Awakening a Keen Observer

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Hope

I was reading a news article just now about different kinds of things that improve health, or according to some have no benefit. It was interesting in it's finally saying the following.

"My thought is if you give somebody a pill and say this may help you," that might be the spark they need to "get out and do more things, walk more," or get more exercise, all of which can help relieve arthritis pain, said Miksanek, of Benton, Ill.
"Maybe it's a message of hope ... and the brain kind of takes that and runs with it," he said."

Some call this the placebo effect. But they learn this because they were trying to disclaim what others found have helped. And they are trying to prevent folks from wasting money on remedies that might not be scientifically provable.

But isn't that what hope is about... taking the knowledge that before us and with us all the time is the promise of the presence of the One who can change everything. And hope is more that about knowledge. It is about something that has a tangible outcome. Hope has a way of changing things. And I think it does.

In a world that seems bent on stealing hope and replacing it with chaos, we choose hope.
And live into that hope of God's abiding love for us and with us.
.... message of hope.... and we run with it.

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006

Friday, February 24, 2006

Morning Song

Grace and Peace
Perhaps I should have labeled this musing Good-morning Peace. As one news reporter would say on this day, Good Friday morning. It means something different if you are a Christian to say Good Friday. (Lent begins next week)

I was up early today. Don't know why. Think it might be some of the medicine I'm taking for a condition that relates to Luke 1:23a KJV only. Anyway I was reading an email account I forgot I had and checked on some of the stories I'd sent there. Something distracted me.

It wasn't a pop-up that we get on our computers it was the birds outside with their morning song, good morning song. It's not really light. They sing in the pre-dawn to wake the world. How pleasant and kind of them.

This was a cardnals song I heard and then a robin, (ahhhh Spring) and then some smaller bird I couldn't see, though I looked, chippering.

We wake all to often with clocks and get-to appointments and quickie snack breakfasts and a hug and kiss as we dash out the door.
But if we do so we are not going to be able to hear the good-morning song of the earth calling us. I believe calling us to consider what the day will be. How will we make it good? What might we want to accomplish that is for the good of the Kin-dom? What might we want to do for our own renewal and life giving hope? What might we do .. Or NOT Do... anything in particular.

Let the good morning song remind you that you are beloved...and be-loved. Let the good morning song remind you that we have no more control in many things in the world as we do on where the sun rises. Sigh. That should be, and I do mean should be, really good news on this good Morning. A Good Friday here and we know Sunday is coming --- (Compolo)


God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Wrong Way

Grace and Peace. I saw a headline tonight that said. "Nine miles in the fast lane going the wrong way!" I didn't 'watch' the online video but found the concept amazing. What?
Those fast lanes are the kinds around the big cities that allow you to go in a middle lane, without people changing lanes between you and going at a steady pace. But how can one go so long the wrong way.
All right I confess I have gone the wrong way on a one way short bridge, yes it was in Downtown San Antonio, in a church van, but we were so obvious it was really ok. Well, it was lucky. But nine miles.
Perhaps however the driver was trapped going that way. What to do?
And imagine being a driver in the fast lane going the right way and seeing...What? a car coming toward you.
But think about it. That was the safest lane to be going the wrong way. No one would just happen in the lane. Those coming toward you were focused only on the road ahead and they could merge back with their flow of traffic. What can you think of would be an advantage of being in the fast lane?
What I really think is that I'd hope that someone would get my attention if I aimed off the wrong way---and turn me around. That before I went nine miles somehow someone would help me get back to the right way...That all would turn out ok.
We are responsible for loving one another and walking with others. Let's get to it... even when they seem to be going the wrong way...in the fast lane.

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Icy weather

Grace and peace,
We wanted precipitation, I suppose one should say be careful what you pray for... We've gotten some on Friday/Saturday and now some Saturday night/Sunday. I can hear it outside, the sleety rain that is falling.
We are lucky because we still have some remnant clothing, coats, boots, from our time in Utah. We are probably better prepared than others because of that. We know there are those for whom this weather is brutal.
We can't complain, whine a little, perhaps, but not really complain.

What we have is a failure to understand that we are so richly blessed. All of us, with friends, family, warm homes, homes of any kind, cars, clothes, and hopes and dreams.
We do have a plenty of hopes and dreams. That we will be the One. The one who wins the gold, or the lottery, or...
What do we need? Why would we need to win anyway? We already have it all.

Once John and I sat in a restaurant and as we waited figured out how we would spend 10 million dollars. It was all a joke. We were having this discussion about who gets what and how much when the waitress walked by and brought our bread and coffee. We were keeping track of the money writing on a napkin. She looked down at it, not being nosy but just looking. I laughed and said, Oh we are figuring out what we would do with the lottery money, would a hundred thousand do for you? She laughed, I asked her name and wrote it on the napkin too. We had a pleasant meal. I told her I suppose we'd have to buy a ticket for any chance to win, we all laughed.

In what world do you feel you are the One... The one out of millions who is chosen? The One who has what it takes to be selected out? What is it about each of us that believes it has to happen to someone, why not me?

Well it has happened. You are faithful enough to know that you have all you'll ever need and even more...When you will the will of the One who created you.
That One knows you through and through and loves you still.

God abides... See there too you've won
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006

Friday, February 17, 2006

Jump start

One of our car's battery ran down so I went out to jump it with cables. It worked when I replaced the first set of cables with the 'other' ones and then I drove the car around a little to hopefully charge the battery that had run out.
We need our batteries charged every once and a while I believe. We need to find ways to spark that inner energy that resides in us. Sometimes that is being with friends or sometimes it is writing a letter sometimes it is calling someone you trust. There are all kinds of ways.
Some people charge their batteries by being with people. Other people do so by going off alone. We learn to find that kind of place in that brings us energy. We need to do that.
For people of faith 'desert' moments were ones where they go to the quiet or to the woodland where they feel that they are enclosed in nature. Some people of faith use music or images that renew them. What works for you?

When we lived in Utah, and I've said this before, after a snow in the middle of the night my daughter and I would go out for a walk. It was quiet and beautiful and light. I miss those winter walks in the new snows.

In a world of words and sounds. Find quiet and perhaps it will jump start your battery. B r e a t h e

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Truck of Trees

As I was driving home from Oklahoma City this evening a large 18 wheel truck merged. From the side it appeared that it was hauling something that looked like a huge airplane wing. As I watched it come up on my right I looked over and it was u Truck carrying trees. About seven of them, with the burlap balls on the bottoms and slated back and covered so that they were protected. A truck of trees. Amazing really.

Once when I was young my mother came home and was upset because a tree hit her car. Somehow a tree that was on the back of a truck hit our car's antenna and scratched the roof. My dad had a dilemma then. He had been ready to put in an insurance report because we had been hit by a large pheasant that flew up and hit our antenna and scratched the roof. He said he had to consider which of the two the insurance company would believe. They were both true...
Bird----Tree? Tree---Bird?

it is when we are no longer afraid of the unusual that we find life more amusing and bemusing and enjoyable. Because there are plenty of unusual things that happen. There are plenty of beautiful things that we just plain miss because we are watching for the typical.
Be yourself unusual...that is someone who brings to the world joy and amusement.

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Whispers of Love

Grace and peace
When my husband was born Aunt Alice and Uncle Peter came to meet him. Alice stayed up all night rocking him, (she always called him Johnny) and singing to him and talking to him while he slept.
When our son was born 29 years later Aunt Alice and Uncle Peter came from Arizona to Kentucky to hold him, another McGarey named John and held him all night and singing to him and talking to him while he slept.
When our daughter was born 33 years later Alice also rocked her and held her all night. She was the first to know that Betsy was coming, (a story too long to explain here),
Alice died Monday afternoon with many of her family members around her. Telling her how much they love her and that they wanted her to be comfortable and her passing was gentle and not long after a stroke.

We will remember Aunt Alice always holding our babies, and the hearts of many. She loved to give her love though she needed some in return in the past years herself. And that love was returned.

Valentines Day is all about love.

True love...

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Brown brown everywhere- almost

Greetings
Driving west this clear cooler-than-it-has-been morning I was noticing the colors...well color. So much of this part of Oklahoma is brown right now. Here and there some frosted black from a fire that looks like burnt toast. All most everything is brown. But there, right along the edge of the road a flash of Yellow, look again there is a grey/brown bird with a distinct stripe over it's eye, a Meadowlark. Wow a bunch of meadowlarks.
Some of these color flashes fly up when a car goes by and others seem to just hunker down seemingly un-hassled by cars. I watch and try and guess which one may fly and which one will fly. I am apparently not too good at guessing whether they will fly. Grin. But the color of their chests reminds me of the robins that come in later spring. They are bright and they are color. Oh here and there are fields that have a little color, they have been irrigated. The cattle are eating the left over cotton which in some places has blown and stuck on the metal fences like white lights here and there. The far horizon is clear and visible and the old mountains, worn down by time, are seemingly 'right' there.
I love to see the 360 horizon with hardly a house or anything not God made in sight. There are a couple of places like that even along the road, where you can see the vastness of this area...Albeit brown.
Why do we all gather in huge cities when there are the wide open spaces here for the sharing. Ten people per square mile that's all.
Sigh and joy and peacefulness. The hawk has not yet returned to the nest along the road, it must not really be spring!

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Puppy Bowl Again

Grace
Ok I know you are probably saying that it's silly to dwell on this program that was on here with puppies playing and the half time was kittens playing. (alternative to the Super Bowl) I read one review saying that we should have on TV an all puppy channel. All you watch were puppies. That would bring such laughter and joy. Who needs to watch over and over people being mean or being controlling or manipulative or ...Breaking every commandment or... Just puppies. A background for life. And there wouldn't be any corruption or 'drug doping' or anything that increases the cynicism in the world.. Just puppies....and then kittens now and then. And then... Ok ok I hear you say... enough.
But what is at the heart of this is that we really long for something that entertains us. Like movies that are just fun and make you laugh and cry or just laugh. Life is complicated enough, right? Perhaps the popularity of the Puppy Bowl is that we all need to lighten up... sigh, contented sigh.
Remember me telling about a video of babies. Not babies doing anything in particular just sleeping or moving or looking around. Little babies, focusing on faces or hands or just babies wiggling. This video became popular with small children who like to watch little ones like themselves. It became a best seller in nursing homes where the older folks loved seeing the faces of little ones. Again, it is something satisfying and uncomplicated.

If we weren't so complicated in our lives by 100 channels could we not have more time for reading or playing or being who we want to be with one another? If there weren't 50 cereals to choose between, or 41 different cleaners, or 7 different choices of tissues for your cold.. wouldn't we be just as satisfied? Yes, Yes, I hear you say if the kind they had was MY kind.
Add a grin!

So, remember if there isn't something you 'want' to watch-- turn off the tv. Sit in the quiet of the day or evening. BE
as the song goes. "Don't worry....be happy"

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006

Friday, February 10, 2006

Catching up Moving Forward

Wow how can it be Friday? ??

Years ago on Morning Edition on NPR Radio there was an interview every Friday morning with Red Barber. He was a retired though well known sports announcer who would do a commentary with Bob Edwards about the week in sports. Now to be honest I don't remember a lot of what he said, I loved his southern drawl and the way he gently would critique the sporting world. Most of all I remember that in hearing Red Barber I would KNOW it was Friday again. Friday, a day that seemed to come around faster than Monday. You understand in the Preachers' world Friday is the day before the day before Sunday and a day for prayer and study and reading and listening.

Our words and our actions betray or belay what we claim we are and what we believe. Jesus said one commandment, Love your neighbor as yourself. What if the whole world lived this? This kind of care for others is part of almost every major religion whether it's followers are living it today or not. We know that we are to look outside of ourselves and be the ones who show extreme integrity and compassion. To look in the eyes of someone who is harming another and tell them it is not the way we live as faithful people is part of our following our faithfulness. We are to reach out to those in need. We don't need to judge, that's God's work. We are to love and to be wholly truthful and congruent. In an article about Islam I found the following Quote http://www.islamonline.net/english/introducingislam/society/Neighborhoods/article01.shtml

--The Qur’an tells us that all of mankind is descended from one couple, Adam and Eve. Thus we are all brothers and sisters, and our differences in languages and colors are but a mercy that we might know one another. Language and race should never be a reason for discriminating against people.
--A Muslim should maintain good relations with his relatives, but he should not unjustly favor them over others. Further, a Muslim must be good to his neighbors, no matter their religion. But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us that a “neighbor” is not just the one next door but includes all those up to seven doors away - effectively a whole neighborhood.
--This concern for our neighbors can take many forms. It means to ensure that our neighbors have the basic necessities, for a Muslim should not eat if his or her neighbor is going hungry. It means that Muslims should wish for their neighbors what they wish for themselves. It means sharing their happiness and sorrow. Further, it means to not spy on them and respect their privacy, to not gossip about them, to not harm them in any way, and to keep common use areas — such as apartment building entrances, streets and sidewalks — clean.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was told of a woman who prayed and fasted a lot and gave alms generously, but whose neighbors complained of her abusive tongue. He said that she would be in Hellfire. When he was told of another woman who did not do all those extra acts of worship but whose neighbors were happy with her, he said that she would be in Paradise . Thus we see the importance of being good to our neighbors, both in actions and words."


I said a couple of weeks ago people believed Jesus' words because the authority with which he spoke and lived and acted was authentic. It was honest to the bone. It was what we all strive to be. Whole--holy authentic.
In that wholeness and holiness is peace to be claimed by us in all things.
God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Singing

Once a friend of mine was visiting in Niger and someone came up to her and said...What song do you sing when someone dies?
It was not a morbid question. It was an inquiry into what was the normal way one would mourn a loss. Do we have songs that we individually sing at certain times? Do we have music for our lives? Like in the movies when there is background music for different moods or people each time things happen or certain people appear.
Our children once had a great recording of Peter and the Wolf which is an orchestra piece with each character having their own song. What would be your theme song? What song would you want to have sung as you walked into a room? What would be your song you sing as you walk along and others see you coming? Would it be calm or jazzy? Would it be a song that is big and bold or would it be one that put people at ease?
I think we all have songs that travel with us. Music of our spirits that plays in our lives. The kind of music or presence that makes us people that others welcome into their day, into their lives is what we look to be --most of us. Now I know people who think that when they hear the hymn "How great Thou Art." is is a song about themselves.

Let's be the people who set others to singing. Let's be the people who set others to being the ones that make the world sings. The ones who live our lives surrounded by the voices of the creations.

Let us sing... sing till the power of the love comes down.

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Daylight Moon

Grace

The capiz shell moon
in the daylight sky
sits half full
in the blue blue sky.

How do we see
what is there but not visible?
We do by believing that it is there
even when We cannot see.

The light of the sun
giving light to the moon
shines over there
ahead.

The moon sure will follow
and even in night
shines by itself
in a navy blue sky.

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Winter/Summer

Greetings be well and happy

There is a tradition in the US to predict whether or we will have a longer winter---Groundhog's Day was feb 2. Apparently 'Phil" the groundhog said it would be mild from now on. It will be interesting to see if it is true...

Interesting how we take predictions of animals or guesses from the stars about what will happen in the next days. I don't think that we think seriously about some of those but perhaps we do. What we do know is that we have today to be well and happy, or work toward the two---being more well or being more happy.
We have the opportunity to live each day with the gifts and talents we have and use them for the good of the world. We have an opportunity to reach out to these days and live them to the fullest we can. How do we do this? We do this the best we can with what we have and who we are.

It's simple really when you look at it closely. Live into the world and the joy and bring peace and kindness wherever you go.

Go for it.
God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006

I had a wonderful time with my mother-in-law and her sister. They brought me laughter joy and love. I am richly blessed.