Monday Blessing list

Dear World

Possibly more than you ever thought of asking about RantWoman's view of the world. It's Monday morning spiritual inventory and you're getting it anyway. Cope!

Today's gratitudes.
--Further rantable material from the "adoring..." passage in recent announcement sheets: Are we worshipping silence /silencing or worshipping God?!?!?!?!

--A tangle of threads from recent Meeting for Business, Meeting for Worship, and Adult Education moments about minutes and recording clerks, indexing, the ways different ministries rise and coalesce in our Meeting, mixed in with a wealth of process nerd complexities about one recent set of minutes, pterodcactyls flying from RantWoman's mouth in Business Meeting in connection with the word confidentiality, and other generous contributions to the community spiritual compost heap. RantWoman was recently in a meeting where she brought up both a number of her points and specific requests to discuss matters at hand; that did not occur to RantWoman's satisfaction in the time available. Now   RantWoman MEANS to write several email messages to different combinations of people. Hold that in the Light.

--About the messages RantWoman would predict in Meeting for Worship this week about Gaza, Ebola particularly practical concern about support of health care workers and life insurance, and world peace in general. There were remembrances of recently departed elders, gratitude while grieving, and concern for a beloved elder currently ailing.
   Also another exciting moment of car or in this case garbage truck vs ped collision to remind RantWoman of beefs about insensitivity and llack of awareness in certain topical quarters as far as trauma in Meeting for worship, followed by something of a non-sequitur from someone on RantWoman's vocal ministry frequent flyer list. A memorial will happen at the site of the message. As a result of the message there will be at least two rather than only one Quaker there.
    The car vs ped trauma death is at an intersection RantWoman is already aware of problems about and involves a garbage truck driver who, chances are could not see a pedestrian and a pedestrian who had no traffic signals to protect her from four-way stop mess. Conveniently, the four-way stop mess is right outside the Harborview trauma ward. Hold both that point and sarcasm about that point in the Light.
   The nonsequitur part of the next message is about forgiveness as an alternative to drinking poison and hoping one's enemy will die, loving enemies and praying for those who persecute you. RantWoman could SORT OF shoehorn the love your enemies bit into the general tenor of the day, especially since Adult Religious Ed also kind of got there too. But, the garbage truck driver is no one's enemy. The traffic engineers and those who need to have (more!) conversations need to be prayed for but RantWoman would not go so far as to use the word "enemies."
  RantWoman is also tartly thinking "we are all ministers of God" when certain invitations are made at the end of worship!!!! But for better or worse, RantWoman heard a rich braid of threads for people to follow up on and did not hear anyone desparately distressed by the garbage truck death message; RantWoman will be spending her worshipful energy about the topic at the actual memorial!
  RantWoman IS, further, working with threads about email and thinking the phrase "THINK OF IT AS PRAYER, pretty weird prayer, but prayer." might really, really be on point. Hold further emergences on this theme in the Light.

--The morning view out RantWoman's windows.  The tops of glorious leafy Trees. The solid back of the Lighthouse for the Blind factory. Off in the distance, obliquely enough skyline MAYBE to provide someone with really powerful binoculars a good view into RantWoman's apartment but generally an environment inviting RantWoman to admit daily, at least for short intervals before and after shower, that there are times when she just does not care about clothing. Also known as a cheaper way to bare one's life to the heavens than the women's restrooms at the Columbia tower club in downtown Seattle. And did we mention some young Friend's getting spiritually naked thing from a couple years ago?

--The fruit flies in RantWoman's apartment. Options to compost: GOOD thing. Composting material attracting fruit flies before RantWoman gets the containers dumped? Ummmm.... True confession: RantWoman is so absurdly happy to be able to see the fruit flies that .... 
     Bear in mind,RantWoman cannot provide the facial interactions everyone feels entitled to expect. RantWoman cannot read without great difficulty along with profuse needto whine about every single difficulty associated with every single available format. But RantWoman can see the fruit flies. Good Morning World.

--Black cat hair on a white couch. Lemons falling out of the fridge onto the white floor: not so much. And we won't even talk about gravity and plastic containers!

--a few minutes to send Nature porn (if you need RantWoman to explain why it's nature porn...), post pithy political wisdom and remember Faith who says She has no faith on Facebook.
   Consider options for "Another one Bites the dust" riff not only on Faith's life including many years in dry dusty southeastern MT close in MT terms to the city where the Rant family lived but also on RantWoman's inventory of other blind people in her Meeting.
    RantWoman is MORE than Bad Friend enough  to admit that right now she feels quite blessed by an overabundance of reasons to keep saying "see, see.: about numerous fixations. But RantWoman would not mind if the "see, see: topics could show up without so many deaths  attached. Bleccch!

--Conversations with sundry other Quaker adults about kids in their lives having to find their own paths as far as Nerf weaponry. (There is an Owww/ super soaker / imaginary zebras at the dog park association tangle lurking here too but this is blog as Quaker journal model of blogging so if something is not  clear yet, TOUGH!)

--Irrepressible Nephew and his large number of groupies who all recently went on a middle school mission trip to meet and serve the homeless in Portland. Also something in slides that made peers crack up and high-five Irrepressible Nephew during the closing slide show.  A sudden infusion of auntie reserve in public as far as actually homeless relatives in the US and relatives living with who knows what all violence in Guatemala. Listening to the youth present, RantWoman thinks at least one other youth might also live closer to these topics than the rest of the Presbyterians automatically assume. But don't DAREask in public?

--Before the Middle shcool mission report back, RantMom invited RantWoman to a WONDERFUL concert by a new choral group called the Wellspring ensemble. RantWoman means to write up the concert as its own entry and to appreciate the specific choices of music. But what deeply moved both RantMom and RantWoman was how younger adults with musical experience got together to rehearse wonderful music. The energy of the whole event reminded both RantMom and RantWoman of RantDad's energy and focus around music and musical spirituality, a blessing to renew!

Now RantWoman has FAR too much to do to have spent this much time... but at least RantWoman is blessed with a somewhat clearer head!