A Prayer for Peace

The past year has been VERY full of exciting things and I'm happy to report that the horizon is filled with more adventures! In the midst of excitement and happiness has also been some stress. Currently, most of my stresses center around beginning to pack up my belongings and wondering about my seminary housing assignment, having a hysterectomy in mid-June, getting rid of this lingering cold, and seeing that last paycheck arrive in eight days and wondering about the lengthy dry spell to follow! While these are VERY minor compared to a world full of people with worse things to worry about, they are still worrisome to me.

Me in Central India (near Kwardha) in 2015

Heavenly Father, please grant me peace of mind and calm my troubled heart. My soul is like a turbulent sea. I can't seem to find my balance so I stumble and worry constantly. Give me the strength and clarity of mind to find my purpose and walk the path you've laid out for me. I trust your Love God, and know that you will heal this stress. Just as the sun rises each day against the dark of night. Please bring me clarity with the light of God.
In your name I pray, Amen.

(Found at http://www.prayers-for-special-help.com/prayer-for-peace-of-mind.html)

SPRINGY Delight

I love the early spring, when the world seems to be in bloom and there's a good thunderstorm every now and then! I totally love big storms too, especially if I don't have to drive in them and no person or property gets hurt. One thing I used to do a lot of, and need to do more of, is sit in the grass and breathe in the world. 

Sometimes when I'm driving during the spring or the Fall, I'll see beautiful patches of land or gorgeous scenes near City Park and I have the urge to pull over and enjoy chilling in the grass for a while. It's pretty rare that I can do that these days unless I actually plan for it. Here is a little of that joy, in a photo :-) YAY!

An afternoon walk

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a walk around the University of New Orleans campus. It was SUCH a gorgeous day, albeit too warm (85 and felt like 89) for this time of year. I needed to clear my head a bit. I have a super giant trip coming up after Easter and while I'm very excited about it, I'm also a bit nervous. It's to a place where Americans aren't welcomed often and in this time of "Trump talk", volatile angers, and pent up frustrations from some Americans manifesting themselves in negative ways, it's even more nerve-wracking to know I'm going to stick out even more than usual. I've become extremely strong though so I should hopefully be fine. Life is SO SHORT. I wish humans were better to each other in general.

                   

Between now and that trip, I have two festivals, three more days of classes, and a whole joyful mess of solemn Holy Week services. I LOVE Holy Week, but having classes makes it so much harder. I miss the times when we had spring break at the university so I could devote my whole self to the services and to a different sense of being. Even more, I cannot wait until I devote myself fully to liturgical endeavors. I need to prep for my trip too, get some lectures down, put together some music to take with me to give away, and ponder life in general.

Anyway, in spite of the hellish pollen that's coating every particle of every particle, it was a nice calming walk and beautiful too. I need to schedule more time to do that. I would also like to get out to the lakefront more often and to my favorite haunts in City Park!!!

                

The UNO campus was virtually destroyed in hurricane Katrina and hadn't really been too lush before that, but it's grown in the ten years I've been here into a very pretty space with pockets of flowery beauty, trees, and even some of those lush areas! Currently, they are re-doing the lily pond and I'm hoping the ducks will like the finished product and stick around!

A Collect for Evening

Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is

past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and

awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in

Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake

of your love. Amen.
~ from the Book of Common Prayer

Evening light at the Sagrada familia, Barcelona. Photo by Caroline Carson

In Calm and Storm

"There are some things you learn best in calm and some in storm."

~ Willa Cather

View of the Rapti river in Chitwan, Nepal at the edge of the Tharu village

#AdventWord #LISTEN - Listen to Nature, for here are God's treasures

Today's #AdventWord is #LISTEN - December 15, 2015
Listen to the voices of nature: to pattering raindrops, squalling wind, falling snow, chirping birds, buzzing insects, murmuring springs, to the hum of life. Listen, for here are God's treasures. Listening will help us with ALL of the AdventWords we have had so far! 

Rain on the leaves outside a Province IV Synod mtg. at Kanuga in NC :-)

‪#‎Episcopal‬ ‪#‎Anglican‬ ‪#‎SSJE‬ ‪#‎EDOLA‬ AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, photo post, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.

#AdventWord #WORSHIP

Today's #AdventWord is #WORSHIP - Friday, December 4, 2015

AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, photo post, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.

#AdventWord #SSJE

An Afternoon in NOLA City Park

Sometimes in the winter and often in the spring, I LOVE to take some time out and go to City Park (New Orleans) to chill amongst the beauty! 

I semi-regularly go to the walking track near the NOLA Museum of Art and actually exercise, but avoid it like the plague in summertime because it's approximately one billion degrees and a million percent humidity here. If that sounds like it's an exaggeration, it's not.....it's completely true.

                               

Anyway, before I moved to NOLA, apparently most of City Park was comprised of golf courses and while there has only been one in the almost ten years I've lived here, post-Katrina, they are now being re-developed. So, a giant swath of the park will no longer be the lovely, natural, and free area I've known it to be. 

                        

It always makes me so happy to drive through the Harrison Avenue cut-through and see people out playing with their dogs or kids. On some Tuesdays after my St. Paul's staff mtg and in my way to UNO, I stop and sit for a little while with my morning coffee. I haven't been able to in a while since I have lessons now on Tuesdays, but I do still steal some Friday afternoon time or weekend time to go and read in some of my favorite spots! 

                          

I've been soooooooooo happy over the years to see the lovely Spanish moss returning to the trees! Though I was a new resident after hurricane Katrina, I noticed its absence and it struck me as rather odd for this Savannah / sub-tropical climate area. 

City Park helps me relax. It gives me (and countless others) a place to be out "in the wild" without driving outside city limits and while being relatively (and arguably) safe because roads are nearby, it's reasonably populated, and one still probably has cell phone service. 

                       

I love the place. While it's exciting (and brings the city tons of revenue and glitz, I'm sad to have seen the start of rebuilding the golf courses. I have no idea how many of them they're planning to rebuild, but I surely hope there will be some of my favorite places left when it's all said and done!

PS. Two weeks ago, a whole field was covered in giant, beautiful thistle! 

                         

You Are the Peace

                                             You are the peace of all things calm

                                              You are the place to hide from harm

You are the light that shines in dark

You are the heart's eternal spark

You are the door that's open wide

You are the guest who waits inside

You are the stranger at the door

You are the calling of the poor

You are my Lord and with me still

You are my love, keep me from ill

You are the light, the truth, the way

You are my Saviour this very day.