Leota's Garden

I just finished Leota's Garden by Francine Rivers. I have to discuss it a little. It's about an old woman who has lived her life without telling her children why she made the choices she did. Her choices allowed them to believe she put her work and her self ahead of them when in fact she was the only one working and supporting them, their grand parents and their father who was emotionally damaged during WWII. This book also dealt with the large question of what we feel about our elderly in this nation and what we do with them when they are no longer able to "contribute to society or our lives." I have lots of mixed feelings about this book. While many of Francine River's books are excellent and they made me think while I enjoyed them; this book left me cold.

Leota lost precious years with her children because she had a misplaced since of loyalty to her Mother and Father in law. Maybe I could let this happen. But I wanted to reach in the book and shake her and say it's not a sin to stop people from damaging your relationships. Aw, but one of the things Ms. Rivers does best is force the reader to examine their own weaknesses through the weaknesses of her characters.

Today's society and possibly our own future may well be described in pages leading up to and including Leota's own ending. Fictional or not it was like a slap in the face with a block of ice! It was enough to almost make me throw the book on the floor and not pick it up again. Maybe that was Ms. Rivers' point. I didn't throw the book and I did finish it.

She draws clear lines between believers, and non believers. She forces the reader to look at controversial issues straight on in a Christian view not only in attitude but Godly actions. And gives us a glimpse of them from a worldly perspective as well. We even get to ponder how those in the world may change their views when the issues directly impact them.

I don't know if I like this book or not. I had to talk about it.

Spiritual Attention

I was working on the Sunday Morning bulletin this morning and I looked out my window and the sunrise was breathtaking. Magnificent pinks and oranges mixed with pale blue and grey. I grabbed my camera and started clicking. By the time I got back to the computer the colors had been replaced by soft blues, pure white and the dark green of the trees began to come out. The frost on the tops of the houses added to the clearness of the day and there was a haze of some one's wood fire in the near distance.



It made me wander what we miss when we don't pay attention. I know with my children I missed so much. I am surprised at even the little things that they remember and talk about. I'm sure I don't remember because I was too busy doing something else at the time that seemed far more important.



For me it begs the bigger question; how much do we miss of the presence of the Lord? He is near all the time. He said he would never leave us nor forsake us. He chose to make his dwelling place with us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So what does it take not to miss this presence in our lives. Even for those of us who are dedicated to study and prayer are we living heads up? Can we be dedicated to study and prayer without being in tuned to the Spirit? W can not be in tuned to the Spirit without being dedicated to study and prayer. But I'm guilty of praying without listening and "studying" without looking into the face of the one speaking. Rude. This is our conversation. Am I missing something? Could I be even more awed by the spiritual colors around us if I paid closer attention? Or is there a lesson I could have caught this time and now the opportunity is gone?

Making Real Change

Our conversation the other night was geared around the when does real change actually happen. How do we actually stop one action and start another in it's place. I will give you a for instance. I am not a great house keeper in that I don't work smarter, I work harder. Being someone that likes to do other things than keep house this has become a problem over the years. When my house is clean and straight, I feel better, my stress level is lower, I feel better about spontaneous entertainment, and I eat less. That's a big plus. But I am not going to spend all my free time cleaning anymore. I'm just not. So I need to change. I need to work smarter not harder. So I need to change the crucial action. I did this once before and it was weird but I proved to myself it could be done. The principle can be applied to anything but I'm using the example here because I can explain it.

You have something you want to achieve.You figure out what steps you need to take to achieve it.You figure out what actions you need to change to help you reach that goal.Change is hard. That's normally where the rubber meets the road and where the plan falls apart. There's a pivot point in your action pattern that you can change. If you can catch that point and make that change you will be more successful. The crucial action is the point of change. In the example the lecture I heard was "turning left on 5th street." turning left on 5th street meant he went by the gym and he would go work out rather than not go work out. So all he had to do was "turn left at 5th St". Back to changing my mess maker habit. My habit is to put something down and worry about it later. My point of change will be to put it down in it's place exactly. Touch it once. Do it now. If I don't have to pick something up and put it away later then I've already cut my work load. So it doesn't leave my hand until it's where it belongs. This crucial action is my point of change.

This is no easy task. And it takes close attention but it's worth it. What do you want to try? What crucial action could you change to change something you want? How will that work? How will that feel? Believe it or not, it may feel oddly good and uncomfortable at the same time. Sometimes we need to identify the obstacles that stop us from our changes that will allow us to reach our goals. Maybe one of the main obstacles is that uncomfortable feeling of change itself.
Let's talk about it.


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Two Day School, What I Learned Today

Today I am at Portland State University attending classes for my to better my skills as a trainer. I have never spent any time in down town Portland before much less on a college campus except with Leah and Logan at Cascade. PSU is very interesting. It's kind of mixed into the city. Or maybe it's the city is mixed into it. I'm not sure. I'm staying at a little hotel on campus. I asked about a grocery store last night. The helpful desk clerk pulled out a trusty area map and making indications for Plaid Pantry, Safeway and Starbucks. Abruptly he stopped and quickly added, "of course if you are boycotting Starbucks, there are lots of great coffee shops all up and down Fifth Street." I could tell by his apologetic manner this must be a hot topic around here. I must have looked perplexed because we quickly moved on to exact directions for Safeway.

I walked to class this morning. That's the best way to get around in this neck of the woods. I passed by the food carts, a hodge podge of little shanties at the edge of the parking lot on Fourth Street, the Bartending Academy, and very old churches tucked in among the high rise buildings. At lunch we saw several of Portland's finest on horse back lined up on the side walk with some more on foot all ready for something. As it turned out there was a protest at the Regence building over the lack of Health Care. Woops, apparently that was not the thing to do. I thought this was kind of silly. The police were so obvious the protesters had to have seen them. It was like a parade. They had a chance to leave before the police went around the corner which was a very deliberate stroll after they all gathered up. I don't think I would make a good protester.

I learned that I do know something about the field I work in and there is more to learn. I learned in the afternoon session that being an expert is sometimes relative.

As I walked home I heard a bus fart. Oh, yes it did too! I saw a very old Jaguar with a bike on top. It is a strange looking car to begin with and the bike made it look even stranger. And I learned that just because there is a cross walk, you are better off not to use it unless it also has a red light and all the cars are stopped. The plain cross walks are more like cross runs.

I look foward to tomorrow. I look foward to the walk to class again. I look forward to seeing the different people along the way. I will take my camara and try to capture some of the contrasts that seem to be at every turn.