NICE, EASY, TAKEN FOR GRANTED BELIEF

I was touched the other day, unexpectedly, while I was numbing out watching the Food Channel.  Trisha Yearwood,the country music star, 
was cooking Thanksgiving dishes.  She's easy to watch and  seems generous and real on her show. I like her. 

Anyway, at the end of her show, she gathered with her family, many of whom are musical as well, to sing with several people playing guitar too.
The song they chose was, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".  I loved everything about the moment. The ease and habit of this family singing this old sweet hymn together touched me. They were not over thinking their faith or their political correctness. They were singing a song they all knew together in their very sinew. They would shake off my over-thinking religious and spiritual search.

I loved warming my hands around that surety, that simplicity. And it was wholesome and humble. Not a big deal. Nice. Very nice. No fuss belief. 

THAT WAS AWKWARD!

Talking to family and friends about the truth that I pray (certainly in my own way with my own ambivalence) is almost always awkward.

Sometimes there is a sudden silence like on a blind date. " Whoa. This is awkward. How do we get off this topic gracefully?  Where is irreverent Joyce?
How do I tell her what a waste of time this book is.  She should be writing about leadership. Oh good. We'll just skip over the topic. Polite interest should do it. Whew."

Well it is odd. Then again I am at the point where one reconciles the various parts of oneself and life.  And I have always been a closet pray--er. Just give me a crisis and I'm in. Give me too much anguish and I'm gonna pray.
One prayer leads to another and suddenly there is a prayer practice. And slowly, not suddenly, it becomes different from a pain reliever.  More a joy seeking. 

Oh dear. Why don't I just shut up and get this book published so i can go on to 
one on leadership.  I have decided to begin to put the book (page by page) on Facebook on the I PRAY ANYWAY page--just like you put a seedling out to harden. I think maybe I'm the seedling.

MINI-MIRACLES, SYNCRONICITY, ODD COINCIDENCE, WHO CARES?

My whole premise is "I don't know much for sure AND I pray anyway".
You'll hear much more about that when my book is done (manuscript in draft form at this point--tweaking time) 

My point today goes back to the fact that we live in a miracle resistant culture.
Therefore we are blind to little gifts of grace or eensy beentsy miracles that we bump into daily. I know that I shake them off all the time. 

Here's one that has me interested from this week.  I write to a college friend frequently by email.  We grouse and laugh and share our life stories and pretend that we are in a coffee shop together.

My friend wrote complaining about not being able to find something she really wanted--a photo I think.  Then she listed a few other special things she couldn't find.  I wrote back saying, "Please don't get me started about lost things.
For instance where is the Christmas table cloth I haven't found the last two years in a row and where is my high school class ring? I really want it. Is it in a dump somewhere or a pawn shop?"  I sent the email.

Two hours later, I got a phone call from a college sorority sister I hadn't heard
from her since she graduated a year before me--almost 50 years.  She said, "Are you this 'Joyce' and gave details. I said, "yes".  She said she was cleaning out old jewelry to give away or organize and found a ring that she suddenly thought might be mine. It was a class ring and had my initials in it. (Pre-marriage initials) Right color, right size. I have it on my finger now. It is indeed my ring.

I told her the story of my email and she said, "Hey, I'm a Unitarian so I'm not
much into this kind of thing but this has me flummoxed."  I sent her a copy of the email about the ring. We are both puzzling about it. Why did she think it was my ring? There were many of us.  We were never room mates or close friends.  Why within two hours of mentioning it, did I get my ring back. (Then, again, why not the Christmas table cloth?)  We were both tickled to talk and this oddity made our day. This is what I call a mini-miracle. Goes beyond probability and has a surprisingly good outcome!! 

Tell me you have this kind of thing.
Tell me it interests you.
Share one. 
Oh I have a good one about my mom's pansies.
Later.

THE MERGING OF SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY GIVES ME HOPE

That title is a little extreme, but I mean it--as is.
Can't you sense  a new paradigm, a new mythology forming?
I can get a little irritated that I might die before the next wave of wonder.
It's why we are so muddled right now.
And why we may just blow it here on earth.

The movie INTERSTELLAR is what got me going this morning.
Simply reading about me made me slightly hopeful.
It will popularize the vastness of existence and awe.
It will make conversations about science and spirituality happen. 
It will help religions morph into a new shape and stance
It will show the reality of a neglected reverence for our own planet.

Oh, yes, we are a generation caught in a huge transition.
It used to be that the myth or religion of our time guided our behavior and moral stance.
We are in a time of disintegration of these models that explain the divine and it will be a while til we get a global religion/myth/model/paradigm.
I can't wait for the world to right itself. 
The mess is here.
I pray anyway.