Mindful, The Beginning and the End

This is where I started with the Mindful daily practice a year ago. And here is where I will end this year of observing and posting each day. Thank you to all the people who have commented so positively over time about the posts and what they have meant to them. You helped me keep going. For 2018 I am going to try something new - probably a sketch a day or working on hand stitching. Still not quite sure but will begin soon!

Mindful 2017

I am going to try and respond each day to this moving poem by Mary Oliver as my daily practice for 2017.

Mindful –

Every Day I see and hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light. It is what I was born for – to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world – to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation. Nor am I talking about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant- but of the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations. Oh good scholar, I day to myself, how can you help but grow wise with such teachings as these- the untrimmable light of the world, the oceans shine, the prayers that are made out of grass?

Mindful, Day 362-363, The Never-ending Road

Having traveled in the car 4 out of the last 6 days, I about mesmerized myself watching the shadow of our car along the side of the road. It grew larger, smaller, taller, and wider depending on the roadside. And it seemed to move much faster then we were even though we were (at times) able to go 80 miles an hour. Funny how that didn't seem very fast at all in the wide open spaces!  

Mindful, Day 361, Plans

This daily devotional came today and it is a perfect ending to this year. Taking the long view, doing the daily work, laying the foundation one piece at a time, all strike a cord with me. I Had Planned Talitha Arnold

December 31, 2017

I had planned to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord. . . and I made preparations for building." - 1 Chronicles 28:1-10 King David had great plans, but God had other plans. The one thing he wanted most—building the Temple—he had to leave for his son Solomon. David's story is a good one for this year's final days. What plans did you have for 2018? What do you need to let go of? As the year draws to a close, a prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, written shortly before his assassination in 1980, offers this insight: "It helps now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. "We plant the seeds that one day will grow," Romero continued. "We lay foundations that will need further development. "We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning . . . an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. "We may never see the end results," Romero concluded, "but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen." Prayer Help us step back and take the long view, O God. Thank you for the seeds you've helped us plant this year, the foundations you've enabled us to lay. Give us the wisdom to let go of other things. Like King David and Archbishop Romero, remind us that we are called to be workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. Amen.

Mindful, Day 359-360, On the Road Again

We are back on the road between Houston, TX and Palm Desert, CA.  There are 1400 miles between the two place and many of those miles are a lot and lot of lots and lots of open land.  I am reminded and mindful of how huge this country is and how different various areas are.  It has been nice to see again the changes. And we are excited to be getting close to Palm Desert again. We have had so many good and relaxing and fulfilling times there - our second home at this point.

MIndful, Day 358, Mom

I am mindful today of how lucky I was to have my Mom around until 5 years ago. Today would have been her 94th birthday. She was a caring, loving mother and friend to her large,extended family. Wish she were still here as she was before Parkinsons and dementia moved in. She loved having everyone together, especially at Christmas.

Mindful, Day 357, Houston Connection

We are in Houston for two days, into which we hope to pack a ton of time with Larry's son, Tim, and his family.  Always fun to see them, to explore and to catch up on one another's lives.  We are at the Lonestar Aviation Museum checking out airplanes and all things aviation. I am mindful of how fast the boys are growing and changing!

Mindful, Day 356, Names

We are on the way to Houston driving through Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas. The names of towns along the way are wonderful, mysterious and funny.  For starters: Biggers, Success, Mule Ditch, Pocahontas, Evening Shade, Oil Trough and Marmaduke....so far. I would love to know the why behind some of these town names! But for now, I just keep an eye open for the next fun one.