Dessert mentality

The title caught my eye and my imagination. And then I realized it actually said "Desert mentality". What a difference an ess makes!

But hang on a second. Maybe it should actually be "Dessert mentality". Instead of focusing on dry and dusty bleakness, why not reach for a little joy and sweetness right here and now? 

Because I'm having some difficulty with prayer, the misreading of dessert mentality inspired me to try to think of the devout life as something to anticipate and savour as I would a brownie. With chocolate sauce. And fresh raspberries.

The things that bring me closer to God shouldn't be the broccoli on my plate - good for me but hard to chew and kept for last. Prayer, contemplation, adoration, confession, Mass, study, fasting, are not onerous ordeals to be endured; they are opportunities and possibilities of joy and sweetness.

You have only to keep still

Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the Lord will win for you today... The Lord Himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still. (Gen. 14: 13,14)


How familiar, how comforting are those words: fear not! We come across them often in Scripture. Our Holy Fathers have been reminding us of them. It is good to remember them, to live by them.

That passage is from yesterday's first reading. The fear not bit was greatly appreciated, but what leapt off the page for me yesterday was what came next: the Lord Himself will fight for you.   The Lord Himself will fight for you!  You have only to keep still.

In other words, stop fretting. Stop with the faffing about, the second guessing, the worrying, the trying to force it.

Keep still.

There is so much doing going on around us; so much making, producing, achieving, striving, reaching, wanting.

Stop.  Stand your ground.  Keep still.  The Lord Himself will fight for you.

Of faffing and writing: the challenge

Right. I was spending nearly every waking moment of the day at my computer - and most of that online doing very unnecessary things - pretending to write (do comments on blogs count as writing?) And then my internet connection failed and then my computer died. Coincidence or Divine intervention? Whichever it was, I got out of the habit of internet idleness and found myself actually writing On paper. And reading! Real books!

But now I'm back online, and I see it happening already, only two weeks into plugged in again. I'm faffing about and wasting time, not to mention brain cells. Argh! So I am resolved to spend less time online. Not sure exactly how I will manage to limit myself, but it must be done.

And what is one of the first things I'm going to do?  Take up Jennifer Fulwiler's challenge over at Conversion Diary to write seven posts in seven days. Barmy? Yes. I'm looking for writing prompts and challenges and this is a good one. I also think it will help direct my time online, give me something legitimate to do while logged on. Let's see if it works!

So, first topic of the blog-a-day challenge:
Office supplies!

I love them. Honest and for true, deep down love. I can spend hours - and have done - browsing the aisles of a big name office supply store. When I left New Town, my work colleagues gave me a gift certificate for that store, knowing it would be put to good use. I bring my own pens and post-its to work, and have ensured everyone knows my policy: paws off. When I go to The Giant Book Store, I head to the journals and note paper, sometimes before even looking at a proper book.
So imagine my delight yesterday, when after sipping on a lovely-but-overpriced beverage from Herman Melville's coffee shop I wandered into the bookstore to discover this:

and this:

 

The company is called Poppin. Their tag line is "Work happy" and honestly, who could resist being happy with such fun, vibrant, well made, well designed tools to play...err work with? The products, according the box my new - and most excellent - 'Heavy Weight' pen came in, are: Dreamt up in New York - Very well made in China for Poppin. I'm a fan.

 

Five sentence fiction - a first go

Lillie McFerrin Writes hosts Five Sentence Fiction - a writing challenge to write five sentences inspired by a one word prompt. The current word is wisdom.







Here is my little ditty inspired by Wisdom:

She hovers over the waters of creation, a Divine presence in the world. Sea and sky stretch to touch at the horizon; each blue, each seething, each seeking to rule the other. Fish, bird, and beast live to swim, and fly, and run, and in the doing are fulfilled. Man stands at the centre, where sea and sky meet, his purpose not merely to roam but to live – no, to be wholly and entirely alive. Wisdom bestows her gift on him; he quickens, and in the doing, is united with the Divine.

 

Sophia Wisdom of God

 

 

 

 



St. Anne

St. Anne by da Vinci

St. Anne, St. Anne find me a man; find me a good man as fast as you can.


The feast day of St. Anne is approaching (July 26), and there is just enough time to pray the novena (I prayed day one this morning, will do day two before bed. Sometimes it's the spirit of the law that counts, folks!)











Though prayer has been a challenge of late (and by that I mean since Easter it's been just about nonresistant, but more on that elsewhere) I feel the need to do this.  I have a beautiful statue of St. Anne from the awe inspiring shrine in Quebec, St. Anne de Beaupre. For days now, maybe even weeks, I've been feeling nudges to call on her help.  So, while she is traditionally known for helping women who are seeking husbands, in true grandmotherly fashion, I think she and I will spend some quiet time together over a cuppa and some biscuits as we sort things out.

Not to say that I won't also welcome her help with the husband seeking.

The Novena can be found here, at EWTN. 

St.Anne-de-Beaupre, Quebec

The author photo

We did a backwards display of books at work a few months ago, with the back of the books books facing out, showing the author's photo, challenging our patrons to guess who it was, based just on the picture of the authors they know so well.

Many of them are good for a giggle. Some try to look very scholarly, sober, and serious. Some try for seductive. Some just look silly with big hair and poofy dresses.

And then I came across this one. I tell you, it could totally be me, because this is exactly what I look like when I'm writing.

Laurell K. Hamilton - Affliction author photo
 

Of organs and backups

I used to have a line on my resume that said something about having excellent knowledge of, or proficient in, computers.

I had to take it out.

It used to be true.  I used to be the person on staff people would come to for help with formatting, saving, finding, for setting up equipment and simple trouble shooting.  It is no longer true. The world of technology has done a Millennium Falcon leap forward at warp speed, and I was left behind, barely out of training wheels. Not only am I clueless much of the time as to what to do, but I sometimes don't even understand the language. True, modern gadgets are good about asking questions like, "Are you absolutely certain you want to dismantle the network and reboot it in Hungarian?" giving you the opportunity to freak out, yelling, "What the heck does THAT mean?" before having a complete and utter melt down at your cubicle.

A few months ago I went from being a smart phone retro snob (meaning I thought smart phones were stupid) to being a smart phone owner.  I did it because the iPhone was going to be cheaper than updating my unreliable old flip-phone ($40!!  I am a bargain hunter, hear me roar!) and it turned out to be a life saver because at the same time, my old laptop gave up its ghost - twice - so it was put out to pasture. My lovely new toy prevented me from going completely cold turkey with the technology withdrawal. I've seen people in technology withdrawal.... it ain't pretty.

A week and a half ago, I finally gave in and bought me a new laptop. She (I'm thinking of calling it Margaret, after Leo's secretary from The West Wing) is a little slow, and what with the new Windows 8 business, and opting for Open Office rather than Word, I feel a little like a North American driving in Britain-- nothing is where it should be and I'm not sure how to handle the clutch left-handed.

Anyway.  This morning I wanted to set up iTunes on Margaret, and got a message an update should be installed. I kept clicking though the prompts until suddenly there was a message saying the update failed and I would lose everything, and did I want to return to factory settings? All media would be gone, contacts wiped out, etc., but Apple should give me the opportunity to rest those in the process. There was no option to go back 15 minutes and call the whole thing off, pretend it never happened. I would either unplug and have a blank, unusable shell of a phone, or leap into the dark.

I leapt. I could feel my heart in my throat. It didn't feel good. The next five minutes were pretty scary - on par with that time I went bungee jumping. I should have gone to confession first then, and I should have done a back up first now. What is it about hindsight that makes it so perfect?

All this to say, it worked out ok. I seem to have what I need on my phone, and I even signed up for yet another thing I don't really understand and probably will never use - mostly because I don't know where to find it. What a relief!

Honestly. I have discovered that though I label myself a luddite, and mock all this reliance on technology (especially when the computers go down at work and we revert to checking out books by writing numbers on a piece of paper) I admit the potential of losing my phone had me in a panic. I'm sure I could taste my heart it was so far up my throat. I suppose the responsible thing to do is to learn how to use it properly.

And the first thing I'm going to learn is how to make a backup.