SOL 1/31: It's March 1st and we know what that means!

I'm back for year 14 of the March Slice of Life Challenge! We joined daughter's family for homemade pizza tonight. I walked there and back. I resisted the call of a podcast on my return walk and savored my surroundings which I'm sharing in this illustrated haiku!

 

blue sky beginning

 

golden circle captivates

sunset tugs me home

 

Spiritual Journey Thursday: Beginning My Journey with Be

Robert Hamera is hosting our SJT gathering for February with the theme of closing doors/opening doors. You can read his post and find links to the posts of fellow travelers here.

 

Perhaps I could look at my focus for this new year of moving from do to be as a type of closing the chaotic door of too much doing and striving . . . to the peaceful opening of a door to trust God's love and to cherish time to be in His presence.

I chose my One Little Word for 2025, be, and almost immediately started making a list. Be organized, be patient, be kind, be grateful, be joyful, be me, be gentle, be still. Maybe I could have a different focus for each month. But I quickly realized that this was not the "be" I wanted for this year.

I prefer the feeling that is offered by this Alice Walker quote: "You don't always have to be doing something. You can just be and that's plenty." Do I know how to just be? Is it possible to calm the chaos and feel the bliss of be? I yearn to follow these words from Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." Yet I frequently find myself in pursuit of doing and feeling like I'm on a hamster wheel, forever pedaling, but going nowhere.

I enjoyed looking at internet explanations of the phrase "be still:"

• "The phrase 'be still' uses a Hebrew term which can be rendered as 'relax,' 'let go,' or 'stop.' It implies an act of surrender—a release of striving and hostility." 
  
• An AI overview - "When God tells you to be still, it means to stop striving, to relax, and to trust in God's love. It can also mean to be quiet in God's presence."  
  

And I found this entry on my SJT post about balance from March 2019: 

• "I find that I feel most in balance when I make time to be quiet and listen, often after reading scriptures, listening to inspirational music or praying. I'm reminded of a favorite scripture - "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)  And when I make time to be still and listen, I feel fortified and more balanced, I feel more capable of stilling the distractions and of feeling the love of my Savior. And it doesn't happen as often as I'd like, but I keep trying (and try is my OLW for 2019)."   
  

I look forward to my 2025 journey with be as an opportunity to still the chaos; to pray, listen, and strengthen my relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Slice of Life: A Year of Reading

I envy my blogging friends who write about their reading each week. I've never felt up to that task. Even though I love to read, I'm a slow reader and amazed at the book lists some friends share. 

Tonight I'll be zooming with a group of online friends to share our favorite reads of 2025. I belong to several book clubs: one from Seattle, one in Greensboro, and one composed of three friends who read together to stay connected (we don't meet every month).

Sometimes, I feel that my book clubs keep me from reading what I want to read, but the overall benefit of staying connected with old friends and making new friends keeps me on the book club express. 

Here are my favorites from this past year (including January 2025). I've included a picture of the top book in each category.

Fiction

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride 

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

Nonfiction 

Start With Hello by Shannan Martin

 Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard

Poetry

Above Ground by Clint Smith

Devotions by Mary Oliver

Middle Grade

Tree.Table.Book. by Lois Lowry

The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead & Wendy Mass 

The Night War by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Olivetti by Allie Millington

Picture Book

One Small Spark: A Tikkun Olum Story by Ruth Spiro 

There's No Place Like Hope by Janet Lawler

Watch Out for the Lion! by Brooke Hartman

 

Leave a book recommendation for me. My WTR (want to read) list is already out of control, so a few more titles won't be a problem.

Slice of Life: How Was Singing Time?

My youngest grandson has just begun attending Primary after our worship service on Sunday mornings. They have to be three years old and don't make the move into Primary until the new year begins in January. Before that, they attend nursery with all the children from 18 months through 3 years of age. It's a big transition and it was only Ollie's second time because our church was cancelled due to snow during the second week of January.

Last Sunday after church his mom inquired, " Ollie, how was Singing Time today?"

"Good, we did "Church, Party, and Play'."

After a moment's reflection, his mom asked, "Do you mean 'Search, Ponder, and Pray"?"

"Yeah." 

Personally, I prefer thinking of it as "Church, Party, and Play!" It's easy to see how a three year old might make those substitutions.

Slice of Life: Find the Decoration!

The grand boys (7, 5, and 3) came over for a visit last week. Just so you get an idea about what that was like, their Christmas card this year included this line: "From our merry mayhem to yours." They loved that our tree was still up. I've always been slow to take it down, but I don't put it up by Thanksgiving either. They enjoyed looking at all of our decorations, from our corn husk angel on the entryway table (30+ years old) to a more recent wooden decoration featuring a tree and a snowman with a lighted star on top of tree and the words "Oh Joy!" It had spent part of the season on the bedroom dresser, but I had recently moved it to the entryway table beside the corn husk angel. (Joy was a serious contender for my OLW for '25, until BE nestled into my heart.)

Ollie, our three years old grandson, enjoyed carrying the lighted decoration around. After they left, I noticed it was no longer on the entryway table. I recalled seeing him carrying it towards the living room shortly before they left. 

So my search began. Did he tuck in into the Christmas basket with an assortment of holiday creatures? No. Did he decide to add it to the Main Street table where it could decorate this favorite toy of his? Not there, either. Did he hide it behind the pillows on the couch? Nope. 

I considered calling his mom and asking her to inquire about the location, but I didn't want him to get in trouble. I settled into my comfy chair to watch the evening news, convinced that our snowman with a tree and lighted star would eventually surface. It was later in the evening when I spied it, exactly where our ingenious three-year-old decided it belonged.

 

And I left it there because it brought a smile of joy each time I thought of him carefully hanging  it there! 

Spiritual Journey Thursday and Poetry Friday: How I Gathered in 2024 & My Word for '25

Margaret at Reflections on the Teche is hosting our first Thursday Spiritual Journey posts with a call to share our OLW for 2025. She selected this beautiful waterfall photo to accompany our 2025 writing journeys.

One of the challenges of choosing a OLW involves looking back at the previous year's word. I kept "gather "for a 2nd year since 2023 became a wild ride when we decided to follow our daughter and family in a move from Washington state to North Carolina. Suddenly, I found myself purging once again (not gathering) in preparation for a move to a smaller space. I kept the same poem I had written in 2023 with the addition of one line for 2024.

What Will I Gather in 2024? 

Words, Moments, Stories

Wonders, Revels, Enchantments

Photos, Empty Boxes, Loose Ends

Friends, Loved Ones, Ancestors 

Hope, Goodness, Faith

Laughter, Love, Light

- Ramona Behnke

What did I manage to gather in 2024? 

I gathered with the UT grands in March (after Roots Tech), in July for Teddy's baptism, in September (after the Restore conference) and in November for Thanksgiving. 

I gathered with a group of friends in Utah to attend the Faith Matters: Restore conference in September.

I gathered coats for our friends in western NC after Hurricane Helene. 

I gathered supplies for gift bags for preschoolers whose parents are attending English classes at New Arrivals Institute. 

I gathered photos of mushrooms (delighted each time I spotted a new variety), the glorious hues of fall, and the sky (ever a favorite)! 

But my very favorite photo gathering has to be the grands. I revel in the enchantments and wonders they bring to my life. 

 

Standing on the cusp of 2025, unsure of what lies ahead, 

I  choose to gather hope, goodness, and faith. 

Surely laughter, love, and light will follow!

 It's time to unveil my OLW for 2025:

Shortest word I've ever chosen.  

Drum roll, please . . .  

Cue the confetti! 

My word is

BE.

- Ramona Behnke

For more on why I chose "be", stay tuned for a future blog post.

Poetry Friday is hosted by Mary Lee Hahn this week. She invites us to the poetry playground with wisdom from the Conjunctions who hail from the Land of Grammar.

Spiritual Journey Thursday & Poetry Friday: Wintering in the Goodness of Children's Books

Kim is hosting our monthly Spiritual Journey gathering for December.

Thanks, Kim, for the warm endorsement of Katherine May's Wintering:The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. It seems like the kind of book that one would want to own in order to mark favorite passages. I'm adding it to my Christmas wish list. I enjoyed reading quotes from the book at goodreads and discovered this quote that definitely resonated with me:

 "I often turn to children's books at times like these, when I'm yearning to escape into a world that is beautifully rendered and complex, yet soothingly familiar."

 ― Katherine May Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times 

After writing my SJT post in November about some favorite children's books, my son sent me  The Mouse Who Carried a House on His Back.   

When I asked how he knew that I wanted it, he smugly replied, "I read your blog!" I shared it recently at a meeting of our church's service and activity groups.

I discovered Ruth Spiro's, One Small Spark: A Tikkun Olam Story at our neighborhood library on the new books table. The illustrations by Victoria Tentler-Krylov are exquisite, colorful, and life-affirming, leading the characters from the dark pages of a broken, problematic world to making a choice to repair the world. I loved this one so much that I bought it for myself. I think you'll want a copy too!

 

 

"Imagine everyone

gathering sparks,

opening their hearts,

and repairing our world

together." 

In staying with Kim's wintering theme, I am sharing four favorite picture books with a winter theme.

Before Morning by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes

The Snow Speaks by Nancy White Carlstrom, illlustrated by Jane Dyer

Snow by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Lauren Stringer

Winter is the Warmest Season written and illustrated by Lauren Stringer

 "In winter, bodies sit closer,

books last longer, and

hugs squeeze the warmest." 

 Kim's post was brim with words to love. I send you this poetic greeting lifted from her SJT post, with a couple of phrases added by me, for this Poetry Friday: 

A DECEMBER BLESSING

In this wintering season

may you be blessed with

rest,

full hope,

anticipation, 

warmth, 

peace, 

deep comfort,

golden silence, 

and space your heart needs 

to revel in books

in the sweet, snug nook of home,

in the nestled bliss

of nowhere else to be.

- Kim Johnson

Spiritual Journey, December 2024

Carol has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at The Apples in My Orchard.