who will ask.) There was a pigeon struggling to open a package of saltine crackers on the ground with no success. Jason calmly lifted a package from the table, tore it open, then with the raise of an eyebrow popped one in his mouth. "Ha!" he said in one of his best "actor" voices. "Opposeable thumbs."

Velociraptors, zombies, and pigeons. It's been a great week for quirky humor.

Tonight at the Mokah Lounge

Tonight was the first in Art Love Magic's concert series. It was at Mokah Coffee Lounge in Deep Ellum. This was the first time I'd heard these groups, and they were incredible.

The first was Parallel Play. I updated my facebook status to say "Cathy is at Mokah enjoying Parallel Play." Someone commented "What's that?" Kelly Nygren answered on the next comment "The best musical act involving a banjo and an ode to zombies you've ever heard. EVER." As it turns out, Kelly was right.

As the night got late, I knew I needed to leave, but ShantyFolk was onstage and the music was close to magical. I pulled myself away on a cover tune because I knew 5am was going to kick my butt.

I met Art Love Magic's business manager, Mario Cauley who worked with Michael Lagocki as part of Ghostwerks. Mario told me about Hailey--a recurring character in Michael's artwork. (Hailey is the character Michael drew in my notebook two posts down from this one.) He said, "Hailey is about love. Stars in the sky and all of that." He paused. "Hailey is about love."

There was something amazing about hearing him talk about Michael's character. She wasn't just pen and ink; she stood for something. With Mario's words, life was breathed into Hailey for me. She has a story and a voice.

So there you have it...art, love and magic all in a random Thursday night. And the cover was only $5. It doesn't get any better than that.

Happy Birthday, Bethany!

Yesterday, Bethany turned 17.

Can you believe it? Seventeen.

Seventeen is such a cool age. It is somewhere in between teenager and adult. And as we sat at Uncle Julios--her favorite--last night over dinner talking and laughing, I was overwhelmed by the bright, intelligent, beautiful young woman that she is.

Happy Birthday, Bethany.

I love you.

Art, Love, Magic...and Serendipity

I first met Michael Lagocki at Camp Improv--an event put on by Leadership Network. Not that I was actually introduced. There was just this man standing at the back of the crowd with a handful of markers capturing all of the ideas that were being presented from the stage. Not notes exactly. Not a drawing or a painting. Speakers like Ron Heifitz and Jim Collins were presenting their ideas in a flow of words and stories, and Mike was capturing them in a way that gave them form and made them stand still. And, because the thoughts were captured, they could be studied and reexamined simply by walking past the boards he had created.

Over time, I ran into Michael professionally--or maybe I stalked him--and we got to work together on a couple of projects for my day job. As it turns out, a few weekends ago, he stayed at our friends, Carl and Sunny's place on the lake. But, we'll get to that thread in a minute. After I explain how I met Carl in the first place...

One day, I received a call from Ron Martoia--whose books I'd read and whom I'd met at a conference. "Cathy? Would you be able to come to a restaurant in McKinney for a conversation tonight? Dr. Carl Raschke--author of the Next Reformation--and I are pulling together some people we think might have some things in common."

A favorite author? A famous theologian? (I had things in common???)

I was in.

I took the watercolor crayons I'd stolen from my friend Robin-the-Artist and scribed the meeting--in an effort to create some of the magic Michael had. Now that I think about it, it was probably only the second time I'd ever done that. I sat next to Carl's wife, Sunny, who picked up some of the crayons and played along. For some reason I put a fishing pole in the center of the page. A thought unfinished...as the conversation ran one way and the next.

As the thoughts flowed, I found the ones I drew most often were those by a couple at the end of the table. Justin and Kelly Nygren. They didn't speak a lot, but when they did it was worth drawing. At one point, Kelly gave an illustration about fishing that truly captured the essence of the whole conversation. As it turned out the pole was just sitting there in the center of the page, waiting to be finished. I flipped my pad around to show her what I'd drawn.

After the meeting, I sent Sunny a package of watercolor crayons in the mail. I had no idea at the time that her day job was that of an artist.

Weeks later, Crosspointe--which wasn't even my church at the time--hired Michael Lagocki to scribe a worship service and I covered the event for one of the magazines I write for. Kelly and Justin (and their friend Jeff) came. I stalked them too and went to lunch with them simply because I wanted to get to know them better. I'm not sure if Justin and Kelly met Michael that day. Michael says they met through David Rodriguez--a friend of Sunny's from her retail days--who also worked with Michael at Wildworks--a gig he initially got through Crosspointe (but that's just confusing).

Okay, so Michael stayed with Sunny and Carl for the "Art Love Magic" planning retreat with the other two founders--wait for it--Justin Nygren and David Rodriguez.

Art, Love, Magic breaks the mold of what an art organization could be. Forget the normal gallery image of "shhhh" and "don't touch." With their first event, Reach, visual artists created live, poets filled the air with music and words, and people were invited to interact. Art, Love, Magic, is transforming the art world into something as filled with motion as the art itself and creating opportunities for artists at unprecidented levels.

Anyway, at the planning retreat somehow my name came up at which point Michael asked Carl, "How do you know Cathy?" To which Carl said, "How do you know Cathy?" To which I said later, "What? Carl and Michael know each other?"

So in a story thread filled with serendipity, I met with Justin and Michael tonight at Saxby's to talk about Art, Love, Magic. Not the amazing art, love and magic parts (though we did some of that) but the organizational and passionate parts. The what it is and what it could be parts. And as I sat there listening to these two amazing guys share their mission and passion, I very much wanted to be part.

This morning I received an e-mail from a colleague who said his mission for the day was to "Open the doors you want to walk through." Fortune-cookie-esque, true, but it was a phrase that came to mind as I was driving home from Saxby's.

What if serendipity isn't just something to say hmmmmm.... about? What if serendipity is the thing that points out the doorways?

What to do when gliders are barking at 4 am...

1. Ignore it.

2. Realize you can't ignore it and actually go get them out of their cage because they are bored and want to play.

3. Play for a few minutes until they leave you to run around the office.

4. Check Facebook to see if anything happened since you went to bed.

5. Be disappointed because there is nothing new.

6. Go through Google Reader and wonder why Smashing Magazine did a post on the art of skateboards.

7. Decide they went there for cool factor.

8. Read all of the rest of the stuff in your RSS feed.

9. Comment a bit.

10. Do a blog post on the incredibly boring topic of being awake with gliders at 4AM.

11. Wonder why you are such a compulsive blogger.

12. Decide it doesn't matter.

14. Add the post to facebook in case someone's pets wake them up at 5am.

15. Find said gliders to put them back in their cage.

16. Go back to sleep.

Backyard Makeover....Part Deux

One of the things about living in your "starter house" for thirteen years is that your garden/landscape develops over time. A rosebush here. An herb garden there. When we moved to our new home three years ago, the backyard had been farmed by a Korean grandmother that worked in the garden every day. Given that we don't have our own Korean grandmother, we needed something beautiful with a whole lot less maintenance.

So, after the bunnies all left in disappointment that we weren't maintaining the fields of lettuce, our first phase back in 2007 included the addition of the arbor, a bench and a couple of rose bushes.

This weekend, we implemented phase two and created a bed of roses on the right side, new paint for the bench and arbor, planting of vines, a new tree, stone work, a ton of weeding, planting out of the beds along the side yard with short fencing to keep the dogs out, and mulch for all.

In another two months the yard will be filled with color. I can't wait.

Palm Sunday and Polyvalence....aka) yet another geeky spiritual post...

On Palm Sunday we had church at the nature preserve. I think I've mentioned before that when you are a church without a building, there is more flexibility in where and how you meet.

Anyway, David-the-Artist-Pastor put together a series of five exercises rooted in ancient Christian tradition that people could walk through the nature preserve and do on their own in one-on-one time with God. (We all met back at the end for lunch. I think there were about a hundred of us.)

One of the exercises was "Praying with Scripture" (Lectio Divina for those of you who grew up in a liturgical faith or went to seminary). Lectio Divina typically focuses on one passage of scripture and has four steps: listening, meditating, praying and contemplating. In this exercise, we were to focus on the word or phrase from the passage that jumped out at us with meaning. The passage listed was John 15:1-8 which starts: "I am the true grapevine and my Father is the gardener...."

The staff--who were handling the logistics on Sunday AM--went through the exercises the Monday before so they could experience it ahead of time. David's wife, Chris mentioned to him that he really should consider listing multiple passages for the Lectio Divina because there was only one word that people would truly focus on: "remain."

Nancy-the-Insightful relayed that story to me at Bic's on Thursday morning because Chris laughingly shared it after she'd heard all of the radically different things people had gotten out of the exercise.

Nancy said the words that stood out to her were: "grapevine" and "gardener." She was impressed that all the grapevine had to do is grow grapes. The gardener was the one doing all the watering, seeding, harvesting, etc. For me, the concept of pruning struck significant. I never before thought about the fact that sometimes when God cuts things away from our life, they are good things. After all, when I'm pruning roses I sometimes cut away perfectly good blooms so that more blooms will appear. In the passage, the same is true of grapes. The idea of God cutting away something good so that more good could come was stunning to me. (And made me think that maybe I should not mourn the loss.)

The concept of polyvalence in literature is that multiple people can read the same thing and come away with different meaning because each person is in a different place and has a different perspective. With Scripture that becomes even more true as God engages with the reader.

Scripture is dynamic. It is rich and multifaceted and can be read again and again and always produce. It saddens me when people dissect it like an earthworm to limit it to a single "right" meaning. It occurs to me that commentary and teaching is useful to show things you may not have seen on your own, but if you stop there as if that is all that is there then you miss the the life and breath in it. The beauty of Scripture isn't just in the words. It is in the Author Himself. And the beauty of Jesus Christ and His resurrection at Easter is that we no longer have to go through priests (or preachers or teachers) to connect with God. We belong. Our souls have restoration.

God is living and He speaks. Spending Palm Sunday at the nature preserve walking through trees and by streams afforded the opportunity to be quiet and listen.

Work-Life Balance

I first heard the term work-life balance from a highly successful female CEO from New York City. And while I hear this conversation from male executives, when I hear it from a woman there is kinship.

After all, most of the working dads I know are doing an amazing job, but the working moms are carrying not only strategies, facts and figures in their head, but also shoe sizes, birthdays and how much milk is currently in the refrigerator. It can get pretty crazy.

I give the same gift to most new mothers who are going to try 'work-life balance.' It is a book by Linda Mason called The Working Mothers Guide to Life. Linda begins the book with the story of her friend in rural, Western Kenya. Petronila has eight children. Several times a week, she takes her goods to the marketplace and spreads them out on a blanket to earn income for her family. And as she talks to the other women in the marketplace--women she's known her whole life--children are everywhere. By her side, running and playing. You see in Petronila's world there is no work-life balance. There is just life.

This story resonated with me.

It is a lot easier to measure life than work-life balance. If you have spreadsheets that tally, but yelled at your co-workers today, there is no life. If you have milk in the refrigerator, but didn't hug your children, there is no life. If you finished your project, and didn't laugh with a friend just once during the day. No life.

And so, for all of you working moms out there, I want to encourage you.

And wish you life.

Robin-the-Artist was Flamingoed

Okay, I have to say that one of my favorite things about Facebook is that it is almost like experiencing day-to-day life with my friends. After all, Robin-the-Artist could have told me this story, but it wouldn't have nearly the punch that it did in seeing the picture.

It seems that Robin was "flamingoed" by her Young Life group.

Absolutely, hilarious.

I love it.

Robin, it couldn't have happend to a cooler more creative person, and it absolutely made my day that I got to see it. Tell the YL crew they rock.

The Beautiful Lamps

One of my favorite art forms is stained glass.

There is something truly beautiful about light coming through colored glass. And I like it all. Vases on a light shelf, beach glass, big ornate church windows, Czech crystals, an Arizona Iced Tea bottle by the side of the road...

For my birthday this year, John bought me the most incredible stained glass lamps for our bedroom. They delight me. The art to them is amazing.

In fact, right this very minute as I write about them, I'm smiling.

Thank you, John.

TaDa Tuesday

John and I went to TaDa Tuesday at the Addison Improv tonight.

The show was really terrific. We got to see "Magic Mike" and his goofball sense of humor. "Darren the Juggler" (these aren't official titles) whose standup was actually very cool. Then, the show closed with Magical David and Kylie. My favorite trick was actually a simple one--the ring and the rope--because there were so many "how did he do that?" moments. However my opinion might have been influenced by the fact that I was viewing the new trick FROM UP ON STAGE!

The new trick was really cool. And mostly freaky. However, if you want to know anything else about it, you'll have to check out David and Kylie's website to find out where they are playing next.

Thoughts on Reciprocity

I get stuff in the mail.

Philanthropic requests, missions letters, alumni magazines.

And the copy typically reads something like this: "We (the haves) are graciously donating our time and/or money to those who don't (have nots). Want to give money to that?" Or, "we (the enlightened?) are going to fly to share truth with others(the ignorant?). Want to come along?"

It occurs to me this copy isn't very inspiring and works more on a guilt mechanism rather than a joy mechanism.

Are there any Biblical stories (outside of Jesus) of God working through someone who "had it together" to coach those "who needed to get it together?" More often, it seems that the heroes are flawed and God uses them in ways that change both events and the hero. (Reference Moses. Reference Jonah. Reference Sampson. Reference Peter.)

What if it works more like the Apostle Paul's writing of different gifts? Someone shares their gifts and the people receiving share theirs back. A sort of reciprocity.

I've started this blog post three times and find I'm not very articulate with this thought. So, I started looking for examples.

- What if parents who have children with Down's syndrome are gifted with relationships with some of the most beautiful souls on the planet? One gives care to those who can't care for themselves. The other gives sweetness in a world that is often without it. There is reciprocity.

- What if those with money who take shoes and tuition to orphans in Uganda, then receive joy from those children who have joy in buckets full? Reciprocity.

- What if those who go on short term missions trips to build bridges or ovens or provide medical care leave with understanding that changes their day-to-day lives back in the States? Reciprocity.

It seems that God never works with the flow being uni-directional. That He has the creativity to work things on multiple levels and that there is a principle at play of a giving and receiving that creates bi-directional flow. What if it isn't actually about us saving the world but about allowing ourselves to be open and to show up in unexpected places for God to work this type of exchange?

Everything in creation is designed with flow. Waterfalls that produce steady streams are fed by evaporation and rain. Plants give oxygen which we need and we produce CO2 which they need back. And I don't want to even think about the whole food, fertilizer, food process!

What if giving and receiving are core design? The way everything works?

I think if we truly understood this our copy would become less arrogant. It wouldn't portray the recipients as somehow less than those who are being asked to give. I think it is possible that the concept of reciprocity would also prevent the burnout that accompanies giving that doesn't produce return.

But more than all of that, I think we would be more willing to engage if we truly believed that giving was never designed to leave us with less, but with more.

Back Online

Well, after 36 hours sans iPhone, I find I have a lot of catching up to do. Seventy-seven unread e-mails, 199 tweets, 25 Facebook notifications, and I can't even think about Google reader. In some ways logging all this is an experiment because I was curious how much electronic information gets processed in a day.

As for being offline, it made the day different somehow to set it aside--which is what I was hoping for. Not better. (I'm definitely not an anti-technology girl.) Just different.

Now, I'm back in the land of the connected. I plan to start with Facebook. I missed you guys!

Birthday Eve

Each year on my birthday I take the day off to spend in reflection and prayer--a practice I've really enjoyed over the years. So, for the next 36 hours, I'm officially offline.

No Facebook, Twitter, blogging or iPhone.

Just face-to-face tonight and tomorrow night. And during the day, silence and crayons. (The photo is of my "crayon devotion" journal.)

Not only that, but I get presents and cake! Birthdays are amazing.

An early birthday present

So knowing that I always take my birthday off each year, Nancy-the-Insightful and Kathy-of-the-Mom-Bows gave me an early birthday present today.

There is nothing better than getting something from someone that says that they actually know you. In this case, that I'm a huge Joss Whedon fan and have Seasons 1-4 on DVD.

Birthdays rock!