June 29th - turning 40

It's been quite a journey to realize I'm turning 40! I've been thinking about it all year and I finally feel ready for the big day and ready to move on. There has been a lot of joy this year & joy is something I want to keep discovering. Joy seems to emerge when i let go & celebrate what IS at this present moment instead of what I might wish it to be. Letting go comes out of trust. Rest emerges from the trust and joy emerges from the rest. My prayer for this year is greater trust, greater rest, greater joy.

My family will be gone to Thailand & Cambodia for 3 weeks starting on my 40th! We have a lot to celebrate and so are making it a trip of a lifetime.

Picture from my garden!

Encircling

There is a Celtic melody that has been haunting me for over a year now. Haunting me in the best sense of the word - when I sleep, when I wake, when I walk through the woods - it is there. And the truth of it seeps deeper and deeper as the months go by. The imagery of the words speaks of the Divine as Encircling. I have been very aware also of the femenine aspect of the Divine which as a mother would reach out with encircling arms. I didn't grow up being aware that God was anything other that male......but that has deeply changed! If I am created in the image of God, then my femeninity is rooted in God's very being. Male and Female, we are both equally rooted in God. It is helpful then to imagine God in both femenine and masculine ways. God as my warrior protector. God as my nurturing, caressing mother. God as my valiant father. God as my gentle and kind healer.

The Mighty Three

My protection be

Encircling me

You are around

My life, my home

O Sacred Three

The Mighty Three

Articles on the web:

Here are two articles that are available on the web:
This is a review about the Rest CD produced last fall by
gemma & co.
http://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/News/tabid/27/ctl/ViewArticle/ArticleId/408/mid/486/Default.aspx

This is an article printed in the MB Herald regarding
how Taize music has affected my life:
http://www.mbherald.com/46/03/people-2.en.html

To know more about the Rest CD by gemma & co. go to:

www.communitascare.com/store

My daughter, Brianna, carved this bird soapstone last spring. She gave it to me just as I was heading into the recording for the rest CD. She had no idea
of the significance it was for me at the time. I was fighting a lot of self-doubt as I was entering into this musical project, yet at the same time, I had such a passion to create the sounds I was hearing internally for so long. I felt very 'pregnant' with the CD. The bird had become symbolic of freedom for me - freedom to LIVE & to be all that God has created me to be. And that means to sing. Singing is a strange thing - it really puts you 'out there'. So, one really needs to believe that one can! It is pretty vulnerable to pour one's heart out through music. However, as all true musicians really know, there comes a point where you NEED to sing, or else something in you begins to die. So, for me to live IS to sing and to rest in that. This bird was a gift that confirmed that. Thank you Brianna!

Are you ready for a Silent Retreat?
Together with the Mark Centre staff
& a team of spiritual directors,
I will be leading & participating in a 3 day silent retreat
late November, 2007.

If you are interested- please contact
the Mark Centre
http://www.markcentre.org/

This retreat has just been confirmed and I am
so excited to set aside this time as a way to enter into the season of Advent. It will be open for 12 people to participate in. These times that are set aside for silence have changed my life profoundly and I invite you to share this one with me.