Easter Blessings

Today has been a remarkable day, and it's only 8:30 in the morning!

Tony and I went to the Easter Vigil at church last night, and so were not going to go to mass this morning.  However, I didn't want to just sleep in on Easter morning, so we had planned to hike up Quarry Hill and have our own little sunrise service.  The sunrise would occur at around 6:55 am, so we left the house by 6:30 and drove up there.  We were surprised along the way by how many cars seemed to be following us.  When we got to the parking lot, to our great surprise and amazement, there was a bagpiper, in full Scottish regalia, playing!  As we got out of the car, we realized that there must be some kind of organized service going on.  We joined some of the other folks who were gathering, and introduced ourselves.  They explained that they were from a Congregationalist church in Rochester, and that they do this every year.  Usually they hike up to the cemetery in the park, left from the state hospital days around the turn of the 20th century, but today, because of all the mud, ice, and snow, they decided it was too treacherous to attempt.  So we stayed in the parking lot.  Around 6:45 they handed out bulletins, and the simple service began.  There was the Gospel reading from John, several Easter hymns (some accompanied by bagpipe), and a prayer litany.  Tony and I felt that this was God surprising us with an Easter blessing that we could not have predicted or planned, and it was GOOD.  And very cold.

When we returned home, Tony took a hot shower to warm up while I made breakfast.  I had bought a tube of crescent rolls at Aldi the other day, and I decided to make cinnamon-sugar pastries out of them.  I unrolled the dough, spread each triangle with butter, then sprinkled on a cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Then I rolled each up into something that looked kind of like the Pope's hat, sprayed them with cooking spray, and sprinkled on some more sugar.  Into the oven at 350 for about 11 minutes, they were perfect.  The butter melted and sort of fried the bottoms, while the middles were buttery and just a little gooey and fluffy, while the tops were crusty with sugar.  I think they were even better than the Pillsbury Grands cinnamon rolls with frosting that my family eats at Christmas.  They were smaller, somewhat healthier without all that frosting, and much easier to eat.  I'm declaring them a win.

A Modest Proposal

On September 2, 2012, Tony H. Miller asked me to marry him.  I said yes.  Here is our story.

Thursday Thirteen

For more information on the Thursday Thirteen go here.

1. Chiropractic care.
2. Being able to bend over and tie my shoes without feeling dizzy.
3. Cats, specifically, Abby.
4. Birthdays, birthday cake, and snickerdoodles.
5. The freedom to question and politely disagree with professors.
6. Books, blogs, and the ability to edit.
7. A kitchen to cook in, food to cook, and wonderful people to help me eat it.
8. The Oxford English Dictionary, and the many and various words contained therein.
9. Ice packs.
10. The blessings of work, even part-time work.
11. Vegetables.
12. Cool fall weather.
13. Sweatshirts.

Thursday Thirteen

Susan over at Wednesday Grace has suggesting bringing back the "Tuesday Ten", except now as "Thursday Thirteen".  I think it's a good idea, so I'm joining in, at least for this week.

Thank you, Lord, for
1. a beautiful place to live
2. the generosity of friends in offering #1 and in helping me get there
3. libraries, and the helpful, friendly people who work in them
4. patience, and the ability to recognize the need for it
5. meaningful work
6. the good fortune of loved ones near and far
7. our capacity for big dreams, even when they seem out of reach
8. good food, and people to feed it to
9. the incredible diversity of life on this planet
10. John McCutcheon, and how You speak to me through the songs I get stuck in my head
11. books, both for information and for pleasure
12. the gift of ingenuity You've given our species, to create technology that allows me to see and talk to Susan and her son from over six hundred miles away
13. Your amazing, forgiving, gracious love, and our calling to spread it around.

Salvation Belongs to our God

When people talk about being Saved (and you know there's a capital letter there), I always get a little itchy.  Not because I'm uncomfortable with talking about it, but because often it seems the people who talk about it that way insist that there be a life-changing, spirit-altering Moment of Being Saved.  That's not how it's been for me.  Here's my best answer to the when-were-you-saved question.  It is not meant to be inflammatory, or rude, or critical.  It's just my experience and my interpretation.

I was saved when Jesus died on the cross.  Salvation is something that God does; my actions can have no effect whatsoever on whether I am saved or not.  However, my understanding of this amazing act of grace has been growing since I was a child.  I hope it will continue to grow throughout my lifetime, by thought, prayer, and revelation.
The only thing I can really DO with salvation is accept it, and that is not something to be done once and then remembered forever.  Instead, it is a daily (sometimes an hourly) task of admitting my sinfulness, my inability to fix the situation, and putting my life in God's hands.  If that's what you mean by being Saved, then I try to do it every day.

If you have had a life-changing, spirit-altering Moment of Being Saved, that's awesome.  But please don't assume that it is or should be that way for everyone.

From head to heart

This weekend, I:
went to the farmer's market for the first time this season
attended and sang in a funeral
visited a baby boy
watched the sun set over a lake
and finally, cried.

Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness

The past few days have really helped me believe in the goodness of humanity.  We had about a foot and a half of snow on Saturday-- much more at one time than we are accustomed to.  It was declared a snow emergency, everything was canceled, and some roads are still not cleared of snow.  The parking lot at my apartment is one of those places.  On Saturday, I stayed inside all day until about 7pm, when I decided to go out and see how badly my car was buried, and try to dig it out so I wouldn't have to Sunday morning before church.  I found a shovel near the entrance to my building, so I borrowed it.  I had been working for fifteen minutes or so, getting totally absorbed in the work, insulated by my hat, scarf, and hood, when suddenly a voice behind me says, "Digging out?"

I think I jumped and perhaps yelped in surprise.  It was the guy who (I think) lives above me and works maintenance on the building.  He offered to help me finish moving the GIANT drift of snow, and as he is taller and stronger than me, was finished much quicker than I would have been.  It was very kind of him, especially considering that he said he had been shoveling snow all day.

Sunday morning, having already dug out (or so I thought), I went to get the car out.  But I realized that digging out my own car was not enough; there was a single set of tire ruts to drive in, but getting into them was another matter.  To back out of my parking space enough to clear the huge piles of snow on either side, and then turn around enough to get going the right way, required more space than was there.  Even with four-wheel drive, I got stuck in the snowbank.  So I went to find the shovel and dig out again.  Who should be using it but the same guy from last night, having the same problem with his car that I was having?  He was trying to get out to buy some gas for the snowblower, so he wouldn't have to shovel all day again.  So I helped him dig out and pushed the car while he gunned the engine, and he finally got going.  Then he helped me dig out and get going the right way.

Later on Sunday, I went church again for the rehearsal for the evening service.  When I got there, I realized that I couldn't get into the parking lot my usual way, because the city snow plows had shed snow about two feet deep blocking the entrance.  So after I found the other entrance clear, I parked, got a shovel from the narthex, and started clearing the snow.  There was a lot of it, and it was taking a while.  I was taking a short breather, when I realized that there was a car behind me, coming out of the parking lot.  I turned, and it was an older couple in a big SUV-- with a plow on the front.  The man got out and said, "Can we help you with that?"  I said, "Yes, please!"  They proceeded to clear the entrance, saving me at least half an hour of hard work.  As they were leaving, I asked if they were members of the church.  They said no.  I asked for their name, so we (the church) could properly thank them, and they wouldn't give it!  Just said they were "two angels, passing by".  So sweet.

Then today, before work, I stopped by the apartment office because my heat hasn't been working.  They said they'd take a look at it while I was at work.  Then I went to Target to buy my own shovel-- figured it might come in handy.  Then after work, around 6pm, it did!  I was about to head out to do some errands, and I saw an older man trying to drive out of a snowy parking space he had backed into.  His tires were spinning and he was not moving.  I offered to dig him out with my (brand new) shovel.  Tried that a while, still wasn't moving.  Then I tried pushing.  Still nothing.  Then we switched; he pushed, and I drove.  Finally, I put his car in first gear and we were able to rock it out of the snow.  Hooray!

THEN, when I was home again after my errands, I found the notice on my door saying they had been in to look at the heater.  Turns out there's something wrong, but they're not sure exactly what it is, so in the meantime, they gave me a space heater.  As if that wasn't enough, a little while later the friendly maintenance man stopped by and made sure I was okay, and explained what the problems might be and how/when they might get fixed.  Again, very kind and thoughtful of him.

All of this to say, Minnesota is a great place to live if you want friendly neighbors and the opportunity to "pay it forward".  It's hard to say whether this is Christmas Cheer, or Holiday Spirit, or just the natural human urge to band together against the elements, but it's a pretty amazing feeling-- that you're a part of a network of people who don't even know each other, but support each other all the same.