lilly's pad

living in abundance

I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of abundance. We don’t hear much about that. Not with gas prices sky rocketing and riots in somolia because of lack of food.

Today’s henri nouwen daily meditation
The Temptation to Hoard

As fearful people we are inclined to develop a mind-set that makes us say: "There's not enough food for everyone, so I better be sure I save enough for myself in case of emergency," or "There's not enough knowledge for everyone to enjoy; so I'd better keep my knowledge to myself, so no one else will use it" or "There's not enough love to give to everybody, so I'd better keep my friends for myself to prevent others from taking them away from me." This is a scarcity mentality. It involves hoarding whatever we have, fearful that we won't have enough to survive. The tragedy, however, is that what you cling to ends up rotting in your hands.

This quote reminds me of the children of Israel gathering manna each day. They were only to gather what they needed…not more. And if they kept it over night (except for the Sabbath day) it would rot and gather maggots!
God wanted them to get that he was their provider and he would provide enough! They didn’t’ have to hoard or be afraid.
When we live in the ln the land of NOT ENOUGH we live in fear. We live in doubt. We live out selfishness. We are not willing to be generous with our time, our resources or our possessions. We ask a lot of ‘what if” questions. I know someone who has an entire closet filled with new shirts (still with the tags on them) because he might need them someday. He is afraid there won’t be enough or he won’t have enough to get what he wants or thinks he needs. He is lonely and lives afraid even though his bank account is filled and overflowing!
In God’s economy there is always enough and not just an enough, there is an abundance. He fills our nets with so many fish that we need help and an extra boat. He fills our stomachs with so much fish and bread that there are twelve baskets left over.
Rob and I are talking a lot about how we want to live in the land of abundance not the land of not enough.
We want to see the abundance of God not live in fear of what  if  or maybe later.

While we were in san Francisco last month we ate at cafe gratitude.  It was the first all raw all vegan restaurant I’ve been to. It was amazing. Not just the great food but the vibe, the flavor of the restaurant. It’s about being thankful. It’s about living in gratitude, living in "the land of abundance" not " the land of not enough." Even the names of the dishes are “I AM” statements. “I am renewed” “I am refreshed”
It was church for me.
And while this wasn’t a jesus centered place, jesus was very much present because living for jesus is about living gratefully. Living in abundance.
This doesn’t mean “name it and claim it” win the lottery, god give me a Mercedes kind of stuff (crap)
No this means living with an open hand, able to receive the things God has for us.
It means getting rid of the stuff that crowds our lives and the stuff that weighs us down and the stuff that we hold so tightly too that means nothing in all eternity.
For me, living in abundance, living in gratitude is extremely hard. It doesn’t come naturally or easily. I grew up and was trained well to believe in “the land of not enough” and “be much afraid.”
Like in alanon, I must take one hour at a time to practice living in gratitude. Being thankful for all the gifts along the way.
That’s pilgrim living..seeing each person from the crying baby in the store or on the plane, to the older person going really slow in your lane as gifts from God for you.
Seeing the absence  of things as gifts too.
Seeing the need to simplify as a great opportunity to be set free so I can bless others.
To hold things loosely rather than hold on to them for dear life.

As a follower of Jesus who’s walked in his dirt and dust along while, it’s about time that I learned (and actually believed)that he’ll have breakfast ready on the beach even when I haven’t caught anything all night!

greetings from denver!

having a great time at the "emerging church for the existing church" gathering here in denver this week. tony jones, doug pagitt, karen sloan and i are teaching and we're curating/hosting a worship gathering tonight.

if you're in the denver area, come on out to highland ranch, st. luke's united methodist at 7. our focus tonight will be "you're invited to the table" ...since emergent is about friendships we're
looking at the conversations around the table...the prayer he had along the way.
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journey to the cross, etc.

getting ready for two experiential worship gatherings that begin next week.
first, next tuesday-friday i'll be hosting/creating a prayer experience called journey to the cross at my friend wes's new community in northern kentucky
crossway community is located in taylor mill, KY and it's just a jaunt over the "moat" of the ohio river for me.
the journey to the cross takes us through the events of the last week of christ's life. starting with palm sunday and going through the crucifixion, with the hope of resurrection as the final station. it is an interactive and multi-sensory prayer experience for folks of all ages and places on their spiritual journey.
second, vineyard central is hosting via crucis. an artistic and interactive stations of the cross that takes place every two years. it is a creative collaboration of various artists, church communities and individuals who believe in re-imagining the stations of the cross for a new audience.  via crucis kicks off on sunday night and is open all day each day of holy week.
so i'm busy gathering supplies, and packing the van and still trying to figure out what might inspire for station 12 : )
so if you're in the cincy area and need/want some inspiration as you make your way towards easter, drop on by.
email me if you'd like more info on either of these.

hi, my name is lilly and i'm a bookaholic

along with being addicted to tv, i have a book problem. i love books and bookstores. i really have to control myself or our entire house would be overrun. a great date for me and rob is to hang out at our local borders (it's closer than barnes and noble, but we go there too) usually i have at least two books going at a time, but last year for some reason, i don't think i finished a single book. i may have read one while at gethesemani in january, but after that i really didn't read much at all. bits and pieces but not the absorptive "hey you've got to read this enthusiasm" that i generally live in. 

today i woke up with a bad ear ache so i took some advil,  blew off my homework and my to do list and finished anne rice's Christ the Lord...the road to cana (just out) in a day. i really liked it. not as life changing as book one of this series but powerful and insightful none the less.

i told a friend i was reading anne rice and she thought i must have lost my way..."you are reading about vampires!?" well no i said. anne rice is now a follower of jesus and returned to faith through researching the life of jesus. she tells her story  in the back of Christ the Lord: out of egypt.  i love that she places jesus in the midst of community, in the midst of  a large active jewish family. he is real and is dealing with real life issues, hurts, temptations, etc. i loved what she does with the temptation in the wilderness! i will acknowledge that there are some things that some people will really hate, but you have to remember that this is a novel not a theological treatise. it is based on scripture and tradition and loads of historic research. anne rice makes me want to know jesus more and more deeply. considering  this is my third book of the year, looks like this is going to be the year of reading.

btw...

January's read: since i was writing a book, i didn't have much time for reading so another read in a day (actually 2 days) Rhett Butler's People it was my birthday present. an amazing re-telling of gone with the wind from rhett's perspective. if your a GWTW fan you'll love it. much much better than the novel scarlet.

february's read: Soul Graffiti my friend mark scandrette's great story of living out the kingdom. i'd had a chance to read the manuscript before publishing but the final book is even better. at the end of each chapter he has good questions to ponder and actions to take on your own and/or with a group. rob and i are going out to hang with mark and lisa and the re-imagine, and seven communities in april! cannot wait!

books by the bed...tony jones: The New Christians already started! and barak obama's dreams from my father

fifth sunday of lent

today, i need a kick start.
it's two weeks til easter.

this has been an interesting lenten season for me. starting out
with a bang at the abbey of gethsemani, getting ashes with the monks
a real honor and joy. and coming back to reality with high hopes of keeping the rhythm going in my daily life.

well as we all know "life happens" and my lenten plans have been a pretty much a bust this year. about my only lenten practice has been to remember to pray for cleansing for myself as i clean out my dryer lint each time i do laundry (see last year)

i'm not "religious" about lent...it's not something i have to do or practice in order to be  OK, but i do like to take the time to prepare my heart for easter and i really do believe that the seasons of the church year help us stay tuned to life in Jesus and help us remember the story and our part in it.

perhaps it's the earliness of the season this year...we just celebrated christmas and epiphany and then hit lent in early feb. (feb 6 to be exact) and in ohio, february has been filled with snow and cold and dark rainy days with just a touch of spring right before our largest snow of the year this weekend.

perhaps it's the fact that i'm a televison aholic and giving up tv just didn't happen due to the election and basketball season....
perhaps it's because i would much rather be hanging out with people than de-cluttering my house that this lenten practice didn't get much traction...or at least not what i'd hoped.

despite being a glass half full person, sometimes it is so much easier to see the glass as half full...
one friend i know, who is new to any type of lenten practice, gave up complaining for lent! WOW!
now when his friends who have given things up for lent(perhaps out of tradition rather than heart change)
are whining and moaning about lack of caffeine or chocolate, he's reminded not to complain : )

so  i need a kick start
or a kick in the pants or the head
i need to be reminded of the grace that is freely given to me by my loving jesus

anne lamont's  book grace(eventually)  is great for this.
and i have a coupon so i can head back to borders today to pick up
anne rice's newest release christ the lord: the road to cana
this is the second in her christ series and the first one helped me fall in love with jesus all over again! this takes jesus from age 30 to the miracle at cana, the water to wine moment!

my kick start for the day began with an email from st. elizabeth's in new york.
they have put together a beautiful lenten reflection you can do on your computer and they'll email it to you each week. i found this on the sacred space web site.

so if you need a little help getting into lent, try this today!

and go out and take a walk and look for the wonders of new life...either in a beautiful snow bank, a chirping cardinal, or a green stem of bulb attempting to break through the dead leaves of winter.

and btw..no guilt if you've never ever even considered lent...once upon a time lent wasn't 40 days, it was only the week before easter, so you've got loads of time if you want to give it a go this year : )

it's a great day to be a tarheel!

today it is great to be a UNC fan! the tarheels beat our arch rivals the dook blue devils on their home turf. 76-68!

if you're not a college basketball fan or if you've somehow missed this amazing long lived rivalry, then i need to tell you that this is the kind of game that students camp out for ...at dook, they put up tents in december outside cameron indoor stadium and have someone wait in line for the tickets that will be given out in march!

This is the kind of game that will have carolina students painting themselves blue on franklin street (the main street off campus in chapel hill) and talking about for years to come.
you always remember who you were with when you won! because being a carolina student/grad/alum is all about the people and the experience together.
there is a good article about this on the carolina sports website

if you watched the game on espn, you may have noticed the round black patches on the carolina uniforms with EVE on them. eve carson was the student body president of UNC who was randomly killed this week in yet another senseless campus shooting. this one looks like a robbery, but a tragedy none the less. as a carolina alum, it saddens me when we lose but it sickens me when tragedy strikes someone so young, someone who brought people together in the true spirit of carolina. eve was a huge basketball fan and a personal friend to some on the team.

there has been so much campus violence of late that i not so sarcastically joked that mac might need a bullet proof vest as a part of his off to college wardrobe in the fall. as he grandmother was worrying about campus safety this week, i reminded her (and myself) that it is an opportunity to pray for our high schools and college students and their campuses and faculty. for safety, wholeness, healing and reconciliation.

today i am proud to be a tarheel in more ways than one.
and i'm totally looking forward to march madness even as i'm praying for my carolina family and eve's family for their loss.

spring yet?

yesterday was a breath of spring...i took the christmas greenery out of my planter on the porch and replaced them with some large easter eggs. and put the valentines and got out the shamrocks inside. while walking the dog i noticed that the   bulbs are half way up and i even saw some crocus ready to bloom!
but this is ohio!
wait five minutes and the sunshine and warmer weather will change...and not just change! how about a blizzard warning!
yep...snow began at my house at 8am and it's been snowing all day.
we're expecting at least a foot by tomorrow. everything is shut down and canceled so it' s good time to catch up on movies and paperwork and laundry : )
hope it's warm and cozy where you are! and if it's 70 and sunny where you live wave at the palm trees for me!!

apologizing for ohio

ok, i 've lived in  ohio for almost twelve years. that in itself is hard to  believe. it has taken me 10 years to say that i'm from ohio when someone asks . today i am saddened to live in ohio.  too many people believed the fear and not the hope.  after two weekends of canvassing my neighbors in support of obama i felt betrayed by my fellow statesmen/women.  the only bright spots were the fact that my county saw the light and voted for barack and the fact that the delgate count overall still favors mr. hope over mrs.who will answer the phone in the middle of the night. i was praying that all the candidates would get a mini vacation and an opportunity to get off the campaign treadmill for awhile. and if the truth be told, i certainly will miss the hope and humor or mike huckabee and the smarts of ron paul.

mondays matter

so last monday i stood in line, freezing my tail off with 12,000 other barack obama supporters.
today, i got to meet one of my favorite authors, anne lamont. not bad for back to back mondays....

oscar night

ok, my weekend is now officially great! ONCE won for best original song! if you haven't seen the movie...go rent it today! joel stein is also blogging live from the oscars right off stage. more fun than just watching alone.
and juno just won for best original screen play! so glad the art films are doing well this year.i love it when people win who were not expecting to...that is the most fun!

and tomorrow barak obama's in town so an exciting week begins.