Making Noises

I am a quote-collector-aholic.  I haven’t done a “favorite quotes” post in over two years, so it is time.

As someone with a chronic illness, I absolutely identify with this quote:

Our society arbitrarily defines health as the capacity for work and a capacity for enjoyment, but true health is something quite different. True health is the strength to live, the strength to suffer, the strength to die. Health is not a condition of my body; it is the power of my soul to cope with the varying conditions of my body. -Jürgen Moltmann, God in Creation

The importance of friendship:

To be held in the heart of a friend is to be a king.  – Bruce Cockburn

Sometimes, if I don’t laugh at something, I’ll cry:

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. – Kurt Vonnegut

Since I struggle deeply with low self-esteem, feelings of inadequacy and fear, this quote by M. Williamson is very helpful and a good reminder.  For me personally, head knowledge of this is one thing, heart knowledge quite another.  I need to “get it” in my heart to live it in my life.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.~Marianne Williamson

I’m going to be adding to the quotes category more often.  What are your  favorite quotes –add them in the comments section!

 

 

Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and  you weep alone – Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Chronic Babe http://www.chronicbabe.com is hosting the next Patients for a Moment  blog carnival on May 5th.  The topic is:  What’s your most laugh-out-loud illness-related experience?

I love to laugh and have an awesome sense of humor. Sometimes, though, it’s tough to find something to laugh about when you are challenged by living with fibromyalgia, which I was diagnosed with in 1996.    This preamble leads me to recall some LOL Moments:

• In 2009 we went with friends to our city’s zoo.  I decided to rent a wheelchair so that I could last longer and enjoy more.    Little did I know how “tippy” this wheelchair would be.  My friend Steve was pushing me at the time and decided to take the chair on a run at a bit of an incline to get over it.  I was nearly spilled out of the chair in the process.  Fortunately I didn’t fall out but we all had a good laugh as the wheelchair spun crazily.

• I used a wheelchair for the first time in 2008.  My husband was my pusher when I toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio and Wrigley Field in Chicago that year.  I wondered what people may have thought when they saw that I was able to get out of the chair.  (I pondered exclaiming as  I stood up:  “It’s a miracle!  I’ve been healed!”)

Me being in chairs enabled us to spend more time at these attractions.  It also conserved my energy and reduced my pain levels.  Intellectually I know this.  Emotionally I fight the stigma attached to being linked, however ephermally, to a mobility device.

I prefer to get around under my own steam, even if I run out of it.

This is way too familiar a story for a lot of people:

From  http://www.thepaindiaries.com/index.html

 

Laugh or cry?  When those are your only two options, wouldn’t you rather laugh?

Isabelle and Brad are living the suburban dream, soccer practices and piano lessons dominate their evenings, and dreams of retirement dominate their nights – the normal happy couple next door.  And then one day they aren’t.  Isabelle gets sick and their lives change forever, soccer practices become doctors appointments, retirement savings become pharmaceutical purchases and friends either help out too much or disappear altogether.

The Pain Diaries:  A Love Story takes a comedic look at how lives are changed by chronic events, and how the human spirit can survive almost anything.  Laugh until it hurts, there will be doctors in the house.

The Pain Diaries:  A Love Story is the first play by Calgary author, Deborah Nicholson and has won a national award.  Directed by David LeReaney and starring Karen Johnson Diamond.

For tickets or donations visit www.thetrust.ca/thepaindiaries

 

Volunteers Welcome

If you want to see the show, but don’t have the dough:

Want to Volunteer?  Here are some of the opportunities for you!  Contact Martha at martha.butler@albertahealthservices.ca to join us.

Get the word out:

Putting up posters in your neighbourhood pharmacy, grocery store, library, coffee shop etc.  Contact martha.butler@albertahealthservices.ca to tell her what neighbourhood you are canvassing and pickup posters. Spread the word about the play and feel free to forward this email to anyone you know. Ask friends, church group/club members etc. to volunteer too!

Canadian Pain Society Conference:

May 12 noon-5:30 sell tickets and answer questions beside the registration desk

May 13 7am-5:30 pm, various shifts, sell tickets and answer questions beside the registration desk

Volunteers for shows:

Coat checkers from 90 minutes before show ’til last coat picked up.

Ticket takers/ushers from 90 minutes before show ’til theatre tidied up (pick up dropped programs etc.).

Art and silent auction attendants (May 7 &8) to monitor bidding sheets, explain rules (others will collect the money) 90 minutes before show until end of intermission

Considerations:

Concrete floor, tall stools and chairs available but considerable time on feet demanded

Main entrance off 1St has 4-5  stairs, level entrance off 6Ave

Time commitment up to 5 hours- maybe share a shift with someone

Perks:

A pair of free tickets to the play on May 8/9 either show, or May 12, 7:30 show! Every time you volunteer you get your name put in a hat for some amazing prizes to be drawn on May 14!

 

I’ve just put my name forward to volunteer for this event.  Standing on concrete for extended periods is not my friend, but I’m hopeful accommodations can be made — I don’t need much, just a chair.  I’m spreading the word here as well.

 

 

 

We received the following in an email from our church’s vision team.  Our answers are below each question.

The Vision Team would welcome your perspectives on the following questions.

1.  What is most important to me about my congregation?

 

The close friendships we have made where we feel totally accepted and can be truly authentic.

2.  What do I worry most about when I think of my congregation?

 

In general:

 

We’d say that sometimes in faith communities there exists a reluctance for authenticity and honest discussion.  Such an atmosphere is not fostered, welcomed, or encouraged.  There also exists, in some faith communities, a shame based culture, as well as pressure to conform, “go with the flow,” don’t rock the boat, etc.

 

For example:  Christians, because of who we are in Christ, may labor under the mis-conception that we *should* never experience any form of mental illness etc. and if we do we berate ourselves for the same.

3.  If I could change one thing about my congregation at the drop of a hat, what would it be?

 

Legalism and the focus on sin, daily confession, keeping short accounts, etc.

 

From:  http://www.gracewalkministries.blogspot.com/:

 

“Under the covenant of law, one was not totally forgiven but must receive ongoing forgiveness in order to remain in a guilt free state. Yet at the cross, God poured out all His forgiveness toward those who are His. We don’t need to ask anymore! Paul described total forgiveness in Colossians 2:13-14.

The cross of Jesus was God’s final word about our sins. So let’s stop acting like it wasn’t by continuing to ask Him to do something He’s already done – forgive us.”

4.  What are opportunities and threats that face my congregation?

 

There exists an opportunity to become different than other churches.  A church that is inclusive, grace-based, and fostering an atmosphere of total authenticity.  Faith communities embracing total authenticity involve some measure of risk, uncomfortableness, etc. One would think that in a faith community more so than any other community (i.e. a “work” community) one could be free to be totally themselves, but this is not always the case [in our experience].

 

Threats include:  ignoring the opportunities for change, contentment with the “status quo”, making things more complicated than necessary such as outreach, missions, etc.

 

It will be interesting to see what may come out of this.  There was also a discussion group held last Saturday that we weren’t able to attend.  I believe the focus of the Vision Team is to find (negotiate, navigate)  a way forward for our church.

My friend Julie Van Rosendaal, cookbook author, writer, chef, food blogger and intrepid traffic reporter [whom, astonishingly, I've never met in real life,but all that will change February 24th when I attend the Farm Table Dinner at Forage] has pulled off something incredible.  What an amazing woman!  Thank you Julie for being the hands and feet of Jesus, as the expression goes.

In just under three weeks she taken on a monumental task and has co-ordinated food bloggers from all over North America to contribute recipes for the Blog Aid Cookbook, convinced West Canadian Graphics and Blurb.com to donate their services, and sat with her friend Catherine countless hours to design, compile, and edit The Blog Aid Cookbook as a fundraising effort.  100% of the proceeds of this will go to support earthquake relief in Haiti.   $50 gets you a hardcover edition and $25 gets you a softcover edition.  With recipes from the likes of Michael Smith, Dana McCauley and Emily Richards and of course, Julie Van Rosendaal herself, this compendium will be a welcome addition to any foodie’s cookbook shelf, and make awesome gifts for the cooks in your life.  I personally can’t wait to try Snickers Bar Pie from Recipe Girl, and the Korean BBQ’d beef from Savory Sweet Life.   Huge rounds of applause to all who participated.

Matching Donations:
from http://blogaidforhaiti.blogspot.com/

The proceeds from book sales will go straight to Haitian relief via the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders, and get this: both West Canadian AND Blurb are matching the dollar amount of the proceeds raised, to TRIPLE those dollars going to Haiti. And of course until February 12th, the Canadian government will match that.

Ordering information: http://www.blurb.com/books/1172809

As of 10:00 a.m. this morning, with matching donations, almost $10,000 for Haiti has been raised from this! Good on ya!

 

 

 

A couple of ways you can help:

Center Street Church in Calgary will be hosting a benefit concert to raise funds for the earthquake in Haiti. This coming Wednesday (January 20th) at 7:00 pm to Center Street’s main campus in Calgary, to hear artists Carolyn Arends, Steve Bell, Jon Bauer, Corey Doak, Kelsey Plowman and more! A freewill offering will be taken. All proceeds will go to Samaritan’s Purse to aid the relief for Haiti.

Furthermore, my friend Julie has just launched Blog Aid, http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2010/01/14/blog-aid/ and is reaching out to her friends in the food blogging community, to put together a cookbook,  with all proceeds going to Haiti.  Items of art are also being donated.

She has a website  http://blogaidforhaiti.blogspot.com where you will soon be able to order cookbooks and purchase food-related art items.  I’m thrilled to have been chosen to be part of a team of editors to help with this cookbook.

This story, from http://gracewalkministries.blogspot.com/2009/12/shot-of-bourbon-outpouring-of-grace.html is a great illustration of the measure of God’s Grace.  What we can afford, or what we think we deserve, is no comparison to the immeasureable mercies of God’s grace.

 

It was Christmas Eve and the biting cold had driven two well dressed men into the street side city bar. One man was the highly respected County Judge, the other the Bishop of the Local Diocese. As the two men pulled up their bar stools they looked through the plate glass bar front window and saw one of the local vagrants shuffling along. He was poorly dressed, obviously cold, dirty, thin and frail. “Poor soul”, the Bishop said, “he probably has no family and no place to go.” The Judge said, “You know its Christmas Eve, I’ll bet he’s like nothing better than a good shot of Bourbon.” After a long pause the Judge continued, “What do say Bishop, Why don’t we invite the old fool in and buy him a drink… after all it’s Christmas Eve.”

 

The wide eyed Bishop nodded his approval at the suggestion and stepping to the door called out to the homeless man, “Come in, …come in out of the cold we want to buy you a drink.” The astonishing offer stopped the old man dead in his tracks….”get out of the cold”;… someone wants to buy me a drink!?” He moved through the open door with labored step and positioned himself standing at the end of the bar several stools away from the Judge and Bishop. He didn’t speak. He just stood, head down, waiting for the life giving shot of bourbon that would ease the pain for awhile.

“What will you have Bishop?”, the old bartender asked. “Jack Daniels, neat, one finger*”.  Next the bartender faced the Judge, “How about you, Your Honor. What will the Judge have on Christmas Eve?” “You’re right, it is Christmas Eve, and I think I’ll treat myself. I’ll have two fingers of Woodford Reserve (very expensive) neat!”

The bartender poured their drinks and then turned to vagrant. “What will you have?” The old man just shrugged his shoulders. This Bishop said, “Give him what I have” and the Judge said, “It’s Christmas, make it two fingers!”

The bar tender put the glass on the counter and reached for Blanton’s 1792 Bourbon, the finest bottle in the house. To the amazement of all he poured the glass full to the very top! “My God man! I said TWO FINGERS!!!” and the Bishop added, “…of Jack Daniels!!!” The bar tender smiled and held up two fingers horizontally against the glass and then moved his two fingers vertically showing them running from top to bottom of the glass. Two fingers straight down… a full glass.

“Don’t worry gentlemen,”the bartender said; “this old man’s drink is on me. You bought what you thought you could afford or what you thought you deserved. I gave this broken man what he could never imagine.

The way I understand Christmas is that God so loved us that He gave His only Son as a gift to us. And then He poured out His life for us and His life into us!

Gentlemen that’s two fingers … straight down and it’s very expensive.”

*That’s bartender language for one shot of bourbon in a glass with no ice. If you lay one finger horizontally across the bottom of the glass and pour to that level it will be about one shot of liquor.

My favorite Christmas carol is “Oh Holy Night.”  Here is Carrie Underwood singing it:

watch?v=d4MQ-emtC1w]

3gT’s for today:

1.  The outfit I bought yesterday was less than $100 for top, jacket and pants and the part that totally rocked was that it is all a size smaller than I have been wearing!

2.  The kleenex that I used to wipe ink off my finger (from a pen I’d used yesterday) and inadvertantly put into my coat pocket did not transfer any ink onto said pocket.

3. Our business has a new website client.

What are your 3gT’s?

*3 grateful things.

My sister-in-law and father-in-law are both in the hospital; SIL is having complications from a surgery she had before Thanksgiving and FIL is recovering from knee replacement surgery–he is Type 2 Diabetic and struggling post-op with blood sugars and bleeding.

On top of that, for us, we found out Sunday that a friend of mine from church has cancer and she has likely less than a year to live. Pray for a miracle.

It is when things go wrong, when the good things do not happen, when our prayers seem to have been lost, that God is most present. We do not need the sheltering wings when things go smoothly. We are closest to God in the darkness, stumbling along blindly. —Madeleine L’Engle

Psalm 91 from The Message

1-13You who sit down in the High God’s presence, spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow,

Say this: “God, you’re my refuge.

I trust in you and I’m safe!”

That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps,

shields you from deadly hazards.

His huge outstretched arms protect you—

under them you’re perfectly safe;

his arms fend off all harm.

Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,

not flying arrows in the day,

Not disease that prowls through the darkness,

not disaster that erupts at high noon.

Even though others succumb all around,

drop like flies right and left,

no harm will even graze you.

You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance,

watch the wicked turn into corpses.

Yes, because God’s your refuge,

the High God your very own home,

Evil can’t get close to you,

harm can’t get through the door.

He ordered his angels

to guard you wherever you go.

If you stumble, they’ll catch you;

their job is to keep you from falling.

You’ll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,

and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

14-16 “If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God,

“I’ll get you out of any trouble.

I’ll give you the best of care

if you’ll only get to know and trust me.

Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times;

I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.

I’ll give you a long life,

give you a long drink of salvation!”