Water

Welcome to Carabiner for those of you visiting as part of the 40 Days in the Word Lenten Bible reading. Please click HERE to watch video of Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil. Be sure to scroll down and watch the gorgeous video.

As the snow comes down again, I pray that you are refreshed by the Living Water of God.

Visit again, soon.

Peace.

Impact

You are needed in some way, large or small, right where you are. Though this timeless truth is spoken frequently in various ways, too many of us fall into the temptation of believing this is a farce. Sure, we are also needed in other ways as time rolls along. But, right now you can impact the world just as you are.

A short while ago I was speaking with a family mourning the loss of "Grandma." Though she had not been able to walk or talk for a year or more, stories from her past flowed from what seemed like an endless source. Even as this woman was affected by Alzheimer's disease (AD), she continued to contribute in beautiful ways to the world around her.

Most notably, the family credited her with teaching her great granddaughter how to walk. As many people with AD do, this woman spent many of her waking hours walking the halls. Her family realized this would be a wonderful way for her to connect with her soon to be toddling great grandchild. And, so it happened that this little munchkin learned to walk in the hallways of a memory care unit.

Though she won't remember those days, vicarious memories of Great Grandma will stick with her as she grows and matures. Hopefully, she'll realize how special those moments were as she walked alongside an old woman with a failing memory.

Stuff we're meant to be

This weekend we hosted Up with People cast members--the sister and bro-in-law of my BFF Beth, from college. Beth and another sister came down from Minneapolis to see sister Ellen and the Up with People show. We ate a good deal of soup during the snow and ice. It was a very fun weekend.
Even more than fun, it was an inspiring weekend. Beth is an inspiring young woman. She loves people with abandon, and shows it through visits, care packages, phone calls, and her work with the American Refugee Committee. I am inspired to love others more deeply because of Beth. It is good that her visit came in the beginning of Lent. Beth and the season of Lent--inspiring me to be the person God created me to be.

Lent Poem

Late winter's time for counting down
these lengthening days and weeks
toward a blossoming that must embrace
the savaging by hammer, nails and thorn,
the spilling of the blood, the cry,
the bringing down and cradling,
the tearing of the veil, the cave,
the sealing with the stone.

A time for leaning forward,
stripping bare all vestiges of hope,
visiting again this stuff we're made of,
stuff we're meant to be,
thrusting upward-bulbwise--through
the frozen dark toward
a penetration that may tear the skin,
yet still can roll the stone away.

J. Barrie Shepherd, Christian Century Magazine, April 5, 2003

snow and ash

Today is a day of contrast -
blizzard and tornado
sin and purity
selfishness and love
wage and gift
snow and ash

Today, Ash Wednesday, is no different from other days, only we focus on the contrast this day.

Check out these lyrics from Ashes by Jonathan Rundman:

i got ashes on my forehead
and i'm trying hard to learn
this dust that i have started from
is where i shall return
and i will follow out of love
'cause there is nothing i can earn
i got ashes on my forehead
and i'm trying hard to learn

How can I wash off this dirty, black cross? I know that I am marked by the cross of Jesus Christ every day, but on this day I can see it. Others can see it. It changes the way I live, the way I interact, the way I see myself. I see the dust to which I will return. I can see the dirty, black cross that somehow makes me clean.

Lent is Here. The Shopping is Done.

Lent is here which begins my fast of buying new things. I know myself well, and know that I've gotta keep my bad self out of stores, as they are the temptation my impulse buying self will be thinking about when we pray, "Lead us not into temptation." And so, to keep me out of most stores for the next forty days, I went a little wild buying items this past week. Items purchased, in order that I may not be tempted by tea lights and markers in the next weeks:

• Kids books for nieces and nephew
• Robeez, those cute little kid booties, for my new niece
• Book for the coming soon un-born niece
• Asprin
• Aleve
• Chewable calcium chocolates
• toothbrush x 2
• Floss
• Thank you notes x 2 packs
• tights
• Valentine Kleenexes
• dish soap
• dishwasher detergent

My hope is that this cache of items will keep me out of Target. We shall see how Lent progresses. So far, we are approximately fourteen hours in, and I haven't bought a thing. Victory!