Words to live buy

These are a few images keeping me company this week.

As we walk through advent, keeping our eyes open for the Savior,
we are bombarded with images and messages
telling us we need other things to save us.
Or that things alone are something that people need.
We fill holes with possessions.
And so, these phrases are messages
from an unlikely source--chocolate.
Yet they ring the truth of things we know from sacred scriptures.
The greatest of these is love, for instance,
points us toward perfect love,
not the love of possessions,
or a possessive kind of love.

Being present to one another,
instead of racing around to purchase presents,
may be a greater gift than we realize.

Offering joy and peace through a smile
may be the best thing to pass along as you walk
through a crowd of people in a shopping area.

See what you think about what they are declaring.

Wonder if this blogger will ever post again

And with that, she does.

It's my last week of school for this year!!!
It's been the toughest (and best) class of my spiritual formation graduate program.
IF I finish this week :), I will have one year left. Wow.
The journey with my online cohort has been fantastic.

But, it's Advent. A time of waiting.

So, I'm waiting.
Waiting to post.

I have many ideas brewing in my very head, clamoring for blog space. (Okay, so they're not that human. Not at all human, really.)

But after this week's synthesis paper, likely.
Please stay tuned.

Blessings on your advent journey.
May you find the presence of the Savior as you seek after Him.

morning delights

I can't really offer the full view




but it is a glorious





snow laden
tree hugging





winter wonderland




morning.
All that, AND
as Jordan and I were walking back to my house,
we noticed a car, with lights on,
in the middle of the street.
Would you believe, the owner had opened his garage
to warm up the car
and it slipped out of the garage,
down the driveway,
and landed,
snuggly,
across the street below?

sadly, my camera battery was dead so no photo.
you'll have to take my word for it.

anniversary

Brewing a post in my mind happens frequently.
And this one, well, it has been stirring about, popping to the surface, disappearing, and emerging again, for days.

Yesterday marked a two year anniversary. Two years ago yesterday, I returned from the Thanksgiving day holiday and showed up at the office to work. I'll never forget it because oddly, my laptop was gone. I always took my laptop with me on jaunts out of the office, but in this case, because in August of that year I had purchased my own laptop, and because the Thanksgiving holiday trip to Fargo was NOT work related, I left my work laptop in my office. And so it was missing.
Strange that.

I was reflecting on it this morning, with my friend and former coworker. It was determined that the computer was stolen. Yet, nothing else was missing. But well, it really didn't matter due to the other events of the day.

Later that day our executive director called me into his office.
My team was aware of these meetings, somewhat. We were expecting to be repositioned, possibly (likely) having to relocate.
We knew our team was being disbanded.
We knew our team leader was offered a different position and that his current position was being eliminated.
So, it was with much surprise that I walked out of the ed's office having just been informed that no, I was not being positioned on a different team, having to relocate. I was told that my services were no longer needed.

For anyone who may have experienced this moment of being "let go" "fired" "downsized" or whatever the descriptor, you know it is a surreal moment. But here I am, looking back, two years later.

I am glad.
The way it happened sucked (please forgive my language).
It could have been handled differently.

I am more thankful for life and experiences now than while I worked there.
My life has more life now than when I worked there.
I feel more free to be and to live and to journey with Jesus and with others.
My view of work has changed dramatically.
I would NOT have had opportunity to date and share my life with B if I were still working that frantic pace.
My life including attending school full time would have worn me out. Completely.
Just to name a few things.

I am not saying the ends justify the means. But, I feel rescued and restored.
It is good to be elsewhere, free.

Thank you Lord, for vision beyond what I can imagine! You know what you are doing. Bless you!