Where do we go from here?

Hello good friends,

Someone kindly called to find out if everything is all right.  It is indeed.  If anybody's checking this blog, you certainly deserve to be brought up to date, so here's what's been going on.

Energies formerly expended on this blog have been rechanneled into the new group forming in Chicago, the Christian Science Fellowship - Metro Chicago.

Who are we?  We love everything about Christian Science; we're faithful to the Church Manual and to The Mother Church.  We also believe that Christian Science is relevant today and a vital gift to the world we live in.  Also that some of our most cherished traditions have blinded us to the great possibilities of living Christian Science in a new way.

If this sounds interesting to you, check out our blog.  FAQs can be a good place to start.  You can even add a comment to any blog post you read.  We'd love to hear from you.   CSFellowship blog

If you're into social media, visit our Facebook page.  If you like what you see, become a fan!

CS Fellowship on Facebook

And yes, you can even follow us on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/chriscichicago

I was talking to a man the other day whose parting words were not, "Have a good day!"  Rather he said, "Make this a good day!"  Implying that having a good day is a choice we make.  I like that. 

So, hope to see you on our blog or FB.  Meanwhile, make this a great day!

What's under the surface?

After the manhole cover

was made level

The driveway for our condo needed some repair before seal-coating this year.

In particular a manhole cover was slanted. This indicates a problem beneath the surface. The sewer guys came and found the structure supporting the manhole cover was crumbling. They took out the crumbled stuff, and replaced it with concrete that will last, and now the cover is level again.

Then the surface guys moved in. The two men had an orderly procedure to follow. I was impressed how well they worked as a team.

We could have just seal-coated and left the man hole cover slanted. The driveway would look good on the surface.

Final touches on repairing
the manhole cover

I appreciated the lesson that when something doesn’t seem quite right, it is important to look beneath the surface to find out what is really going on. In relationships, if something doesn’t seem quite right, it can also be useful to delve beneath the surface.

What helps me a lot is to turn to the one Mind, the creator of the universe, and ask what I need to know to better praise and glorify Him/Her. This honest prayer often reveals underlying issues in a sticky relationship. Once recognized, they can be addressed.

Then progress can resume.

Trusting the One in charge

Firehouse sidewalk

in red-orange!

The new fire station around the corner has been under construction for several months now. While the project has not moved quickly, it has moved steadily.

For several days the workmen were pouring concrete, one section at a time, on the drive where the fire trucks will zoom out. Later they poured the concrete for the sidewalk.

But they did something that seemed very odd. They left the sidewalk squares closest to the driveway unpoured. Four places the sidewalk touches the driveway, and those squares remained empty after the cement truck had driven away.

To the casual observer (me) it made no sense. At that point I had to decide whether to dither and criticze, or to trust that the cement crews knew exactly what they were doing. Having better things to think about, I decided to trust and not dither, and see what would happen.

The next day as I went past, the truck and crew were on the job, pouring in those last squares of sidewalk. My confidence in their understanding of the whole job was not misplaced. The squares touching the driveway were contrasting red-orange and textured. The color and surface would alert pedestrians that this was a fire station, and they might have to quickly move out of the way.

This was a good lesson for me. If our lives are progressive, we often find some area under construction. Construction projects can be messy, and we may not understand why some parts are finished while other important-to-us parts remain incomplete.

I’ve found that it’s OK to trust the great Architect, who I also have found wholly caring and the source of all good and right things in the world. Because S/He sees the whole picture, the big picture, S/He knows the perfect timing for each part of our lives to fit exactly with what’s gone before so we can better love our fellow beings.

There may be steps we need to take, but not out of a sense of forcing events. If I try to push things from my perspective, it often interferes with what would have happened in an orderly way a little later.

Apparently somebody else reached this conclusion a long time ago, because he advised, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs)

Oh no! Not another sports is life essay!

Girls get equal time

Have I ever said how grateful I am for Park District programs?

January 2009, and it’s Park District basketball season again. The youngsters show up for weekly practices and eventually weekly games with their pint-size rivals such as the Knicks, Nuggets, and Nets.

It amazes me how much the kids improve from one season to the next. This year they are actually dribbling most of the time (as opposed to running down the court with ball clutched in both hands); they are jumping for and catching rebounds; they are stealing unguarded balls. In short, the games are becoming interesting!

Subtle discrimination surfaces. During warm-ups one of the boys escorts a girl teammate to the back of his line. With a word of admonition, the coach immediately moves the girl to where she had been in the front of the line, and puts the boy back in his spot -- an important lesson for all the kids on that team.

You see good sportsmanship when the ref blows his whistle, and the kids hand him foul balls without a blink or a scowl.

“Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.” Mary Baker Eddy

Seeing the kids’ skills improve from year to year is pure joy.

And so should all our lives improve with added wisdom and experience honing our life skills. Life is action -- at whatever age or stage.

God, eternal Life, does not relegate us to become merely observers of others’ progress. We don’t have to enroll in a Park District program to catch the rebounds of opportunity to be a little kinder, to watch our transactions more alertly, to claim unguarded moments of joy -- day by day.

Grab that ball of life and take it down the court into new territory!

Nail in the Fence Post

This email came along today, and its message of self-control is worth sharing.


There once was a little boy with a short temper and a wise and caring daddy.

So one day his Dad gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail deep into a 2x4 fence post. The first day the boy drove 37 nails into the post. He hit his thumb a few times too.

Over the next next few weeks he learned to control his anger, and the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled. He discovered it was pleasanter to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his dad about this achievement, and the father praised his success. Then he suggested that the boy now pull out one nail each day that he succeeded in not losing his temper.

This was not so easy to do, as some of the nails had gone in crooked or gotten bent over, or were pounded in so far it was difficult for the claw of the hammer to get a grip on the nailhead.

Months passed until the lad was finally able to tell his dad that all the nails had been removed. The dad praised him warmly. Then he took his son by the hand and they walked to the fence together.

They looked at the holes in the post. His dad said, "This fence post has a lot of holes in it. It will never be the same. When people say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this hole. Angry words can cut like a knife. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, someone has been wounded. A verbal wound can hurt as bad as a physical one.”

The book of Proverbs

confirms the value of self-control,

"He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty.

He who rules his temper is greater than a conqueror."

Listening, not judging

My friend, Kathy, teaches classes for business people to learn to communicate effectively. She has been learning to listen for inspired ideas, to let God as Mind help her prepare for the classes.

In each class there is usually somebody who isn’t happy about having to be there. And she finds it tempting to make a quick judgment about this type of person as a “loud mouth,” a “bully,” or “anti social.”

When this happens, she finds herself spending way too much time fretting about these annoying personalities. Eventually she reminds herself that these classes belong to God. That He/She brings the people who are to be blessed.

The interesting thing is that the difficult people always come around to understand how they can be part of the solution in their companies, instead of being part of the problem.

And my friend has realized that God as Truth hasn’t given her the responsibility of judging His/Her children. She has watched time and again as these men and women begin to take an honest look at how their behavior and language affects others; she has seen softening and a willingness to change replace harshness and anger. She knows she doesn’t cause these changes.

She has come to realize that God as Truth doesn’t burden her with a responsibility to spend her time judging people and then having to worry about them. Her job is to provide an atmosphere that allows people to feel safe among their colleagues. And she has found that she can trust God to reveal the good that is inherently within them.

Assuming responsibilities God hasn’t given us, makes us feel uncomfortable, and then we wonder why. That’s the time to really listen for what the Bible refers to as that “still small voice” of Truth.

I’ve found that God does care, and is very helpful – if we really want to know what to do next and the best way to do it. And – oh yes, this is a big one – if we are willing to completely drop our own preconceptions about how and what we should be doing. Then we are ready to listen.

Reality Check

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Message on a local cleaners' sign:

Sorrow looks backward.

Worry looks around.

Faith looks up.

Where are you looking?

Real humility knows no limits

Humility. It’s not what most people think -- that if you are meek, people will take advantage of you. Whatever else that is, that is not humility.

Genuine humility has been better described as knowing you really need to lean on God if you are going to get the job done.

Here’s the story of a man who sacrificed his schooling as a boy by working in the fields to help his family. As a result, he never learned to read.

Now, he has found the humility at age 70 to return to school where, as a beloved member of his first grade class, yes, he is learning to read.




Cllick Here to read the print story.

A finishing touch to our lives

The movie, “An unfinished life” reveals the unavoidability of forgiveness. There’s a sub-theme with a bear in it. The first time I saw this tough but sweet film, I couldn’t figure out how the bear related. The second time it was obvious.

Einer, a Wyoming rancher whose son had been killed a decade before in an auto accident, needs to forgive his daughter-in-law Jean – the driver during the fatal accident. Mitch, his best friend, has been badly mauled by a bear and requires some daily care.

Meanwhile Jean has been living with the terrible guilt of believing she was responsible for her husband's death. Suddenly she shows up, desperate after fleeing an abusive boyfriend.

Although he allows Jean to stay, Einer won’t or can’t forgive. And the bear becomes a metaphor for their lives – how they are all stuck regretting the past, unable to advance. As the story unfolds, Mitch forgives the bear and cajoles Einer into releasing him at night from a small tourist zoo.

The granddaughter Einer didn’t know he had, now nearly ten, becomes the catalyst that softens his heart, enables him to come to terms with life, and to ultimately forgive.

As the bear, set free by Mitch’s generous spirit, walks off into the wilderness, so forgiveness enables Einer and his small family to reverse the downward spirals of their lives and move forward together.

What can be added to this tender lesson?

If we are to live our lives to the full, we must forgive, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean we subject ourselves to further abuse. It means we drop the burden of hate, anger, or resentment from our own shoulders and rediscover the joy of sprinting ahead.

Jesus, who understood a lot about life and human nature had some choice words about forgiveness.

In today's language, he might have said, “If you want God to forgive your dumb and bad mistakes, then you need to be generous about forgiving others their dumb and bad mistakes as well.”

How long? However long we keep doing things we wish we hadn’t. That's a kind of love that adds a dimension of grace to our lives.

If you are interested, the official trailer follows:

What are you watching? And does it matter?

True. Another video. And, alas, it may not be the last.

The video below hopes to alert drivers to be aware of bicyclers so that they will drive carefully and share the road. The ad plays upon the tendency of the human mind to be easily distracted to the point of not seeing people or activities right in front of us.

How true it is that we walk (literally and metaphorically) in the direction we are looking.

As an example, my husband with a grin tells the story of his sister's first time driving a motor scooter. When she turned her head to the right to look over her shoulder, the motor scooter veered sharply to the right, nearly taking her off the road. A moment's distraction unexpectedly and drastically changed her direction.

Life seems sometimes like a three-ring circus. As we watch the clowns in one ring, we miss the acrobats in the second ring, and the horses in the third. It seems like we are always going to be missing something. Yet we can take control of our worldview.

It's too easy to let worry, injustice, self-pity, or self-importance preoccupy our thoughts. But this inward-turning is a miniscule part of what's going on in the world at any given moment.

There is wondrous goodness and beauty, kindness and caring filling each day. While some distractions, like the one in the video, are harmless, others can totally grab our attention with startling consequences.

Whatever we focus on becomes a major part of our experience.

So it makes sense to pay attention to the do-gooders -- and that term is used in the best possible sense -- of this world. People who sarcifice and ask nothing in return; people such as deeply devoted religious figures both past and present, as well as unsung heroes: helpers, care givers, rescuers, etc.

Making the effort to discover active goodness and to appreciate the unselfishness of others lifts our thought above the mesmeric replay of tragedy, and we help the world move forward.

God is in the details

Some details of spring

“God is in the details.” This saying is attributed to German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969).

It isn’t hard to see how an architect, so attentive to visual details, might find God’s hand behind the harmony, beauty, and function in a bridge , a building, or house design.

I find God in the details of my day too. Pretty much in proportion as I let God be central to my activities, thoughts, and conversations, all sorts of interesting things happen.

Among my acquaintances, for example, I’m making the opportunity to look deeper into the spiritual qualities they express, and finding beyond the surface good and dear people, people I really like.

One new friend is a fierce animal lover, a staunch NRA advocate, and is taking a course in belly-dancing at a local university. She recently tenderly cared for an elderly uncle who had no other family, until he passed on.

Another is active in her church, generously sews many costumes for her daughter’s high school musical productions, hauls the girls to their swim meets, and finds time for tennis.

In spite of their different life styles, each of these ladies is pursuing her own spiritual journey. God is working in the details of their lives because somehow, in some way, each has invited Him/Her into their hearts.

People on spiritual journeys tune in to the substance of things that cannot be seen, eternal truths they innately believe. They have not given up on the basic goodness of mankind and the basic premise of a Higher Power.

People on spiritual journeys tend to discover God’s goodness or beauty or strength in the details of their lives.

Photo: thanks to Gordon Imrie

Dribble, pass, or shoot!

He tries for the basket

A diminutive second-grader in a green park district T-shirt, holds the basketball tightly for what seems an eternity, anxiously scanning the court for any green-shirted teammate available to take the ball.

“Dribble, pass, or shoot!” his coach calls.

Although park district basketball rules for second graders are very tolerant of the fact that children are just learning to handle the ball, the coaches also remind the youngsters of what they should be doing.

Dribble means to move while bouncing the ball. Pass means to get the ball to a teammate who might be in a better position to try for a basket. Shoot means to expose yourself to instant success or failure by aiming for that basket that seems so high.

In their own way, these action verbs describe life. Life requires us to be participants. Sometimes we dribble, looking for an opening, looking for what we are supposed to do next.

Other times we see clearly it is time to pass the ball to someone else, to give them an opportunity to go forward with something of value from us.

And still other times we realize we must leap up with hope, and maybe some skill and experience, and shoot for the basket.

If you are on a team, that team will support your efforts. Yet there are times when we feel like we’re on our own, and clinging to the ball hasn't been productive; when we know we need to dribble, pass, or shoot.

That’s when feeling cared for and loved by a tender Father-Mother God means a lot to me. The great Coach is with us no matter what. He/She provides the players we need in this Life-game. In turn, our job is to value and support our teammates.

Although these teammates may change with the seasons, knowing we can lean on an unchanging infinite Love, a strength and wisdom beyond ourselves, inspires us to go forward in unfamiliar paths, to be willing to step outside our comfort zones, to persevere and find solutions where none are obvious, to go forward in the expectancy of doing our best.

Go Team!

Why not expect good?

Who will stop

to admire this delicate beauty?

Have you ever looked right at someone you should have known, and not recognized that person? Perhaps you were in another state or another country and saw someone from home, but were slow to make the identity connection because you weren’t expecting to see him or her.

It happens.

The same animal trainer quoted in a recent blog tells of another horse, Pennies. This one was a hard-core bolter. Whenever anyone mounted him and asked him to move, he took off at a dead run.

Vicki Hearne understood how to communicate with Pennies, and showed him his innate dignity and graceful control of himself. As mentioned before, when his family came after a week to check on his progress, they did not even recognize the animal calmly trotting past them as their own.

It has to do with expectancy, doesn’t it? Even hope. They were looking for last week’s difficult horse. And they were not expecting their pet to be unruffled and composed, at least not so soon.

When we are trying to solve a difficulty - relationship, circumstance - are we expecting last week's obstinancy? Dare we hope for progress so soon?

You may remember the story where Jesus healed a blind beggar, and the man’s neighbors had a hard time recognizing him. Some asked, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”

Others said, “No, but he does kind of resemble him.”

The former beggar joyfully exclaimed, “I am the man!” Jesus had showed him his wholeness.

The people mentioned here (horse trainer and Jesus) who initiated transformation were expecting good. And they saw the results of their expectations.

So we may well ask, Why shouldn’t we be expecting good? If we can agree that the creator of the universe is good, then good is real, natural, and present. And we don't have to feel helpless in the face of nasty politics, fragile economy, or personal wrestlings. Recognizing and valuing our own innate goodness we can to some degree often show others their goodness too.

Good is more prevalent than we realize. Just for fun, and by way of challenging the evening news, I made a quick list of good things I could think of just for this day. I stopped somewhere in the twenties, with a big smile, in order to continue writing this blog.

I highly recommend making such a list. It keeps life in proper perspective – where what’s innately right and excellent and cheerful in our lives is recognized as our present substance.

Managing big projects a step at a time

Step by step

kids learn the game

One morning about a month ago I walked into the local Park District field house and my friend Mark had his maintenance crew sweeping and vacuuming the floors between and under the bleacher seats. In the winter, they focus on indoor cleaning. This has to be done in the early morning hours, and it was instructive to observe.

The next week he was atop an indoor “cherry picker” dusting the blades of one of the oversize fans that hang from the ceiling. A huge pile of accumulated dust gathered on the floor beneath him. By the end of the week all six fans were clean and gently circulating the air.

After that Mark tackled the supports that hold the six basketball hoops. He dusted and washed them from the top supports near the ceiling, all the way down to the hoops themselves. By the week’s end, the supports gleamed as though they’d been given a coat of fresh black paint.

Next were the dividers – curtain-like pieces that unroll from the ceilings to separate three simultaeous volley ball games. And finally the crew gave the hardwood floor a thorough cleaning that removed most of the scuff marks that accumulate in an active field house. In six weeks time the place looked sparkling.

To make a little time and geography jump here, 2,000 years ago the people of Athens faithfully worshipped many gods, and to be sure none were left out, they even had an altar to the unknown God. Then Paul came along explaining this one ever-present, all-powerful good God. He said they lived in this God, moved in this God, had their very being in this God.

How would you deal with such a huge new concept? Perhaps one idea at a time. Much as Mark approached the winter field house cleaning – a huge project. Yet seeing the overview he broke it down into bite-size pieces, a few hours each morning. And the cleaning was accomplished in an orderly and harmonious way.

That’s a valid approach to life itself. Deal with the demands and requirements one step at a time.

If we aren’t ready to say that God doesn’t know evil at all, can we say at least that He is the source of all good? And begin to identify that good in our lives, and think about what it means that it might all come from one intelligent source?

And to think about being grateful for all that’s good and beautiful? These are first steps, and useful ones in a spiritual approach to life.

Shredding

Ever have to go through your papers and do some shredding?

That seems to be the way things are done these days. If you're through with a piece of paper that includes phone numbers or financial information, you shred it.

I'd been doing some email grumping to a friend about having spent recent hours shredding old documents.

She shot back, " 'Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded.' So think in terms of good unfolding rather than time consumption."

She was referring to part of the definition of "Day" in "Science and Health" a book we both read along with the Bible as a guide for life. the author, Mary Baker Eddy, refers to Mind in this case as God. So my opportunity was to focus more on what this infinitely intelligent Mind was telling me than on the chore.

I really appreciated my friend setting me back on track. And had already reached the conclusion, while sorting through various papers, that to shred the past isn't a bad idea. To shred / dispose of / throw out what is no longer of value, is a good thing. To toss out of thought whatever has become heavy is a healthy thing.

We can come to terms with whatever burden lingers from the past, then let it go.

Like that monkey with his hand in the coconut grasping some unseen treasure, we can let go of the past, be free of the silly coconut, and get on with our lives.

Past good remains. It's constant, timeless, present to make us smile, because it originates in God, infinite good.

New Year's snow frosting

Snow frosting

New Year’s eve brought a light and steady snow all night. Morning light revealed a kind of vanilla frosting on stalks, bushes, branches, evergreen boughs. Deciduous trees and other plants that will be magnificently adorned in summer have needed a touch of beauty to carry them through the embarrassment of having no leaves.

All things stark and skeletal suddenly have a two-inch layer of joyous white fluff.

Translating this lesson of nature for this New Year, why not take one thing that has been bare and unadorned in your life and give it a generous coating of love? Find what you can love about this dormant idea, and love it till it blossoms in the natural warmth of progress.

For me, at this moment, it’s people. People who, at first glance might appear unadorned, have been coming into my life with wonderful gifts of generosity, skill, kindness. I feel that through the message of the frosting, God has been showing me the beauty He/She knows and sees, and is saying, "Look at these pure and good hearts." And afterwards that’s how I see my new friends too.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Samuel had been told to go anoint a new king for Israel. He had been specifically directed to dine with Jesse, a prosperous man with many sons. At dinner Samuel looked at all the assembled handsome young men and made his own assessment about which one would be God’s chosen.

Each time he guessed and asked, "Is it this one?" God said, “No not this one.” Frustration set in. After all, Samuel was supposed to be a prophet; he wasn’t supposed to get it wrong.

The right candidate turned out to be the youngest son, David, who wasn’t even present at the meal. No wonder Samuel had a hard time.

I better understand now what God explained to Samuel, “The Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

The cheerful and temporary coating of snow is a reminder that central to each living thing is abundant beauty.

Love never loses sight of loveliness.
Its halo rests upon its object.
One marvels that a friend
can ever seem less than beautiful.

Mary Baker Eddy

Sorting

What's useful?

and what needs a new home?

“I wish I lived closer. I am a great organizer and pitcher!” My friend in another state heard I was majorly reorganizing my rooms and furnishings.

As I see it, God thought my friend's reorganizing and tossing was a great idea, because He/She sent my sister and my cousin this afternoon, and we had a pitching party!

The girls established four categories:

• Sort - what is useful? What needs a new home?
• Keep - because it is useful
• Give away - because it needs a new home
• Toss - would not bless anyone

And everything was consigned to one of these areas. This is proving to be a highly effective approach to clearing out clutter, to discovering what is really important and relevant. I have been able to let go of some things I had previously clung to -- but really had no present usefulness.

This is also an effective approach to life.

We have an opportunity every day, every moment to first:

• Sort thoughts as to whether or not they come from God. Whatever is good and fair and honest comes from God
• Then either keep and honor a thought because it is a useful and from God
• Or give it away because it is so good it needs to be shared! (The neat thing about sharing a good idea is that we are not diminished by sharing. Good multiplies when shared.)
• Or toss it in the trash because it obviously is not from God, therefore cannot in the long run give either satisfaction or blessing

So as I sort through the sorting pile they kindly bequeathed me, I will remember that what is really going on is the sorting of thoughts – determining which are useful and worth keeping or sharing, and which have served their purpose and need to be discarded.

Watching boys grow - one day at a time!

A time for reflecting on

unexpected thoughtfulness and caring

Kim, who has raised two, remarked early on with great enthusiasm, “I never knew boys could be so much fun!”

Her sincere joy shocked me to the core. At that time we had a daughter who was predictably feminine —dolls, an eye for pretty clothes, cheer-leading tryouts, boyfriends.

I would have had no idea what to do with a boy. So it was amazing to me that somebody my peer was finding this preschool male experience fun, stimulating, exciting. And her words came back full force when our daughter later presented us (one at a time) with two grandsons.

Yup, little boys in our lives for sure. We figured out what to do with them one day at a time, often following their parents’ lead, and praying a lot as well.

It was important then, and it is important now, to remember that these boys, and all children for that matter, have an infinitely wise and caring Father-Mother who looks after them, gives them wisdom to discern between good and bad, gives them good and productive ideas and the desire and ability to follow through with these ideas.

Case in point. The other day when asked if he felt older, the nine-year-old thoughtfully replied, “I don’t feel older; I just feel more responsible.”

In fact, he really is showing more self-restraint and consideration for others. And no doubt there was a conversation with a parent somewhere behind that statement. Boys grow up in very good ways, day by day.

His second-cousin is fourteen. As I was ready to leave the Christmas gathering this evening, he saw I had too many bags for one trip. “Would you like help carrying these out to the car?” he offered.

“Sure would!” I replied smiling inside and out.

Boys grow up, day by day. And it shouldn’t be amazing, but it is a wonderful thing to see responsibility in the form of thoughtfulness and caring replacing the stereotypes.

I second Kim’s statement of years ago, amended slightly. “Boys are so much fun, and they are amazing as well.”

Women of courage find their voices

Two recent events stand out for me. One was a panel of women of faith. I walked two blocks to the event with the driver of the car parked ahead of me. She herself was an amazing woman. I was so glad to hear her voice.

Rose is writing a paper on the ordination of women in the Catholic church. We discovered we had both read “The Gospel of Mary Magdalene” by Karen King, which posits that Jesus’ real message was hijacked – by men – officially in 325 AD, and has been mostly buried ever since. What remains is what men have permitted, and what remains missing is the voices of women.

The women on the panel – a Jewish Rabbi, a Catholic sister, and the (woman) president of the Islamic Society of North America – made warm, yet serious, presentations about the roles of women in their faiths.

But what stuck with me most was Rose’s courage. Her heart tells her that Jesus’ ministry was very woman inclusive. Her church tells her women are excluded from giving sacraments. She follows her heart in an uphill struggle.

The other event was Friday morning’s 44th Annual Greater Chicago Leadership Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by the Chicago Sunday Evening Club. A wonderful Gospel choir sang throughout.

This choir with the descriptive name of “Harmony, Hope, and Healing,” functions to give back to marginalized women their voices. These women, primarily from shelters, are survivors – women who have recently escaped abusive situations. Violence had silenced their voices, and this joyous choir helps them find the songs their lives are intended to be.

Their final number, “This little light of mine,” strongly confirmed the choir’s success in achieving their goal. The showcased soloist proved that she had indeed found her voice, and used it to improv for her Lord – as she soared all over the treble staff and beyond. She followed her heart and found the courage to let her light and her voice shine.

Watching for love gifts

Greek honor guard

at the tomb of the unknown soldier

Chris and I had about three hours free time in Athens. We had been encouraged to go to the Plaka, a unique labyrinth of local shops and restaurants.

Starting out with directions and map, we became distracted by a crowd of people in front of an official looking pink and white structure. We later learned this was the Parliament building.

On a marble plaza in front of the Parliament, an honor guard for the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was preparing to be relieved by the next shift. These tall, handsome young men performed their carefully choreographed routine with precision, accuracy, focus, and total disregard for tourists bold enough to have their pictures taken next to these on-duty soldiers.

We quickly exchanged a temptation to be disappointed at not finding the Plaka, for recognizing the privilege of stumbling upon the changing of the guard.

God frequently works serendipitously in our lives. He/She hides little gifts here and there along our paths. If we're too busy, self-absorbed, or determined to follow a specific agenda, we miss some, or perhaps most, of the gifts. On the other hand, if we're willing to look at a wrong turn and not label it a "mistake," we often discover something or someone delightful. And to find a God-guided good purpose for our being in an unexpected place.

It's important, for me anyway, to learn the flexibility of looking for the presents in the present, that indicate infinite Mind's ever-present goodness.

God doesn't make any wrong turns, and as I try to stay close to my highest sense of what I think His purpose is for me at any given time, I feel his gentle guiding. I'm learning to trust that direction, even when it doesn't take me to where I thought I should be headed.

It's a more gracious way to live, a less hectic approach to life and relationships. No wonder Jesus taught, Your heavenly Father will give you what you need, "if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to." (Living Bible) This approach takes away all the stress.

St. Paul, the whole purpose for my trip to Greece, was so convinced of the solidity of his relationship to God, that he didn't worry about what might appear to others to be mistakes. He could say with honesty and the conviction of experience that nothing could separate him from the love of God, which he had discovered through Christ Jesus.

Thanks to Christine Proctor for the excellent photo