There is goodness in the world worth fighting for!

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for."
— J.R.R. Tolkien (The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2))

The old year of 2012 is soon to be ending and 2013 will be starting anew. We'll all be cleaning up the post holiday clutter and starting our new resolutions for the upcoming year.  It has been a long hard year....in more ways than one for me.  The news on the TV has been heartbreaking--war, death, hurricane, tornado, earthquakes, tsunami's, fires, shootings---and all the while during the first part of the year, I wrestled through one of the toughest and darkest nights of the soul I think I've ever experienced.  I hope I never go back to that place.  The wonder of it all is---I got through---with a lot of help from those who love me (and a bit of help from the health care system).   What I will say about it all is this:  I have learned alot...alot about me, my family and life.   I was reminded in the midst and after it was over ---that even when the storm is it's darkest---when I can see no hope of sunshine---somehow the storm passes and the rainbow spreads across the sky in celebration of rocky times being over.  I was reminded that even in the midst of bad times when it seems there are no "good people" left in the world---somewhere out of the strangest places--'grace and mercy  mix together floats up a bit of hope---and in the strangest of places in the strangest kinds of ways----love overpowers hate and jealousy and envy.  I learned boundaries are important---and most of all trusting my own intuitions regarding people should not be doubted.
I enter a new year
Sexier Hotter and feeling good for the soon to be fiftieth anniversary of my birth.
I appreciate small things more than I used to and relish the sacredness of family.  I've learned that the small stuff should not be sweated and guess what I've learned-- almost all of it--it being that stuff that keeps us awake, causes us anxiety---it is all small stuff.
I've learned to balance my life
to take time to rest or sit in front of the fire
and
I'm learning to be present
more present to my family and friends.

so now what
in the upcoming year
I hope to become even more healthier and
hopefully see Big Daddy get a bit healthier but that is his deal---(hint quit smoking and quit eating butter--I want you around to drive the RV).   I hope to laugh more often and enjoy life...
really enjoy...that is another thing I am learning to do....

The Mystery--that sustained me during my dark night of the soul---found me and draws me
deeper into the realm of being
and living
and leads me toward
becoming all that I was created to be
I am not there yet...
but I'm still walking, crawling, trying.
I am wiping away the lenses given by others
and
am finally seeing--really seeing the world with my own eyes....
so
even in the midst of one of my darkest year
....
goodness 
it overcomes
outweighs
and
overrides the darkness.

I am thankful to be alive!!!
In the upcoming year
may each of you
find a deeper aspect of yourself and 
live fully
refreshed
restored
revived
and
renewed as 
as a loved and cherished child of the Universe.

Ann Curry recently sent a tweet while she was wondering what the answer to the worlds suffering might be
and she sent the following:


After the experience in Newtown. I thought, “What if? Imagine if everyone could commit to doing one act of kindness for every one of those children killed in Newtown.” So that’s what I tweeted. And guess what? People committed. I said in my tweet, “I’m in. RT if you’re in.” Not only did they commit to 20 acts of kindness, they wanted to up it to 26 acts of kindness for every child and adult who was lost at the school. Some even debated maybe we should include the mother, who died, at 27 acts. Some debated maybe we should include the killer as well as he was struggling and in pain.

So what would happen?

I am in and hope commit to 28 acts....adding one for the mother and one big one to override the darkness the killer felt and caused.
How about it...
Are you in?

let me know and share what you are willing...
let's start a year
teaching,
sharing,
being,
infusing 
love and goodness and hope to and in and for the world.

May it be so..
for me
for you
for all of us....

happy morning..

The radical rambler

Friday Rambling off color post Christmas update...

“To find the universal elements enough;

 to find the air and the water exhilarating;

 to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night;

 to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring -

 these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ” ― John Burroughs

Well it has been a few days since I last posted.  Christmas has come and gone--well not really---I do have Big Daddy's family Christmas weekend beginning this afternoon. 

I was off for almost eleven days from my paying job.  I can't tell you how much I relished my time.  I loved sleeping in late, staying up watching bad TV.  I enjoyed putting my pajamas on in the early afternoon and sitting with the laptop or reading or watching a movie.  Big Daddy and off color daughter have been watching Prison Break on netflix---they are each on a different season so most of the time--I have no idea which country or which prison the characters may be in at any given time.

When I last left you, we were headed to the Western Kentucky Clan where we had a wonderful Christmas.  My mom made her homemade German Chocolate Cake with lots of coconut pecan icing---oh my---it is my favorite food group.  I'm so glad she only makes it on rare occasion because it is one of the most delicious items on her cooking list.  My great-grandmother-the one I called "Fatma" made it almost every Sunday so not only is it delicious---it is also one of my good memory comfort foods--it reminds me of sitting on her old cracked black couch--eating cake out of an old pie tin while watching Fatma crochet and listening to "AS the World Turns....such wonderful memories..  I swear the chocolate part of the cake is so soft and delicate and then throughout there are spots of gooey icing that has trickled throughout in the places where my mother punched holes with one of those gigantic forks then poured the icing over it slow so it will drip down into the cake--oh my--i'm salivating just thinking about it. .  This year the first thing I did when I got home to visit was look at the stove--where the leftover homemade icing resided.  Everyone commented that I didn't eat much lunch---well truth is--I had the left over icing and I was on sugar overload.   

We had a nice visit and sometime during the visit, off color daughter decided to embrace her gift of the "ghetto van".  

On the way home she started talking about ways she could shagadelic it up--we talked about fur on the seats and a battery operated lava lamp---we mentioned peel and stick flowers.  So the moment we got home, she got into the ghetto van and started cleaning....you see I was not a "clean van owner."  I'd used the van to tote muddy football players home from practice,  tote Big Daddy's lawnmower that has to go to the shop every spring because he leaves it out in the snow all winter and it was what I drove when my friends and family go on our hiking trips---so it is also filled with hiking sticks and a backpack or two.

Then if you add in all the books and magazines and trash and grocery recycle bags---oh my---if I'm truthful--it was an awful mess.   Off color son was immediately off to play some basketball and I headed out for last minute stocking stuffers....big daddy was working and off color daughter 

got in the ghetto van and spent hours cleaning---she says I was a dirty car owner---True says me and honey boo boo.

When I got home from the stocking stuffer trip, there she was....

sitting in the front yard--middle seat of the van set up like a couch....an old tire set for the fire pit and the hiking stick put together like a tee pee over the imaginary fire pit.  It looked like the guy from the Will Ferrell movie whose wife kicked him out on the lawn with all his stuff so he set up house there. 

I was so shocked I couldn't laugh and all the while off color daughter was screaming---laugh and give me some approval--I'm funny.  

If I am truthful---I have to admit--she is funny--funnier than most kids her age---but alot more off-color than most as well.

The off colors --plus mama dee had the Big Daddy buffet and went to church on Christmas Eve.   Big Daddy built a fire in our Love Shack---he had the fireplace inspected and cleaned as a Christmas gift to me.  I love watching the flames and wood burn and hear the cracking-----it is mesmerizing and cozy.  We've had a fire every night since.  Off color daughter got up really early on Christmas morning--like 4 am--I mean what teenager sets their alarm to get up at 4 am---she and big daddy watched TV while off color son and I slept in until 7.  The day was quiet and peaceful and just what I wanted.

I'm now taking off the five pounds that I allowed myself to put on and have headed back to work.

Life at the off color house 

well

as far as I'm concerned...

on most

days...

even on the bad days...

it doesn't get much better than here.

I mean how many of you have come home and found a child has set up a living room, created by junk on your front lawn....

now whether I'd tell off color daughter or not--

she's damn funny....

May each of you 

find your bliss

as we prepare to enter another new year....

no the world did not end...

the aliens did not show themselves...

off color daughter and I tried to have an end of the world party but

her friends got scared by us and went home around 9 pm....seems they were scared by our ghost stories. 

Perhaps the even though we are still here---perhaps if we are lucky our world hasshifted abit...perhaps just a bit...for the better we can hope....

I've learned something very important this year....

life is precious and we teeter a fine line between 

here and there

creativity and crazy

blessed and miserable

I choose to be blessed creative and here

present in the moment...

May each of you

enjoy your day,

feel the sun on your face

the wind in your hair and

find the wonder

in your own little ordinary life.

Blessings to you this morning from a rambling rambler...

Hugs.

Let it shine......your light that is!

"Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” 

― Brené Brown

Big Daddy is in the kitchen this Christmas Eve Morning.  Mama Dee will be coming over this afternoon and we'll partake in the annual before Church Big Daddy Bonanza Super Smorgasbord.  I smell onions and cheese and I'm sure there is some starch and chicken mixed in there somewhere.  I'm waiting my turn to fix a dish.  Big Daddy and I learned early in our marriage--we can't be in the kitchen together.  I hate to admit it but we both are "KIA's" aka 

"know it all's".  So if we work at separate times--then there is no kitchen fights (although I'm sure when I get my turn, he will be walking in and out bossing about how many dishes I'm dirtying up or how much I have dropped on the floor.)  After all, it wouldn't be Christmas without Big Daddy know it all advice--I love him anyway--in spite of or because of---his know it all skills.

Off Color kids are still sleeping and Glitzy Dog is lying on the couch trying to bother me as I type--he wants to go run--but I'm feeling the holiday five pound bloat already setting in and I'd hate to not have to work really hard after the New Year.

Off Color son will not get to go to church with us tonight--I'm a bit sad about that ---but he has to work---what kind of sandwich shop functions on Christmas Eve and who buys a deli sandwich post church.  There are no light lit in the off color house--Glitzy Dog ate the cord off of everything--so we have a tree that doesn't light up, lights and greenery along the staircase---that do not shine.  The cards are hung and the elf from Big Daddy's childhood sits and watches over us and here I sit---

warm house,

stretchy running pants--thank God I'm not wearing tight jeans---

smell of cooking Big Daddy style,

Christmas movie on the TV

and candles burning....

and

in the midst of my ordinary chaotic life,

in the midst of a lived in house

and crazy dogs 

and fun loving kids who will say anything and do anything...

I realize that what I've been waiting for my whole life

is right here  swirling around in the midst of 

all we do.

Our lights

mix and swirl and move together,

and

love

love is here and I feel a lump in my throat and joy in my step.

All month, we've been waiting, waiting for something

in our liturgical fashion

purple and white candles

greenery,

nativity scenes

and while tomorrow is the celebrated day

perhaps

if I'm honest with you--

if I never opened another gift,

never pulled another thing from my stocking,

never ate another Christmas cookie (well that may be going too far)

if...

well the truth is....

life doesn't get much richer than this ordinary off color kind of thing....and I am thankful...thankful for smells and color and light and love.

I wish all of you

happy holidays

love and laughter and joy

and

contentment most of all.

Life comes and goes,

flows if you will

and

the darkness 

continues to be broken

by rays of ordinary

unfiltered light

that shines...

from 

you and

you and

you.....

Love

that thing we've been waiting on all season...

has been here all the time...

may we embrace it

enjoy it

and

be thankful enough for it

to 

let our own light of love

shine....

so go on...

"Don't be afraid"

.....

Let it shine---

your light...

your love...

let it shine!!! let it shine!!! let it shine!!!

wishing each of you Shalom!

thursday morning rambling thoughts

When I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us. Many people feel small because they're small and the universe is big, but I feel big because my atoms came from those stars. There's a level of connectivity.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Hanuka, Kwanzaa, Christmas,

our rituals 

the pegs that move us along from moment to moment 

lifting us from our ordinary days to remind us of the wonder of being part of that which is bigger than ourselves and all the while

giving us an anchor to the other humans in the universe. 

Wonder upon Wonder

comes 

in the midst of ordinary mundane days,

Lights on the trees twinkle and the presents are almost wrapped,

dreidels swirl and twirl while latkes simmer in hot oil,

the zawadi gifts are spread beneath the candles in hopes of umoja (building community that lasts).

In the past few days, I've felt small, helpless and a bit overwhelmed.  

I look to sky

searching for a bright star to lead me 

to lead all of us.

The world feels especially heavy but yet for some reason

I feel so connected to those around me--even the strangers whose names I don't know--all the while we go about our busy days,

shopping and baking and being

all the while

mothers watch their children dwindle due to lack of food,

little girls are shot for pronouncing that they deserve and education,

countries threaten each other 

with poison and nuclear arms and war

and

humans harm each other for no rhyme or reason apparent to us other humans---we just don't understand.

I stand

look to the sky

seek some magic, some mystery, some wonder

the whole world needs something 

....healing of sorts....

Mercy,

Lord have Mercy,

....

what are we humans doing?

I look to my own story of faith...

pregnant girl, older carpenter, angels and shepherds and magi,

all find themselves in a place

under the same 

level of worry and fear and darkness

all headed someplace

anyplace

unsure of where they are going. 

....

and

suddenly

in the midst of turmoil

in the midst of the craziness of life,

LOVE

arrives

in the most ordinary of places

hay and straw

manger and swaddling

darkness of night

cows mooing and sheep baaing

mice

standing still 

in awe

dark sky illuminated

light 

bright shining light leads the way

to 

the place

the ordinary place

filled with 

great love

and

mystery 

and

wonder.

and

I 

once again look to the sky

and

I wait

for the wonder

to 

connect us all

fill us all

heal us all.

May it be so

during this holiday time

especially during this holiday season.

and

I look to the left

and

I see him

look to the right

and

I see her

I look to the sky

and

all around 

all of us

lights glimmer,

stars flash

atoms swirl

in and out and all around

in you then in me and

back out into the atmosphere

waiting for some other

to pull it into them and the push it out

binding us

in 

an

invisible

connection of the human and extraordinary kind of manner.

all of us

connected

held together

bound together

under sky of universe

and

LOVE

continues to arrive daily

in each of us

just like it did long ago.

if we

open our eyes

look to the sky

and

wait....

if we wait...

IT

love that is...

always shows us the way....

wishing each of you

love

and

laughter

and

wonder

as the season 

arrives.

Blessings on this rainy Thursday morning!

The radical Rambler having a ramble....

there are no words....

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
 tired into a single garment of destiny.
 Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

It has been hard to write,
to find words,
to even think out loud,
the incredible loss
loss of life
loss of dreams
loss of possibility.

Holidays roll on in,
trees light glimmer
and
all the while
pain is illuminated
in our eyes,
and
in the deepest corners of our heart spaces.

I look to the sky....
listen intently to the wind....
and 
I wait
wait 
for some answer 
that will give us 
rhyme or reason 
for the loss of empathy, for the cause of such despair, for the answer to the question we can't even begin to form.

we humans
regardless of where we live
or
how we live in our
own unique little corner of our planet
we
are
connected...
connected by heartstrings 
held together by
anchors from the beginning of time.

There are no words
only 
unbelief
only pain
only
loss...

During the third week of advent
we light the candle of love
and
don't we all need to feel it a bit...
need to hold each other close
savor our next breath
our next moment.

Where is God?  Yes God is present
in the silence of our loss.

in your hand
as it touches those you love
and
those whose names you don't know...
in your tears
for loss of a child you never saw...
in the silence of a world
struck by
unbelief.

Love swirls,
healing balm approaches,
the light of love,
pulls us,
overpowering the evil and pain.
it is our hope
our life breath
our anchor.

in the silence of world
who has lost its breath
the foggy presence of 
love
drifts over a universe of pain
and
once again...
i feel the tremble
of 
hope begin to rumble in the depths of our despair.
May it be so...
May it be so...
for 
today
above all days..
we need 
a 
bit of hope....
for there are no words.

Devil Dog from Hell number 2

Sebastian: You want my advice? Get a puppy or something.

John Grogan: I've never had a dog.

Sebastian: There's nothing to it. You walk him, you feed him, you let him out every now and again.

Marley and Me by John Grogan

For those of you who have read my blog for awhile,

I'm sure you remember all the antics of 

Cecil, the devil dog from the gates of hell.

Well, I thought when Cecil committed suicide by running in from of that red neck truck, we'd seen the last of "dog crazy".

As you know, it has been well over a week since I have written on my blog---simple answer being--Simba/or Glitzy as I call him, my sons new dog has been up to antics reminiscent of Cecil. 

Last week, off color daughter, Big Daddy and I left the house for just a few short hours to attend a gymnastics exhibition at the local University.  "Glitzy" (his name is Simba because he looks like a lion from behind---but he answers to Glitzy when I call him).  Well Glitzy was left unattended in off color sons room while we were gone.  Upon returning, we find Glitzy has pulled the carpet up from the door way about a quarter of the way into the room.  He'd eaten up the cushioning from underneath and chewed a corner a bit.  We were able to put it back down with only minor damage in one area....but "what the hell."

Sunday, I got ready for church and had one of those 

"moments" where I felt like I'd better put my laptop in the bag--never know what Glitzy will do.  WELL----

that worked for the laptop, but obviously I left just a corner of the plug hanging out.  When I returned from church, Glitzy had chewed up the computer cord and charger that belongs to my laptop.  My battery died and thus I lost access and have not been able to blog for a few days---my new charger from off amazon arrived yesterday.

Monday night, Norman came over to visit off color daughter.  He just got his license to drive so if you live in the state of Kentucky---I'd advice you all to stay off the road for a week or two.   While he was here, off color daughter left her room unattended for maybe five minutes.  When she returned she plugged in her electric blanket that she uses when she is experiencing joint pain.   A few minutes later, poor Norman goes in and sits down on the blanket----Zap----Norman is "shocked" by the blanket.  Well, it appears that off color daughter was gone just long enough for Glitzy to chew the electric blanket cord and controller into several piece but left it connected just enough so electricity would still flow.

First carpet, then a computer charger and now a $80.00 electric blanket--what the hell!!!!

Next day, I come home from working out and Big Daddy proceeds to say, "Simba was a good boy today--for a minute.  He told me he needed to go out to the bathroom, went out and did his "duty" and came back.  I praised him and gave him a treat---not five minutes later he comes to me with a cord sticking out of his mouth.  Guess what he did today?  He has chewed the cord off our desktop printer." 

Good Lord!!!!

Tonight I come home and ask big daddy what kind of damage Glitzy has done---only chewed a light off of the set of Christmas lights (thus we can't plug them in any longer) no major loss since I forgot to check them before I put them up.

Later as off color daughter and I are getting ready for bed, we notice green plastic and wire all around the floor.  We start investigating and discover that 

precious Glitzy has now chewed off the plug of our prelit Christmas tree (no O Christmas Tree for the off color family this year).

So today is a new day

and

no telling what kind of damage Glitzy will do today.

He looks like a sweet little playful over sized dog

saved by off color son from the human society

but

don't let him fool you...

he's just waiting 

for the next item left unattended 

to chew up.

Big Daddy has bought bones upon bones

we've bought chew toys and raw hides....

but

they don't last long.

We now have an over sized

innocent looking

chainsaw mouthed dog....

What were we thinking?

I mean look he is kind of cute!!!

So now I'm back on line--

have a wonderful 

day

...

take a few minutes to enjoy the season

and

all the while

"watch out for your cords".

blessings...

the radical rambler

Wait and Hope

“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more.

 He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.

 We must of felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.
 Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man,

 all human wisdom is contained in these two words, 

'Wait and Hope.”

 -Alexandre Dumas

Growing up in a small town, the Christmas season brought about many levels of expectation. 

 I mean let's face it, 

when you grow up in a town that only has a flashing red light and your closest neighbors are your great-grandparents who lived on the left side of your house

and your grandparents who lived on the right side---

well

the Christmas season brought something out of the ordinary into the life of a imaginative girl living in a tiny town that was only big enough to have a four-way stop with a flashing light.

As soon as the Charlie Brown Special, The Great Pumpkin, ended,

the season of waiting began.

We waited for Daddy to head to the woods and find us a tree he thought was special (it was always crooked and not really all that full) but we thought it was amazing.  It filled our house with the sweet smell of the coming season.  He'd place it in that red and green tree holder, fill it with water and cram it into some corner where it waited in anticipation to see what kind of "dress" we kids might decide to place on it. 

We'd spend days unraveling the bundled of matted Christmas lights and then spend hours trying to find the one bulb that was making the string not work.  We'd hang glass bulbs and string popcorn and make our own "special and most beautiful" hanging surprises.

My favorite part of the whole tree thing would be when mama would break open that package of silver icicles.  They would glimmer in the light and I'd hold them over my head catching the lights of the trees.  I would throw each icicle up one at a time letting in land where it fell and all in all---well we really believed our tree was the most beautiful of all.  Looking back--it uncovers the wonder of childhood and the way ordinary little things take on their own magical splendor---cause let me tell you---our tree would not ever have won any kind of prize in any kind of Christmas tree pageant, but it sure made ordinary life in a tiny small town on the edge of Western Kentucky take own its' own magical splendor.

The tree of course was the beginning of the long wait.

We waited for the Christmas parade that occurred in the next town over.  Mama and Daddy would take us there, drive up to the curve,

place us on the hood and cover us in blankets.  There we'd huddle together and watch as a band or two would march by playing jingle bells or joy to the world.  Local "celebrities" like the mayor or the beauty queen from the county fair would pass by waving and occasionally throwing us a piece of bubble gum or a tootsie roll.

The Shriner's would pass in their funny looking hats and clowns would ride by on little motorcycles. 

The best part of the parade was always at the end...

when the replica of a house covered in snow would come with a 

big fat or sometimes skinny Santa in his red suit and white beard sticking out the chimney--giving mama and daddy a new threat to make us "be good girls."

And as the parade ended and the tree was hung,

my sister and I (my baby brother had not been born yet or was so small I don't remember him being there yet) would begin the 

long season of Waiting....

waiting to write our list,

waiting to tell Santa,

waiting for the Christmas play at church where we both dressed in white angle costumes and held candles singing silent night as shepherds dressed in bathrobes would kneel before someones baby doll who was dressed for the evening like baby Jesus.

We'd wait for Christmas eve and lay in bed that night waiting for the joy of Christmas morning gift.

I always hated when it was all over and even as an adult now

I find I like to wait...

wait to open the last gift 

because I don't want all the excitement caused by the waiting to be over.

Waiting teaches us lots of things

like wonder

and

joy 

and 

awe that we don't always remember to see or experience.

I don't really like waiting for many things...

but as the Season

comes upon us...

I find...

I still like the long drag

of 

minutes to Christmas.

We wait...

wait with the hope that Christmas is coming...

we wait...

wait for the baby Jesus to be placed back in the manger,

wait for something to bring the magic

to us again

wait for the wonder

....

we wait with hope

and

the seconds continue to tick

filling 

us 

with...........Hope.

Have a wonderful season of waiting

may it bring to us 

the joy of hope we are awaiting.

blessings...

the radical rambler.

The Advent of Hope..........

“Tom has been having a difficult patch, and we meet at the church of IKEA as often as possible, because it is equidistant from our houses and always cheers us up.

 Yesterday I asked, 'In your depression, and with so many people having such a hard time, where is Advent?' He tried to wiggle out of it by saying, 'You Protestants and your little questions!' Then, when pushed, he said: 'Faith is a decision. Do we believe we are ultimately doomed and fucked and there's no way out? Or that God and goodness make a difference? There is heaven, community, and hope - and hope that there is life beyond the grave.' 
'But Tom, at the same time, the grave is very real, dark and cold and lonely.' 'Advent is not for the naive. Because in spite of the dark and cold, we see light - you look up, or you make light, with candles, or with strands of light bulbs on trees. And you give light. Beauty helps, in art and nature and faces. Friends help. Solidarity helps. If you ask me, when people return phone calls, it's about as good as it gets. And who knows beyond that.” 
― Anne Lamott

It rises like a wave in the midst of the storm,

 its' crest rising high for all to see 

propelled upward 

then falling

moving

invisible suddenly

and then from out of someplace

there

in a distant 

caused by some Force

that I can't see

or describe

It raises up again

resonates 

in the world

shows all it fury and energy

and

Hope's Advent

 it sneaks upon us 

moves over us

through us

in us

and we grab hold

like little kids fighting over

the last twinkie in the cupboard.

It rises

and

we reach forth

grasping for some of its energy

beckoning it to raise us up with it

begging IT to take us up toward the light

to a place

where 

darkness 

and hurt 

and

 pain 

disappear for a bit and our souls feel alive.

...

and

so

in the midst of

world crises

chemical threats

financial cliffs

and

economic unrest

the world moves

moves forward

and

we 

little specks that we are

look

toward

the wave

of
Advent this season

with 

anticipation 

of  a

HOPEFUL sabbatical of sorts.

It rises in its liturgical purple and blue colors

comes from out of the season of ordinary time

and

pulls us up with all its energy

to experience a ray of Sun

a glimmer of light

a flash of hope

if only for a fragment of a second 

maybe just on Sunday morning when the candle is lit.

Do I believe in the Sun when the Sun doesn't shine?

some days....

today I do...

mainly because

hope 

rose from out of nowhere

embraced me

lifted me

floated me up

and

filled me 

.....

Advent

Hope

...

may each of you

experience 

the wave

and 

may your hearts 

be filled

with 

HOPE.

Happy Wednesday December Morning........

and

blessings.......

The radical rambler...