oh YEAH?

Whenever
we
think
we are
completely
right
righteous

then
perhaps
it is
THE
exact
time to
S T O P

because
it is
in
the sureness
of it
all
that
we
are
most
likely
to stumbleandfallofftheledgeanddropthroughtheairandcrashontheground
kersplush
oops

so when
we-think-we
are right
sometimes
we are really
left
with
the
feeling
that right
may not
be
after all



God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey

Be Cool

Aren't we lucky and aren't we spoiled. It has been over 100 every day this week and today they think 104 will top us out. We see how we run from Air conditioning to air conditioning. We whine when it is either too hot or too cold..
What if we were more worried about having fresh water?
What if we were more worried about having enough food for our family?
What if we were more worried about others having a roof over their head?

300 million Dollars -- made by an action movie in the past week. What if we all donated the same as the ticket price to feeding the hungry?

Well keep cool

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

fashion

This morning I looked at the NYT on line and clicked on a series of reports audio with photos of fashion on the streets of NYC. It was fascinating. It got me thinking about fashion here in Oklahoma....here in the middle. I began to wonder what I would see of 'dress' here. And I tried to remember what other people wee wearing the last time I went to Wal-Mart where everyone meets. To be sure the temps have been in the 100's so I imagine that summery clothing would be the call. But then I wondered if fashion meant anything here...when compared to other cities? I mean when people get up and put on shorts or capri or slacks or sandals or flats do any of them think of putting on a pair of high heels? I am trying to think when i saw the last pair of high heels here? I mean really high heels?

So today as I run my errands I'll be watching. I will myself be wearing a Kirta and India trousers and sandals and I wonder if anyone notices?

MORE LATER
BOBBIE

It's later now... Wow I wish that the man who does the commentary on the NYT's video about style could come here ... I would love to see how he would critique people here... God love em' there is a definite style here I just can't think of a name.

Goodness it is Good News that God looks at the heart.
God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

Morning Moon

It is summer in Oklahoma and yesterday it was 105 degrees. But we, spoiled by electricity, run from air conditioning to air conditioning and sometimes even having the brashness to complain it's cold.

Morning moon
greeting the day
reflecting the sun
still looking cool

little dog walks
in the hot July morn
and can no longer
see the moon

how we expect
we can control
how we expect
we Should control
how we expect
we are in control

but the morning moon
reminds us
we are not in charge
Oh thank you God!

Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

Somewhere in the Middle

The movie Sleepless in Seattle Tom Hanks and his son were talking about states. Tom asked his son where Oklahoma was... "Somewhere in the middle is what the son replied."
We are...
However tonight as John and I traveled home we saw the orange moon of July rising. It was beautiful against a royal blue sky. We had rain this afternoon but the clouds were gone now and the moon there alone. It was beautiful.
We called our Daughter who lives on the East Coast and were talking and I mentioned the moon. OH yes she said it was orange here too and we had a heavy rain this afternoon but now the sky was clear.
We all stand on the same earth and hold up the same sky and watch the same moon bring light.
Whether we are on the right coast or the left coast or in the middle...
Or on the other side of God's great earth.

God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

Jets and gliders

I was watching the birds on the way to work today. There are two kinds I see though not spoken in scientific-speak: Jets and gliders.
The jets are the wonderful swallows who dart and turn and swoop all with wings seemingly held in tight formation. They are the kind of birds that nest under roadway bridges..eves on your house..or a protected rock overhanging. It is really great to watch them. And that movement isn't just for fun they are hunting on the fly. Swoop zoom angle turn... I some times wonder when there are a lot of them do they ever just bump into one another?
The gliders are my favorite Herons. There were three kinds of herons in one pond Sunday. But when they fly there is a gentle full wing flexing flying and they glide as well. Their reason for flying is more to get from here to there than to swoop and zoom to catch food. The heron walks and fishes.

always longing to fly
humankind still moves
through life
jetting or gliding

get in get it done do it now do it my way
observe pray reason listen listen God's way

what way
will really finish
will really continue
the work given to us
to be the church


God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008

Confession

On the way to work this morning I was listening to the Writers Almanac on NPR and heard Garrison Keillor read this...
"It's the birthday of philosopher Jacques Derrida, born in El Biar, Algeria (1930). He's one of the founders of the theory of "deconstructionism," which he presented in the book Of Grammatology (1967). It assumes that there is no common intellectual structure or source of meaning that unifies a culture. When applied to literary criticism, it holds that a single text can have multiple meanings, which underlie and subvert the surface meaning of the words."
Whoa.... there...
I pondered what I could remember of the theory of deconstructionism...and well only remembered ...a single text can have multiple meanings...
So I've been thinking about that as I read a book "Readings on the Meaning of the Cross today".
Thats NOT my confession...

My confession is when I first turned on my computer the yahoo page news had an article about twins born to celebrity parents and the 11 million offered for photos.
Perhaps Derrida was correct...there is no common structure or source of meaning that unifies a culture.
What unifies us? Sometimes is is what we are all against...usually derived from the Ten Commandments...
But perhaps as Christians what could unify us is ... Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength and love your neighbor as yourself?
How might that become a unifying source of meaning?
Let's work on that...
God Abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey

Say Zooms

Ok, I'll confess I've watched the PBS Masterpiece Cranford way-way too many times. But I have come to love the gentleness of the conversations and the listening they do in between their comments. Ok I know it's a movie, but I also believe it was a time when folks didn't talk over others. (The 1840's) We all too often rush in ...finishing sentences and adding comments of our friends. It is something I still work on.
When we live our lives listening I think we have an opportunity to know more. The last couple of weeks I've had some laryngitis and sounded so very croaky when I talked that I tried to rest my voice and not talk. Then too I'm reading again a book by Barbara Brown Taylor on the Silence of God. Both of these have worked together to open my ears.
One of my favorite movie scenes is in the Color Purple when Sug and the whole group process over to church singing ...Speak Lord, Speak to me.
What if that were what we said as we entered prayer...
let's give it a try.
God abide
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2008