Baby Love

My mom sent me these photos of when I was in Texas visiting Sam a month ago. I think I just fell in love with him all over again.

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but it would lack a certain pizazz!

On Saturday morning, I walked down the road from the retreat house where we were staying to the beautiful public rose garden across from the famous mission in Santa Barbara. It was a loverly, warm day, and I couldn't resist snapping away with our camera. The roses in this garden are just gorgeous! 

 

As I was moseying through the garden, I was so tickled by the wonderful names people have given to these flowers. It reminded me of the Garden of Eden when God invited Adam (Eve hadn't been created yet) to name the animals. 

Two books I've been reading lately (Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engel and To Own a Dragon by Donald Miller) have both talked about the power of naming and being named. I think it is a wonderful honor that even today, we get to join with Adam in naming our children, our spouses (terms of endearment), our friends (nicknames), and even flowers! My maternal grandfather raised and developed different varieties of hibiscus, and even named two of his created varieties after my sister and me.

Enjoy the beauty and the names of these Santa Barbara roses. (Note: The roses pictured below do not necessarily correspond with the pictured names.) 

In His Image

The reason for my retreat this weekend was to make space in my life to be alone with God. To create some margin just for Him and me. To open my heart up to Him and quiet my mind enough to hear from Him.

I can't say that I had this crazy mountaintop experience with God while on retreat. It was, however, a peaceful time with Him. If I came away with one impression of what it is He spoke to me, I would say that He affirmed my calling as an artist. All weekend long, I found myself responding to Him (and to what I was experiencing on the retreat) through artistic expression--writing, taking pictures, painting and drawing. It all felt like such an organic response, and I suppose that's because that's who I am. It was just so affirming to come away realizing anew that when God created me in His image, a big part of that image is in my creativity. I identify with Him as Creator; and when I create, it brings Him glory!

This is the retreat house we were at, taken from the back patio. Isn't it adorable?

The fountain had the most colorful flowers planted around it:

I enjoyed sitting in the rocking chairs on the back patio taking in the gorgeous view. 

I loved sitting in one of the rocking chairs right in front of these eucalyptus trees. Their twisty trunks mesmerized me.

Isn't the color in these trunks amazing? They are God's own artistry!

They were part of the inspiration for this painting I did:

His creation was singing of His glory, and it was a joy to respond in creative expression!

Weekend Retreat

Hubs and I went on a retreat this weekend in Santa Barbara.  It was a refreshing time, and I enjoyed it so much. I brought my computer with me so that I could write down my thoughts along the way. There was no internet connection there (and I knew there wouldn't be...half the point of a retreat is to "unplug"!), so I wrote a few posts in Word about what I was experiencing on the retreat and published them when we got home this afternoon.  

My posts from the weekend are published below.  Have a great week!

Getting Comfortable with Peace

There is a little chapel on the grounds of the retreat center where four services are held each day:

Matins (the morning service to greet God in the new day), Mass (a service at noontime where they “celebrate the Eucarist”, aka "The Lord’s Supper" or "Communion"), Vespers (a service just before dinner to meet with God at evening), and Compline (a service to close the day with Him).

When I made arrangements to come on this retreat, I didn’t think I would attend many (if any) of these chapel services. They are optional for those here on retreat, and frankly, I thought I might find them boring. Interestingly, though, I have attended all of them, so far! They are not boring at all, but quite meaningful.

This surprised me because I was raised in the Episcopal church until I was 16 years old, and I generally found the order of the Episcopal church service very boring and ritualistic. It seemed that in the liturgy of the service, all of the meaning leaked out. I found it devoid of true passion for God, and an unnatural way to worship Him.

However, this retreat has changed my view. The services are only a half hour or less, so they don’t seem overly long to me. The responsive readings of the Psalms and of the liturgy now appeal to the actress in me. I no longer see them as just words on a page, but as words of life to speak to one another, ripe with meaning and even love.

Part of the Mass included “The Prayers of the People”, which is a chance to pray for different people in the world and in your life—from government leaders to your own family members. They came to the part when you can offer prayers for the sick. During this part of the prayer, you can say out loud the names of people who are ill and need healing. “My Dad,” I said out loud, tears filling my eyes.

Soon the prayer was ended with an “Amen,” and the priest said, “The peace of the Lord be always with you,” to which we all responded, “And also with you.” Then came the part that I often dreaded growing up. That uncomfortable part where you have to turn to the strangers around you and “exchange the peace”, which means shaking their hands and saying “Peace be with you.” Today, though, I just felt so full of gratitude for having a place to pray for my Dad. A place to lay down my burdens. A place to remember the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross by taking Communion. I turned to those around me and realized that I only needed to give that uncomfortable feeling a small nudge to get out of the way. Then we hugged each other with heartfelt gratitude for each other’s sheer presence, and mostly for the presence of God. Our very own Prince of Peace.

"Oh, the food there is GREAT!"

This is my first time to come to this retreat center, but Hubs has been here once before.  When I told him that we would be coming here for our retreat, he mentioned several times how good the food would be. In fact, he mentioned it so many times that it became a running joke.

Now that I have had breakfast here, I understand what all the fuss was about. If this retreat is about opening my heart to God, breakfast was a completely religious experience:

-Cheese stuffed crepes drizzled with strawberries and strawberry sauce.

-Fresh fruit—pineapple, banana, and pear

-A ginormous cup of freshly brewed coffee with heavy whipping cream and splenda (Let’s just be honest and call that dessert.)

It is a gloriously sunny and clear day.  I’m off to enjoy some time in the great outdoors (with sunscreen on, of course!).

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Afternoon Update:

Have mercy!  I just had lunch, and it was another spiritual experience. The food at this place is divinely inspired. Today’s lunch:

-Beef Stroganoff

-Gingered Carrots

-Granny Smith Apple Cobbler with whipped cream

Mrs. G, if the chefs at The Women’s Colony are in need of recipes, they need look no further than this dear little retreat house snuggled cozily on a hill in Santa Barbara!

Julie Andrews would appreciate this...

Hubs and I are on a weekend retreat.  We’re staying at an Episcopalian retreat house in Santa Barbara, which is run by an spunky nun.  After a simple yet tasty dinner, the Sister led about six of us in a Compline service, which is sort of a service to say goodbye to the day with God before heading off to bed.

At one point, it was time to sing a hymn. Since there was no organ player there, the sister stuck some kind of a key into the organ and it started playing the hymn.  Oh my stars!  It’s like a player piano, only an organ!  The hymn sounded like a lullabye, which is appropriate for a Compline service. As we sang the last verse, which was asking God to grant us a peaceful night’s sleep—I kid you not—Hubs let out a nice big yawn! It wasn’t loud or anything.  It was just a totally organic peaceful yawn. I don’t even think he was aware of it.  It just tickled me so! It reminded me of the scene in Mary Poppins where she is singing “Stay Awake” to the kids and they start relaxing and then yawning before falling into restful slumber.

Sweet dreams, sweetie pie!

Blog Redesign

I found this free blog background at The Cutest Blog on the Block.  They have lots of fun designs there and best of all, they're FREE!  The website also has instructions on their side bar of how to plug the html code into your blog template's existing code.

I liked my old blog design, but was ready for a change.  What do you think?