World Book Night

Today is World Book Night and I was an official Book Giver!  World Book night began in the UK and migrated to the US last year.  It always falls on April 23, the UNESCO International Day of the Book, and WilliamShakespeare's birthday.  It was also chosen in honor of Miguel de Cervantes, who died on April 23.  In a certain region of Spain, that day is celebrated by giving a book and a flower to a special someone. 30 books are selected by a panel of librarians. Booksellers and authors waive their royalties and publishers donate all the copies special editions of the selected books.  In mid autumn, potential book givers apply to personally hand out 20 copies, with the targeted audience being light readers or non-readers.  It is an amazing project--giving away books to share the love of reading.

I first read about World Book Night on Facebook, learning more about it from their website.  When I discovered one of the books available for distributing was Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers, I knew exactly who I wanted to give it to.  Diffenbaugh's book begins with the emancipation of 18 year old Victoria who has spent her entire life in the foster care system.  The book is about her life of loss and her struggle to grow beyond her painful past.  It is a book that doesn't sugar coat the life of disenfranchised kids or the system designed to protect and guide them.  Despite the rawness and roughness of Victoria's life, there is ultimately hope and redemption in this story...an inspirational story for the great group of young women who live at Stormbreak, a group home for girls here in my hometown.

Tonight, we gathered around the familiar dining room table, chattering and chatting about books, stories, life, reading, writing, and the language of flowers in this book.  We read the first chapter together....

Since 20 copies is about 10 too many for Stormbreak, I thought perhaps another good delivery spot would be the local women's shelter, only a few houses away.

They were happy to get them too, and I was so very happy and so very honored to give them.

Stillness

He leads me beside still waters;

he restores my soul."  Psalm 23

The news sounding from the radio, streaming through my computer, and radiating from the television has been unendingly urgent this week--bombs exploding in Boston, tainted letters in Washington, and reasoned gun legislation thwarted in the Senate.  It really all seems too much...

In contrast, life this week here seems slower, less chaotic, quieter, more contemplative.  Perhaps it is because I am coming off spending two days with Yogini Kaliji last week, followed by an inspirational evening with writer Sandra Cisneros this week.  Even though each of these women walks a uniquely different path, they both share a common message, perhaps the common message of wisdom throughout the ages--live in the present, be aware of the divine presence, meditate, notice, see and seek the light, and step slowly on the path illuminated before you. 

This morning when I opened my devotional, the passage to read was the 23rd Psalm.  Gosh, I thought, what else is there to meditate upon in the 23rd Psalm....but then two words stopped me at a spot never noticed before. Still.  Waters.  Still waters is a place in the interior landscape of life and while quietude seems to run counter to the urgency of lives fueled by Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram feeds, stillness and slowness are what ultimately do restore our souls.  Being lead beside still waters is a good place to be. 

Another birthday

It is so hard to believe that my baby now has a baby of his own!  34 years ago our youngest, our Robby, was born.  His presence in the life of our family has added lightness, laughter, and love ever since.  He was, and still is, an answer to our prayers....Happy birthday, my dear son.

April has actually more than begun

...and this is my first post of the month, at almost the halfway point. I guess life here has been just a little busy.  Can you tell?

Happy Easter

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”  John 11:25-26

(This mosaic cross was made by Matthew and friends in our Sunday School class)

A Sweet Somebunny

I just had to try this pattern when I saw it on Ravelry, and it just so happens I  have the perfect little somebody to knit it for.   For this floppy ear hat, I used an extra ball of Batika sock yarn.  Since I am so smitten with the comfy cotton socks this yarn yielded, I hope Rosie will enjoy wearing this soft hat just as much.   Doesn't she make the cutest little wabbit?

I hope your Holy Week and your walk toward Easter has been blessed and meaningful.

Being Useful

"To be useful was the best thing the old men ever hoped for themselves, and to be aimless was their worst fear." -Marilynne Robinson, Gilead.

Our church book club met this week and it was my book we discussed.  I have loved Gilead and been in awe of the literary and theological genius of Marilynne Robinson since I first read her Pulitzer Prize winning book years ago.  She writes with quiet elegance of America’s heartland, its collective soul, and the beauty of ordinary life. Every collection of quotes I assemble includes the quote from Gilead posted above; it has been listed on this blog since its inception.

What I love about her writing and her world view is that she suggests a good life lived occurs accompanied by a soft cadence of love and family and community and friends. It often is neither as large ror as loud as our contemporary culture purports.  It happens by noticing again and again the red shirt worn by a young son or the favorite blue dress clothing an adored wife.  It happens by noting the light as it spills through the window or seeing it on the trees lining the pathway.  It happens by telling family stories, recounting family trials, and by gentle acceptance of the truth both reveal. There is a balm in this Gilead if one takes the time to read it slowly…

Being useful is a good and attainable goal.  Richard Foster in his book Celebration of Discipline, talks about “the service of small things,”  like Dorcas in the Bible “who made coats and garments for the widows.”  I like this notion of the service of small things—I can do that. I can make soup for the soup kitchen, knit up a prayer shawl, sew patches together for a Lutheran World Relief quilt, send a note, visit a group home, or make a meal for a shut-in.  I can do those things, and they really do matter.  I may never travel to a foreign land on a mission trip or champion a cause on a national scale, but I can mend up some of the rips and tears in life and the lives of those around me.  These are among the precious things put within the grasp of my hands, small ways to be of use.