Call to feast with the shoppers...

We don't accomplish anything in this world alone... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads form one to another that creates something. ~ Sandra Day O'Conner

Bind Us Together, Lord...


Macrina titles this entry from her journal as "The harvest at the shopping mall: feasting with the shoppers." I nearly laughed out loud when I read this title.  You see, I hardly ever go to a mall any more.  MAYBE two times a year.  But yesterday morning, while I was sitting at my computer, focused on work...Nancy called:

Nancy: What are you doing? 

Me: Working. 

Nancy: I'm wanting to do something for fun! 

Me: Ok.... what? 

Nancy: I want to go to the northside.  Go to the mall because I want to show you some jeans that I think would fit you better than the ones from TJ Maxx (I love the bluntness and honesty of my daughters!) and I want to go to the Homestore.  

Me: (I will skip the conversation regarding the jeans!) Okay...as long as we won't be gone long! I've work to do.

Honestly? This might have been my second trip to a mall all this year and I open the book this morning to "The harvest at the shopping mall..." ? What are the odds?

"My restlessness drove me to the mall today. There I milled around among all the shoppers looking at things I didn't need and wanting to fill my emptiness by purchasing some useless item." (Macrina Wiederkehr, A Tree Full of Angels, p 142) 

When we pulled up outside the Homestore, there was not a empty spot to be seen. Nancy exclaimed, "Why are there so many people!! Don't they have to work!"

I did not see that many shoppers with bags at the mall, but at the Homestore, carts were full with all kind of stuff and the check out lines were long.  I wish I had read this journal entry yesterday so I could have carried these thoughts as I wandered in and out of stores...looking at things I didn't need and wanting to fill my emptiness by purchasing some useless item.

If Macrina had stopped right there, I would have had enough to consider today, but she continues:

"Suddenly something within me brought a poignant awareness of all the people rushing through the mall. It was as though in the midst of this crowded mall something holy was oozing through these scurrying human beings. I felt a sacred urge to kneel down in their midst and bow my head in honor of all the beauty of their lives that goes unseen. I overcame this urge rather quickly lest I be trampled...or locked up for being mentally unbalanced...I did find a bench...and had 'long looks' at the people. The long looks became prayers. I prayed the people as they rushed, casting healing glances in their direction." (Ibid)

I am a "people watcher".  I watch people at the gym.  I watch people wandering around a garden nursery. I watch people as they wait for a table at a restaurant.

I watch people, and I too sometimes think about how there is so much within that person, whom I don't know.  I think about how amazing it is that we are in this place, at the same time, and how we will shortly go our separate ways...yet our lives have touched ever so slightly in this moment of time.  We are connected by invisible threads.

I've had these thoughts and I have at times offered up prayers, yet Macrina's prayer touched my heart.  I wish to be a shopper walking by a Macrina:

"O God, I prayed, these are the people made in your image. Do you rush like this, God? Do you hurry through the heavens looking for bargains? O God, be in every heart that hurries. Be in every step that people take. Help them to know what it is they are shopping for. Feed the hungers of their hearts with a food they'll never find in shopping malls. Help them to slow down so they can taste their true hunger." (Ibid)

I believe in the power of prayer and I simply sit here and feel a sense of awe that someone sitting on a bench, might pray such a prayer as I walk by.  I wonder if my heart is open enough to feel the nudge of peace, love, or joy from that prayer?

Every knee shall bow....

"While still gazing at these hurrying people, I had a strange and lovely dream for them. I dreamed that everyone in the mall suddenly fell to their knees and adored the God in each other. A strange dra, perhaps, but wouldn't it be powerful if it came true? Can you imagine the peace of such a moment?...Can you see this moment of holiness? Can you imagine how heaven would feel?"

Like so many times throughout this book, I simply sit with a thought or image of Macrina's and think, "Wow..."  Macrina ends by saying she left the mall with empty hands, but with a heart that was full.

Again..."Wow...."

I am constantly saying, "Be the change that you want to see..." But, I'm not sure I would have thought of being a person of calm, love, joy....in the midst of a crowded store and with intention putting that sense of calm into the moment.  I'm amazed with the notion of praying a similar prayer over those who walk past me...

Because, even though we are separate, we are connected.  We are all one in God's tapestry of love and invited to dine together at God's Table.

God's Table is much bigger and broader than any Table I could find in any church here on this earth.

God's Table extends outside of our churches.

I am reminded of the passage from Isaiah that Jesus preached as I sit here pondering God's Table.  Luke 4 tells me of Jesus' time in the wilderness, and then takes me into the synagogue where I hear him preach:

  ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
   because he has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
   and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
   ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

In my mind, during those moments Macrina sat at the mall, she was anointing that "space" with the Spirit of the Lord.  No, People did not stop and kneel...but wasn't Macrina envisioning the spirit of Pentecost as expressed in Acts 2?

¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ “‘In the last days, God says,
   I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
   your young men will see visions,
   your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
   I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
   and they will prophesy.
¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above
   and signs on the earth below,
   blood and fire and billows of smoke.
²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood
   before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
²¹ And everyone who calls
   on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

The question I will hold and carry in my heart today..."What if I truly saw God's Tapestry every time I looked at my family, the shoppers at Kroger or Walmart. What if I saw God's Tapestry within the images I am preparing for the 9/11 service?

Here's a good one....What if I saw God's Tapestry every time I looked out at my congregation?

Macrina envisioned every knee bowing and imagined the peace at such a moment.  By having done this....did she not send out the energy of peace into that space at that moment?  By having done this....is it possible that one person's heart was slowed and that person also left the mall with a heart that was full?

I don't give God the opportunity to work through me nearly enough!

I think too small, depending on what "I" can do.

God, forgive me for not setting you lose within me to perform miracles...that I might never see and would be, by the world's standards, small and insignificant.  Yet, the world would see the small morsel of bread and the tiny cup of wine as small gifts.  But, I know...that small piece of bread and tiny cup hold Your Kingdom....HERE right NOW...in my midst. God, help me to see your tapestry of love, in every face, in every creature, in all the scenes of nature... As I become more aware of your rich tapestry, may I then know true peace and may I share that peace wherever I go.  AMEN.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi 

Come to the Table

"There is a table to which we are invited each day. It offers us trees and stones, sunshine and stars, eagles and angels, roots and water, joy and sorrow, earth and fire, flesh and blood, storms and memories, words and silence, spiders and webs, night and day, death and life, crust, crumbs, and loaves." ~ Macrina Wiederkehr, A Tree Full of Angels, p 135


Come to the Table - by Michael Card


I have not thought of my striving to live from an attitude of gratitude as also being in communion.  Yet, Macrina's quote encompasses all of life.  The Table of Love is prepared for each of us...for me...each moment.  I am daily invited to come and to eat.


Macrina shares once again the poem entitled Love, by George Herbert. When read slowly, it is a powerful poem. The words that stand out for me:

'I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.'
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
'Who made the eyes but I?'

Herbert's poem closes with the words...the challenge...the invitation...


"You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat." 


All to often I am grabbing a bit as I head out the door.  Or I grab a bite while driving some place.  Sometimes I grab a bite while I stand and do other things.


"You must sit down.."


Macrina writes:

"Unfortunately, most of us turn away from this table, not because we sense our unworthiness, but rather because we are so busy, we're oblivious to the invitation...we have to be at least present enough to recognize Love's invitation." (Wierderkehr, p 136)

Macrina writes of a time when she was sitting in the Greek Theater at the University of Arkansas when she remembered Herbert's poem. She began saying the words over and over again when she sensed the divine energy of Love standing before her.  


With everything that was going on, she knew that God only asks her one question, "Will you let Love serve you; will you sit and eat?"


She writes that it was a sacred moment as she sat quietly and let the morning fill her. She prayed "the morning" and silently she "ate up the dawn."

"I was feasting at the table of daily life." (Ibid)

This morning, in my gratitude journal of 1000 Blessings, I wrote how I loved "the moment when the sky was quiet, wrapped in shades of pale pastels that waited the arrival of the magnificent sun." 


I did pause, and I can appreciate that I was feasting at the table of daily life in those minutes.

"Our experiences feed us all we need to be holy, yet it is only in reflecting on these experiences that they can be changed into prayer."

"The Table of Daily Life" is the final chapter within this book, "A Tree Full of Angels."  It is like Macrina saved the best for the last, or perhaps I needed to work through the other insights and thoughts in order to fully appreciate the gift of being invited, daily, to feast at the table of life.


In this last chapter, Macrina shares experiences that have fed her at the table of daily life and how journaling with these experiences has turned them into prayer.  She writes, 

"It wasn't prayer that I was searching for, but rather a prayer that was searching for me. The prayer found me when I accepted Love's invitation to come to the table of life." (Ibid)

In his abundant grace, Jesus offers the invitation to Come...and Feast...to everyone every morning. He offers me the invitation and sadly, there are days I am living under the illusion that I am too busy to pause and sit in order to taste life's moments fully. I allow the noise of all that is around me and within me to deafen the sound of life. Macrina writes,

"We are often content to remain shallow. We fail to plumb the depths of all we can be. Busyness, noise, and shallow living are three great enemies of the spiritual life. Flannery O'Connor suggests that human nature is so faulty it can resist any amount of grace and most of the time it does."

Macrina challenges me to recognize that each morning I stand face to face with the grace of a new day. She invites me to proclaim the truth: I am not too busy to taste the fullness of life today."

Again, in his grace, God gave me freedom of choice so the choice is always mine to accept or to turn away because I choose to spend time in worry or activity.

Years ago I read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. In the book, Lewis provides a series of lessons for a young demon, Wormword, to help him understand ways to undermine faith. The lessons center on daily living and the choices we make that keep us from feasting on the holy.  Basically, Wormword is taught by Screwtape to let the humans do what they do naturally.  Wormword is shown how to offer to us things that cause anxiety, fear, worry and to then simply stand back as we choose to feast at the table of fear.

There is a familiar saying that claims, "Time is money" but this morning, as I sit with my thoughts and reflections I think time is life and if I want to live life from the place of wholeness in Christ, I want to find the fullest time.  It is to easy for the busyness of life to leave little room for the very Source of Life.

Sadly, God gives me time and all to often I don't have time for God.  How crazy is that!

A woman shared with me this week her hectic schedule and the grieving that has been a part of her already packed calendar:

"The past month of Sundays have been filled with band and cattle showing. This Sunday, the kids will be showing cattle in another state. This past month has also been a month of people dying. A few weeks ago it was a young father in the community, then right after that it was my best friend's nephew then two days later a friend of my daughter's mother was murdered.  My friend _____'s son had a heart attack then just a few days ago a classmate of my daughter killed himself. I just learned that on that same day a friend of mine drowned in a pool. 

"There are too many memorial services.  Its depressing. Every time I turn around, there is another funeral."

Where is the invitation to feast at life's table within such moments as these?

I believe the invitation comes in the pause.  And in that pause, we can give all the pent up energy, the raw emotion to God...because when I hold this kind of life "within", I miss seeing God in the midst of such pain and fatigue. There is simply no room!

It is in these times, when I may even be saying the right words for others, yet my soul is feeling empty that Wormword and Uncle Screwtape are laughing in delight.

"Sandi! Come to the Table, I've prepared for you...!"


Jesus, my Friend, my Teacher, and my Savior! Thank you for the invitation this morning to feast upon the morning sky.  I wasn't consciously aware how those moments were feeding my soul, preparing me as I opened Macrina's book to the last chapter...so that I could appreciate her words from my own experience. By your Spirit, help me to sense your invitation throughout my day.  When "Wormword" tosses me crumbs of worry or fear, help me have the strength from having feasted at your table to resist. I look forward to these last few pages. Open my heart so that I might be fully present to your Word. And Lord, surround my friend as she walks/lives during a time of intense busyness and grief. AMEN.

All of my life...I have a reason to sing!!!


Many Blessings ~ Sandi

Week VI - Day 2 - The Memory Cup

Nancy Wood - Santa Fe
Photographer and Poet

Going from this place to another place is like the bird in winter who remembers the beauty of her Springtime nest just to keep herself from freezing. ~ Nancy Wood

Joyce writes that the gift of our memory is something we probably rarely think about until we get to the age where we have trouble remembering.

"Memory enables us to recall our blessings (our touches of God), to give thanks for them, and to grow because of them. Good memories can encourage us, warm us on a cold day, and help us to keep hope in our hearts. They serve as a way to keep us connected. " (Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Life, p 137)

Were sooo good!

There are times, that I am amazed by how Joyce's readings coincide with things that happen in my own life. Last evening I discovered a large murel mushroom in my back yard.  I bent down to pick it, but thought, "One mushroom isn't going to go very far" and I straightened back up.  But, straightening back up, I noticed four more!

I cannot remember the last time I have eaten a morel mushroom!

I gathered them in my t-shirt and brought them in to soak them in salt water, dip in egg and cornmeal...and fry in a small skillet. I took my plate of mushrooms in to my lazyboy and slowly ate each one.  Looking at that plate of mushrooms, savoring the taste of each bite...images from my childhood flooded my heart.  Searching for mushrooms...sorting mushrooms...breadiing them and eating them... sounds of laughter all filled my mind.  At the time I thought of the blessing of good memories.  This morning...The Memory Cup.

"As Christians we gather around a memory every time we meet to share the eucharist. When Jesus blessed the bread and the cup of wine at the Passover Meal he said to those who were dear to his heart: 'Do this in remembrance of me' (Lk22:19). The pwer of this story has reamined to this day because of the way memory has carried it from one genration to another, The cup of wine has become a 'memory cup,' holding the story of One whose life was poured out for all humanity. It has become the cup of sacrifce, the cup of love, the cup of unity. This cup has given strength and restored hope to many a weary spriritual traveler."

Joyce talks as to how our ability to remember is a precious gift. I have a greater appreciation for that insight since my car accident twelve years ago. While my memory has improved, there are so many things that are difficult for me to recall.  After my uncle passed the pastor asked each of us individually for memories.  I told him the only way I can pull anything out of my dark closets is by listening to others and then MAYBE a spark will begin to burn with images and feelings.

"Without memory we would be unable to savor the good things that have happened to us and for us. Without memory we would be unable to be healed from past painful situations." (Rupp, p 138)

That is true! It is very strange to be in a group of friends or family as they begin to laugh or cry, remembering a particular situation or person....while I strive to connect their words to something...anything!

Most of us have an abundance of images, feelings, people....stored within our heads.  While some memories create a warm sense of God-ness within your heart, there are others that are not pleasant.  There are dark memories that I am all to happy to keep hidden.  Yet, Joyce suggests that those memories may be crying for our attention.

"Perhaps they need to be dealt with and put to rest. Eventually we need to move on from our sad and distressing memories and focus on the memories that are consoling and strengthening for us." (Ibid)

Good memories can "fill" us with hope.

For today, Joyce asks that I sift through my memories...for me to be the gatekeeper of these memories.  It is like she is saying, "Sandi, catch the ones that draw forth and enhance your core goodness. Savor them. Let these blessed memories fill you with hope.

Breathprayer:
Breathing in: I remember...
Breathing out: ...your love for me

Praying over/with a pleasant memory.

Reflection:
Hold the blessing cup in your hands.
Let it be filled with memories.
Choose one memory of love and happiness.
Let this memory pervade your entire being.
Receive the renewed inner strength it offers you.
Write a word for this memory on a piece of paper.
Place the word in your memory cup today.
Thank God for this memory.


Scripture: Deuteronomy 4:9-20
But take care...so as neither to forget the tings that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children. (Dt 4:9)

Journaling:
Go back to the memory that came to you as you prayed with the memory cup. Write down any thoughts and feelings about this memory that you want to store in your heart today.
How has this memory been a blessing to you?
Dear Bestower of Blessings,...


Go back to the memory that came to you as you prayed with the memory cup. Write down any thoughts and feelings about this memory that you want to store in your heart today.  The memory of a surprise visit...I remember feeling awed that I mattered so much to this individual! I knew the words had been said, yet the visit took me totally by surprise.  Looking back I can recognize there was a sense of feeling vulnerable in the other, something I am fairly sure was a new feeling!  People often do not make wise choices in their decisions regarding relationships, me included.  Yet, looking back at that night and many others, love was there!  I was loved.

How has this memory been a blessing to you? Normally, thinking about those days, I put them down as "nostalgia", a totally unproductive and useless waste of my time.  However, this morning, praying over that memory and a few others that arose as well I have a sense of reassurance that I was not just totally stupid. Judging myself harshly is one of my most persistent demons. Praying, it is like that demon has been told to "LEAVE!" and  I have a sense of me and life being okay...of being good.  In this moment...life is good.

Mark Shultz has a wonderful song, Remember Me, that has been running through my mind as I have read and journaled. I couldn't find a good video...this is one is just okay...yet it has the words and that is what is most important...the words.

Prayer:
O Memory Giver, thank you for the storehouse of good memories that is mine. May these blessed memories give me hope and inspiration for my spiritual journey. I ask this day that the touch of your goodness, your blessing, be with ...  Thank you for your blessings. AMEN.


Today:
I will carry one blessed memory in my heart and let it sustain me with happiness and peace.


Many Blessings ~ Sandi

Week V - Day 4 - The Cup of Sacrifice

I was "kind of" blessed by a song that fits so well with Joyce's book and The Cup of Compassion.  Yesterday, the Wednesday Lunch Bunch spent time talking about living from an attitude of abundance rather than the fear of scarcity.  I say "kind of" because the vocals and the images on these videos are really not part of my eclectic taste in music.  Still, the words of the song are an appropriate blessing to begin a day of compassion.

Sharon Salzberg

Sharon Salzberg, author and teacher of meditation practices says, "Compassion...is the strength that arises out of seeing the true nature of suffering in the world. Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, and to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal.

Joyce then continues by beginning today's lesson by saying, "Compassion has a price. It does not come without a cost, the least of which is the pain that pierces our own hearts as we accompany one who is suffering.

"When we speak out and take a stand against injustice, our compassion can cost us ridicule, rejection, loss of friends, and even the termination of our job. When we are willing to be present with one who is in great physical or emotional pain, our compassion can cost us our precious time and energy. Sometimes when we suffer with others, such as the homeless, the dying, those with AIDS, the imprisoned, we can be confronted with our own fears, insecurities, powerlessness, arrogance, or prejudices." (Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Life, p 121)

Again, I am humbled and amazed that Joyce seems to have been watching me live through so many situations.  Again, I am surprised by how the things I am writing or thinking...I then read within her book a few days later.  The devotion I prepared for the Team/Session meeting last evening asked us to stay with Mary's confusion at the tomb...before she saw the "gardener."  She tells the angel, "I don't know where they have taken him!"

I asked the leaders to stay with that question before moving on to the story they know so well.  "I don't know where they have taken him!"

Is this story a myth, truth, a fable...is it a tale that has been told well?

It took several minutes for a response, and I had just about given up when one woman spoke up...and then another...

I shared that while sitting with my uncle, one night when he was between his logical mind and the dementia of Sundowners, he asked, "San, what if it has been a lie? What if this is all there is?"

I was stunned, not sure how to respond.  Yet, we talked about faith and doubts for the next 15 minutes...before the confusion of the evening took away his mind.

Compassion does put us in places where our fears and our doubts...our sense of powerlessness and our prejudices can all rise up in our hearts.

"Compassion urges us to move out of our comfortable niches of security. Compassion stretches us and asks us to let go of apathy and indifference. Compassion refuses to accept excuses of busyness, ignorance, or helplessness. Compassion invites us to reach out to those who suffer, 'to live,' as Sharon Salzberge notes, 'with sympathy for all living beings without exception.' (Ibid)

Do you remember the movie Patch Adams?  Here...I've Got Faith of The Heart...

Oh my, listening to this song, and watching the Robin Williams character, Patch Adams brings back memories...times I paid for my compassion, it also fills my heart with hope.

Joyce brings her thoughts today to a close by sharing that it can take many long years of living compassionately, before we stop counting the cost and respond with fewer regrets or self-concerns.

"This is not to say that we omit taking care of ourselves or deny our own feelings.  Far from it. It is the person who knows how to care well for self who will offer the purest and most generous compassion to another. We are, after all, to love others as we love ourselves. (Lk 10:27)" (Ibid)

How appropriate, on this day before Good Friday, that I read:

Depiction of Mary at the foot of the cross.

"When I think of the great sacrifice that compassion asks, I see Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing at the foot of the cross. She stood there bravely with the greatest sorrow a mother could have. Compassion cost Mary's son his life. Compassion cost Mary an agonizing grief that only a parent can fully realize. Both Mary and Jesus knew and paid the price of compassion." (Ibid)

Breathprayer:
Breathing in: I stand...
Breathing out: ...beneath the cross 



Reflection:

Stand with the cup in your hands.
Visualize yourself with God's compassion filling your soul with love.
Then picture someone (or a group) who huts.
Imagine what the pain must be like.
Let your loving care and concern go to them.
Stand at the foot of their cross.
Send hope and courage to them.




Scripture: John 19:25-27
²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.


Journaling:
When I picture Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing at the foot of his cross, I ...
Here are some ways in which compassion costs me:
Dear Mary,...


....have to walk away from this for a moment in order to settle my heart.

At the foot of the cross....

Interesting, I have wondered several times during this Lenten season what I would have done on that fateful day in Jerusalem.  Early in the season a Facebook friend/cousin wrote, "Oh, to have been one of those standing at the foot of Jesus' cross!" I replied, that most of the disciples ran...  And, I have wondered if I would have run....


Today, Joyce asks me to place myself at the foot of Jesus' cross.  Did you know that the images of him being "high" up is probably not true?  Many historians claim that the Roman cross was not that high....I would be close to eye level with Jesus... When I picture Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing at the foot of his cross, I ... my heart feels so full, that it is difficult to breath.  I cannot imagine such cruelty. I am at a loss for words...


Here are some ways in which compassion costs me:  In the past, I have lost "friends", I have been hurt emotionally and a couple of times I have been hurt physically.  In the past and now today, compassion costs me a peaceful heart.  It is difficult to watch and hold suffering without my own doubts and fears surfacing.

Compassion has taken time, sometimes time that I don't feel I have...in those times I have often worked/served from an attitude of scarcity and anxiety over other's thoughts and expectations.

Tonight, at our Maundy Thursday service, we will gather around a large table set up in the front of the sanctuary.  We will read scripture passages and will offer symbols of Jesus' last few hours before the nails were driven into his hands and feet.  We will reflectively sing verses of "Were You There?" And I want to scream up to God, "Wasn't there any other way??"

Dear Mary,...  I cannot imagine the strength and the love it took for you to stand at Jesus' cross. I am so saddened on this day to know that all of that happened because of man kind .... because of me.

Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded is a prayer I can carry with me this day.  Lord, open my heart so that compassion might flow freely, from a place of a whole and healthy heart.  May my motives be as pure as possible, may I strive to offer compassion in a way that glorifies you.  Something that seems so "natural", I recognize requires more of me than simply doing the act of compassion.  Teach me...

Prayer:
Mary, woman of sorrows, your son's life was filled with compassion. Your life, too, teaches me to suffer with others even when it costs me to do so. May I be there at the foot of the cross of the suffering ones of this world in the loving way that you were at the foot of the cross of Jesus. may I learn from your love how to be a loving person.


Today:
I will offer thanks for someone who paid a price for offering compassion to me. I will place myself beneath the cross of another who needs my compassion.


A lot of thoughts and images to hold as this Holy Week draws ever closer to the cross.  I am "behind" in the readings and will finish after Lent, yet, what a gift to hold these lessons at this time.  My heart feels full as I begin this Holy Thursday.  May I carry the image of my cup running over as I approach the Table this evening for communion...  Thank you, Lord.

Many Blessings ~ Sandi