Sabbath Peace Coincidences, llvl

Fall driving through Pennyslvania makes a few things pretty clear: 1) they weren’t wrong to name it Penn’s Woods. Even though much of it was clear cut for logging, it has now reclaimed its title and right about now is about as glorious a place you would ever want to visit. 2) I’m very grateful for roads. I would not have wanted to be moving around in a wagon on a small trail the bears and deer wore down. 3) Road trips with good friends are really great.

We drove ‘way too far to hear a great friend sing. But it’s been a while; in the meantime she’s been very sick, a mutual friend of ours died and my sister died. It felt right to push to spend a bit of time and hear her sing. We didn’t know if EG would recover but she did, and her new cd is simply delightful. You really might want to take a listen. EG Kight’s voice is as lush as ever and her pickin’? Yes’m. She invited this friend of hers up to sing, Long, Tall Deb is another fabu blues singer. These women play well with others, the two of them. Such generous sharing of great talent. Hootin’ and hollerin’ ensued.

Then a great night of sleep on a lovely hotel bed. Call me shallow, but I do love mangled hotel sheets. mmm.

Neither Emily nor I had ever seen Falling Water, so we decided to come home the long way. (and oh yes, it was the long way. You really can’t get there from here. But we did.) What a beautiful place. I’ve lived in PA a lot of years but I’d never seen it. It’s worth a visit. (Geezer alert, lots of walking, lots of steps with no balustrade. Oh the things we notice these days we never did before. Steve’s wanted to see this, makes me sad that I can’t take him along…)

But then to come out and seem my nephew’s mother-in-law hanging around in the visitor’s center, that was pretty fun. We did a lot of squealing and hugging. And they were getting ready to meet Elijah and Meghan. I had to get back and get ready for today, so we couldn’t be the surprise guests at their dinner party, but what a fun thing! Altogether now, one loud chorus of “It’s a small world, after all…”

So, here’s me, heartily recommending a weekend off with a bud. Peace is in the details and the coincidences. Go have a lovely Autumn Sabbath afternoon, that color won’t last forever! Go make some memories!

Quiet, Sabbath Peace

Sometimes, when life has been very busy. Sometimes when life has been very disappointing. Sometimes, just because life is life, it’s lovely to take a day off. A day where something gets accomplished, but the biggest milestone might be a visit to the drugstore to restock your kleenex supply. A day where you indulge yourself in a new book and a luxurious read. A day when you sit across a table from friends and catch up.

It’s been a busy week. No one had planned on the need to respond to fearmongering. It didn’t take a lot of big work, but a fair amount of busy work. It was very satisfying that we showed up, a diverse interesting bunch of folk. We stood around and chatted, dropped some cash in the barrel for Love Flows, drank some cider and just generally said Peace and Community matters. It was very sweet.

It’s been a disappointing week. I’d been very excited to be doing a workshop on the Five Fold Goddess, so when the weekend folded, I was sad. I’m sure I’ll do something with it, but it was a chance to step into some work I miss doing.

And there were just things that need to be done around the house. I didn’t make much of a dent in that list, but a little. Here’s to civilization.

And for me, nothing says luxury like a long comfortable chat with friends. I had not one but two of those.

All of that adds up to a day of gentle, simple Peace, the kind of which I would wish for all of you. Maybe today… who knows… Your life will be the sweeter for some quiet indulgence. Blessings on your day. May it be joyful.

Brisk Sabbath Peace, llvl

Well, the temperatures plummeted last night for the first thing, and so did my heart. I came home from my lovely, lovely wedding to find a note about (yet another) a course being offered in a local town that envisions the end of the world’s arriving with a fight between Israel and all of Islam.

I sat through the first class once, it was appalling. There are so many things wrong with I went with my friends from the mosque. I won’t sit through it again. I love that people are writing me to say, what do we do. Well, we do what people have always done. We witness for Love. In a world where people are afraid, Love will carry us through to Peace.

There’s work to be done. But this makes taking a day of rest and reflection even more important. You want to go to that work filled with love and not a thousand other things that make you feel superior (and not just scared). Actually, we want to go to all our work that way. Life is challenging, we need to fill up so we can contribute. We need to remember what is important simply because life is extraordinary. Only then can we live our lives as a prayer of gratitude.

So enjoy the day and the Peace it offers. And get ready, because we have Peace to offer the World. It needs our loving hands.

Fall Sabbath Peace, llvl

It’s going to be another glorious day here. (anyone else worried about the lack of rain?) But since we’ve got it, let’s enjoy it. Hot days, cold nights. Glorious weather.

I went to the the local fair last night (think bigggggggggg) and heard the doo-wop show. It was really fun. I kept looking for my sister and her crowd… it was her era. And it was grrreat. Steve had said, oh, if you hear this guy, i’m like sure, i’m gonna hear that guy… well I did. So it was my husband’s era as well. And yes, i ate too much, but hey, it’s the fair!

But today after the fog burns off, I have my eye on a little walk and a little nap. Hope you have a good one. I wish you the Peace of lovely Autumn days and I wish you the time to get out in it…

Family Peace Sabbath, llvl

I watched a joyful reunion yesterday, and the message was: you only have the time you have and you’d better make it good time.

Obviously, it’s a message that resonates for me. We did great family weekend stuff growing up. But I watch myself not spending enough time with the people I love. (This working weekend thing does interfere. But at least Steve and I both work weekends.)

It’s so easy to be busy, to shoot off in our own directions, but time spent getting to know each other and enjoy one another’s company is crucial, i believe, to our development and sense of self-worth. So grab those folks and hang out. Creating family: sweet, sweet, sweet (and occasionally crazy!).

Peace is a great thing to have at home.

Reworking Sabbath Peace, llvl

Sundays are work days for me, but at the heart of this work day is reflection. Why yes, in fact it is hard to plan a day of reflection that is also fairly active… But it starts with singing, and aside from the sound there’s breathing, breathing, breathing involved. And then there’s a period of joint reflection. sometimes others share what they’re thinking… sometimes not so much… but still, there’s a stop. Maybe even a moment of waking up.

Stops. Such a lovely concept. We don’t use them often enough.

And we need them. Because too often the work we do needs to be rethought. We make great plans and then realize we hadn’t thought at all about this consequence or that unrecognized player. And then we have to revisit everything… often on the fly.

And because of my work, Sundays are reflection day… sometimes solitary, sometimes joint… but the work gets better.

And then there’s always putting my feet up! And that’s Peace enough for anyone. Enjoy the day. Hopefully there will be a moment to reflect and reorganize… Sabbath Peace.

Sabbath Peace Restant, llvl

I did something very hard yesterday, and I’m proud of myself. And important note to self: I survived. Did I do it as well as it could have been done. Mebbe not. But it was a first step. I took action because what happened was beforehand was ugly and petty. I took action because I could stand for my friend, and not standing for her, meant saying what I believed didn’t matter very much.

Because it was about my friend, it was easier to take a step that scared and intimidated me. And I knew that it would scare and intimidate the people I talked to… I knew I had to find a way to connect to the people. I schemed. I practiced. And in the end, just did it. And partially, I did it because I told you I would. So thanks for that. Thanks for being my community.

It’s not that I need anyone else to think I’m a hero, It’s that I have to remember that this is doable. I can stand up. My faith asks me to do that. My courage sometimes falters. and if so, then shame on me. And friendship asks me to do things. I guess I have to say that friendship is a really big part of what I believe to be important. James Weldon Johnson: “I’m lonely, God said, I’m going to make me a world.”

Sundays aren’t all Sabbath for me, for me it’s a working day. But the end of the day will be a down day… I might need to find a body of water to stuff myself into. Summer time. Peaces. Tomatoes. Corn. And a good book. Peace, it’s an up and down thing. But there’s no up if I don’t stand up, step up and speak up. Guessing it probably needs you to do the same things. And really, I survived.

Sabbath Peace and New Beginnings, llvl

There are extraordinary people I suppose who are world Peacemakers. But most of us live la vida local. That means we must make Peace where we are.

Not just that convenient little Peace where you think what I think and I think what we think and we’re all happy and self-satisfied. But that slightly uncomfortable yet oh-so-satisfying Peace where we stretch beyond the known and really do the work. We look at what needs to be done and do it. And then we stretch our reach a bit to the next place in our lives and spread what we’re doing.

There are places all over the world we can look… and there are places here. We can’t look at our borders and see people refusing children and think we are doing well with Peace. We can’t look at Ferguson and dream for one minute it couldn’t happen here… unless we do something…

This is a Sabbath for some of us. Some of you had it yesterday. Let us rest. Let us take pleasure, and then let us get to work. Let us stretch across boundaries. Stretch where it is uncomfortable… Let us do yoga of the heart and soul… Let us stretch for Peace. It’s really kinda urgent…

Slow Sabbath Peace, llvl

Yesterday was a slow day for me. And today will probably be as well. I had one of those 24 hours things… and so I crept around the edges of the the exuberant life being celebrated in the rantala-sundberg house… and slept.

I’m not used to a house full of boys in the best of circumstances, but feeling lousy in the face of this coming and going meant that i just put my head down. An amazing thing, sleeping the day away.

Today, everyone’s off… Lorraine and Kjell are taking their younger son back for his second year of school. Older son’s taking the bus back home and I? am going to have this whole gray quiet Sunday to myself. Lungn o Ro… Peace and quiet! Gathering things together if my mind works…

Pretty darned lovely! Time to get ready for my last lovely week in Sweden.

Hope that your Sabbath is filled with slow and lovely times… and Peace.

Swedish Sabbath Peace, llvl

This morning there is indeed Sabbath Peace in our hearts. Lorraine’s son called her about 11 last evening. He’d just seen his aunt’s post on Facebook. Her son was missing. He’d fought with his parents and stormed off. He was drinking, they knew that. He can’t drink on the medications he’s on, they knew that. He hadn’t shown up the evening before for an 11 o’clock meet at a concert.

What to do, what to do? They called. They posted on FB. People shared. His sister and her friends shared. The rest of us just hoped and prayed and willed best outcomes. But people came forward to comfort and to reassure. It’s happened to me, I’ve had that fear; yet it was ok.

Most of the time it is ok… but sometimes it isn’t. But there you were, willing to take a moment to think about a young man you’ll never meet and a frantic mom and dad. To hold your friend who holds her friends. Community, with the loosest of connections, but stepping up to be community.

So today, because of where I am and because of who you are, I’m counting blessings and giving thanks. For all the places we miss the mark, there are plenty where the arrow flies true. Thanks for being those well aimed friends. Love, it’s for everyone. Peace lies in our hands, which today were very capable. We must remember how capable we are!

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

Tag Archives: sabbath