Tuesday, December 23, 2014

ADVENT 4: Tuesday: My Grown-Up Christmas Wish


<What is this illusion called the innocence of youth? Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth  As children we believed the grandest sight to see was something lovely wrapped beneath our tree Well heaven surely knows that packages and bows can never heal a hurting human soul. No more lives torn apart, that wars would never start, and time would heal all hearts… and everyone would have a friend, and right would always win, and love would never end…This is my grown-up Christmas list.>

-Linda Thompson-Jenner

Monday, December 22, 2014

ADVENT 4: Monday: God Replies, Thank you for bearing the light


We may say, <Thank you for this Advent journey. The anticipation has filled my life and made me long for a closer relationship with you.> and God replies, <Blessed are you who bear the light through unbearable times, who testify to its endurance amid the unendurable, who bear witness to its persistence when everything seems in shadow and grief. Blessed are you in whom the light lives, in whom the brightness blazes—your heart a chapel, an altar where in the deepest night can be seen, the fire that shines forth in you in unaccountable faith, in stubborn hope, in love that illumines every broken thing it finds. – Jan Richardson>

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Advent Reflection: Mary's Enthusiastic Yes

painting: Henry Ossawa Tanner
American African American painter in the 1890s
more here: http://bit.ly/1wb3cVL

<For a moment I hesitated on the threshold. For the space of a breath I paused, unwilling to disturb her last ordinary moment, knowing that the next step would cleave her life: that this day would slice her story in two, dividing all the days before from all the ones to come.//The artists would later depict the scene: "Mary dazzled by the archangel, her head bowed in humble assent, awed by the messenger who condescended to leave paradise to bestow such an honor upon a woman, and mortal..." //Yet I tell you it was I who was dazzled, I who found myself agape when I came upon her— reading, at the loom, in the kitchen, I cannot now recall; only that the woman before me— blessed and full of grace long before I called her so— shimmered with how completely she inhabited herself, inhabited the space around her, inhabited the moment that hung between us.//I wanted to save her from what I had been sent to say.//Yet when the time came, when I had stammered the invitation (history would not record the sweat on my brow, the pounding of my heart; would not note that I said "Do not be afraid!" to myself as much as to her) it was she who saved me— her first deliverance— her "Let it be," not just declaration to the Divine but a word of solace, of soothing, of benediction for the angel in the doorway who would hesitate one last time— just for the space of a breath torn from his chest— before wrenching himself away from her radiant consent, her beautiful and awful "yes".>

– Jan Richardson
artist, author, UMC minister 
http://adventdoor.com/
http://www.janrichardson.com/

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Pfeffernusse

photo source: http://bit.ly/1wX37Jg
The Christmas Season, to me and my friends and then my husband, always began when you'd find that first display of Stella D'oro Pfeffernusse. Yummers ! Wuhl, between 2006 and 9 Stella D'oro had problems and strikes and the company was sold, and when they put out the Pfeffernusse around 2010 it may have been the same sized package, still on sale for $3.89, but there were only 11 cookies in there ! and I'm cheap. So I asked around and my girlfriend came to the rescue. She's been working this recipe since High School. It's adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book c. 1970.

It's not a complicated recipe, but you really need to follow it closely and do NOT rush it.
When it says "let it cool" then don't get cute...let it cool completely. "Chill well" means chill well.
Thank you.

The other hilarious thing is, they're not really great right away. It's like they cure overnight. The first time I made them I was SO disappointed, they were like balls of chalky flour. I had been baking all night and I just went to bed and (metaphysically) cried. I woke up the next day and popped one in my mouth and It. Was. PERFECT. They're absolutely delicious. P.S. don't even THINK of doubling it, it's disastrous. I just put one saucepan next to another saucepan and one bowl next to another bowl and bang out a double batch on the Saturday before Advent 2 and they last all season. They're also great for gifting. P.P.S. my girlfriend says, "The bigger you make them, the softer and chewier they are, but even at the specified size, I've never had them be dangerous to bite down on the way most commercial ones are."

Set oven for 375 degrees
  • 3/4 cup "light" molasses (i don't know what that means. i use Brer Rabbit or Grandma's)
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 4 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 TEAspoons SODA
  • 1 1/2 TEAspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 TEAspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 TEAspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • dash of freshly ground coarse black pepper
  • confectioners' sugar for coating
In a saucepan, combine molasses and butter.
Cook until butter melts, THAT'S ALL, no more. Not even two minutes ...
Cool to room temperature.

While you're waiting, sift together flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and pepper.

Lightly beat 2 eggs and stir that in to the molasses and butter.

Add the flour mixture to the eggs, molasses and butter mixture.

Chill. Well. I find it's best to soak a tea towel in water and place it on the top of the dough.

Shape dough in to 1 inch balls.
Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 for 12 minutes.
Cool.
Roll in confectioners' sugar.

ENJOY ! !

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Advent Reflection: God Arrives in the Form of a Child


This is just so obvious, I'm even embarassed to share it. That a symbol could be so obvious all along and for me to have missed it for 50 plus years is just startling to me.

A dear friend (and the Canon for Pastoral Care of The Episcopal Diocese of New York, ThankYouVeryMuch) posted something this morning which just stunned me. She said, in part:

Protecting God: So often in our prayer we ask for God's protection. The story of the Annunciation to Joseph reveals, however, that God desires the mutuality of our protecting God, too...
and I guess ... I guess I never truly meditated on the enormous obvious symbol of God coming to us as a helpless little baby who needs OUR protection and nourishment. it brings a whole new and obvious level to me of us as God's co-creators, defining our responsibility in this whole elaborate dance. wow. just wow. Us as God's nuturer.

then another friend got out of me that I've always been taken with, as early as Genesis 3, <[they] heard the sound of God as God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day...> and God used to walk with Enoch, too. It always makes me fall in love with God all over again. The thought of finishing vespers and then taking a nice stroll with God always made me think that God might be a little lonely and I've always thought of the teachings of Jesus to be MAINLY about the fact that people STOLE GOD from other people with their religiosity and legalism and Jesus basically said, don't you know that's all crap? just TALK talk with God ... have a conversation as you would with a trusted parent or someone who is MADLY in love with you ...

so, anywho ... this is some good "meat" to chew on. i look forward to meditating on this for a good long while ...

ADVENT 3: Thursday: Thy Holy Flame Bestowing



Come down, O love divine, seek Thou this soul of mine and visit it with Thine own ardor glowing. O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear and kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.  O let it freely burn, til earthly passions turn to dust and ashes in its heat consuming; and let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.  Let holy charity mine outward vesture be, and lowliness become mine inner clothing; true lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part, and o'er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.  And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long shall far outpass the power of human telling; For none can guess its grace, till she become the place wherein the Holy Spirit makes Her dwelling.

Words: Bianco da Siena (15thC) 
Translation: Richard Frederick Littledale 
Music: Down AmpneyWilliams 

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

ADVENT 3: Wednesday: Let Your Light So Shine


When one is in love with God, one becomes like a person who used to travel the town lighting street lamps at dusk. In olden days, there was a person in every town who would light the street-lamps with a light he carried at the end of a long pole. On the street-corners, the lamps were there in readiness, waiting to be lit; sometimes, however, the lamps were not as easily accessible. There were lamps in forsaken places, in deserts, or at sea. There must be someone to light even those lamps, so that they may fulfill their purpose and light up the paths of others. It is written, "Our soul is the candle of God." It is also written, "A good deed is a candle, and the love of God is light." A follower of God is one who puts personal affairs aside and sets out to light up the souls of all with the light of the love of God and with good deeds. Souls are ready and waiting to be kindled. Sometimes they are close, nearby; sometimes they are in a desert, or at sea. There must be someone who will forgo his or her own comforts and conveniences, and reach out to light those lamps. This is the function of a true lover of God. This is the lesson of the Gospel.

- Adapted from a public talk by the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

ADVENT 3: Tuesday: Your Life Gets Better by Change

photo source: http://bit.ly/1DFxQ3D
We often personally and repeatedly resist change. It seems so much easier to stay just the way we are, and there is VERY little time in our lives to step out of the rut of our daily travels. It's easier just to keep our head down and do as we always have done 'cause it seems to be working for us...so far. But God can see far ahead in to the future and the Holy Spirit always urges us toward change. Wuhl, REAL change is often uncomfortable and involves effort and sacrifice. Real change forces us to "step up" especially because the Gospel insists that change is essential for everyone. We are urged to change our minds - literally, to “repent”- every day. In Greek the word for repent is μετάνοια - metanoia, which comes from meta, "denoting a position behind, after, or beyond, something of a higher or second-order", and the verb noeo, to perceive with the mind, to have understanding, to ponder (as Mary pondered in her heart). In this compound word, the two meanings of time and change are combined in reflection, but more importantly, after the fact, to ponder, to meditate on these things from a higher perspective, to truly observe our actions behind our mind, perhaps with God's loving eyes for us, and realise many of our repetitive actions, in the long run, may be poor choices, may even be destructive choices, but, in the present, may just not be The Best Choices. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we need to change the way we think- about ourselves, the purpose of our lives, other people, our purpose in their lives, and God's own self. We need to learn to shake ourselves in to thinking like God thinks, in a loving and caring way toward ourselves, and not the constant berating, defeatist attitudes we may often default to. Because how we think shapes the way we feel, and how we feel influences the way we act, and as followers of the Gospel of love and peace, our behavior needs to match our beliefs. “To live is to change,” wrote Cardinal Newman, “and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

- the skeleton of a reflection by R. Scott Hurd and the rest is me

Monday, December 15, 2014

ADVENT 3: Monday: Rejoice Again-I Say Rejoice !

photo source: http://bit.ly/1AyDuyt
<We prepare this Gaudete Week ("Rejoice" Week) by feeling the joy.  We move through this week feeling a part of the waiting world that rejoices because our longing has prepared us to believe the birth of The Child is close at hand.  "Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which God's presence will bestow." Each morning this week we want to light a third candle deep in our spirit.  One of three candles, going from expectation, to longing, to joy.  They represent our inner preparation, or inner perspective.  Begin each day this week with a sense of liberating joy.  Perhaps we can pause, breathe deeply and say, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” Each day this week, we will continue to go through our everyday life, but we will experience the difference our faith can bring to it. We may experience the Light shining into dark places in our hearts and lives which show us patterns and ruts and habits we could shed which should urge us to invite God's intervention. We may also want to make gestures of reconciliation with a loved one, relative, friend or associate.  With more light and joy, it is easier to say, “I'm sorry; let's begin again.” Each night this week we want to pause in gratitude.  Whatever the day has brought, no matter how busy it has been, we can stop, before we fall asleep, to give thanks for a little more light, a little more freedom to walk by that light, in joy.>

(Jesuits, natch-urally
http://bit.ly/1w955Y7
Creighton University,
Omaha, Nebraska)

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Egg Nog Cookies

Frosted Eggnog Cookies Recipe photo by Taste of Home

THESE ARE SO ! GOOD ! and MY HUSBAND LOVES-uh these ... so I guess it's a keeper ... and I'll be happy because the cookie is a perfect conveyance vehicle for a nice dose of buttercream icing :-)

I made this recipe from Social Couture / All Things for All Parties It was suggested by a girlfriend and when I went to look at other recipes there was hour-long chilling involved, some with booze, that I really didn't think would matter much to the taste and I ended up frosting them with this icing from Taste of Home (as well as the above picture)

I doubled this recipe and got 75 tablespoon-sized cookies, cookies

Ingredients:
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • (I added 1/4 teaspoon allspice and a 1/4 teaspoon cloves)
  • 1 1/4 cups white sugar (I always pass this through a seive) 
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup eggnog
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 egg yolks
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). 
  2. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. 
  3. Cream sugar and butter until light. Add eggnog, vanilla, and egg yolks; beat at medium speed with mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix. 
  4. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Bake 20 to 23 minutes until bottoms turn light brown.
Notice it says "do not overmix" ? So, the dough was REALLY tight, I'm sure it's because I doubled it, and I ended up adding, prolly, between a half cup to three-fourths extra of egg nog.

I made this icing:
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 3 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1/3 cup eggnog
In a large bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and eggnog; beat until smooth. Frost cookies. Store in an airtight container. 

Firstly, I put about 2 teaspoons of nutmeg in there and 
Secondly, I actually I tripled this recipe thinking I wouldn't have enough and now I have enough to pave several miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I sprinkled them with red and green sparkles ...

The hilarious thing about this recipe is, they bake for 20 minutes so it takes HOURS to complete the cycle and you almost forget you have something in the oven if you're not careful, so be careful ! 

I also don't know what the heck to do with them, the icing is always live, it doesn't dry, so I don't know how to store them. I covered a shelf from an old bookcase with tin foil and they're just laid out on it.

If you try them, I hope you enjoy them. They really are tasty. xoxoxo

Friday, December 12, 2014

ADVENT 2: Friday: Wisdom in the Darkness

photo source http://bit.ly/1wmrqzR

<Dear God, From some place deep in our soul, we hear you calling us by name and we prepare with a joyful heart for your coming. Through the darkness, we look for your wisdom. Our hearts are open to you. But sometimes in these days of busyness, it seems that  so many things come between us. Help us to be awake and aware of the radiance you bring to our life. Help us to be grateful each day for the blessings of family and friends, bounty and ease. Let us be peacemakers in our own lives, and in the world. Let us pray especially for this difficult world and those who are in most need. Let us look forward in hope and turn to you with great trust, knowing you will guide our steps along the unknown path of this day.>
- Creighton U. Online Ministries Home Page, sort of

Thursday, December 11, 2014

ADVENT 2: Thursday: God Is With Us

Emmanuel/Little Town/Christmas Hymn - Amy Grant

<Immanuel עִמָּנוּאֵל "God is with us". Comforting, because God has come to share the danger as well as the drudgery of our everyday lives. God desires to weep with us and to wipe away our tears. And what seems most bizarre, God, longs to share in and to be the source of the laughter and the joy we all too rarely know.>
– Michael Card

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

ADVENT 2: Wednesday: Let's Take a Spiritual Bath

photo source: Exsodus of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

<Just as, when we are tired physically, a bath in fresh running water invigorates us, so, when we are tired or discomforted mentally, spiritual communion, bathing in the ocean of the Infinite, invigorates the mind and clarifies the thinking. Every person should take time for this inner communion, time when she separates herself from all that appears /detracting/ or /draining/, time to plunge into the living waters of /the Infinite, the Calm, the One True Vibration/. Just as we take a sun bath, so there is an inner light into which we may plunge, an inner consciousness in which we may bathe. The rays of this invisible Sun penetrate the soul just as the rays of the physical sun penetrate the body, renewing and rejuvenating. As water purifies itself by flowing, so an inner realization of the flow of Spirit through us purifies the stagnant pools of morbid thought, and in so doing, eliminates stagnation in the physical body.>
- Holmes, Ernest (2007-12-27).
The Art of Life (Kindle Locations 1359).
Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

ADVENT 2: Tuesday: Laughter, Compassion, Forgiveness

photo source: http://bit.ly/1wuFXwH

<When the scriptures say "holy" they mean "separate" or "different" and set apart. The word implies being healthy and whole in a world where much is un-healthy and fragmented. The English phrase "hale and hearty" sums up true holiness. Holiness includes such concepts as humor and laughter, compassion and understanding, and the capacity to forgive and be forgiven, to love and be loved. That’s holiness. Holy families are not free from conflict, nor do they never hurt one another. Holiness in families, rather, comes from learning to forgive and to be reconciled, and learning to face our problems and do something about them. In family life, holy means striving to surrender to God’s light within us when the darkness around us seems overwhelming. It means struggling day after day to bring creative order—if only a bit of it—to the chaos in the world as it encroaches on our lives. When we work at cultivating forgiveness, reconciliation, and community, we embody God’s holy will in the context of family life. A family embodies holiness by striving to be ‘hale and hearty,’ not by trying to be ‘perfect’ according to a set of other worldly standards.>

- Mitch Finley, CATHOLIC DIGEST, Jan. 1993, p. 39


Monday, December 8, 2014

ADVENT 2: Monday: You're Beautiful with God's Beauty




con source: http://bit.ly/1IoCkeS)

 <Gabriel greeted her: "Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you." Mary was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you! / And Mary said, "Yes, I see it all now: I’m God's partner and element, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.> - The Message Bible translation

We are all pregnant with the Christ. Each morning we make Mary's decision, will I be God's co-creator? Will I l put aside my ego for the sake of peace? Will I lay down my expectations to follow God's path for me? Mary was the first to do so, all for the sake of the Christ.

(p.s.: I KNOW this has nothing to do with the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, i just think it's just a lovely story about Mary.)

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Best Brownie EVER

Original recipe @ Hershey's Kitchens here: http://bit.ly/1yYMbmi

You need this. Trust me. It bakes for 20 minutes, it takes less than 10 to put together and you prolly have everything on hand, or make sure you do, because this will be your go-to emergency chocolate treat. 

P.S.: there's a recipe for frosting at the bottom? It's nice and all, but I don't think you need it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a sturdy 8x8 pan. Glass is not ideal, but it's fine.

RECIPE:
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup Hershey's powdered cocoa
  • 1/4 TEAspoon baking POWDER
  • 1/4 TEAspoon salt
  • 1 stick melted butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 TEAspoon vanilla and eventually
  • 2 eggs
baked for 20 - 25 minutes

  • I measure out the sugar and put the vanilla in there.
  • I melt the butter first.
  • I mix the dry ingredients.
  • I pour the sugar in the butter, then mix that in the dry ingredients.
  • I whisk the eggs in a cup and then add to the mixture then
  • pour in to the pan and bake.

The recipe calls for 20 - 25 minutes. 
What I do is set the timer for 10, twirl the pan and let it go for 10 more.
It's always perfect and a TEENY bit not-quite-done in places.

They include a recipe for icing, but I can't imagine...

ICING
blend
  • 3 TABLEspoons of butter
  • 3 TABLEspoons of cocoa
  • 1 TABLEspoon of light (karo) syrup
  • 1/2 TEAspoon of vanilla
into
  • 1 cup of powdered sugar
add 2 TABLEspoons of milk, as needed, to be able to spread that over the brownie.

ENJOY ! !

Friday, December 5, 2014

ADVENT 1: Friday: We Are Pregnant, the Place of Waiting

<When asked about a life lived in Christian authenticity, a Master of Novices once said that to be a Christian was not to know the answers, but to begin to live in the part of the self where the questions are born.…She was speaking of an attitude of listening, of awareness of presence, of an openness to mystery...Pregnancy is at the core of the Christian message. We are pregnant. We are the place of waiting, the place of the question, of the advent. We are the womb through whose pulsing life God is born.">
- Wendy M. Wright, "Wreathed in Flesh and Warm"

Thursday, December 4, 2014

ADVENT 1: Thursday: An Advent Examination


<Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way. Advent is a winter training camp for those who desire peace. By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation, we can make our hearts a place where a blessing of peace would desire to abide and where the birth of the Prince of Peace might take place. Daily we can make an Advent examination. Are there any feelings of discrimination toward race, sex, or religion? Is there a lingering resentment, an unforgiven injury living in our hearts? Do we look down upon others of lesser social standing or educational achievement? Are we generous with the gifts that have been given to us, seeing ourselves as their stewards and not their owners? Are we reverent of others, their ideas and needs, and of creation? These and other questions become Advent lights by which we may search the deep, dark corners of our hearts.>

-Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac, p. 196

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

ADVENT 1: Wednesday: It's Time to Grow Up


<The Gospel is not complicated. It does not require sophistication to understand...Jesus refers to his followers — and to us, modern readers — as babes. This suggests, I think, that we need to grow, to develop, to consume something more complex than what St. Paul calls “spiritual milk” in our life of faith. We have to learn to eat rich “spiritual food.” We are, in other words, meant to grow up. We are meant to grow into the full stature of Christ. This is not merely about filling our heads with facts. It is not about becoming wise as our world understands wisdom. Rather, I think we are meant first and foremost to be open to transformation. We study the scriptures not just to learn the stories, but to be changed by the Word. We serve the needs of the world not just to help others, but to serve Jesus Christ himself and to be transformed. We join in corporate worship not just to go through the motions, but to be fed and nourished by the Sacraments. Change and growth are the point, but to do that, we have to see ourselves first as babes. We have to know that it’s time to grow.>

- Scott Gunn+, Seven Whole Days

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

ADVENT 1: Tuesday: We Are Pregnant Together With Mary

Statue of the Visitation at Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem, Israel, source: Deror avi
<We have waited in silence on your loving-kindness, O God.—Psalms 48:8>

<Most of the time, we hurry and we push. We split time into tenths of seconds. We fret when a traffic light turns red or we miss a train. The press of hurrying creates harried and hassled souls, disconnected from Spirit and from the gift of kindness itself. "Waiting in hope" is an attitude of faith, of trust, of joyful expectation. Waiting with a quiet spirit, creating space for absolute trust that we are exactly where we are supposed to be, may be the most essential practice for followers of the Christ. It is in many ways the spirit of Advent, that time of year when we practice the waiting of gestation, hoping, of trusting in new life not yet fully known. Thomas Merton remarked that life is a perpetual Advent, a continuous contemplation: <Let us become more humble than the rocks, More wakeful than the patient hills.> He sensed that in that waiting, trust begins to grow. Trust in God who is beyond all that is created and is the source of all things, seen and unseen. Trust that God is now among us and will come again among us in a rich and meaningful way at the end of our waiting. Trusting and waiting allows the loving-kindness that is the essence of God’s own Life to grow in us, and to bear fruit that we never expected.>

<Grant me O God the capacity to wait in hope,
to allow your own loving-kindness to grow in me,
for the life of your world. > 

- Mary C. Earle, sort of

Monday, December 1, 2014

ADVENT 1: Monday: As We Wait in Joyful Hope


<What has happened to the old-fashioned, spiritual Christmas? The cause is our disregard of Advent. We set aside this four-week pre-Christmas season as a time of spiritual preparation for the coming of the birth of The Child. It is a time of quiet anticipation. If the Christ is going to come again into our hearts, there must be a turning away from worry and doubt and murmuring and mindless un-productive repetitions. Without adopting habits which give us a renewed spiritual life, our hearts will be so full of mundane things that there will be ‘no room in the inn’ for the Child to be born again.…During these four weeks we should not focus on the joy of celebration, which is the joy of Christmas, as much as we should focus on the joy of anticipation, ' as we wait in joyful hope for the coming'. - John R. Brokhoff, sort of>

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Mama's Cabbage Salad


This is one of Mama's recipes, my mother's mother, that MY mother could actually make. (Mommy was admittedly not a terrific cook.) Now with this recipe? there are just things one does because that's what one does, and the only answer, I promise you, is because it just doesn't work any other way ... and we've tried. This recipe makes a large crock full of salad, it's a lot more than you think.

STORAGE NOTE: You can't store it in baggies, it gets gross. You must store it in a non-metallic bowl or tupperware or plastic container ...

SERVING: When you go to serve it, stir it up from the bottom to coat "the cabbage" (cabbage, celery, onion). If you put too much on the table and want to save the leftovers, don't take the juice, just take the vegetables. Again, I don't know why. The salad lasts about four days. It gets better every single day you have it. About the fourth day, you'll be able to tell that you can't serve it again. It's still good, it's just not ... quite ... perfect, and if you keep it for another round it will just ... be ... gross, on the verge of turning to ... crap.

RECIPE FOR THE DRESSING:

Below is the SINGLE recipe. I suggest using a spoon with a very long handle ... you'll find out why. It doesn't matter if it's wood or metal or rubbah. It doesn't matter if you use a stainless or a non-stick pan.

In a saucepan, OFF the stove:
  • bash 2 eggs. not like you're making scrambled eggs, but enough until the white and yellow are incorporated
  • dump in 1 cup of white sugar and stir until incorporated
  • dump in 3/4 cup of tap water and stir until incorporated ... watch this, because if you don't get all of the egg incorporated, then pieces of egg white gather during the heating process and they float to the top. it's very bizarre.
  • dump in 3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and stir until incorporated
  • take a little liquid out of the saucepan in, like, a tea cup or a lil bowl or something.
    stir in a 1/2 TEAspoon of dry ground mustard. and stir that around and make sure it's incorporated.
    Pour that back in the saucepan, and stir that all around until that's incorporated.
  • take a little liquid out of the saucepan in, like, a tea cup or a lil bowl or something.
    stir in a 1 TEAspoon of flour. and stir that around and make sure it's incorporated.
    Pour that back in the saucepan, and stir that all around until that's incorporated.
  • put your pan on a high flame and stir that around. and stir and stir and stir don't you DARE turn your back on that, just stir and stir until you think you're going to drop. i'm not kidding. if you don't and you let it go, you're going to have a pan filled with boiled eggs in sweet vinegar.
  • after a bit, there are going to be bubbles at the edges, teasing you in to believing that it's boiling, but it's not.
    then there are going to be LOTS of bubbles and you THINK it's boiling, but it's not.
    at some point the dressing is going to WOOSH up to a full froth.
    when that happens
  • shut off the flame, take the pan off the heat, and stir in a TABLEspoon of butter.
Mama's note says:
"cool in sun parlour or on the attic steps"
thanks.

you just want to get it cool enough to pour on the cabbage without cooking the cabbage, and you can't put it in the fridge cause it gets a thick skim on it, and you can't put it in the freezer or you'll melt all the stuff in the freezer.

you want it to sit for about an hour. while you're going about your day, every time you walk by it, just stir it..like...every ten minutes or so ...

when it's cool, before you stir that in to the cabbage, i like to sprinkle the entire surface with a layer of ground black pepper and a palm of salt and then just stir that in

Here is "the cabbage".
  • 1 head green cabbage (thanks. the bigger ones are best? but i don't see those much any more ... two softball sized ones would be good, were it not for the large hard white core, which I try not to use, so, if I can't find a large one I get three small ones.)
  • 3 sticks of celery (this is sort of hilarious to me? i live for celery and I use a nice full entire stalk of celery.)
  • 1 medium onion (i love onion? so i use a very large one. any kind you like.)
chop chop chop chop chop
you CANNOT use a food processor. just trust me on that? you just have to use a big knife and your making, like, Cheez-It-sized squares.

my mother, who could really only cook a handful of things, would OBSESS with everything needing to be teeny, tiny, teeny pieces, but i like larger pieces.

and that's it.

mix it up, pour dressing over it, mix it up, and serve, at either room temperature or chilled.

ooo, it's so good. it's got a vinegar bite and it's a little sweet but not really, and it's REALLY crunchy, and the good and best thing is, it's a great way to get greens on the table without it being a silly salad of lettuces, which you can have every day of the week.
ENJOY ! !

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Cranberry Chutney


I'm not a fan of the cranberry, however there is something about this recipe that is SO fantatic ... I've tweeked it for over a decade and it's GLORIOUS. It also makes the PERFECT hostess gift. I get mason jars and cut a square of quilting fabric, place the lid on the jar, place the fabric on the lid and screw the lid on with the closure. It keeps FOR EVER (although generally doesn't LAST that long because it's hard not just have a TASTE of this recipe until it's all gone!), it goes beautifully over all meats, and is DELICIOUS in a pie crust when melting brie.

Because bags of cranberries come in 12 ounce bags, and the recipe calls for 16 ounces, I normally make 3 batches at a time, which yields 5 quarts.

16-oz fresh whole cranberries
1 cup sugar (I use Turbinado for a richer flavor. When I'm triple, I use 2 Turbinado and 1 white)
2 cups extra pulp orange juice
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup diced crystallized ginger
1 medium apple, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup dried blueberries.
(The original recipe calls for raisins, I tried soaking them in rum, I tried white raisins, it just didn't do anything for the texture or the taste. I used the dried blueberries two years ago and it was GREAT)

Combine cranberries, sugar,  ground ginger, and orange juice with much pulp in a [3 quart pot] and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring frequently. When tripling, I use a big spaghetti pot.

Bring to boil on a MEDIUM FLAME ... that takes like 15 minutes ... you going to think nothing is happening and then you'll hear POP ... POP and that's the cranberries ... there is a FOAM BEFORE the actual boiling point where you THINK it's boiling, but it's not, keep stirring and you'll see what a true boil is. then you "simmer" for 15 minutes...

When you turn heat down to simmer, stir in the dried blueberries and continue cooking for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Five minutes later, stir in the crystallized ginger and continue simmering.

Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Cool and then refrigerate.

Make a day in advance. This freezes beautifully and also will keep in fridge for weeks.

When serving, let in come to room temperature or put in microwave for 30 seconds.

All those things being said, I generally stand in front of the open fridge and eat it with a soup spoon.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Ode to a Cat and God's Unconditional Love


There are so many reasons why we never had animals when I was growing up: I'm deathly allergic to almost every organic thing in Creation, especially cats, my mother had a panoply of mental dis-eases and no coping mechanism for life in general, and my father was from a corn, dairy and pig farm in Iowa, so the only time animals came INSIDE was after they were OUTside and then slaughtered and brought INside for dinner, to name a few.

Five years ago today, after many decades of miraculously surviving being HIV+, one of my husband's best friends passed away. His precious little kitty was left to my husband in his will along with detailed instructions on how Tigger should be regarded, as a precious and special gift from God. I felt so sorry for the poor fella because he had been alone in the apartment for weeks during his Daddy's last hospitalization, so after we watched and helped his Daddy pass on, we jumped in a cab to collect Tigger and bring him to his new home.

My husband was raised with all kinds of animals all his life (which probably explains how he deals with me so easily har har), they always had a dog and a cat, so this was all second nature to him. My learning curve was steep, but one thing I did quickly come to learn was that my mother had neither the capacity nor the gift to understand or raise children. Isn't that a strange connection?

Tigger was nervous his first week here. He hid under the bed for a couple of days, but he was ultimately overjoyed by the increase in real estate: he upgraded from a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side with three rooms and two windows to our second-floor railroad in Queens with half-a-football-field's running space and 22 windows (and don't get me started on my husband insisting on rods and sheers for each one of those 22 windows) so he was TAH-RAN-TAH-RAHing with the cat crazies in no time.

Slowly, diligently Tigger taught me about God. Most importantly, Tigger taught me about how much God is delighted by me, something I never could have imagined had Tigger not come to live with us. Tigger taught me about God's care and concern for us, but also, God's absolute delight with our very existence.

The first time I realised the depth of God's unconditional love and care for us was about two weeks in. Tigger is the MASTER of knowing your EXACT footpath so that he can hurl a hairball at the PRECISE point on the rug where the ball of your foot is certain to come down upon it while you're tippie-tippie-toe walking in the dark on your way to take a slash in the middle of the night. The first time it happened I started to get really mad and I flicked on the light to chastise him, but I looked straight in to his face which looked back at me with the innocence of the angels, like, "Oh, whew, you found it! See? I put it right where you wouldn't miss it..." and he came up and rubbed himself against me in thanks for cleaning it up. My heart melted.

Then we bought these BEEYOOTEEFUL table flowers and Tigger, who NEVER climbs on the furniture, jumped straight up on to the table, inhaled them like it was a bouquet brought especially home for him, and proceeded to eat the leaves off them. In a former life, I would have exploded and thrown the cat against the wall, and screamed. Thing is, I knew Tigger by then. He's picky about food and he knows better than to jump up on the table. Whenever he screams because we're eating and he's not, I let him smell what we're eating and he's repelled or uninterested and is immediately calmed. But in this one kind of flower there's something about the greens in the leaves which he knows helps with his digestion, so he just starts chomping away and then will jump down, tip around, and regurgitate it a bit later. It's his own little carton of Activia ;-)

So, as I was pondering his anniversary with us and down on my hands and knees before work I thought, you know, Tigger has this litter box which needs to be cleaned each morning. Know what? I could resent that, I could bitch my way through it, but I want things to be nice for him because he brings my husband so much joy and comfort and, again, he is a guest in our home. So as I sift away I look for clues to see if he's healthy, and then my mind turns to all my friends who LOVE cats, and I say little prayers for them; I think of my friends who love dogs, and there's another set of prayers. I think of farmers and how they grow animals for our benefit, and there are a BUNCH of prayers there, and by then the box is clean and blessings have been disseminated.

Know what? Cats have to hurl fur balls or they'd die. It's in their very makeup. My cat doesn't know how to use the terlet, so I have to clean up the litter box. Know what? Cats aren't generally malicious; they are fun-loving creatures and Tigger, my dears, is a GENTLEman ... he's not at all capricious, he's loving and careful and deliberate. And know the most important thing? Tigger didn't ask to come live with us, God placed him here in our home specifically in order for us to care for him.


Which led me to start thinking about myself as a child. I had a glorious upbringing, please don't think I'm complaining, but it was weird and hard and my parents were older and there was a belt on the back of every door, and my father was a "go bring me a switch and pull your pants down" kind of guy ... you know ...  Olden Times. My mother was not entirely mentally well in general and then, during my 7th grade year, her mother died and she sorta cracked. My sisters are 10 and 14 years older than I, so they were both gone, and this was not really the time a 54 year old woman needed a 12 year old gay boy in 1974 going through puberty on her azz, God bless her.

I didn't deliberately act out to hurt my mother; it was all part of my growing process. I didn't intentionally wear out shoes because I was careless, I was an active child ! and shoes wear out! I didn't outgrow my pants because I was glutenous; I was a growing child! But I was taught to believe I was a thoughtless, spoiled, fat, careless, wasteful, sloppy child, and I kept that definition close to my heart for many painful years. I defined myself through her pronouncements, why wouldn't I, she was supposed to be my guardian and guide. On top of all that, she didn't have the capacity to celebrate how special I was, and, most especially, she didn't have the heart to recognize the pain I was in generally, to realize the help and nurturing I needed globally, nor did she possess the ability to identify the pain she was inflicting upon me specifically, as she was in so much pain herself. I CERTAINLY didn't ask to be there or to be born in general ... I remember crying fits where I would ask God, "why did you place me here!" but in the end it was all perfectly planned, I know.

When we're centered in love it's so easy to give love but when we're hurting, all we do is hurt in return. "Hurting people hurt people," Joyce Meyer always says. When pain is the source of all emotion there is nothing else to dispense. When pain is the source of all reason we have no other recourse but to be unreasonable, there are no reasonable words like forgiveness or empathy or care in our lexicon. This was crucial to realise because I certainly never blamed my mother, I only blamed myself because she told me everything was my fault...I only punished myself for MY selfishness, for MY shortcomings, for MY carelessness because it's what I was taught to see. But none of these things was truly my bad...I was just going through the Going Throughs. Tigger blessed me with the realisation that I have always been delightful (Sloan Sabbith, THE NEWSROOM) and my mother had no talent to nurture life outside of her pain bubble.

I believe that's how it is with God's love for us. We'll never be "perfect" whatever the heck that means, so whether we're sloppy, uptight, irrational, hurling, whining, running through the house at a hundred miles an hour and coming to a dead stop to scream for absolutely no reason, God created us specifically, individually, for God's own delight. God CHERISHES us individually for God's own pleasure. God is CHARMED by us individually, and there's nothing we can do to upset God's care for us, because there's nothing we did to earn it in the first place and there's nothing that's going to surprise God about our berserk and wonderful selves anyway.

So thank you God for bringing Tigger in to our home, and thank you, Tigger, for showing me concretely, profoundly, just how much I am unconditionally loved.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

We Awaken to Joy

image source: http://bit.ly/1pazWfr
<We awaken in our time to a Universe which is holy, to creation which is not an event in the past, but a living event of the present. We enter a new mode of human presence where we are not merely observers, but where each of us is a participant in this moment of evolution. Like all other creatures, we carry with us Wisdom and Values, the dynamics of the Universe. But unlike other creatures, we must choose whether and how we will live in harmony within this sacred web of creation. May we be open to the Source of All Being, Our God within and among us! We have the capacity to wonder, and to celebrate this great mystery of existence within such a magnificent Universe! In us the Universe enters into a great celebration of itself. We are part of the Dance, the Great Work, the Great liturgy which is the Universe unfolding. Glory to You, O God, Source of All Being! This great Liturgy finds expression at this moment in us, gathered here in a posture of prayerful openness, with listening hearts, loving spirits and a holy wonder. May the sacred web that unites us with each other, our God and all creation, ignite communities of light and hope throughout the Earth. May we be open to the Source of All Being, Our God within and among us! O Gracious, gentle Spirit of Love, Your energy permeates the Universe, Igniting Earth with Your Goodness, Truth and Beauty. Open our minds and hearts To a deeper awareness Of our interconnectedness with You, Each other and all creation. May we experience Your unique presence Within the sacred web of creation.> 
-Author Unknown

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Slough It Off

DOOL
“The sand in the hourglass runs from one compartment to the other, marking the passage of moments with something constant and tangible. If you watch the flowing sand, you might see time itself riding the granules. Contrary to popular opinion, time is not an old white-haired man, but a laughing child.
And time sings.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

I promise that my ears are clear and that I’m not projecting my thesis on each person I meet? but two weeks in to this Lenten season and it seems a common theme I’m hearing from people is not What They’re Giving Up this time ‘round but what they NEED to give up this time ‘round, which is EVERYthing … not coffee, not chocolate, everything. Giving up beating their heads against a wall by expecting different outcomes from identical situations, giving up expecting perfection from people who are ill-equipped to provide it, giving up beating themselves up for their imperfections when they know all they need to do is put their plans in to action … and it’s hilarious that the theme is already in the Zeitgeist (sponsored by Walt Disney, ‘natch) LET IT GO (from FROZEN), sung brilliantly by Adele Dazeem.

My husband and I spent the month before Lent this year, like you do, in prayer and contemplation of what we thought God wanted this Lent to look like, in our home and in our hearts. The Holy Spirit inspired my husband to look at the use of sand in other parishes to signify Jesus’ journey through the desert and bring his experience in to our meditations; some parishes actually replace the holy water in the baptismal font with sand. It got me to pondering …


Father Steve Pankey, Associate Rector at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Foley, Alabama, has a FANTASTIC blog I’ve followed for years called “DRAFTING THEOLOGY, a blog about the bible”. What it actually feels like to me is a blog from the innocent viewpoint of a very loving, devoted, brilliant child who has been raised all his life in an intimate, unconditionally loving relationship with someone he knows is God and someone he knows is Jesus, and then at one point in his life, someone gives Steve “Scriptures” written by people he feels don’t really know the same people he does. Steve’s general reaction to the passages is, <WHO are they TALKING about ! ! This isn’t the God I know !> Steve will also wrestle with things God is asking of him in certain portions of the Gospels, especially as he’s in the final hours of writing his sermons each week. I encourage you to follow his journey; it’s quite illuminating while being absolutely delightful.

On “Temptation Sunday,” Father Steve wrote:
Have you ever felt envious or jealous toward Jesus? I mean, in about six weeks’ time, as he’s sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, getting arrested, and hanging crucified on a tree, we won’t wish we were him, but this morning as we hear about his 40 days in the wilderness, maybe you’re getting just a tinge of jealousy. Jesus’ wilderness experience isn’t easy, but it is a once in a lifetime experience. Two-thousand years later, the Church invites us into a 40 day wilderness experience every year. Jesus was able to focus solely on his spiritual journey during his time away. Lent happens in the midst of the busyness of life: work, kids, grand kids on spring break, tax season, and, to add insult to injury, just four days into Lent this year we’ve lost an hour of sleep in the name of “Saving Daylight.” It probably isn’t rational, but sometimes, I’m tempted to feel jealous of Jesus’ wilderness experience.
My personal experience with sand begins with some of my first memories on Virginia Beach each summer with the whole family. The sand is lovely, it’s shiny, but I hate how it gets in everything (although I love months later when you’ll go to use a tote bag and find sand hiding in it!). Sand is really just an impediment keeping me from the ocean where I know the Holy Spirit is eager to wash away my cares and worries with the sounds of the waves crashing against it, the misty air rejuvenating my lungs, and the cleansing submersion as I renew my Baptismal promises. (I know it’s psycho, har har, but I even renew my Baptismal promises in the shower each morning DON’T JUDGE ME LOL !)

So sand separates me from my deepest wish, to be washed and cleansed in the ocean. Sand is hot as blazes and if I don’t yet have my “summer feet” it’s like a kiln turning my skin to clay. It’s also a workout! Trudge is the vivid verb which comes to mind. Yet, once we take that first step, the sand becomes an exfoliant; no $30 pedi or little fishies needed to scrape or bite the callouses built up over my past journeys. If I continue walking long enough, there will be no evidence of my past left on my feet, only fresh, clean, newly minted skin. Ah, but there’s the rub (har har): I actually have to trek through the sand long enough for it to become efficacious. I must endure the first uncomfortable sensations to enjoy its benefits.
My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be perfect, mature and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4
There’s also probably going to be some sand in the winds which come whipping across my face … there’s a hundred or so bucks saved on a facial. But, O! the glow of a face having shed its winter layer, fresh and pink and new.

One of the points of replacing the water at the baptismal font with sand, for me, is chiefly to shake us out of what is, for some, the sin of our customs. I love singing the Hampton setting to the Creed SO much, it fills me with SUCH joy and is ripe with acting opportunities (“he sufffffered death … and was buried …”) and then the glory ! of the angels singing the DESCANT over “…on the third day he rose again…” Toward the end, however, if I’m not really “feeling church” that day, or I’m having a particularly uninspired worship experience, there’s a point where we make the sign of the cross and I’m like, oh, here comes some more Anglo-Catholic choreography …

Now I know it’s a vicious judgment on my part, but sometimes I watch people come in to church and dip their fingers in the font as casually as dropping off keys on a counter. There’s a casual presumption that there is going to be water there; just like the assurance that there is going to be a bottom to the glass they’re about to pick up or that the seat they’re lowering themselves on to is going to hold their weight. It just looks like a thoughtless habit. There’s no visible recognition of the act, there’s no sensual response to the tactile experience of the coolness of the water, or glimmer of the spiritual significance of the Holy Spirit moving the surface of the water in the beginning of creation … it’s just somethin’ ya gotta do. Lent is about shaking off habits, isn’t it? Evaluating and meditating on our spiritual practices? And the thought of coming in to church and hitting a pool of sand when you’re used to an entirely different experience would sure wake you up to realize there’s been a change in liturgical seasons, huh?!

Another reason that I love the idea so much is that it puts me in concert with the struggling man, Jesus. He’s fighting to make sense of his dual nature and the path of discernment for what God has called him to do. You’ve had those times when God calls you to do something and your only reaction is one of many: “I’m sorry, you can’t possibly mean me.” “You’ve GOT to be KIDDING me.” Or the ever popular, “Oh, HELZ no.” … it’s so very rarely immediately the meek and “Christian” response of ”I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” The key, however uncomfortable, to accepting a newness from routine in answer to God’s call is always that first blasted step. I can tell myself my life would be so much better if I would practice my yoga postures every day but it doesn’t mean a thing if I don’t actually get off my keister and practice my yoga postures every day. It’s very easy to pay lip service to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word but it’s an entirely other thing to have to work at getting to the cool ocean shore by having to trudge through the hot sand.

God doesn’t ask much of us … just the dedication of our whole heart and being. One thing our church asks of us, however, is to step outside of ourselves, to step away from ourselves, to cease all ritualistic, repetitive, mindless behavior and EXAMINE it, each piece of it, possibly to discard it forever, but, most urgently and importantly, to make sure we know why we’re doing it; to make sure it’s the most healthy choice for our most healthy existence, for that’s really all God wants for us: our perfection. Not the “Christianist” kind of I-Never-Sin-But-I’m-A-Sinner kind of perfection … but the serene, lovely, purring-on-all-four-cylinders kind of idyllic perfection I always dream of when we picture “…that heavenly country…”

Let’s join Jesus in his walk through the desert. Let’s take that first step, allow ourselves to be beaten by the elements, allow our natural and spiritual beings to slough off dead skin, mindless articulations, patterns of a dead and spiritless life. Let’s come out the other side of Lent with a revived awakening, a fresh outlook, a recognition of the excitement of a brand new day, and a fresh awareness of why we’re so deeply in love with God in the first place.

This post originally appeared on our parish's Lenten Blog

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Lent 2014 The Year of Wellness

http://www.bcponline.org/
I am very good at throwing myself pity parties, I am deeply gifted at feeling sorry for myself, and I am known for eating my feelings because when everybody on the planet wants things from ME, I COMPLETELY deserve a few apple fritters or a gallon of ice cream...(okay, or both, who am I kidding). But trust me: I don't really need an excuse to turn a hang nail in to an After-School Special.

I've been gearing up for Lent for a couple of weeks now, in conference with God's Holy Spirit who has turned my heart to a coupla new things this year. One of them is how much I love being an Episcopalian. Sure, sure, the polity and politics and personalities make Living It a bumpy road sometimes, but at its root I believe each Active Participant shares in common a love of love, a dedication to peace, a heart with God at its center, and a spirit which turns quickly to prayer. These commonalities provide such rich familial feelings that I have found myself quite comfortable walking in to any Episcopal gathering and being quite at ease striking up conversations with strangers, something not at all easy for me, and leaving having made vital connections with fellow travelers on our shared spiritual journey.

Another turn of my heart took me back to the days of the perfect answer to every question: "Because I Said So..." (which runs a close second to, "We'll see," which is what we called "The Catholic 'No'"). My husband says this all the time when I whine about needing another day in the weekend. I say, "We're not in the service, WHY do we have to go to church today!" and he'll say, "Because it's SUNday, you have to go to church!" Wuhl, it's true, right, for those of us raised in this tradition? When I was little I couldn't even THINK of not going to church on Sunday, I thought you'd go straight to hell if you didn't go. So, at the beginning of this week, I heard a bunch of people moaning about Lent, what they were giving up, that they weren't giving up ANYthing, that they don't fast because they think it's stupid or old fashioned, wah wah wah, like spoiled little children. Know what? We need to give up A LOT of things starting NOW. Know why? Because it's Lent and because the Book of Common Prayer Said So.

The 1979 Book of Common Prayer and it's sisters are some of the most perfect spiritual guides I've ever been blessed to meditate on. They really don't ask that much of us. I mean, I know the BCP imposes a duty on us to encourage and nourish each other through our Baptismal Covenant, but outside of that they're just a wonderful collection of scriptures in the form of prayers...for every occasion. You need a prayer for your enemy? We got one; for rain? We got one; to bless your bathroom? Absolutely. It's not a terribly pushy guide, though. It asks us to gather, it asks us to praise God, it asks us to listen to God's words, it asks us to pray, together and for one another, it guides our leaders to bless us, and it sends us on our way. On Ash Wednesday, however, that book reads kinda vicious. It "invites us, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word"..."because I said so".

So let's stop the whining, let's grow up. Let's get to know ourselves. Let's fast from allowing ourselves to walk numbly through our lives in the same old patterns. Let's take on living our lives with care, for ourselves and our neighbors. Let's take on a spirit of thanksgiving in every moment of our lives, being awake while alive, noticing every blessing. Let's fast from inappropriate choices, and let's pray; let's pray continuously, with passion, allowing our hearts and minds to roam where God directs. Let's get on this...and let's get 'er done.