Hawaii’s Tsunami — Thankfully, SMALL

Posted on March 11, 2011 by a moment with god — 1 Comment

Our own "personal" Tsunami Siren

Good Morning, God!

It’s a rather late morning for me as this Tsunami Siren — 100 yards away in the neighboring park — went off at 10 p.m. and every hour on the hour until our tsunami’s scheduled arrival around 3 a.m.

This siren is NOT one that you sleep through — which is as it should be!

And I am VERY thankful, God, for all the early warning devices we have in place to help us know when to go to higher ground.

Last night at 10:00 p.m. the online tsunami zone maps were too busy for me to get to them. But, at 11:00 I was able to determine we did not live in the updated evacuation zone. That was comforting. And, yes, I should have known that BEFORE the siren went off.

Prediction of Tsunami Wave Amplitude

Actually, now that I am more awake I am feeling VERY thankful. I have seen the news from Japan and watched one live video of the shaking in one person’s apartment. Oh My! Watching the water bring in boats and cars and houses in the port city Sendai — oooh!

Thank You, God, that Japanese buildings seem to have stood up very well. Thank You for early warning systems. Thank You that even more didn’t die!

I am not quite able to thank You for earthquakes . . . but I can see how they put “the work of our hands” in perspective. They do give us pause to re-evaluate what’s important — like family and friends and our fellow human beings. And for THAT God, I AM thankful!

Posted in a matter of scale, a surfeit of sound, thankfulness

Getting Healthy — A Focus on Food

Posted on March 10, 2011 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

The Blonde Vegetarian by Rebecca Woodland

Good Morning, God!

Hey! My friend Becky hasn’t just published a GORGEOUS cookbook — she is about to go off to a 10 day conference to learn how to SHARE IT! As a breast cancer survivor, Becky has a passion to let people know that they CAN help themselves by eating well. Please help her, God! We NEED her message and her enthusiasm!

The idea that what we EAT influences our HEALTH goes way back. Hippocrates (460 to 370 BC) said “Let food be your medicine.” He taught that disease was not punishment from the gods but rather the product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits.

Funny how hard it is to “take charge” of our diet and living habits. Hard, but KEY! Becky’s cookbook helps with simple recipes that taste good and are good for us. She uses lots of onion and garlic and herbs. Way to go, Becky!

Meanwhile, our medical profession is decades behind the nutritional curve. They are still worrying about saturated fats, cholesterol, and they are recommending vegetable oils. That last one really upsets me, God. The switch from butter (from old fashioned grass-fed cows) to vegetable oils is one of the reasons for the horribly high level of slow (omega 6) fats in our diet. THAT FAT IS SUBSTANDARD. Our brains and bodies NEED the fast (omega 3) fats. A couple of fish oil capsules won’t really do it. AURGH!

We need help,God. Please help Becky as she goes off to get ideas on how to Spread the Word! Thank You, God, for people like Becky who CARE and want to help us to care, too.

Posted in Changing, Cherishing our Bodies, Eating for health, food questions

A Day Full of Diverse Joys

Posted on March 9, 2011 by a moment with god — 1 Comment

Good morning, God!

Such a FULL DAY — starting with sipping coffee with Kit and then running with Kit. After a shower I took off to 15 Craigside, by way of Arcadia — to pick up a book truck.

Once at 15 Craigside I began the long awaited job of putting books on the shelves. 24 shelves and four hours — my body gave out right around the time I ran out of book ends. I love handling books. I love books.

We, well, MOSTLY Jean, have been collecting, screening, reviewing and selecting books for the last 2 years. Property stamping them, putting on plastic jackets, determining a call number, printing out call numbers and bar codes, afixing them and then entering them into the data base. LOTS of work, God, before the books got out on the shelves.

Two of 27 boxes of Fiction up on the shelves

So, actually PUTTING those books on the shelves FELT like a CELEBRATION! Of course, it was work too, and I do feel a few twinges. But, mostly it was a JOY.

I took this photo after the first two boxes were put on the shelves. I then discovered that boxes 3, 6-8 were MISSING! Down to the other storeroom to tug and move and shift and FIND the four boxes. Not to laugh, God, but when I carried the lost box #3 up I felt as if I were carrying the “lost sheep.”

Then, after box 20, I was off to buy book ends, home to relax and chat with a friend, off to visit my mom, home to cook dinner and to linger in conversation with Kit and my brother. A Wonderful Day! Thank You, God!

Posted in A God given diversity, Abundant Life, JOY, meaningful work

Hope from a Five Year Old

Posted on March 8, 2011 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Gifts of Food for the Hungry -- a Five Year Old's Birthday Presents

Good Morning, God!

There is nothing like comparing ourselves to a “child” to feel humble. What I want for my birthday is an iPad2.

What five-year-old Mikey wanted was donations of food for the hungry. He goes to Central Union Church Preschool and that is what he “asked for” for his birthday.

The church has been giving out blue recycled bags for folks to put donations of canned goods into and carry back to church. I guess Mikey “caught” the idea.

And although I know it isn’t theologically correct, it does call up the verse from Isaiah 11:6: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.” That is a prophecy about the return of Christ. But, still, God, it seems appropriate here.

I’m really tired, God, of having Billionaires held up as “role models” — unless it is one of the 40 or so billionaires led by Warren Buffet that are giving half their wealth to charities. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?,” it says in Mark 8:36.

Mikey has done a Good Thing, God! And I am going to get out my blue bags, put canned goods on my shopping list, and try to follow his example. Thank You, God. Thank You for Mikey and for all the opportunities we have to help one another.

Posted in Choosing Meaning, Choosing to respond, Compassion, letting the Holy Spirit flow through us

Rest and Raindrops — Stepping out of Time

Posted on March 7, 2011 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

driving home from church through showers

Good Morning, God!

Yesterday was a lovely day. I did do some work that I needed for this morning — but I did it very slowly and with a relaxed attitude.

It comes to me, God, that I take my “work” too seriously. I’m not in balance. Life is a gift to be savored — not rushed through. Efficiency is only ONE virtue. Being able to Step into Timelessness is — maybe not a virtue — but it is surely a Gift from You.

So, my office is kapakahi and papers are strewn around. But, I am peaceful and rested. I shall pick up later.

Kit went with me yesterday to the 7:00 a.m. service. I love that service. It is small enough so that I know most of the people. It was good to be there and to walk forward — one of many — to receive communion — a very Special Gift.

The raindrops on the windshield going home reminded me that I still have Grief Work to do. I am very fortunate, God, in being a Biological Optimist. My natural inclination is to “put a good spin” on things. Ah, but we relentlessly positive souls, still have to work at cleaning up our Emotional Bodies.

I am pretty sure, God, that the running helps — sweating, soaking in an epsom salts bath afterwards — both seem helpful in getting in touch with old, old feelings. Those FEELINGS have WAITED. I know that now. And now I have my therapist, Mavis, to help me go back — back in Time and back Inside me. Thank You, God, for all the gifts You have given me!

Posted in a series of molts and upgrades, A Spiritual Spring Cleaning, an invitation to abundant life, healing

Exercise: Creating a Positive Cascade

Posted on March 6, 2011 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

: an iPhone with a LogYourRun app

Good Morning, God!

Before, my motivation for exercise was mostly vanity. Now, my motivation is more about my “Brain Health.” I’ve just finished the book, Spark, the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. And while I cannot give the science details — I am totally convinced God, that You designed us to MOVE!

Move, as in running and fast walking and exerting ourselves. When we get our heart rate up for even 30 minutes a day our entire being works better. It isn’t just that we are healthier — our mood is improved — and our brain works better. In fact, our brain is stimulated to rebuild itself when we run.

But, even KNOWING all that, God, changing my daily pattern to include exercise has been difficult. Change is difficult. Taking personal responsibility for myself is HARD.

Hmmm. Maybe the effects of getting my Body Moving will help me with other changes? I confess, God, I am hoping for a Positive Cascade in my Life as well as my Physiology!

Oddly enough, God, the computer is helping me. Not the same computer I spend too many hours every day sitting in front of — but the one in my iPhone! I have downloaded LogYourRun app. I call it up, tap START and off we go together with my iPhone showing my route, and showing me as a small blue ball cruising along. It’s fun!

So, PLEASE, God, help me put what I KNOW into practice. Help me be willing to start small and build habits before I build muscles and new brain cells. And thank You for “toys” that help!

Posted in asking for help for myself, authority over my life, exercising, health

Free-Range Pigs in Tuscany — Tantalus too?

Posted on March 4, 2011 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Cinta Senese pigs in Tuscany

Good Morning, God!

And to think that I have been viewing the wild pigs up in our mountains as animal vandals — if not dangerous — instead of potential epicurean delights.

In Italy, where eating is more of an Art Form than here, foraging pigs are highly prized. In an article in La Cucina Italiana I read how farmer and marketer, Paolo Parisi, realized that these Cinta Senese pigs TASTE better. Imagine that, God, valuing taste!

The problem is , in this day of Fast Food, even Italy wanted pigs that were ready for market sooner than the three years this species takes. So the Senese pigs were almost extinct. But Paolo went from famous chef to famous chef with his superior prosciutto, salami and guanciale offering taste tests. And he built a good high-end market for his pigs.

These pigs aren’t really wild although they do live out on the land, foraging. They get one meal of grain in the morning and they get a vet when needed. Still, God, it has made me think of Hawaii’s wild pigs. How do THEY taste? Could we offer Paolo a change to come over and check out possible markets for our pigs? Or would any of our local Italian chefs be interested?

I’m thinking about our Wild Pig Problem here in Hawaii, God. And I am remembering all the years that the fishermen cleaning Alaskan salmon threw the roe into the ocean. Opportunities abound IF one has eyes to see. And a sense of the Global Market ready to buy.

In addition to taste, God, animals eating off the land — foraging — are better for our health and well-being. I should imagine they are happier, too — both not small things.

Posted in Eating for health, food questions

All the Many Gifts we are Given

Posted on March 3, 2011 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Dawn in Kaimuki

Good Morning, God!

Just as you send Your Life Giving Rain on the Just and the Unjust alike — so too, do The Heavens declare Your Glory all over the world. Or more specifically, as we observed the other day, Your Dawn is just as beautiful in Kaimuki, as it is in Hawaii Kai.

All of us have been given the Sky. The rich don’t get a “better version.” It’s the same for TIME. We all get 24 hours a day. The poor have no less and the rich have no more. It seems to be that way with Your Gifts. Exodus 16:17-18 talks about gathering the manna You sent down from Heaven. So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little. But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.

That is so lovely, God! You care for us. Ah yes, and on the SIXTH day the people were told to gather double for there would be no manna on the SEVENTH day. Even then, before the Ten Commandments were given, the Seventh Day was special. It too, is a GIFT from You — as is the Gift of our Life. Thank YOU!

So, please, God, this morning help me NOTICE all the many Gifts that we humans have been given. Help me to TRUST YOU and PRAY FOR people — to BLESS BLESS and not to curse — especially in traffic.

Posted in A weekly day of rest, Abundant Life, appreciation, God as an Ongoing Gift

Motivation! A Start!

Posted on March 2, 2011 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Holding FAT in both hands

Good Morning, God

Yesterday morning Kit and I went to the HMSA office to have our health checked. It is sort of a mini physical.

The idea is to “encourage” folks to live healthier lives. While there, I found two plastic replicas of fat — the small one is one pound — the large one is five pounds. Five pounds doesn’t seem like much, God, until you hold it and think WHERE AM I PUTTING THIS?

It was the VOLUME that got me! I remember years ago when a friend came by with a bowling ball and said “Being overweight is like carrying one — or two — of these around all day.” We BOTH went on the Stillman Diet. It was a great example, but with a bowling ball you get a lot of weight in a relatively compact space. NOT SO WITH REAL FAT! IT’S BULKY!

As soon as I saw it, God, I thought “What a great Motivator!” Ah, but, God, I’ve learned that I need TRIGGERS as well as motivation to change my BEHAVIOR. The trouble is, God, that “triggers” to EAT are all around me. What kind of “triggers” will help me eat less or eat more wisely?

Eating from a smaller plate would help — putting all the food on it and not adding. Eating SLOWLY and mindfully would REALLY help — like putting my fork DOWN between bites!.

But part of the problem with food, God, is that it is that I use for “comfort” and “reward.” Please, God, help me with Identifying and Naming all the other wonderful things WAITING to provide both comfort and reward . OH! And please help me be less busy and get more rest so I need less comfort!

Posted in an invitation to abundant life, asking for help for myself, Cherishing our Bodies, choices, comfort, compassion to care for myself, Motivation