Christmas Eve 2011

     I will be in a church this evening that traditionally has someone sing O Holy Night. I will consider this devotion by Fr. Richard Rohr when I listen. May you also know and feel your worth this Christmas Eve and for all of your life! 

 THE FEAST BEGINS
Saturday, December 24
     Christmas Eve  In 1847, a parish priest in France asked a simple wine merchant in his church if he would compose a poem for the Christmas Mass. He wrote the words to the music that became O Holy Night and will be sung with great solemnity and emotion in many halls and churches throughout the world tonight. It deserves to be.
      I offer this song because of one truly inspired line. It says that when God came among us in the shape and form of Jesus, suddenly "the soul felt its worth!" Yes, that is it! We cannot mirror ourselves; we all must be mirrored by another. When God mirrored us through the entrance, invitation, and eyes of Jesus, the certainty of our redemption was once and for all given and accomplished. In Franciscan eyes, we needed no further blood sacrifice to reveal God's intentions toward us. We were already saved by the gaze from the manger.      
     The poet goes on to sing further of "a thrill of hope" and a "new and glorious morn." Again, well said, as poets and musicians so often do! I am sure much of the conscious or unconscious sentiment of this feast is that tonight and tomorrow, on some wonderful level, the soul finally and forever does feel its worth!

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our Friend!
He knows our need—to our weakness is no stranger.
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name! Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

SoulCollage® - The Crone

This is my "Crone" card.

As a newly trained certified SoulCollage® Facilitator, I have a renewed passion for sharing SoulCollage® with other women. I've been offering "Collage from the Soul" retreats based on Seena Frost's intuitive process found in her book SoulCollage® for several years. Now I have the honor of leading events and actually using the SoulCollage® name! Since I completed the training, I've been blessed to lead two retreats, sharing this fun, intuitive and thought-provoking process with others.

SoulCollage® is a process of searching through images (mostly found in magazines) and putting them together in a way that creates a new "picture," a collage, representing some part of the collager's life - internally and externally. At the retreat offered by the church where I serve, a 76 year old participant said, "Billie, if I hadn't been responsible for cooking breakfast for the group today, I probably wouldn't have come. I didn't understand what SoulCollage® was about. I found it very meaningful now that I've experienced it and I'm so glad I came!" Another woman was pleased I allowed them hands-on experience, saying, "Too often I go to workshops and I'm told how to do different things, but I don't get to try them. Thank you for allowing us to actually do this process!"

      My Crone card speaks to me, saying, "I am one who is wise in years and experience. I am one who draws on the moon and the owl for wisdom and clarity. I am one who lives with the darkness and with the light, comfortable in the knowing and in the mystery of life."

The Cricket

     Walking between the Bunkhouse and the Main House, I look down to see this humongous grasshopper at my feet. My thought: "Hope that doesn't jump on my pant leg!" 
     Going into the office, I sit down at my computer and a few moments later hear hear this clicking noise to my right. In the windowsill next to me there's this gigantic hopper jumping up and down against the window. 
     "Oh, drat! It did jump on my pant leg! What do I do now?! It's too big to hit with a shoe, " I thought, thinking of the potential messy mess. 
     From the kitchen I retrieve a trusty Glad container, lid and all to catch the menace. I put the container over the grasshopper which caused it to jump up and down - hard. It was BIG and strong! I could feel it hitting against the bottom of the upside down container! 
     "If I slide the plastic container to the edge of the window sill so I can slide the not-flat-lid under it to contain the grasshopper, it might get away. Looking around my office I spy an old Kansas license tag I kept - the first one ever I bought all by myself. I grab it, lift the container slightly to slip the car tag under the container. I move it gently so as not to harm the hopper. I need him to jump on to the license plate - and he does! WooHoo!   
     I set the container firmly on the license tag and quickly march to the front door to toss the rascal out into the front yard. He (notice I'm calling it a "he" for surely a"she" would have left me alone!) looks a little stunned from all that throwing himself against the plastic Glad container. I turn to leave just as he gets up, shakes his head - the best a grasshopper can shake his head - and hops off.

Do Not "Should" on Yourself"

"We should notice that we are already supported at every moment. There is the earth below our feet and there is the air, filling our lungs and emptying them. We should begin from this when we need support.      ~ Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones

     This quote came in my inbox this morning. "Great quote," I thought. Then I looked again. I've learned from the Nonviolent Communication folks that "should" is one of the most violent words in the English language. When we "should" on ourselves, we create little more than guilt. When we "should" on others, we create judgment and lack of acceptance.
     For many years I had a sign that read "I will not should on myself today" hanging on my fridge as a reminder to be gentle to myself - and others. With apologies to Ms. Goldberg, I rewrite her statement to read: "We can notice that we are already supported at every moment. There is the earth below our feet and there is the air, filling our lungs and emptying them. We can begin from this when we need support." 
    
     Do you need a note on your fridge that says "I will not should on myself today?"

"What I want in my life is compassion, a flow between myself and others based on a mutual giving from the heart."   ~ Marshall B. Rosenberg in Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion