It is possible

I got to go to the book fair last night! Each year the local hospital auxiliary collects, organizes, and sells thousands of books as a fund raiser. And each year I enjoy purchasing a bag full. One delightful purchase from this year's haul is called The Cosmic Dance: An Invitation to Experience Our Oneness, by Joyce Rupp. Today I'm enjoying this poem from it:

It Is Possible

it is possible
to become so one with Earth
that every flower
perfumes the soul,

every snowflake
sends icy softness
dancing through veins,

every drop of rain
trickles down vessels
of the heart,

every cloud in the sky
sails along
songlines of the spirit,

every earthquake
rumbles in the gut,

every tide of the sea
moves in and out of self.

it is possible
to become one
with Earth

just as it is possible
to become one
with all people,
their pain, my pain,
their joy, my joy,
their struggle and delight
an echo of my own.

it is possible to become one.

it is possible.

Spring blooms

It was really good to be gone, and it is really good to be back.
Upon returning home after a two-week road trip, I get to see spring blooms. How cool is that? In all moments, I want to know appreciation.

Your broken heart

On this “Good” Friday I call to mind and heart the extreme love act of Jesus. These words help me enter in:

“I look at your dead body on the cross. The soldiers, who have broken the legs of the two men crucified with you, do not break your legs, but one of them pierces your side with a lance, and immediately blood and water flow out. Your heart is broken, the heart that did not know hatred, revenge, resentment, jealousy or envy but only love, love so deep and so wide that it embraces your Father in heaven as well as all humanity in time and space. Your broken heart is the source of my salvation, the foundation of my hope, the cause of my love. It is the sacred place where all that was, is and ever shall be is held in unity. There all suffering has been suffered, all anguish lived, all loneliness endured, all abandonment felt and all agony cried out. There, human and divine love have kissed, and there God and all men and women of history are reconciled. All the tears of the human race have been cried there, all pain understood and all despair touched. Together with all people of all times, I look up to you whom they have pierced, and I gradually come to know what it means to be part of your body and your blood, what it means to be human.”– from Henri Nouwen’s Good Friday prayer, written 1986

With yourself

“Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself.
I mean do not be disheartened by your imperfections, but always rise up with fresh courage. How are we to be patient in dealing with our neighbor’s faults if we are impatient in dealing with our own? S/he who is fretted by his/her own failings will not correct them. All profitable correction comes from a calm and peaceful mind.”

– St. Francis DeSales

Word order

How we choose to use and order words fascinate me. Here’s a few quotes where my perspective is significantly adjusted by word order.

It is not how old you are, but how you are old. -Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910)

It’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years. – Abraham Lincoln

To the world you may be just one person; but to one person you may be the world. – Brandi Snyder

Don't believe

"Don't believe everything you think."

Every time I read that I chuckle or smile.

Longest distance

A friend is on pilgrimage and passed along this quote -

"The longest distance a pilgrim will ever travel is from his head to his heart."
- Sister Mary, of the Brigidine Sisters, Kildare, Ireland

Eat together - eat better

… they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart… - Acts 2:46

Teens are not getting enough calcium, only about a third eat breakfast daily, about a third were at or above the 85^th percentile for weight, and many (over half of females and nearly a third of males) used unhealthy weight control methods. That’s the bad news. But there’s more than bad news.

Good news: University of Minnesota researchers found adolescents who participated in regular family meals – five times or more per week – reported more healthful diets and meal patterns compared to adolescents without regular family meals. A comprehensive study, Project EAT (Eating Among Teens), surveyed 4,746 adolescents in urban and suburban school districts of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro, at age 12or 13 and again 5 years later. [For more, google “Project EAT” or go to http://www.epi.umn.edu/research/eat/newsletter.shtm]

Likely that’s not such a surprise. Intuitively we recognize that having a meal around a table together lends itself to eating less processed and snack foods. Studies have documented that family meals contribute to intake of fewer soft drinks and fat, and increased intake of nutrients like calcium, fiber, iron, vitamins B, C, and E, and more fruits and vegetables. [http://www.mealsmatter.org/EatingForHealth/Topics/article.aspx?articleId=4 *this Meals Matter web site page has a few recipe links and some ideas for simple yet interesting nutritious meals.]

Like

– purchase a ready-made sauce or marinade and add it to sautéed chicken, beef or shrimp;

– cook on weekends and double a favorite recipe, enjoying one meal now and freezing the other (soups and casseroles freeze especially well); cook up a quantity of grains (brown or wild rice, black beans, or one of my ‘newer’ favs of barley or quinoa) and freeze in smaller portions for quick addition to soup or meal;

– purchase a freshly roasted chicken from the grocery store and round out the meal with preferred grain and a green salad. Aim for both a vegetable and fruit - they can be raw and presented simply - at the main meal of the day. I’ve heard of people having fresh fruit or yogurt for dessert. I must confess that my favorite quick easy dessert is frozen Keebler fudge mint cookies (no, not so healthy, I know). I put fruit on the table at the meal, yes; I just don’t call it dessert!

More good news: family meals have benefits beyond nutrition. Project EAT found –

“Specifically, kids who reported eating more family meals per week reported significantly less substance use and significantly better academic and mental health than those eating fewer meals with family. These associations were apparent across the spectrum of meal frequency each additional meal per week conferred some additional benefit. … When statistically controlling for family connectedness, the researchers still found that family meals “remained a significant protective factor for substance use, grades (for girls only), depressive symptoms and suicide behaviors (for girls only).” Additionally, “In analyses adjusting for all the family meal variables, priority of family meals emerged as the most consistent protective factor for disordered eating.” [http://www.apa.org/pi/cyf/fam4.html]

The supper table at our house holds some of my fondest memories of family, right up there with the camping trips! May your family meals as well be full of good food and fun.

Wishes for us all to enjoy eating together and eating better! And that's no April fools.

So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? - Ecclesiastes 2:24-25