monique

Woolgathering
2004-11-27 12:03:05 (UTC)

Simplicity is All

A quiet day at home today. I slept in late, fixed French
toast and bacon for breakfast which we had with some of the
leftover ambrosia, orange juice and coffee. I made turkey
noodle soup and bread and it was ready to eat for lunch. We
had hot turkey sandwiches for dinner. An easy day in the
kitchen for me today!

I spent part of the afternoon planning my Snowbound quilt
and appliquéd more stars and houses. I finished reading
Shoulder the Sky by Anne Perry, the second of a five novel
series about World War I and began reading Bad Boy Brawly
Brown by Walter Mosley. I was surprised to see the latter
will be the 140th book I've read this year, far more than my
average of about 100.

Again in the newspaper there are complaints about how
commercial Christmas has become but I've been hearing these
complaints for many, many years. Merchants are very intent
on keeping it commercial so I see no reason to try to change
it. I just ignore it. I seldom go into malls, I don't buy
expensive gifts and I concentrate on what Christmas is all
about.

This doesn't mean my life doesn't get a bit more hectic than
usual--I've just looked at my schedule for next week!--but I
make a very determined effort to take time out to pray and
think about Advent.

"The belief is that enough hope and tenderness will lead to
world peace,one mind at a time. All nations will come
together in kindness and justice, swords will be beaten into
plowshares, spears into pruning hooks. In Advent we wait;
and hope appears if we truly desire to see it. Maybe it's
in tiny little packets here and there, hidden in the dying
grasslike winter wildflowers, but we find it where we can,
and exactly as it comes to us, while the days grow dark. We
remind ourselves that you can only see the stars when it is
dark, and the darker it is, the brighter the light breaking
through. Advent is about the coming of Emmanuel, which means
"God with us," and so as the fields outside our windows go
to sleep, we stay awake and watch, holding to the belief
that God is with us, is close and present, and that we will
be healed. "
Anne Lamott




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