"Love is like a butterfly: if you
hold it too close you can kill it,
but if you don't hold it close enough,
it can fly away."
~~Anonymous

Smiles & Hugs

Amma
I love her smile!

Below is a review from amazon.com. I was inspired to buy the dvd after reading the review.

"Darshan: The Embrace, is truly a film of great inspiration. Rather than focusing on Amma's verbal teachings, the film exquisitely zooms in on Amma's physical presence, her dark radiant face, her arms reaching out to thousands of devotees, her legs barely able to walk after a non-stop 21 hour marathon of constant embracing. Such images say more than words ever can. It brought tears to my eyes.
The film beautifully captures the feel and colorful look of the Indian countryside, and the pure madness, filth and chaos of the cities, as devotees embark with Amma on one of her seemingly endless tours. And what is the final message here? That there is such a thing as Pure Unconditional Love. Is this not a message of hope during our troubed times? Darshan captures what is deeply essential the way all great art does; by taking the viewer beyond words." --David Fields

Brokeness

Former Evangelical Perspective: The broken tree represents Christ's body broken for me. It represents the wooden cross Christ hung upon. Two trunks; one dead and one living represent the death of Christ and his resurrection. In the midst of brokeness, there is still life and hope.
Current Spiritual Perspective:What can the tree teach me? Life is a mixture of joy and sorrow. My life has some parts that are broken and it also has green growing parts. The tree may be a bit lopsided, after cutting away the broken branches, but I'm a bit lopsided too. There is a quirky kind of beauty in a lopsided tree...it's weathered the storms of life and now has a different kind of beauty. In it's "brokenness" this quirky Tulip Tree will still soak up the sun, put forth beautiful flowers and provide shelter for all manner of creatures. My former evangelical perspective and my current spiritual perspective aren't so far apart after all: In the midst of brokeness, there is still life and hope.

Foodies

This morning I was preparing Ampersand's Tuna Salad(white albacore, cranberries, diced red onion, s&p, and mayo) for lunch, while Christy was unloading the dishwasher and talking about Paula Deen. If you are from the South or watch the Food Network, then you know about Paula Deen. She is funny and a good Southern cook. Christy was telling me about a marinated shrimp salad that Paula prepared and she listed the ingredients. I suppressed a chuckle because she sounded so grown up (she will be 12 later this month) but mostly I wanted to chuckle because she sounded like me! Two foodies. Actually, all the kids are foodies and fairly adventurous eaters. Ana and I dream of attending a class at
Ballymaloo Cooking School in Ireland. Nicole whips up a pasta sauce for mushroom ravioli that is to die for. Christy has taken to watching the Food Network and cooking "Eggy in a Basket" or "Toads in A Hole" or "Popeyes"(that's what Paula Deen calls them). Nathan is the guinea pig that is happy to try anything we cook up. He also makes perfect fried eggs!

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti"

This is my song, oh God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine

This is my home, the country where my heart is,
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine

But other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean
and sunlight beams on clover, leaf and pine

But other lands have sunlight too and clover
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine

Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine

Hymn from Finlandia

Forest Gump

If you have never seen this movie, do so soon. If you have seen it, watch it again soon. This is one clarifying, purifying, rejuvinating movie. My eyes are swollen from crying and my side hurts from laughing but I'm so glad I watched "Forest Gump" yet again. This movie puts life, in all its up and downs, in perfect perspective!

A Blessing

".... May you be embraced by God,
in whome dawn and twilight are one, and may your belonging inhabit its deepest dreams within the shelter of the Great Belonging."
John O'Donohue