Banking on Tomorrow

  Wooded path by a river A painting in oil, by the Danish painter Peder Mørk Mønsted in 1894

DAY 1 - OPEN HANDS  Sit with your hands clenched for a moment. Name silently what you are holding. Then slowly open your hands and pray: God, this is what I am holding: the worry about Gem and the kids I bring it to you. I do not know how to let go fully. Teach me to trust you. Amen. Reflection Questions What am I holding tightly right now ? problems with the family Gem struggling with finances Alex and Lorelei struggling to get on an even keel River still mourning Tommy excessively Kit not recovering from her heart attack and her daily needs Bonita's metastasized lung cancer that has reached her liver What outcome am I trying to control ? I just want their wellbeing What desire do I need to bring honestly before God ? Fix it, please, make their way smoother What makes surrender feel difficult or frightening ? He hasn't answered I don't know what the outcome will be I wonder how we all will cope with what happens next My friend went blind 10 years ago.  She has retinitis pi...

  Sunrise over Lake Superior

 Day 1:  Prayerful Noticing We notice moments of gratitude, peace, joy, irritation, fear, sadness, resistance, compassion, and love.  We ask: Where was God present? Where was I open to God? Where did I resist God? What might God be inviting me to see? I find it hard to see the Lord moving in the mundane things - doing the laundry, cleaning up around the place, scrolling on social media, et al.   This prayer assumes that God is already present in our days. The question is whether we are learning to notice. Read Foster’s prayer connected to the Examen.  Spirit of the Living God, You have been with me today, and I thank you. There was sunrise and sunset, and I am grateful for both. Family and friends are gifts of your grace. The creativity to envision new possibilities and the strength to bring them into reality are signs of your action in my life. Thank you, Lord for being with me today. Amen.  (Foster, Prayers from the Heart) As you read, ask:  Wh...

  Scarborough Marsh in September

Moments that seem to define an entire generation: My grandparents remembered the day the stock market crashed, which came to mark the beginning of the Great Depression.  News was slower for that generation and this was more of a gradual onslaught of consequences for everyone.   My parents could tell me where they were when they heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor that precipitated the US joining in WWII against fascism - and introduce the world to the horror of atom bombs My generation can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when the news that JFK had been assassinated was spread.  On that day we lost the idea of Camelot and the days that followed laid the foundation of a deep distrust of what the government was telling us. My kids know where they were and what they were doing 25 years ago today.  This was the start of the Patriot Act, TSA, Islamophobia, and wars in the Middle East "to combat terrorism" that only seems to have made matte...