May His face shine upon you.

The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my Strength and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14 So the Joy Dare was about giving thanks for what was in my heart. And one thing in my heart is my lists of fixed prayer people. And while I would love to say that they are the continual meditation of my heart, I cannot. But when they are the meditation of my heart, it is an acceptable gift in His sight. And today I gave thanks for Seth and Karen Barnes, marveling whom they have become over the years since those steamy hot young years when we all worked in the Dominican Republic. And they visited us in the refugee camp when I Nicole had the measles which somehow slid into pneumonia and somewhere in there was the dehydration room. That was a rough spring. But certainly Seth and Karen have embraced their calling to follow him on The Grand Adventure. And it is indeed a great joy to be race around the world with them in my prayers. And the Adams. I remember them back when they were doing their residencies. And we saw each of them more than they saw each other. And when I brought Nicole back to the States, I took her to Mary at University Medical Center cause she was pretty much a two-year-old mess. And Mary called her supervisor, who called his supervisor, all the way to the top, and he made an announcement over the loudspeaker for all residents to come see something that they would never see again…four skin diseases layered one on top of the other.  And I will never forget all of those gowned bodies pressed into one small room looking at a rather shy Little Nicole. Rod over at infectious diseases always promised that if we brought him up a new and exciting giardia strain, he would name it after us. And now the Adams walked away, truly have given up house and brothers and sisters and children and property, for His sake and for the Good News; for the joy set before them, they picked up their cross and followed Him to northern Kenya where Rod teaches at the Aga Khan University Hospital and Mary coordinates community health projects for mothers and children. And I get to join them before the throne of Grace every single Wednesday morning. And my brother and his family in New Hampshire. And the Voelkels in Vermont. And some boys whose momma asked me to add them to my list. And a student from Wildcat who asked me to pray for him. And Kevin and Elaheh. And a list of Nicole’s friends from college, as well as the brother who visited us that Christmas, And each of my students and each of the Imago Dei staff. Pause over each one, each one who is in my heart. And all of the beloved people who have joined my heart family over the years: Cameron, Fernanda and Wilson, Charly, Markus, Chaska and Tika, Kate, Ira, Ray, Carla, Marco, Mateo, Ali, Wali, Igor, Fredric, Shaun, Giovanni, John, Manuel, Daniel. And Alan. Nicole, Heather, Dustin, Andrea. May each of these be my acceptable meditation today. And may I rest today in this place, kneeling before my Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. That according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. How can I but not be filled with mercy and peace as I kneel before God our Maker? And may the words of mouth come from this treasure of my heart. Unlike a flame set on fire by hell itself. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. My Strength and my Redeemer.

Before the stifling heat settles down too deeply.

Search for the LORD and His strength; continually seek His face. Psalms 105:4

It is clear that we are usually surrounded by so much inner and outer noise that it is hard to truly hear our God when God is speaking to us. We have often become deaf, unable to know when God calls us and unable to understand in which direction God calls us. Thus our lives have become absurd. In the world “ absurd” we find the Latin word surdis, which means “deaf.”

A spiritual life requires discipline because we need to learn to listen to God, who constantly speaks but whom we seldom hear. When, however, we learn to listen, our lives become obedient lives. The word “obedient” comes from the Latin word audire, which means “listening.” A spiritual discipline is necessary in order to move slowly from an absurd to an obedient life, from a life filled with noisy worries to a life in which there is some free inner space where we can listen to our God and follow God’s guidance. Jesus’ life was a life of obedience. He was always listening to the Father, always attentive to His voice, always alert for His directions. Jesus was “all ear.” That is true prayer: being all ear for God. The core of all prayer is indeed listening, obediently standing in the presence of God. Henri Nouwen, Making All Things New

So I did the walk around Reid Park thing this morning. The same old, same old, yearning to become new. The scuttling quail, like so many little sea crabs. The hawk so close overhead I can almost reach out to touch it. The callings of the peacocks from behind the zoo walls. The bursting red cactus apples. But mostly, I smiled and said hello to the dozens of people joining me in this early morning, before-the-heat-of-the-day walk. Pilgrims really. Each one choosing to get out of bed, slip on worn shoes and head out the door to a day with both very well-known hard hills that need to be climbed and curves leading into the equally unknown.

And yes, even here at home, I heard His voice: I love that one, the one with the University of California Berkeley t-shirt and that one too, pushing a stroller with a sleeping baby. And that older Japanese couple with big floppy hats. And Mr. Armet on his bicycle. Each is beloved, not because of the choices chosen, the feelings felt, or the actions taken, but because I AM Love. And you, my child, are to love because I first loved you, from the beginning of time.

And really, that is all I ask of you. To love Me and likewise, in the same heartbeat, love your neighbor.

And on the plane I was reflecting on another Nouwen writing, about the characteristics of the blessed ones is that, wherever they go, they always speak words of blessing. It is remarkable how easy it is to bless others, to speak good things to and about them, to call forth their beauty and truth when you yourself are in touch with your own blessedness. The blessed one always blesses. And people want to be blessed! This is so apparent where you go. No one is brought to life through curses, gossip, accusations, or blaming. There is so much of that taking place around us all the time. And it calls forth only darkness, destruction, and death. As the “blessed ones,” we can walk through this world and offer blessings. It doesn’t require much effort. It flows naturally from our hearts. When we hear within ourselves the Voice calling us by name and blessing us, the darkness no longer distracts us. The Voice that calls us the Beloved will give s words to bless others and reveal to them that they are no less blessed than we. Life of the Beloved.

Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? James 3:11

And there was a little Everette-curled girl who was loading up onto the plane with her two dads. And as soon as she got on the plane she squirmed and wiggled, and her dad who was holding her asked, “Do you want to say hello to the people?” and she replied with an eager nod. She slipped out of his arms and walked down the aisle with a huge smile and a huge hello, and one at a time she blessed each and every settling hassled weary squished soul. And each one could not but help return her smile and her hello. And it was a beautiful thing. Spreading joy and peace, blessing, down an without-an-empty-seat American Airlines aisle.

And Tracy and I, grandmas that we are, watched a lot of equally beautiful children throughout our ride through Europe. And again and again we understood why we are to come to Him as little children.

Little children at rest in His love.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Selah.

In Spain the caramelized crust on the bottom of the paella pan is called socarrat

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
    and one who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11:25

It was years ago. I don’t even remember if Alan asked me or told me about this guy on his soccer team whose wife kicked him out of the house and he really had no where to live. And he was Iranian.  And Hussein has been part of our lives ever since. Of course that is not the name he goes by here in the United States, especially during all those wars, but that is his name. And he has been to the weddings and the Christmas Eve services and he knows that he can drop by anytime, especially at dinnertime. And yeah, he pretty much livens up conversations with his statements of facts. That was a pretty memorable dinner with him, a Baghdad Iraqi, a Kurd and an New York Jewish journalist discussing The Middle East Solution.

And life has not always been easy for an engineer who studied at the University of Arizona, but is now, well, Iranian. So bunches of Iranians end up selling used cars. And playing lots of soccer. And over the years Alan has been the white guy at Iranian soccer tournaments at UCLA or Las Vegas or San Diego. And sometimes Hussein’s little boy would come over and ask lots and lots of questions and bang on the drums that used to be in the living room. But now he has a band of his own in Texas far away.

And the last time Hussein went back to visit his family in Tehran, he returned with a glowingly lovely wife. And last night we all went over to their house for dinner: Mary Anne and mom and Chuyi and Alan and I.  And we were enriched.

At first we gathered around the low table laden with nuts and dried fruits and chocolates and a mountain of fruit artistically arranged because everything in this unassuming home on the eastside is artistically arranged because that is how Eliheh sees the world.  And we probably biffed it–I think we started at the dessert table by mistake but our hosts were so polite and so happy. Like that viral video we have all seen too many times. Exactly.

And we gathered around the high table with a huge platter of rice swirled with saffron and sprinkled with beautiful red fruits that you can only buy the Middle Eastern store on Speedway. And splayed roasted chickens, and small stuffed eggplants and tomatoes and cucumber and yogurt salad and of course, tahdig, the crisp rice taken from the bottom of the pot in which the rice is cooked. The name comes from a Persian word meaning "bottom of the pot,” of course. “Da me el concón,” is what we used to say in La Republica Dominicana, and “pegao” in Colombia.

And back to the low table of nuts and fruits and a box of chocolates and homemade Baklava and glasses of tea. And stories and photos and family heirlooms. And Hussein has a round tummy for the first time in his life and he smiles and smiles.

And whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

We were sure watered last night, over and over again. And old Hussein even had these fancy dancy tongs to place ice cubes into our glasses.