I Pine for a Tree

Why all the fuss about Christmas trees? Because of the Joy they bring to little children. ( and to big ones, too)

Because of the creativity and beauty they display.Because of the warm memories that they illicit.
And, if you're like me, because of the precious gifts from years past of my smiling 3, 4, 5 year olds in hand-made ornaments. But also, of the memories of special gifts of love, reminding me that so many more care and of so many more that I will always treasure and care about. Aunt Connie's hand knit Mr. and Mrs. Santa, the Peace Dove given to me by Carol Arsaga, in a gesture of love and support during a difficult time, the angels crafted by my dear high school buddy, Chris. And on and on.

And because it's one more venue in which I can show off my grandchildren!
Mine's not up yet. I miss it.

Great Giving Quotes

These are quotes from Dallas Willard, who quoted Erich Fromm. ( I also threw in quotes from my favorite, God!) We did a study on Renovation of the Heart and were privileged to have the Doctor come and talk with us afterwards.

So, in keeping with Christmas:

" Giving is more joyous than receiving, not because it is a deprivation, but because in the act of giving lies the expression of my aliveness." Eric Fromm.

God is a giver, from the get-go. He gave creation, life, and His Life for us. "For God so love the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son..."John 3:16

Jesus said , "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. " Luke 12:32

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom. 8:32

And finally, from Dallas himself,

"It is the love of God, admiration and confidence in His greatness and goodness, and the regular experience of His care that free us from the burden of 'looking out for ourselves.'

He goes on to say that, "Self denial in Matthew 6:24 and elsewhere, is always the surrender of a LESSER, dying self for a GREATER, eternal one; the person God intended in creating you.

Confidence in this is the occasion of great rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

Jesus does not deny us personal fulfillment, but shows us the only true way to it."

P. 62 in Renovation of the Heart.

Enjoy Christ in Christmas this season. GIVE!

Quote of the Day (or week)

Frederich Buechner put it like this:

‘The child born in the night among beasts. The sweet breath and steaming dung of beasts. And nothing is ever the same again. ... Nothing is ever the same again for those who believe in God, and nothing is ever the same for those who do not believe in God either.’ [The Hungering Dark.]

Be blessed this Advent. EMBRACE GRACE.

The Problem with the Baby

There was a scene in a movie where Will Farrell prays at meal time to Little Baby Jesus. Will ardently opposes calling Him anything but that. It made me laugh, but in the Christmas season, it began to feel, well, almost sacrilegious. Not that I can't joke around. But something about the lack of awe for God becoming Flesh and dwelling among us can get lost at Christmas. Not just in the world, but in me.

I just received a little Advent devotional and it gave me the words for my discomfort.

It's also my new quote, as Fr. Rohr. nailed it so well!

"Jesus identified his own message with what he called the "reign of God" or the "kingdom of God," whereas we had often settled for the sweet coming of a baby who asked little of us in terms of surrender, encounter, mutuality, or anything of the study of Scriptures....

.Sentimentality, Defined as trumped-up emotions, can be an avoiding of and a substitute for an actual relationship.... We... must admit that there is a constant temptation ..to avoid the lectionary and Word of God for private and pious devotions that have little power to actually change us or call our ego assumptions into question. The Word of God, however, confronts, converts and consoles us- in that order.

The suffering, injustice, and devastation on this planet are too great now to settle for any infantile gospel or any infantile Jesus.

'Jesus is Lord!' of all creation! .... It is to this adult and cosmic Christ that we are saying, "Come, Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20 ...

This makes our entire lives, and the life of the church, one huge 'advent.'..

Remember, Advent is always-until the end of days."

from Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr. ( Go, Franciscans! )

Did I ever tell you about the time? or: MY Very Way-cool Bro!

So my family and I are out camping at Ice House- this beautiful forested lake with no house in sight. My very way- cool bro, Joe is cooking up a storm for some 25 or so family members with his very way-cool special- built- for- him -barbecue. (He's the one in the very way- cool hat and chef's apron- no shirt of course. What do ya want, it's hot out!)

By the way, he's here talking to my little way-adorable granddaughter, Selah Paix. But I digress. ( Love that phrase, try to slip it in whenever I can. But I double-digress! HA!)

SO, we're all out visiting and having a good time, when BANG, down comes this BIG ole'pine
cone making a thud and raising a small cloud of dust! We jump, look around, see it, and go on visiting. Then WHOP- down comes another! People start looking up at the really tall tree above us. THUD! Down comes another. And another. And, you guessed it- another. As one lands near someone, at great velocity as it's coming from a very high place and is on the heavy side, family members start moving chairs and calling out warnings.

Pretty soon small children are being whisked away to safer places, like inside of vans. Now, at this point my memory of the sequence of events blurs, as I'm sure most people who've been in a siege of some sort experience. (take THAT for my best excuse yet, you memory-police.) But I remember people calling out from far corners of the campsite things like,

"It's a squirrel."

"Look, he's on the other side,"

"Watch out, he's on the far branch!"

"Another one's coming- dive for cover!"

We even had sentry posted on a high rock, although it was soon determined by said sentry's parents to not be a safe lookout after all!

And then it happened. (flash back to old Sea Hunt series-for those of you who are old enough. I remember the early stuff, memory-police)

And then we saw it! My baby sister, Marlene, was hit. The squirrely shot was fired and her cry was heard. On the back of the head, and being quite a large cone, thankfully not in a crucial spot. Enough of a graze, however to leave her dizzy and disoriented, bleeding and needing pieces of cone to be removed.

Folks came running to check on her, all gathering under the tarp serving as a patio cover- the one in the first photo with Brother Joe. All seeming to forget that Attack Squirrel was still gunning for the Fusano clan. I looked with concern at that canvas tarp and stepped back to see the whereabouts of our enemy's next target. Found the little varmint, (and he was a very little one) near the end of a branch, working on loosing another bomb- cone. Followed the branch down from said branch to the spot that it would land, and sure enough, it was over our little crowd under their canvas roof! A suicide bomber couldn't have planned it better!

"Everybody get out of there, it's gonna land where you're standing!" I yelled. To no avail. They seemed lured into the false security of that cover. But I overcame my usual quiet nature, and persisted until they did all clear. And to the relief of my reputation, but the unfortunate destruction of Joe and Jen's RV patio cover, down it came. Ripped through the cover, and thankfully, found no more victims.

Now you may think this great story ends here. But no. We're now to my favorite part!

While everyone stared in disbelief up at the brazen little fuzzy creature, another sharp, loud, echoing BANG sounded, causing all of us citified (is that a word? If not, can it be?) parts of the clan to jump! A very way-cool, protective and tough old younger brother- who shall not be now named, had pulled out his gun- yes gun- like the wild, wild west- and let 'er rip! It echoed through the chilly quiet of that beautiful forested mountain lake. "That squirrel ain't gonna hit my sister and get away with it!"

With that, another BANG! I looked over and there he was, bracing that pistol between his two hands, out and up toward that rascally varmint.

I think he would've kept going, if it weren't for all us squeamish city folk. Or maybe the little terrorist got away. I don't know, you'd have to ask him. Very way-cool brother, who cannot be named!

Enemy's camp.
Pile of missiles gathered after attack.

Grace and Truth

My quote for today is from one of my very favorite theologians, one who doesn't just talk it, he walks it!

Andy Cominsky said this about those who want to throw out moral values in the name of love:

Holy love is transformational; God inspires the sinner to fulfill the moral law by persuading him/her that His love is better than one's old life. Jesus manifested that love in the vast amounts of energy He spent drawing the immoral to Himself. He offered Himself as the target for their turning; in His very being, He fulfilled the Law and the deep longing of wayward hearts.

Robert Gagnon says it best in his masterpiece The Bible and Homosexual Practice: 'Jesus balanced the Father's ethical demands with God's self-sacrificing outreach to transform sinners - His ministry proves that the Church can practice radical love without sacrificing God's demand for righteous conduct.'

Okay, so there's a quote within a quote there. You get 2 for the price of one. But I find both to be priceless.

Mom, Sarah and Me

Here's the 3 generations again, featuring Sarah.

We love R'chuthers!

Food for thought

I got inspired by my son-in-law, Josh's quotes. There are some that really grab me, and I'm going try to start sharing them.

Tonights zinger (for me, at least) was this:

Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.

It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evening, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything. -- Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

God is love, and in His kingdom is peace and joy. I want to live there. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on eerth, in my heart, O Lover of my soul!

You look like your mother!

As we took these shots, someone told Rosie how much she looked like me. She said that she didn't used to be told that as much.




But after she gained some weight, she heard that a lot! Ummm, thanks, Rosie. Mom loved it!

On Ground Zero.

I have some thoughts, but haven't really solidified them. So, I'm just going to go there. This is the thing. In thinking about them building a Mosque where the Twin Towers left a space, a scienctific principle came to mind. If a space is left void, it will get filled with something. If we are upset with what is filling ground zero, then maybe we can look at this as an object lesson.
What kinds of voids do I have in my life, and what's filling them? Booze, TV, food, overuse of Internet stuff? Even work can be a mosque, a kind of worship to another god, rather than the one who died and rose for you, and who gave His Holy Spirit, so that we might be filled with Him.

Ephesians 5: 18 " And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit."
V. 19 "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."
V. 20" giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
How could I not KNOW that verse, eh? (see title of this blog- my mom says I have to tell people when I'm joking)
My old Pastor, Jack Hayford taught that wine could mean the wines of the world, ie. becoming intoxicated with a woman's love.
There are many counterfiets, but only one Holy Spirit. And He loves to fill us. Especially those holes left by the devastations of life.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He who beiieves in Me, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." Be filled, wait under His fountain and be filled with that which alone can satisfy!

Poppy with great grandkids

Sarah, the kids, and I went to see Poppy Paulson, her grandpa and their Great grandpa.

It was great to see him and Aunt Cookie. (She was too shy to pose :<)

They loved seeing him, but Jack was the funniest. He was delighted to find this Poppy of his. He kept hugging him and smiling at him. He talked about him for days and the kids prayed for him each night.

Jack later told Selah, "I have a Poppa. His name is Poppy!"

WE love you Dad- it was great to see you!

Bobsledding in Jamacia, Mon!

I've decided to post some more of this year's pictures in part because Sarah's out of commission!
I will start with my January trip. Earlier this year I posted pics of the Panama Canal. These are from the same trip.

This was one of the most fun things I did on my trip in January. It wasn't the fastest roller coaster ever, but it was fast. And it was long and it was beautiful!

The whole idea that we were on these rickety wooden stilts on the side of a mountain where the safety regulators in the good ole' USA don't have access also provided a bit of a risk factor. Which, for some reason, added to the thrill of it for me.

Choose Joy

I got this in my e-mails today, from an old friend.

It struck me with it's truth and simplicity.

Here it is:

DAILY VERSE Be joyful always. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 DAILY QUOTE I choose joy. I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical, the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God. Max Lucado DAILY THOUGHT What will your attitude be today? Positive or negative? Dissatisfied or grateful? Optimistic or cynical? Unhappy or joyful? All good gifts come from God, including joy. But God still invites us to participate in receiving His gifts and blessings through our own free will. We can't save ourselves, but we must say yes to salvation. We can't walk worthy of His calling on our own, but we can say yes to His strength through simple obedience. And we can't force ourselves to be joyful. But we can say yes to God's kind and delightful offering by saying yes through our attitudes. Have you chosen joy for your life? For today? Heavenly Father, I say yes to You and Your gift of joy today. Amen.

He answers prayers.

I love that God answers prayers. Even the little ones.

Yes, you could argue that He sometimes says wait and other times no.

But He hears. He sees. He understands our struggles and He really, really cares.

And even in the apparent "no's", He's working in the dark, to bring something of value in us.

And He woos us. He calls on us to ask, that we might receive. He tells us to call on Him and He will show us great and awesome things that we can't even fathom.

This week it's been the little things. Like the grace to get everything done at work, PLUS make an award for each child in my class. I prayed for help, and a 3rd grade teacher walked in after school, asked how it was going, and sent 4 great little workers who helped me for a few hours this afternoon. And the prayer for my backyard sprinklers to work, and having my brother from Northern CA show up and adjust some wires.

Little prayers, unexpected answers, are like a love letter from God. The whiff of the jasmine flower from my bush, and feeling so grateful for what He's given.

And big ones. Like the upholding of the rightness of a union of father and mother for the good of children. So important and so little understood. Yes, He loves everybody. But no, not everything we want to do is good for us.

May we never cease to pray.

Insomnia

Can't sleep. It's 1:45 and I can't sleep. Got a great Jacky story on my other site- Nanny's little blessings. But still can't sleep.

I tried to grade papers, but was falling asleep on them. So I went to bed, and ended up awake.

This goes on and on. Read until book's falling out of my hands, then put it down to sleep and find myself awake 1/2 hour later.

I call it, "can't sleep syndrome." Aren't I creative? Ya don't have to answer that.

The worst part is that the next day I'm dragging.

THIS TOO WILL PASS. I'm remembering the title of my site, and have challenged myself on seeing the bright side. I have a computer on which I can see my grand kids and read about family.

I have a house in which I can putter in the middle of the night.

I am not in any mentionable pain.

And most importantly, this too will pass.

Maybe this is a time to redeem by praying for someone. A couple of names come to mind.

Sorry this is so trite. Maybe I can bore myself to sleep with my own post.

This too, will pass!

Night, all!

From Passivity to Passion

My pastor recently did an excellent sermon on moving from Passivity to Passion. It was based in Phil 4, but, ( as usual), is chock full of connecting scriptural references, which I won't go into. (If you want his messages, you can go to the Reseda Valley Vineyard's website- good stuff.)

But one thing that stuck with me was his talking about how, as a new believer, he wanted the Word so badly that he would read it and not even eat breakfast until he'd done his readings.

And how much he grew in the Word. But he talked about how, after some time, it can become less of a passion and we can lose our focus. It can go from that to reading the Word AND eating breakfast, then to reading the Word while checking e-mails AND eating breakfast, and so on.

I sadly related. I have been losing my focus.

Which leads me to Andrew Murray. He is so amazing, but I have been trying to read this powerful little devotional called "Abiding in Christ,"f or months, yet losing focus.

This morning, I didn't. This morning I told myself that I didn't need to put away that stuff, or check anything, or move off the couch for more coffee until I'd read my Andrew Murray and prayed about it. And it turned out to be a very blessed time.

Very direct and powerful scriptures about how God is establishing me. How it is His work. He began it and He will complete it. How he loves to do it, and to do it forever. And it's ours to trust and surrender.

I found myself consciously singing the words to the worship songs in the car. Meaningfully.

And I found myself having a much better day.

Rosie wrote about the interest and power of quotes. I've been pondering that, thinking about quotes that I like.

This one's from Bill's sermon quoting Jonathan Edwards. "Posture your life so that you may be easily enticed by the beauty of Christ."

and Bill's action plan,

"Decide to live a life of 'planned neglect.' Determine to do the most important things whenever possible."

Giving thanks and Selah's birthday!

Enough woes on my blog dedicated (loosely) to giving thanks! There is always a reason to give thanks. Right now I sit in my S. Cal living room with the front door and window open at almost 8 PM and it feels so good. A light breeze and a lovely serenade by the birds next door. The guy sort of has an aviary going on. I love it!

Yes, I have to do some more work tonight. I can't seem to get caught up on it this year. But

I have a job! No, really, in this day, that's big! A home.

But the biggest thing tonight is the birthday of my beautiful granddaughter . Selah!

Selah is such an exuberant, creative, thoughtful, and PASSIONATE child!

How that looks at 2 is all over the place. And invigorating. I just love to hear her talk. On Mother's day, one of her imaginary friends had gone to school. The other one didn't because she needed a break, as she'd already gone 3 times that day. Their names elude me now, but are very creative.

And I'm happy to know that one of her goldfish is still named "Ha-ha!"

Selah! She loves her mommy's hair! She loves to go outside. She loves life!

And I love her!

I am so grateful that I got to be with her and the rest of the family this weekend.

I was going to post more...or the woes of E-Harmony.

First of all, I guess I don't have much pride- announcing to the whole cyberspace world that I have tried E-Harmony- again!

I would like to rename it- How to get rejected twice a day for 2 months in 5-7 different ways.

They have had these pre-programmed responses as to why a "match" would close on you.

My favorite reject is from guys who have never even communicated with me, but to say ,"the chemistry isn't there." WHATEVER! Does that mean my pictures turn them off? How do you know if there's chemistry if you've never met?

Then there's, " you live too far away." This is bogus because we put in the range of distance we are interested in when we set up our profile info.

Or, how 'bout, "I am now seeing someone else." Could actually be valid....

Or, I have to paraphrase here, but the one that says something to the effect that, 'based on your profile, I'm not interested." Okay, can't argue there.

Then there's the nebulous "Other." That's it. Just, "other."

I think the one I respect the most, and am even complimented by at times, is ,"Our difference in values are too great." This is because I really put my faith out on my profile, and the importance of putting Jesus first.

You have to be very thick skinned to handle those places.

Why am I posting this? Because, a major reason I haven't been posting is the monster called E-Harmony. Maybe I could call it Out- of-Balance -omony. or Dis-harmony. How bout Reject- armony.

(Is this reminding anyone in the family of St. Gray Squirrel???)

So to end this, I am posting some of the pictures that I put on that other place, which I will now call, "Site-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named-Omony."

And I will remind myself and the world of THIS truth: "Seek you first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." ( forgot address, but Jesus said it!)

I labeled this one: Me from the back. Clever, eh? And I wonder why no ones interested!

Going through the Panama Canal

Running along each side were train tracks. Our ship was attached to 4 of these engines on each side with cables. They slowly pulled us through as we entered each section of the canal and watched the water pour in from the section ahead of it. Then, when the water level was even with the next section, the gate would open.



See the double gates. Our very heavily accented guide who was on the ship's speaker divulging information that most of us couldn't decipher, due to the accent and lousy speakers, said something very clear on this note. It was something like this, "The two gates are there for SAFETY. They are there for the purpose to keep you SAFE."

Oh, the things you can learn!

A view from Central America

I felt a need to post a few pictures as I actually have a ton and have done nothing with them. Life has felt like a whirlwind of activity for the last year, and not much let up in sight. Everyone says I am too busy. Maybe I am, if the Cruise I took in the beginning of the year is just now making it's debut.
Enough of my dribble. The photo of me is overlooking the lush lands and lake on the passageway between canals in Panama. it was really remarkable. I hope to get up the photos of the Canal crossing in our 14 story ship. It was a very tight squeeze.
The ruins were an old convent/ seminary kind of place in Antigua, Guatemala. It was fascinating to me. There really are underground passageways from one church, convent, seminary, to another. Antigua was once the center of training for Priests, Monks, and Nuns in the Americas. They sent out many missionaries.

Fellowship with Butternut Squash soup!

Thanks to Rosie for teaching me how to make her amazing butternut squash soup! It was great and my company raved about it. (All except the couple that didn't eat it...)
But It was so good that John Klein, an avid cook, had to have the recipe! I had to have 3rds. I am so grateful.
And again I found myself surprised and blessed by just the right people showing up to worship, share, eat, hear the Word and pray.
Tonight Juan San Martin, a dear friend and amazingly talented musician, brought his cajon ( a wooden box which serves as a kind of drum. I pulled out my rainstick, castinets, and an array of exotic other instruments that Rosie or myself has bought in various places around the world. I handed them out and we made a joyful noise with poor Juan, the professional trying to lead us in some kind of rhythm. It was fun! The Word that John felt he was to give was about being faithful. He had a ton of scriptures on it, but we didn't get through them all because he had this great idea for prayer. He'd put various scriptures on pieces of paper and placed them in a box. then he had the men draw one first, give it to a woman, and the women each took a man to pray that scripture into their lives. Then the women got one and the men prayed for them.

Mine was "And let us not be weary in well doing : for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.' Gal. 6:9
Last week's sermon, and before the sermon, the scripture that hit me was in Phil. 1. "He who began a good work wiill be faithful to complete it!
God is good!

New Year is way here

I just noticed that I haven't posted since last year- and this being Feb. and all. Well, first of all, I celebrated New Year's onboard a ship in the Carribean. Took a cruise that was great with a good friend and some family, through the Panama Canal. That is a fascinating feat, and amazing to see!
Then back to work and zip- a month went by.
Work has been, as for us all, well, work.
Highlights of the past month would be: seeing my grandkids- got to see them ALL today. Rosie went to Sarah's and I just got back from being there the weekend.
Tony Rini's birthday-big 50- at the bowling alley.
And hosting John and Michelle Klein for a Bible study, prayer night at my house. My talented and wonderfully helpful sister made pesto for it- and it was great!!!
I am trying to get back into posting groove. So I will attempt to do it again good. HOw's that for commitment?