Monday Morning Freewrite

"In the Tide of Grace" by Wendy Manzo
https://www.wendymanzo.com/product/in-the-tide-of-your-grace/ (See explanation below)

Fifteen-minute freewrite counting down...

It seems as though I have not had one of these for a while. The last couple of weeks seemed to be more hectic than usual. Maybe because I have a full class this last term and loads of papers that came at the end of my fifth week of classes. At the same time the papers came in, I had the Online Gathering for the 24-7 Movement, and my Vow Ceremony for the Order of the Mustard Seed. Then I had more spiritual direction meetings than usual (or at least longer times than usual) and a meeting with the 2HC. Oh yes, and the Afghans flying out and one of them getting out of the refugee camp. 

Yes, it was a busy time.

And then, this inundation of requests to do things: a podcast, speaking on a Person of Peace, consulting for a church adopting a people group, two people wanting spiritual direction (said yes to one and no to the other), someone in the UK wanting help in leading contemplative prayer times, people wanting subs for the OMS Prayer Watches, two people wanting to be interviewed for the Abiding/Fruitful Disciple podcast, request to do more fundraising for the Afghans. When it rains. It pours. 

All that said, I went for a walk yesterday morning with George and asked him how he thought I was doing in the whole "balance" thing, and he said, "Great!" And I had to agree. I feel so very peaceful. The picture for the Visio Divina on Friday was of a girl looking up at God surrounded by swirling water, and I felt like God was saying, "I am with you in the whirlpool." I am with you through it all. It is about seeing God's face in the midst of the activities of life. It is only then that we are not overwhelmed. (See picture above.)

The quote from Celtic Morning Prayer hit me along these lines: 

"Spirituality practised in the state of activity is incomparably superior to that practised in the state of withdrawal." (from Anthony De Mello's One Minute Wisdom, but he is quoting an Abba - which I think is a desert father?)

Last week was really good for my eating. I ate healthy and reduced calories. All good! I felt great.

Today, I have two spiritual direction appointments, and I am going to try to find my Instinctual Variants Power Point. I did a talk last March, and the final PowerPoint has disappeared! I have another version, but it is lacking text. I KNOW I saved the final version because I used it with the group. I have no idea where to look. It would take a lot of time to update it, but at least I have the Draft version with most of the pictures. I am a little sad if I lost it, but that is a First World problem.

Another First World problem is that my earbuds gave up the ghost only two years after buying them. The connection to the charging no longer works. I liked their sound, but I will never buy RayCon earbuds again. I did a search for the best earbuds, and I imprudently purchased some that were probably on a "best earbud" site that they created. They were cheap, and you get what you pay for. They go in and out, and the sound is horrendous. Not to mention that they don't last that long before you have to recharge. Not good, but again, that is a First World problem. 

Off to work. :) 

From the website about the painting:

Painted: 13/8/17   Wave Upon Wave album launch worship night at DaySpring Church, Sydney.

Painted live, this painting is my spontaneous response to being immersed in worship. Joel Wiseman, speaking about his inspiration for writing the album title song, said he watched the ocean waves relentlessly continuously crashing on the beach, as they have done for thousands of years, and God spoke to him and said “that’s what my love for you is like”. As Joel watched he realised that nothing the sand did made a difference. The waves did not depend upon any response from the sand. This inspired the lyric:

With wave upon wave 
You reveal Your face 
All goodness and love 
Overflow from Your heart 
With wave upon wave 
You crash on us again 
In the tide of Your grace 
to an ocean of praise 
We dive in