Rejoicing AFTER the Marathon

Posted on April 17, 2012 by a moment with god — 1 Comment

Kit at our Celebratory Dinner after the Marathon with college friends

Good Day, God!

Thank YOU! Kit is Alive and Well. I confess, that yesterday, fearing for my beloved husband’s well-being, I offered all sorts of DEALS to You.

Kit was one of 47 runners in the Boston Marathon over 75. And he ended up number 5 among those runners. Indeed, for a while he was jockeying for second or third place in his age group.

Ah, but the infamous Heartbreak Hill late in the race, plus the high temperatures, conspired to make the last few miles difficult — for Kit and for everyone else.

Kit ended up in the medical tent — woozy — and they kept him there long enough to reduce me to tears. Well, not so much that I was worried — as he called ONCE to say he was in section 3 of the medical tent and fine. But, that I then lost contact with him.

This was 1) Due to his cell phone being ON but having a ring tone set to Very Low. 2) Due to my cell phone running out of its battery because I totally forgot about turning off the 20 other apps I had running in the background. And I had been “on the road” since 9:00 that morning — taking photos and listening to The Power of Habit.

Having the stress of Kit’s running in the heat was one thing. But not being able to FIND him to meet up with him — THAT reduced me to copious weeping when back in the hotel room. But, after my iPhone came back to life I found that Kit had been leaving me messages . . . which I retrieved — unlike Kit who didn’t know how to retrieve my messages.

Finally, after a long period of each of us calling at the same time and getting the other’s voice mail, we connected.

Oh! Thank You, God, for the JOY of connecting! The JOY of the Lost Husband, FOUND!

Tagged with: Boston Marathon, Heartbreak Hill, medical tent, out of contact
Posted in Adventures, connecting, connections

The Day Before the Marathon

Posted on April 15, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

The Blessing of Kit and the Marathoners at Trinity Church

Good Day, God!

It’s The Evening before the Boston Marathon, God! Yikes! I’m still a little anxious, but the Blessing of Kit and the other marathoners this morning at Trinity Episcopal Church has helped.

It was really hard for me to wake up and go off to church this morning. My whole body was kicking its heels and yelling that it wanted to stay home and sleep. Actually, my body didn’t have that much energy. It was more of a snivel and whine. It was only knowing that Kit would not go without me — and the dim sense that it would prove a blessing — that got me going.

I am so thankful I gave Kit that “Love Gift,” God. Because it was a lovely service. Beautiful music! How marvelously rousing was the organ booming out Chariots of Fire at the end.

And the sermon by William Rich, hit the mark, too. He talked about how the celebration of Easter continues for a full 7 weeks. He explained that it takes TIME to absorb the reality of a man being raised from the dead — a long time for many of us.

Aah, God, do we ever truly absorb What That Means? As for me, God, it feels as if I catch glimpses. But, we have been Set Free and we are called to Stand as Free People. Hmm. Please help me to Stand Up, God — and Stand Free of the Invisible Fears that quietly entangle me.

Tagged with: Blessing of the runners, Boston Marathon, Chariots of Fire, Easter, love gifts, Trinity Episcopal Church
Posted in Faith, fears, freedom, small hidden fears

At the Expo — A Women’s Rights Reminder

Posted on April 14, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

The first women (then illegal) to complete the Boston Marathon

Good Day, God!

Kit and I pushed and jostled our way through the Boston Marathon Expo this afternoon. A BIG CROWD! And with over 25,000 runners that’s no surprise.

What WAS a SURPRISE was seeing this booth with Katherine Switzer signing books and posing for photographs. She was the first woman to run Boston with a bib number — which she got because she signed up with her initials. It was 1967 and it was a FOR MEN ONLY race.

Bobbi Gibb had run it the year before — also “illegally,” or do they refer to it as “unofficially” now days? No, I just looked and they refer to it as “unsanctioned.”

I knew about marathons not “allowing” women runners, God. In fact, we know Jacqueline Hansen, who brought a lawsuit against the Olympic committee to get them to allow women to run the marathon — which they did in 1984.

Still, it was a SURPRISE for me — because I had forgotten. I had not erased it from my memory, God. I had just sort of lost sight of it. We “forget” a lot of things like that — at least I do.

Katherine Switzer’s case got more publicity because a race official tried to pull her off the course and her running companion shoved the official — all captured on camera and widely published. Of course, the result of all that publicity wasn’t to let women run! The result was that the AAU banned women from running in meets with men or they would lose the right to compete. The longest run the AAU had for women was 1.5 miles.

I guess women were not considered physically able to run — shades of women as the weaker sex! All of this is laughable now, God. But, gender inequities are no laughing matter. Especially in other parts of the world that are busy “protecting” women.

Well, we could certainly do a better job protecting children, God — all over the world. Meanwhile, Thank You, God, for the reminder of how far we women have come — and how much further we have to go.

Tagged with: Boston Marathon, gender equality, MEN ONLY, needing a reminder, women's rights
Posted in gender universes, grit, Marathons

Beautiful Boston

Posted on April 13, 2012 by a moment with god — 2 Comments

Flowering trees and Spring leaves in a park in Boston

Good Day, God!

My goodness, after flying all of last night, I have no idea what time my body thinks it is!

But, here we are in Boston, tucked into our hotel room. And we have been out to dinner with friends — a college classmate of my husband Kit and his wife. It has been a good — if odd shaped — day!

Tomorrow we will walk about and I will be able to take real photos of the flowering trees — not just photos snapped from a taxi window. Our friends said that Spring came 10 days early this year. That is fine with me, God. I am happy for the Spring!

Hmm. But, what will happen to Summer? Will it be early, too? Will it be hotter than usual? We do not know. And if You asked me if I wanted to know — I would say NO!

Truly, we are given strength for the Day . . . not the week. The AA folks had it right. Help me TODAY to stay sober. Help me TODAY, God, to eat less, talk less and sleep more. And on that note I shall say Thank You for the safe trip — and crawl into bed!

Tagged with: early spring, Flowering trees, strength for the day
Posted in beauty, time, Trees, Trusting God

What Musical Instrument am I?

Posted on April 12, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Cymbals courtesy of doctorwhofanorchestra.blogspot.com

Good Day, God!

What with our symphony and the Easter music, I’ve been appreciating all the wonderful percussion instruments. I love the percussion section of the orchestra. When I was a child I wanted to play the drums. How I’d love to play the timpani!

The other day a Question entered my mind. What musical instrument have I been — as I scurry around getting ready to fly off for three weeks?

My answer was Cymbals . . . clanging and clashing cymbals at that. I have been reactive and reverberating! Bump a Cymbal and you will hear about it! I am pretty sure my wonderful husband Kit has been wishing he had a noise canceling headset like the musician in this photo.

It comes to me now, God, that I have been anxious. I am always anxious before Kit runs a Marathon but this time I am also anxious about my mom. She is usually resilient and adaptive. But, I have become a sort of Security Blanket for her as well as a loving daughter. So, just the prospect of my leaving on a trip has been hard for her. Of course it is! Especially at 97! I do understand, God, but not well enough. My mother is a plaintive Oboe — accompanied by my banging Cymbals.

Needless to say, I have NOT been Praising You, God, with harp and voice and lyre. I have been as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 — without love, a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Somehow I have been so busy packing for myself and laying in supplies for my mother that I forgot to make room for love.

Sigh. How easy it is to forget that Love is both the Beginning and the End of everything. Love is HERE inside me. But, just like flecks of gold, it sinks to the bottom of a madly rushing stream.

Ah, God. Today is a New Day. Help me Still the Waters and pan for the Gold of Love. Help me to HEAR, even as I have been heard.

Posted in a prayer for healing, Compassion, compassion to care for myself, confession, Hearing, Music

Yellow Trees and me

Posted on April 11, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

More Yellow Trees -- at the entrance to Aina Haina

Good Day, God!

I love yellow trees! Maybe, God, my next car should be yellow instead of red? Speaking of cars, Bright Yellow Trees have been tempting me to try to take photos from my car. Yikes!

The gold trees that bloomed in February were on Hawaii Kai Drive so I could just pull over on my way home. I would stop the car and take the photos. But, these glorious trees are on Kalanianaole highway! It’s not possible to pull over.

Driving back from the Farmers’ Market last Saturday I once again was filled with PhotoLust at the sight of these yellow trees. It came to me that if I got in the left turn lane I might have a few seconds to take photos of these trees before the green arrow! It was only a few seconds, but still very satisfying.

Yellow Trees on the Art School campus

However, after my jewelry class (metal fabrication) on Tuesday I realized that there are Yellow Trees on the campus. I had to stand on a bench to get closer and it still wasn’t close enough to suit me.

I’m not sure what my “hunger” for yellow trees means, God. Perhaps, nothing? Or maybe it is just an over-the-top delight in color? I am also enchanted by the green parrots that I saw flying around (wild) this morning while visiting June, my Spiritual Friend/Director.

Tomorrow, God, I am off with my husband Kit to fly to Boston for him to run the Boston Marathon. There will be flowers in Boston . . . and surely flowering trees. And I will love them. Ah, but God, they will not be this Brilliant Yellow!

Those pastel flowering trees will not be for me a modern day version of the Burning Bush as these Yellow Trees are. I can almost hear the Yellow Trees calling me — Come Near! Take off your shoes. This is Holy Ground. I AM here!

And, of course, God, YOU are here! Thank YOU!

Tagged with: A modern Burning Bush, Boston Marathon, Flowering trees, Photo Lust, Yellow Trees
Posted in appreciation, beauty, blooming, Hearing

A Walk Around The Honolulu Museum of Art

Posted on April 10, 2012 by a moment with god — 1 Comment

Looking into a Courtyard I think of a birth canals

Good Day, God!

Yesterday a dear friend offered me this verse from the Message: “Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.” (2 Corinthians 6:11) Or as she put it — enter into Kairos.

Those were lovely words to hear and to savor, God, as my husband Kit and I prepare for a three week trip. So much to do before leaving, God, and so I have been feeling the pressure — even though I know I have “enough” time.

So, this morning after my jewelry class I set off to the Honolulu Museum of Art to pick up a jeweler’s rouge polishing cloth. And, no doubt inspired by a desire to live in “this wide-open spacious life,” I drifted around taking photos.

I got to this lovely archway into one of the courtyards and found myself thinking of “birth canals,” which does seem odd, God. But, this morning during my Centering Prayer (now up to 5 minutes — but done daily) I had a Wave of Resolution flow through me . . . about what I wanted for my future. It did make me think of New Beginnings, God.

New Beginnings don’t happen often enough for me, God. The flip side of my Adaptability is Drift. And now that I no longer have the crutch of work, I’ve been noticing my Drift. So, this morning this sense of Direction and Certainty came as an enormous gift. Thank You, God!

And please help me to keep on entering and re-entering Your Wide-Open, Spacious Life!

Tagged with: Adaptability comes with a tendency to drift, Kairos, New Beginnings, Spacious Life, Time-Sickness, Wide-Open
Posted in a prayer for healing, Changing, time, words to strengthen

Easter and Easter Eggs

Posted on April 9, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Volker and Christa Kraft have decorated the tree in their back garden in Saalfeld, Germany with beautiful Easter Eggs for the past 40 years -- now 10,000 eggs

Good Day, God!

We had a wonderful Easter! The music was marvelous. There is something so uplifting in singing those Easter hymns! Of course, five brass players and a tympanist helped stir the exultation!

Rejoice! Rejoice! And again I say, REJOICE! YES!

So, God, after reveling in a very traditional Easter service, I find I’m now thinking about the “Pagan” side of Easter — more specifically the Easter Eggs.

Perhaps the organized church has been a tad too left-brained? I fear that the Protestants turned too far to the “left” in their 16th Century zeal in tossing beauty out of the church buildings. Or maybe that is just my Episcopal upbringing speaking, God? They adopted protestant theology but kept the liturgy and stained glass windows and so forth.

But back to the Easter Eggs and Christmas Trees and other Celebratory Things we borrowed from the Old Ones. Such images and icons communicate to us so viscerally, God! To hold an egg in one’s hand and think that inside the egg a chick grows. How amazing is that! And to ponder that we, right here now — we, too, may be growing — and someday “hatching?” For me that is best felt viscerally, while holding an egg.

YOU are Mystery, God! Profound and unspeakable MYSTERY! You have shown us glimpses — and I am so thankful for each little bit we have seen. But YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE! Oh, that we would all humble ourselves before YOU. Please, God, help me to enter into AWE!

Tagged with: AWE, Borrowing from the Old Ones, Celebratory Things, Easter eggs, Mystery
Posted in Easter, Music, mysteries, rejoicing

Living in the Light of Easter

Posted on April 8, 2012 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Delphiniums in the Huntington Gardens

Good Morning, God!

Thank You for Easter! Thank You for being the Light of the World! And thank You, most especially, for the Gift of Life.

This is Easter. This is a New Day. Help me to REJOICE in it. And help me to make GOOD USE of it.

It is mine. My Day. Mine to do with as I wish. I can receive it and revel in it. Or, I can be grumpy and snappy — as I have been this last little — or not so little — while.

Strange, God, how all of a sudden my viewpoint has shifted. Or, since You have been “keeping watch” over me — maybe not strange at all.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

So! I am off to jog around the block before church. REJOICING that I can live and move and have my Being . . . in You!

I’m back! Running around our block while listening to The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Yes, God, we CAN increase our Willpower — it just takes EFFORT! Effort and a lot of HOPE! The effort has to come from me. But, I sure need Your Help on the HOPE!

Tagged with: Charles Duhigg, exercising and strengthening our willpower, The Power of Habit
Posted in authority over my life, Books, Easter, encourage and comfort, Endurance, hope

The Gentle Rains of Waikiki

Posted on April 7, 2012 by a moment with god — 1 Comment

A gentle rain wafting over Waikiki

Good Day, God!

After thinking about Tornados in Texas, it was a relief the other day to sit and watch rain mist waft over Waikiki. I suppose it was, technically, a rain cloud. But, “cloud” sounds so definite!

Really, very often our rains here in Hawaii are mists. I remember seeing them sweep down Manoa Valley every morning as I walked from my parking lot to the library. Usually, I was a bit ahead of them. If not, I waited in my car for a few minutes.

The same scene 25 minutes earlier

The further up a valley one is, the wetter one gets. By the time the rain makes it all the way down to the ocean, it is almost done.

Looking at my photos, I found the same scene just 25 minutes earlier. I’m including it, God, because I’m afraid people might not believe it really is raining in the top photo.

I suppose, God, that looking at these two photos ought to help me “adapt” to transitions. Things change. Weather comes and goes. This seems so obvious, God, but applying it to the rest of my life is challenging.

As I wrote that I thought, “but then ‘what’s a heaven for?'” Indeed, God, if I fail to set my Life inside a meaningful framework, then I am truly vulnerable to transitions and changes.

Hmm. When crossing a very high bridge the advice is: “Don’t look DOWN!” Once, when crossing a wide crevasse along the Kohala Ditch Trail on the Big Island of Hawaii, I forgot and looked down. Yikes! I only made it because the guide picked up my backpack to carry it as a lure. Of course I had follow.

So, perhaps, God, resiliency comes not just from setting our lives in a good context, but also from focusing on small, immediate things — like backpacks and the gentle rains of Waikiki.