SOUL CrossTraining

I am undone by the beauty and promise of the people I am encountering in Rwanda.    I see creativity.    Off to the side of the dirt road there is a small boy smiling as her plays with a bicycle rim, rolling it down the slight incline. I see  necessity.    The branches within reach have been stripped from the tree trunk to to be used for a fire to cook their meal. I see stacks of mud bricks being formed and placed in the sun to dry.  I see sturdy tree branches and trunks being used as roof trusses.  It seems every thing God has provided is needed for provision and shelter. I see hope and expectancy

I love the inquisitive nature of a child.    Discovery -- seeking and finding seems to be built into our core.    From our very first days of life, we begin gathering information in an attempt to make sense of the world we inhabit.    We want to know how our world works.  We long to know what part we play.   Infants have their basic needs met through ongoing nurturing and nourishment.   These little ones are completely dependent on another person to provide everything they need.  Then, overtime as they grow and mature, they realize they have been designed to interact with and impact the world.   So it is... we have been created to be  agents in the world.   agent (noun) 1: one who acts or exerts power 2: something that produces or is capable of producing an effect thanks Merriam-Webster dictionary     Have you ever thought of yourself as an a...

This picture has so many memories attached to it. When they were little my mom was the first one in -- teaching all three of my kids to swim.   This day she battled to get in, so wanting this moment with us.  That's what we do... "hold on tight" to those we love!   My mother battled a degenerative brain disease for the past several years with great tenacity.  Although her particular disease was not clearly diagnosable it resided somewhere with Parkinson-ism and ALS.  As time passed we watched the lasting effects of her body and mind disconnecting.  Ultimately losing all physical capacity.  In and out of specialists office we began to learn a new language. These terms always seemed to fall short of describing the reality of what my mother was experiencing.  It's not that the healthcare system failed us. We watched the realities of a degenerative disease consume my mother. Last sum...

So much of what really matters has little value in our economy.   Jesus said it this way: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:19-21 Those last words keep ringing in my ears... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Where is my heart?  What things or people or possessions or ways of thinking do I treasure? What am I holding on to?  The author of Abundant Simplicity , Jan Johnson, challenges us to experiment with the prayer of self-awareness at the end of Chapter 1.  

  Starting this journey my fav a.m. beverage . Abundant Simplicity is an odd combination of words, don't you think? At face value it seems more like an oxymoron .  You know, like Crazy Wisdom, Deafening Silence, Irregular Pattern or Sweet Sorrow .  An unexpected combination of two things that seem to contradict each other.    Abundant describes something that is present in great quantity; more than adequate, over-sufficient, abounding, overflowing. Simplicity is the state or quality of being simple, free from complexity or singleness of nature.   Is it possible to have abundance and simplicity at the same time?  We'll see. Could abundant simplicity be a paradox?