Advent Retreat -- Day 3

Matthew 4:18-22
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The First Disciples

18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He *said to them, “[a]Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, [b]James the son of Zebedee, and [c]John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

I am going to try something this Advent. I need structure in my blogging, and I may have found it. Thanks to my Jesuits, of course:
http://ignatianspirituality.com/wp-content/uploads/Seasonal/Advent-Retreat-2011.pdf

So, each day, I am to spend some time praying with scripture...not an easy task for me. I picked the right day though...this is a story I can get behind. Today's assignment is to pray with this passage using Ignatian Contemplation, which asks that we enter into the story and see it as an eyewitness, hear it right from Jesus' mouth, and try to imagine what it would feel like if He was talking to us.

I've always loved the line about "fishers of men," sexism be damned. Even before I really understood it, I liked the turn of phrase (this was before I knew what a turn of phrase was of course). This scene is a good place to start my Advent journey because I enter into this scene easily. I am standing behind Jesus, watching him walk up to the shore, hearing His call to these disciples. They recognize something in him, clearly. They drop what they are doing...they drop their lives, to follow this man.

Two thoughts came to me as I read, reread and reflected a bit on this passage. First, I started singing "You Are Mine" to myself.
"come and follow me, I will bring you home...I love you and you are mine"

This is their call. Jesus is offering them a life with him...and from the looks of things here, they know very little--if anything--about him. And yet they are willing to leave everything--homes, families, their own identities--to follow this person. "Fishers of men"?! What does that even mean? They must have been confused...but something inside must have told them that there were bigger things ahead.

I think about the people in my own life who draw others to them...whose light is so strong, so enchanting, so beautiful, so powerful that others are willing to follow them. Not blindly, but with an unspoken understanding that they will be safe and treasured and valued. It is that light that Peter, Andrew, James, and John saw and trusted when they dropped their nets. And that is why I know them, why they are familiar to me and why I see myself in that scene. When someone has the light of the Creator, of God, shining so brightly from their core, you are willing to follow, to listen, to go with them on a journey. It wasn't grand promises of fame and fortune that had these disciples leaving all that they knew; it was the promise of community, of connection, of relationship. Who doesn't want that?

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The Advent Retreat asks that we also pray in the tradition of Ignatius Loyola at the end of our reflection by praying the Examen.
Loving God, today I am ever so grateful for my friends...for the community that I have created for myself, for the time and space to be with these friends, even in the difficult moments.

I am grateful for a teacher who did not meet my student's disrespectful and threatening "test" with anger or malice, but instead with patience and grace. Even though he didn't understand what was happening, he was able to handle the situation without escalating it and in a way that may allow him to build a relationship with this student in the future.

Please help me to better manage the time with which you have blessed me. Help me with focus and attention.

I hope I was able to show my friend some of your love, compassion, understanding and empathy today. She needed it, and I tried to give it without reservation or second-guessing my own reactions.

Forgive me for the times I fall short with my patience, or spend my time, energy and focus on things that don't deserve it as much as my work and my students do. Give me the strength and the patience for SM, TH, MM and more.
I look forward to tomorrow...to being a better reflection of you to all I see.

Day 4 of 30

Travel by Chris Guillebeau

If we live truly, we shall see truly. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not everyone wants to travel the world, but most people can identify at least one place in the world they’d like to visit before they die. Where is that place for you, and what will you do to make sure you get there?

My list of places is long...the A's dominate the top of the list--Africa (South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Namibia), Australia, and Alaska. I do think Africa tops the list though...my mother's cousins spent some of their childhood there--in Johannesburg in the 1960s. They've been back many times. I want to visit the cities (Jo'burg, Cape Town), as well as safari/game park. I want to experience something so vastly different from my world.

How will I ensure I get there? I don't know, but I know I will. It'll take planning and saving...and hopefully someone with whom I can travel. A traveling companion is probably non-negotiable...there are a lot of things I am willing to do alone, but this is a trip that will be richer for the company, I think.

Day 3 of 30

One Strong Belief by Buster Benson

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?

I've been thinking and thinking about this one. I truly can't think of one of my core truths and beliefs that my family and good friends don't share in some way, shape or form. Our paths to those truths may differ, but the truths are common.

Day 2 of 30

Liz Danzico – Today

Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. – Ralph Waldo Emerson,Self-Reliance

If ‘the voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tracks,’ then it is more genuine to be present today than to recount yesterdays. How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.

Be the duck.

Day 1 of 30

Gwen Bell – 15 Minutes to Live

We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live.

1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes.

2. Write the story that has to be written.

Afraid of each other? Not me. I am one who craves community. I love to be surrounded by people, to hear stories, and tell my own. Life is to be shared, of this I am sure. It is possible that being the product of a large, loud, story-telling Irish family ruined me for life in the very best way.

Community has not always been easy for me to find, though. I struggled to find my place—spent many years being more comfortable in a room full of adults or small children than with my own peers. I felt lost and often alone. I had wonderful friends along the way—some of them came and went with the years, and others stuck around and we delight in our years of friendship even today. But it seemed everywhere I looked, people had a ‘group.’ People belonged somewhere. Even these friends of mine had groups of friends…groups that didn’t quite have room for me.

I kept looking though. I moved 3,000 miles away from everyone and everything I'd ever known in search of the elusive community. Community was promised to me, but once again, community failed me. It was not going to come easily. I was going to have to work for it. I was going to have to be brave, going to have to strike out on my own and do things that scared me.

I am so grateful for that lesson. If I only had a few minutes left to live, I'd be most grateful for that one...learning that I just had to trust myself enough to jump. My tribe was there waiting. With a net.

wow...

just in from a 30th birthday party. the tiny dive bar was PACKED with the birthday girl's friends and family....no fewer than 13 of whom i've known since i was 6. a few of those i hadn't seen in 15-20 years. it was a little crazy.

i am one who craves community. i'm lucky to have it in so many forms and combinations.

risk

‎"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." ~Anais Nin

This is my theme of the day for tomorrow. I have to blossom...even if it hurts. I have to leap, even if there's no net.