Help! The motorcycles are invading my town!!
Seriously.
This weekend is the big bike rally. Ick. Good for some people, but for me....uh-uh. I live near a major highway, I work near a major highway, I drive from home to work on a major highway in a car that has no air-conditioning (sooo....window down if I want to breathe). Fun, fun.
On a...quieter note, we're talking in class about contemplative prayer. Everything I'm reading about it, in books or on the discussion boards, whether I've heard it before or not, is bringing the contemplative tradition alive for me. The frustrating part is that my mind isn't big enough to hold all the information!! And when you're talking about contemplation, you're talking about not having a mind so busy with finding connections and applications...but a quiet mind that nurtures a quiet heart. I want to live a contemplative life....not just know lots of cool words about it.
On yet another note - Mom stopped by (at my work) and dropped off a box from Amazon! (I'm a junkie. I need Amazon-Anon) I got Adele Calhoun's Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (for my next class) and Frank Laubach's Prayer, The Mightiest Force in the World. Having been so focused on the contemplative tradition, my mind has repeatedly been brought back to Laubach's life and work. I figured I'd explore some of his writings beyond the letters to his father.
Hmm....not that I needed any more books. I've got more books than I can handle as it is. Erasmus once said......"When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." That is sooooo literally me.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Random thoughts
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5 comments:
Hey Barbara,
I'm so glad I'm not the only one having trouble balancing a contemplative lifestyle in the midst of so much hubbub and commitments. It's been a bit of a humbling experience this week, seeing just how little quietness of spirit I've truly had. I want to live this program, not just learn about it, you know? I think you know. Sounds like you're right there, too.
By the way, I ordered a Frank Laubach book this week, too! I got the one Foster mentioned in the book, Letters from a Modern Mystic. It hasn't arrived yet, but I can't wait until it does! Woohoo! I love new books.
Oh, and speaking of new books . . . have you ever read Kathleen Norris? She became famous through The Cloister Walk, which was her book about living a year in a Benedictine monastery, but she's published several other books and is also a poet. Anyway, tonight I discovered that she just released a new book this week. It's called Acedia & Me, and it's a collection of essays on soul-weariness. Appears quite intriguing, and I'm looking forward to what it can teach me.
Oh, I'm right there with ya'. :)
Laubach's letters are wonderful, you'll LOVE it. If you got the edition with his "Game with Minutes" at the back, it's even better!
I've got a copy of The Cloister Walk sitting on my bedside table...but that's as close as I've gotten to reading it! It's one I keep looking at and longing for. Acedia & Me....very intriguing. I may have to check that out as well. Like I said, I need Amazon-Anon, but until then... :o)
I'm looking forward to working as one BIG group this week...it'll be fun!
Right on - my books (for this class) are coming this week! It will be like Christmas!
haha...Amazon-Anon...it will be a rather large group of us gathered! haha
motorcycle invasion? where do you live?
i forgot...
my husband always jokes(i hope he is joking) about my book-buying habit. it isnt the big purchases that he makes that bother him...you know, cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles...its my BOOKS in the smiley boxes that tend to make him think we are losing money too fast. haha. ohmy!
I live in Ruidoso, NM. The Golden Aspen Bike Rally is here every year and...need I say more? They've pretty much all gone home now :oD There were an estimated 43,000 of them here! That's a LOT for this little town.
Oh, that smiley box is...yep, Chris, like Christmas. If I've got more books than I can handle NOW...what'll it be like when I'm 60?!
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