As promised, the above is a photo of daffodils on our street. They are so pretty this year!
Happy Friday, Friends! How has your week been so far? Can you believe that this is the last day of February?
We had the best weekend in New Orleans, and I truly appreciate your travel mercy prayers for us.
I love the title of this week's lesson: "No Mud, No Lotus." The title comes from calligraphy art of Thich Nhat Hahn. You can order some of his art on his site HERE.
The point of this quote is that something beautiful, the lotus flower, emerges out of something not so delightful, mud. We all experience losses, heartbreak, meanness, and brokenness. These experiences allow us to appreciate the mountaintop moments, and they strengthen us.
I was particularly moved by this quote from the lesson:
You will discover an inner courage and an expansiveness of your faith in "the pits." This is rich ground for finding "our people"--those who truly love us and willingly enter the dark and messy to help us resurrect.~Page 44
You, Dear Friends, are "my people."
We have all experienced disappointment in fair-weather friends, those who weren't there for us when we needed them most. Instead of wasting our energy dwelling on them, we should focus on those who were there, who lifted us up. They are the balcony people in our lives.
Farrell also walks us through a meditation lesson based on her favorite verse for meditation, Psalm 46:10. Did you try the breathing/meditation?
I think my biggest obstacle to hearing God is being still. What about you?
Below is the other scripture from our lesson.
Please share your thoughts about the lesson and any prayer requests you may have in the Comments Section.
Prayer Requests
- Pray for our military securing and protecting our southern border.
- Pray for Kitty's son Mike to get a job that uses his talents.
- Pray for the Americans displaced by the derailment (East Palestine, OH), fires (Maui and California) and Hurricane Helene (East Tennessee and Western North Carolina). Pray that they will receive the help they need to rebuild.
- Pray for Kitty's grandson Connor, that he will find a path to follow and good relationships.
- Pray for our daughter Shanley Belle as her post doc is coming to an end. She is in the midst of a job search. Please pray for God's guidance in her next step.
- Carla is running for Trustee for her local Village Board. The election is April 1st. Let's be in prayer that Carla can continue to be the change she wants to see in her village.
- Rita's daughters need our prayers. One is finishing up her masters this semester, and the other is having an especially hard time balancing work/school/home life. Pray for God's strength, patience and guidance as they each navigate their own course.
I had the last of my doctors' appointments this week. I am hoping to rest a little and cook produce from our local farmer's market this weekend. What are your plans?
This is a latte I enjoyed in New Orleans.
Today I'm going on a field trip to a super cool vintage shop and the new Ballard Designs shop in downtown Birmingham with my bestie.
Blessings!
Ricki Jill
Ricki Jill
Happy Friday, Friends! How are you? Did you have a good week? Mine was much better, and I'm so thankful that I'm healthy. God is blessing me! I posted the watercolor of the daffodils (above) because the real ones are loving our wet weather and are popping up all over our neighborhood. It has been too rainy to go outside and take photos, but I will do so next week and share them on next week's post.
This week's lesson is entitled "Your Life Is Your Prayer." It's a sweet little lesson, and I enjoyed how she encourages us to pray. She talks about being honest and vulnerable, that "speaking our raw truths are the first lesson on how to pray (p. 39)." She also writes about centering prayers, and gives a short little lesson on how to begin this practice. (I admit that our church has centering prayer lessons and sessions, but I've never participated in them. Perhaps during the next cycle I will.) Her introductory lesson involves a "One-Word Prayer" exercise. Did you try this? Did you chose a word? My word was "stand." Let me explain why I chose this word.
In the Book of Ephesians, we are reminded to pray for each other. Here is the verse:
...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints...~Ephesians 6:18
This verse comes at the end of the Armor of God passage.
As many times as I've read this, it never dawned on me that once we are "armored-up," we are to pray for each other! Also in this passage, we are encouraged to "stand firm."
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.~Ephesians 6:13
Here is another reason I chose the word "stand." Macina Wiederkehr writes about morning prayer in the prayer below. My Bible teacher Bettys sent it to me this week, and I want to share it with you.
I stand at my window and watch
one by one the stars leave me.
I am having tea with the dawn
the first ray of sun descending
into my teacup, into my heart.
The stream of the tea ascending
to the heavens, into God's heart.
The yearning in my heart
streaming to the heavens, into God's heart.
And God, standing in the heavens
watching the sun rise in my heart
leans down to breathe in
the rays of yearning
and names it morning prayer.
Sometimes my biggest challenge is enjoying our comfortable bed in the morning and not getting up when I should to pray. I definitely function better in the mornings, and mornings are quieter in our home than afternoons.
Below is the scripture for our lesson:
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Please share with me your thoughts about the lesson. Did you choose a word for the centering prayer exercise? Have you practiced centering prayers before?
Prayer Requests
- Pray for our military securing and protecting our southern border.
- Pray for Kitty's son Mike to get a job that uses his talents.
- Pray for the Americans displaced by the derailment (East Palestine, OH), fires (Maui and California) and Hurricane Helene (East Tennessee and Western North Carolina). Pray that they will receive the help they need to rebuild.
- Pray for Kitty's grandson Connor, that he will find a path to follow and good relationships.
- Carla requests that we pray for Trump's cabinet, and his picks will be confirmed quickly.
- Pray for our daughter Shanley Belle as her post doc is coming to an end. She is in the midst of a job search. Please pray for God's guidance in her next step.
- Carla is running for Trustee for her local Village Board. The election is April 1st. Let's be in prayer that Carla can continue to be the change she wants to see in her village.
- Rita's daughters need our prayers. One is finishing up her masters this semester, and the other is having an especially hard time balancing work/school/home life. Pray for God's strength, patience and guidance as they each navigate their own course.
- PRAISE: All of my tests have been fantastic this week. I am the healthiest I've been in many, many years. :D
- Please pray for travel mercies for Trip and me. We are in New Orleans for the weekend.
Whatever you're drinking standing at your window, I hope you are also praying for the saints in your life!
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Ricki Jill
Happy Valentine's Day, Friends! How was your week? Mine was not the best. I think I need a do-over. I rarely say that, but that's how I feel. I enjoyed this week's lesson entitled "The Two Stones." Farrell shares with us about the Ionian tradition that Pilgrims do involving two stones: one stone that represents something we need to throw away in order to "continue successfully on the life journey." Friends, I am clearly doing something wrong in this life because I need a whole bushel of stones, it seems. Maybe it's because of the challenges I've encountered this week. Viewed individually, none of them are that big of a deal....but it's like a death of a thousand cuts: They have all added up to almost push me over the edge. Almost.
Two stones, one representing things we need to let go of, and one that represents something we would like to take with us.
Two stones, a life transformed.~Page 34
The second stone represents something that will enrich our lives. Maybe it's a dream, hope, or any other desire. Farrell says she keeps hers displayed in her home as a reminder. I think it sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to find my two stones before the rains hit Central Alabama.
But I will not be thwarted. I will find them, keep one, and throw the other one into the lake in our community.
Stay tuned!
Farrell also talks about cairns she sees while walking on the Snake River levee in Jackson, Wyoming (one of my favorite places on Earth). There is a neighborhood about a mile from ours, and we have friends who live there. This community also has cairns to mark the community's walking trails that meander through the pretty trees and parks. Cairns are a Scottish tradition, a place where people stack stones usually as a memorial.
Cairns located in Mt. Laurel
So basically the gist of this lesson is finding something to live for, and once you find it, live it! Farrell chose a verse from Hebrews for this lesson, and it's perfect because it challenges us to rid ourselves of things that weigh us down, thus hindering us from running with endurance the "race" or life God has planned for us.
Another verse from this chapter in Hebrews is below, and I think it's an appropriate verse for our lesson and for Valentine's Day.
This lesson also included a recipe for meatballs. Did you try it? I usually don't make meatballs because my family prefers meat sauce. I made Farrell's recipe, and everyone loved it! It was an easy recipe: The sauce came together easily. The hardest part was making the meatballs. We had it last night, and there was plenty left over to freeze.
The sauce is bright in color because I took Farrell's advice and used a variety of cherry tomatoes, especially yellow and orange ones.
Did you enjoy this week's lesson? I would love to read your thoughts in Comments.
- Pray for our military securing and protecting our southern border.
- Pray for Kitty's son Mike to get a job that uses his talents.
- Pray for the Americans displaced by the derailment (East Palestine, OH), fires (Maui and California) and Hurricane Helene (East Tennessee and Western North Carolina). Pray that they will receive the help they need to rebuild.
- Pray for Kitty's grandson Connor, that he will find a path to follow and good relationships.
- Carla requests that we pray for Trump's cabinet, and his picks will be confirmed quickly.
- Pray for our daughter Shanley Belle as her post doc is coming to an end. She is in the midst of a job search. Please pray for God's guidance in her next step.
- Carla is running for Trustee for her local Village Board. The election is April 1st. Let's be in prayer that Carla can continue to be the change she wants to see in her village.
- Please pray for me because I'm having my mammogram next week and all my check-ups with my cancer team.
- Rita's daughters need our prayers. One is finishing up her masters this semester, and the other is having an especially hard time balancing work/school/home life. Pray for God's strength, patience and guidance as they each navigate their own course.
Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day or any special plans for the weekend?
We're going to our club tonight for dinner.
Until next time...
Blessings!
Ricki Jill
Ricki Jill
"Earning Feathers"
Good morning, Friends! How was your week? Can you believe that Valentine's Day is one week from today? Do you have any special plans? I have a dinner date with The Mister.
Did you enjoy this week's lesson? It was a tough one emotionally. I enjoyed Farrell's metaphor of the peacock eating thorns in order to create, or "earn," his beautiful feathers. I admit that I have a love/hate relationship with peacocks. My great-grandmother had them on her property, and facing a three to four feet tall hissing bird with massive plumage is downright frightening. I can remember running as fast as I could from the car to her front porch, praying that one of those scary birds would not round the corner of the house and run after me. I'm surprised a woman as practical as my great-grandmother would raise peafowl: they are strictly ornamental and inedible.
I also appreciated how she references Flannery O'Connor, one of my favorite Southern writers. I intentionally took classes in both undergraduate and graduate school just because her stories were on the syllabi. She often used the peacock as a symbol for Christ, and she suffered during her lifetime as she battled lupus. She fascinates me because she not only felt "freakish" from the ravages of lupus, but also because she felt like a freak for being a Catholic in the Rural Protestant Deep South. Most of her stories had a freakish character or two in them
This lesson is all about how we can live "soulfully" when the wheels come off the wagon. The bad always comes: No one is immune. Farrell's suggestion for how we should respond to life's difficult times is to minister to those who are struggling more than we are. Didn't you just LOVE her examples of how to help others as they suffer? This book is definitely becoming more of a reference book, isn't it! I will definitely refer to her Tips for Helping Others Through Suffering List.
When I was going through cancer treatment, cards meant more to me than anything. I displayed them on a rod in my art studio, and I would re-read them all the time. I received a couple on bad days, and I set them aside and opened them later. I kept all the cards and notes from that time as a reminder of the kindness of my friends, and how I, too, want to be an encourager.
Which one of Farrell's tips did you think was the best one?
Here are the Bible verses from this week's lesson:
Often times we are so overwhelmed with grief and sorrow we don't know how to pray. Below is a snippet from The Book of Common Prayer that you can pray or share with others.
Below is another share from my Bible teacher Betty. It is a quote from Joyce Rupp.
The Holy one has created each of usas a wonderful human beingwith something specialwe are meant to share with our world.Think of the simple yet significant thingsothers have done for youbecause they were donewith kindness and consideration.Recognize and accept the beautyof who you are in God's eyesand do something with love today.
Prayer Requests
- Pray for our military securing and protecting our southern border.
- Praise Report from Carla: The Wisconsin National Guard that was deployed to Iraq are home.
- Carla's parents appointments went well. They are pleased with their new doctor, and she is helping them feel better.
- Pray for Kitty's son Mike to get a job that uses his talents.
- Pray for the Americans displaced by the derailment (East Palestine, OH), fires (Maui and California) and Hurricane Helene (East Tennessee and Western North Carolina). Pray that they will receive the help they need to rebuild.
- Pray for Kitty's grandson Connor, that he will find a path to follow and good relationships.
- Carla requests that we pray for Trump's cabinet, and his picks will be confirmed quickly.
- Pray for our daughter Shanley Belle as her post doc is coming to an end. She is in the midst of a job search. Please pray for God's guidance in her next step.
- Please continue to pray for the victims of the tragic plane and helicopter collision in Washington, D.C.
- Carla is running for Trustee for her local Village Board. The election is April 1st. Let's be in prayer that Carla can continue to be the change she wants to see in her village.
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It has been a beautiful week here in Central Alabama. I have spring fever, and I want to do something spring-y. I might go to my favorite nursery today and see what's up.
Have a blessed weekend and week!
Until next time...
Blessings!
Ricki Jill
Ricki Jill
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