Lent

I've never really paid much attention to Lent. I didn't really know what it was and I'm still not completely sure. I always thought it was particular to a specific religion and since I had never heard of it in mine, I never thought about it.

I subscribe to an online newsletter from The Upper Room. Every day I get some scriptures and then an inspirational story. Today I saw two different newsletters for Lent. I read them and they were just so inspiring to me. They really spoke to me. I printed them off and I think I'm going to put them in my written journal that I keep at home.

I have my online journal here, but I also have a spiral bound sketchbook at home that I use for drawings, collages, just anything that inspires me. Wish Jar Journal is a great inspiration to me for collages, and other things that inspire me that I want to write down. The other day I drew my first mandala. I realized after drawing it that it resembled spring, which reflects what I feel these days. I am really wanting spring to come. I have also been using rubber stamps in my written journal, and anything else that inspires me. I think I'm going to put these two entries from The Upper Room Newsletters. They are as follows:

PRAYER FOR RENEWAL

COME, SPIRIT, breath of God,
breathe new life into me.
Blow away the cobwebs in my mind;
clear away the debris in my soul.
Bring healing to my wounds and comfort to my grief.
Refresh my spirit, set my feel to dancing,
and set my heart ablaze.
Wind of God, touch my life
and open me to your direction,
Amen.

-- Larry J. Peacock
OPENINGS
********************************

TREASURE

SO OFTEN, Divine One
the tasks before me
feel overwhelming and impossible.
The expectations of others weigh heavy
upon my shoulders.

At times like these,
I think I need to do something
to invest more time and effort
to pray longer and harder
to embark on a journey
in search of the Kingdom.

When I am too tired to "do" anymore
when I am content just to "be"
when I stop long enough to rest
when I am finally ready to give up

I find myself sitting on a treasure
You have hidden in a field
waiting for me to discover.

-- Susan Gregg-Schroeder
IN THE SHADOW OF GOD'S WINGS

Dreams

I've been having some really weird dreams lately, but I usually can't remember too much about them the next day. I do remember one in particular from last night (one of many from last night), but I don't want to share it. It's just too weird and out of character for me. Way out of character. I found myself wondering this morning where in the world did that come from and what did I eat last night? We had spaghetti and that usually doesn't make me dream, but it could have been that excess of cookies I ate yesterday.

I have never kept a dream journal, but having those dreams reminded me this morning of a dream book that we used to have when I was growing up. It was called Zolar's Dream Book. Whenever we would have a dream we would look it up just for fun. We never took any of it seriously, but it was fun to see what it said about the dream we had had the night before.

This also reminds me of a time when Eddie and I were dating, back in the late 70's. We both worked on a bookmobile of our public library and one day we saw a book called Linda Goodman's Love Signs. We are both Pisces, so we looked it up, just for fun, to see what it said. It said that two Pisces together are not supposed to get along in a relationship. Well, we are getting ready to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary next month. So, there, Ms. Goodman.

The last time I saw the dream book the pages were yellow and brittle with age. If it's anywhere, my mother has it. I'm going by there after work today, so I'll try to remember and ask her if she still has it. If not, or if she does and it's in bad shape, maybe I'll check to see if there is a newer version.

Just for fun.

Journals

I started getting a sore throat yesterday after lunch. I'm probably getting a cold, so I see some down, nesting time coming up. I'm feeling a little bleary eyed after taking cold medicine this morning. I'm at work today, but I may stay at home tomorrow.

I've been reading some other blogs about journaling, collages, etc., and it occured to me that I would like to try that. When I was taking art classes, the teacher told us to keep an art journal and just put everything in it that we wanted to. Anything that occured to us, sketches, anything goes but I never did it then. Yesterday after work I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a spiral bound sketch book with blank pages. I got to thinking about how much I like rubber stamps. I found some really pretty ones awhile back at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and other stores. So I decided that maybe for each day I would use a rubber stamp that fits my mood that day and then write something in my journal for that day. Or another day it might be a quick sketch of something. Or it might be a collage. I would like to keep this up on a regular basis, but I want it to be something that I look forward to and not something that I feel like I have to keep up every day. So, I'll see how it goes.