Common Prayer, Starbucks And Wendys

This blog has been quiet for some days. I have heard about it. Apparently there are tens of people who check this site frequently, curious to know see whether or not anything has dribbled out of my head and onto the internets.

So, in response to the ten of tens of questions asking, "When are you going to update your blog?" - here I am.

And I've not the focused energy to offer anything other than bullet points, so here goes a list of topics upon which I would (and may) post at some point, were I not quite so lacking in the ability to collect my thoughts:

• This book, which I received as a Christmas gift. I seem to be a hopeless failure at the annual January resolution to read through the Bible. I have literary ADD. I just can't seem to stick with the system. But, surprisingly, this framework and my ability to work within it is really changing me, from the inside out. Really. And I need that.
• This book, which I got in the mail for free, in advance, provided I read it and review it. I'm in the process. And may I say, it's VERY good, and it arrives on the heels of Batterson's Wild Goose Chase with a lot of answers for the questions raised in our faith community. I'm thinking about leading our small group through this book asap.
• God has ordained two recent timely connections through meetings that happened in local establishments. In Starbucks, a gentleman overheard a rowdy production meeting conversation, was intrigued and now is an active, productive, exciting and passionate member of our team, filling a role and a making a huge difference. In Wendy's, a man walked in for a burger just as I had written his name down on a list. The list was a prayer that one of the four people on it would be willing and available to help us through an immediate transition, a "must-do". The resultant conversation led to a "Sure, I can help you out" response. I was floored. My takeaway? God likes his coffee at Starbucks and his burgers at Wendy's.
• I really, really enjoyed a week away. Ohio was wonderful, restful, with many interesting conversations and family connections that I found meaningful and fulfilling. The ride back home was one of the best eight-hour conversations I'd ever had. The richest moments of that day included the back roads of Western Pennsylvania to visit a dear aunt and uncle and to show my husband the landmarks of my childhood.
• Reentry was too swift, to cluttered and too hard. Not enough time to organize the mess, clean up the Christmas, settle into the house before it filled up with clothes and kids and food and noise and air. The earliest part of the week was heavy with resentment, at least on my part. It was hard.

There is more, of course. There is so much more to all of our lives than what a blog or a book or a status can contain. Seven days ago, I was in awe, struck with wonder as I met some lovely new friends and caught a glimpse of the brilliant thread of life that can connect humans and infuse them with life and purpose. I reclined in the comfort of the New Year, breathing slowly next to my husband of one year and one week. I was calm and quite collected.

A week later, I watch my life from afar, a wicked adrenaline rush propelling me through the moments of my days, and I realize, all too often, that I'm just grasping at straws as they whiz by. I reach out and grab and get something checked off my list. But they're not always straws or things-to-do that I reach for - they are my kids, my friends, my sense of solitude and space, the steady beating of my husband's heart, the whisper of someone who needs nothing more than my attention.

I am thankful for the glimpse of a life lived better, from 400 miles away. I know that there is a happy place, a convergence of productivity and passion, of solitude and action, of purpose and plans and peace. And I know that it is mine to seize.