Category Archives: life

Strategies at the Job

Posted in Ireland, life by

This is the end of a marathon 3 weeks when 2 and sometimes 3 regular workers were gone from the store and bakery. I knew it was going to be a Big Job and tried to plan accordingly. I found a good book to read in spare minutes, which helped time go fast. And I asked God for nice customers.

In the 12 years of being at this store, I have never had a 3 wk stint when the customers were so super nice. The weather always makes a difference in making people happy and pleasant, but I know these good customers came because God answered my desperate prayer. The children were jolly and happy. The grown ups were polite and appreciative and smiley. They chatted and told stories and took time to let others go first. They were delightful and funny and happy. They made me laugh more than ever before.

Something I love about Irish people in general is that they are great story tellers, and can always chat about something. This used to annoy me, but no longer. I am fascinated and amazed at how they can talk and talk, and maybe it’s not about something profound or substantial, but they’re communicating more than we who are silent.

I would like to learn how they do it. What kind of thought processes it takes to be able to effortlessly talk forever about nothing in particular. Guess I’ll keep watching and listening.

A Bridge of Silence

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Being with people usually energizes me. Observing and interacting with people makes my world bigger and more exciting and I love it. I love people and communication.

Maybe it’s part of maturing, but as I become more self-aware, I’m learning that I need silent spaces that link between the intense, noisy, crowded, fun hubub of people. The bridge of silence gives me a place to regroup, assess where I’ve been, and where I’m going. It is, as a friend says, a time for my soul to catch up with my body.

The bridge of silence is an active place, not lethargic or lazy. But it is silent. And in a different way than the crowd, it energizes me again. Sometimes I have 20 min. on the bridge. Sometimes I have half a day to spend on it. Solitude and silence is a spiritual discipline that saints have practiced for centuries. I treat is as a luxury, but I might be more saintly if I kept it as a discipline.

These days, when seemingly endless lines of customers and chit chat fill my hours, I desperately need silent bridges to connect the days and keep me from falling off the peaks. Which is where I’m going now.

Silence and Solitude

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Let us be silent, so we may hear the voice of God.

Felt a soul-deep exhaustion most of the day. Since I didn’t have to go to work until 1:00, I used the morning as a bridge of silence between 2 chasms of noise and action. It was good to be quiet, to talk to God, to hear Him speak. Amazing, that the God whose voice thunders like the ocean also speaks in stillness.

The Tea Ritual…

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…tea is the beverage of the wealthy and of the poor; the tea ritual, therefore, has the extraordinary virtue of introducing into the absurdity of our lives an aperture of serene harmony. Yes, the world may aspire to vacuousness, lost souls mourn beauty, insignificance surrounds us. Then let us drink a cup of tea.   –Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

This evening

Posted in Family, life by

Tomorrow  morning, I plan to take an early bus to Dublin for an appointment, spend several hours in the city, then fly to London in the evening to see a friend who lives in Reading.

This evening I stopped at my parents’ house for something. As always, there was something around to eat. And did I have a Dublin map? No, but sure, it would be nice. Did I have a phone? No, but sure, it would be nice just in case.

So I hugged them good bye and left with my hands full, just like last night when I left there after mom gave me some of her glorious fragrant roses to take home.

Years ago, a little neighbor girl asked mom if I’m her girl because I’m not a little girl anymore. Mom said “She’ll always be my child; she’ll never be my adult, so yes, she’s my girl.” I’m loving having a place of my own, to be an adult in. I feel particularly rich because now I have two homes–my own and my parents’.  And I can be both child and adult and be ok.

My Exciting Days

Posted in life, music, Uncategorized by

Last night some of us went to hear Chanticleer at the Wexford Opera House. They gave their “Wondrous Free” program, and while they sang the first song, “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah” I marvelled at how their voices blended in the unison of the Appalachian melody. The recorded sound never has the life and depth and breadth of the live performance. I loved “Shenendoah” and “Hard Times.”  It was an amazing, delightful evening. My ideal job would be to sing for a living like they do. Meanwhile, I sing while I work.

Then today another load of us went to Cork to see and tour Logos Hope, the ship that goes around the world with books and workers to partner with local churches. We spent a long time in the book room, finding treasures.

This is what I came home with:Radical Womanhood, McCauley; Longing for More, Barton; Cross-Cultural Connections, Elmer; The Soul Tells a Story, Wright; The NLT One Year Bible, and a world map from Logos because every house needs a world map.

We toured the big ship and asked questions and were awed with the huge operation. Nearly 400 staff live on the ship, some for years, and some short term, and they come from 40 countries. A family left today, going back to England after having lived on the ship for 10 years. No wonder they cried.

The staff need to raise their own support and can’t jet home whenever a cousin or sister gets married back home. Some haven’t seen their family for several years. It was exciting to see God’s people willing to pay to be in ministry like this, being useful wherever they’re needed.

I’m rich to have experienced these exciting events in 2 days!

Pondering

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I heard myself asking, “Is love a virtue if it’s deserved?”

As if some deserve love and others don’t.

What a horrible thought.

Because everyone I meet deserves love. Not because of their own goodness or virtue but because of God’s image they carry, and Christ’s death out of love for them.

Love is not a virtue when the recipient is easy to love.  Love is a virtue when the person is difficult, awkward, unlovely. And they always deserve love.

The Housewarming

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I moved into a lovely big bright house with my friend over a month now, and the church wanted to have a house-warming for us, to bless us. We knew that there was talk about having the annual church barbecue soon, so we said we’ll host the barbecue, and it can be the house-warming. Tonight was the night and it was a lovely time.

We had loads of food, and the sun was bright, and as it set and the air turned cooler, people collected jackets and blankets or meandered inside.

There were over 50 people, and everyone seemingly had a good, happy time. I did, anyhow. It’s a pleasure to have space/place to share with people. This house is a huge gift from God, and I don’t want to horde it. It is scary, though, how old-maidish I can be when there are little people in this adult house where there is nothing child-proof…!

There were 6 visting Germans, and they sang some songs for us, then we sang “Gott Ist De Liebe” together. I felt so rich, surrounded with my church family, outside under the sky. God loves me incredibly well.

Book Feedback

Posted in life, My Book by

This is still the best stage of writing a book–being 18 months past the first copy hitting the shelves.  I’m honored and humbled with the feedback I’m getting. I try hard to answer every email, but it’s more difficult to answer letters in the post, even though those feel more special.

Yesterday’s letter had a most wise observation: In your book it sounds like you have life all figured out…but I’m sure you must still discipline yourself to live it abundantly.

She is so right. I have a lot of experience in some things, but am still very much a student, not an expert. So to anyone out there who gathered from the book that I have life all wrapped up, this is the truth: I don’t.

Where is Home?

Posted in Ireland, life by

Thirteen years ago this eve. we were at friends’ house for dinner–friends I’d never met before. They live beside the sea, and were ever so gracious, and afterwards all of us went to their upstairs room for prayer meeting, and I cried during the prayer.

It was my first day in Ireland, and everything was green and moist and foreign. Now it’s 13 years later, and this is home.

I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived at any other place, so maybe that’s why it feels like home. But I’m still a foreigner. As soon as I say a word, my accent gives me away, and people know I wasn’t born in Waterford but am a ‘blow-in.’ And when I go back to the US, it’s always most enjoyable and happy, but I feel like a foreigner there too. I forget the American terms for ‘tar macadam’ and ‘foot path.’ And when I want to drive somewhere, I tend to head toward the wrong side of the car.

So I really am not home yet. Because next week I plan to move into another house, but even that won’t be Home, Home.

Even after 13 yrs in Ireland, I’m Homesick tonight.