Soul-Full Week Thirty-Three

 

Happy Friday, Friends!  How was your week?  I hope you had many opportunities this week to be mindful and slow down.  Based on the email I sent to y'all, you know that I didn't, but I do hope that I will have a very slow Saturday!

I mentioned the mindfulness because that is what our lesson is about this week.  Entitled "Don't Be a Tourist in Your Own Life," Farrell uses an example from her own life (a family trip to Yellowstone National Park) to illustrate what not to do.  Not that whirlwind trips are bad, per se, but it is much more meaningful and beneficial to our health not to mention the quality of our lives to slow down and be present in the moment.

Over the weekend we had a whirlwind trip to Chicago.  We spent almost all day on Saturday in Wrigleyville, and we went to a Cubbies game.  We spent most of the day Sunday at the Art Institute (my other Chicago mothership).  I noticed on the back of the Visitor Guide a list of "What to See in an Hour."  This included a variety of twelve different works of art created across the centuries.  Keep in mind this was before I'd read our lesson, and I remember thinking: "How sad!"  My SIL and I made plans to go early since we're members before the general public can access the museum.  That's when we began our journey through the Gustave Caillebotte Exhibit.  Then we had a short list of must sees (for me, definitely the Impressionists and "Pardon in Brittany" by Gaston la Touche.)  We also took a break for tea and coffee in the Member's Lounge.  Although it was a whirlwind trip, we did not rush our activities and events.

Farrell also writes about how mundane chores can be meditative practices or "chapel experiences" that force her to slow down and focus on the chore at hand, bringing her "increased peace and joy."  She specifically mentions the ritual of making granola for her family, and she included her recipe.  I have not been home enough lately to make anything, but I was able to pick-up some granola while I was out because it sounded yummy at the time.

This is called peanut butter cookie granola, but don't let the name fool you.  It was the healthiest option based on ingredients at my grocery store.

Were you able to make Farrell's recipe?

I want to try it when I get the chance.

In my weekly Bible study at church we are reading Barbara Brown Taylor's An Altar in the World.  She says that when people ask about her prayer life, she describes hanging laundry on the clothesline.  She relishes concrete accomplishments compared to the abstract.  But what struck me most is her mindfulness as she goes about her chore.  She is thinking about how grateful she is to have a body that can move and work, and she even mentions how she is thankful for the trees in Maine that provided the wooden clothespins.  As she observes the breeze drying clothes throughout the day, she "imagines prayers spinning away over the tops of the trees."

This is good work, this prayer.

This is good prayer, this work.

~Page 46 from Barbara Brown Taylor's An Altar in the World

Here is our Bible verse from the lesson:

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for our blog friend Jenna Meon.  She is currently in rehabilitation for her walking.  She is still struggling with her standing.
• Rita is praising the progress of her brother's rehab, and also the fact that her sister they moved from SC went to see a therapist last week!
• Also, please keep Rita's neighbor Chris in prayer as she battles her cancer.  She has a 2nd surgery to remove what is believed to be another cancer on her lung scheduled for the 29th.
• Kitty's grandson Connor is doing well as a corrections officer. Prayers that he can find a good relationship.
• Kitty's SIL Eric, Molly’s husband, filed for disability and hired a lawyer. Prayers that this all works out for him.
• Kitty's son Mike and his friend are working on a game for a company and need to have it done in three months and have a verbal agreement for another game. Prayers that they can get this done.  Also, pray that they will get good news on a proposal (a separate project).
• Keep Rita's daughter Megan in your prayers as she delves into her 3rd and final year of Nurse Practitioner program. Her anxiety is pretty high with the new schedule of work, school and home life balance.
• Pray for my best friend Barbara who is battling cancer.  She started her chemotherapy treatments last week, and she is struggling.
• Kris has a praise and a request:  Her little grandson and daughter and SIL are loving their new home in Michigan. Her daughter landed a great job running a huge 9 practitioner clinic in Michigan. Hoping the learning center that her grandson went to will open the new one very soon near their new home in Michigan so he can go to the same daycare and structure.
• Praise:  Kris had a wonderful time on her trip to Tennessee!
• Pray that my mother's house closes this afternoon without a hitch.
• Speaking of real estate prayers, pray for Carla and her husband as they are listing their home and moving closer to their sons.  Pray that God will guide them every step of the way!
• Carla is requesting prayers for her friend Conner who went to MEPS this week, he passed, he is now in the delayed entry program for the Marines.  He will go to bootcamp June 2026 after high school graduation.
• Carla's prayer request is for all the young people entering the military, the love they feel for the USA to become warriors to fight to keep us free. She is so thankful, as we all are!

Once my mother's house closes this afternoon, I hope I don't need to go to my hometown ever again!  

On Saturday, I want to watch it rain, and if it doesn't, I want to watch the hummingbirds and bees as they get nectar from our million bells.

Have a relaxing and blessed weekend, Friends!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill