Category: Writing

Thoughts and prayers: a writing project

11/17/2021

You can read about my new writing project on today’s acottagebythesea.net
Working title: Keep Me in Your Thoughts and Prayers; a phrase you are familiar with.
As a prayer person, I’ve often thought disparagingly when hear that phrase. It felt like a throw away. Currently, however, I am praying to get rid of my judgments and understand that ‘thoughts and prayers’ is inclusive. I don’t want to be a religious snob.

Speaking before writing

5/25/2018

    As I continue to consider writing about prayer, it occurs to me that a preliminary step is talking about it. In the writing process world it is deemed a form of pre-writing.
     My friends know that I’m a prayer person, although I don’t know how that has come about since I’m not explicit about it in our conversations. Maybe just in saying that I love my church conveys enough. In obvious and subtle ways friends seem comforted just knowing I’m a prayer person. Even if they can’t proclaim belief, they are consoled and reassured by someone who does. You don’t have to believe in miracles to want one.
     “We teach who we are,” Parker J. Palmer proclaims. We teach in the arena of life, not just in the classroom.

Kirk Jones we must talk

5/13/2018

     I posted this on acottagebythesea but here on aprayerdairy I’ve extended the ending.

     Those of you who follow me on this blog know that I long for solitude-- after all, that’s what the blog is about. But even if you don’t know me personally you can probably surmise that I can be quite social. On the Myers-Briggs I’m right in the middle on the introvert/extrovert continuum. I get energy from both solitude and community.
     Lately I’ve been thinking about community, it’s importance in society at large, and for me in particular. Although I have a good amount of solitude in my life, I also have many communities: family, friends, and church are the big categories, but within them are many little overlapping ones.
     Case in point. Friday I went to Andover Newton Theological School to celebrate the retirement of Bob Pazmino, Professor of Christian Education. When I was there (1998-2003) getting my MDiv, Bob was a mentor and friend. We had much in common through our writings for teachers: he for Christian educators, me for elementary school teachers. His memoir, A Boy Grows Up in Brooklyn, was a catalyst for me to write Very Grateful: The Story of My Hundred Year Old Mother and Me.
     That evening of celebration rekindled many communities from my student days at ANTS. Communities with professors, administrators, students, and families, and each with overarching theme of writing. A long time friend asked for encouragement to write when she retires in June; a graduating student explained how he wants to write about climate change; one of Bob’s cousins told me she had read Joyful Learning when she was a kindergarten teacher. Kirk Jones, my preaching professor, asked me what I was writing these days, and then encouraged keep at it. He and I are going to be in touch.
     Yes, we have our major communities, which for me are family, friends, and church. And we have our small ones, too. They flow among each other, coming and going, vibrating and fading, but all part of the whole which constitutes our lives.

    Here are a few more details of my discussion with Kirk Jones. When he asked me what I was doing these day, much to my astonishment I blurted out that I was praying.
     ‘And again to my astonishment he asked, “Are you writing about it?”
I can’t get that question out of my mind. Writing about my call to prayer would reveal more about me than most people know. Although I write about it here, most of the people I know personally don’t know this blog exists. Of the seventy or so who sign in on a given day to read Aprayerdiary maybe I know five. Much to ponder.
     Kirk, we must talk.

Walking around with God in Florence~

12/6/2017

     I’m writing an article entitled ‘Walking Around with God in Florence.’ In it I tell about the morning walks that I take to the most prominent churches, my visits to a few of my favorite churches, and those that offer an atmosphere for prayer and meditation. My dilemma: where to post it? Definitely on this blog, but what about acottagebythesea, or a public site such as the Lonely Planet? *
      This quandary underlies an issue that people of faith like me experience these days. We don’t want to be misunderstood as bigots, political conservatives, or stupid. So, we don’t say a word about our faith.
     This is definitely our problem. We had better own it, speak out and stop worrying about what others might think. The good news is the miraculous chance that others may get an inkling that our faith helps us be loving and compassionate.

* Does anyone know of a religious public site where I might post the article?

Meditating/praying in Florence

4/1/2017

I’ve just finished writing an article entitled, “How about a Writing Vacation in Florence?” Now I am considering writing one about prayer, working title, “Walking around Florence with God.”
You don’t have to be Roman Catholic or even Protestant to do this. Maybe you don’t have to be Christian, but it probably helps because Jesus is present wherever you go in this city. It’s hard to get away from him. On the other had, if you meditate, any church will do. People leave you alone; it is socially acceptable to sit in church with your eyes closed.

Celebrating "Very Grateful"~

6/18/2015

In the past week two Scottish friends have asked me the same question, using the same words: “How are you going to celebrate the publication of your book about your mother?”

     “Oh, I’m not going to,” has been my quick response. Then, “Hum, maybe I should.”

     Why this resistance? The easy answer is that celebrating implies celebrating myself and my accomplishment, whereas the book is about celebrating Mom, and that is celebration enough.

     There’s another celebration, however, going on inside of me that perhaps I don’t want to publicize. I sense that with the book’s publication, my grieving will be over. That’s important to me, but how widely do I want to expose this personal truth? More to the point, do I want to admit to myself that my job of making Mom happy is complete? If so, and I know that it is, what is my next job? I'm hearing that I am being called to pray for people and be with God—to wander with God-- and THAT is where the fear lies. Is that what a doer like me is supposed to be doing now? Is my next job just to BE?

     You may wonder why I am blurting this out. I believe human beings need to confess their truths out loud to other human beings and this feel like a safe place for me to do so. With the exception of a few of you, I have no idea who reads this blog. I do know, however, that you are safe.

Sit, pray, write~

5/14/2015

I go along accepting the joys and concerns of life pretty well, not becoming over-concerned by sad news nor overjoyed with blessings. Whatever happens feels to be in the natural order of things; balance is maintained.

But then something overwhelming happens, usually on the side of catastrophe and heartbreak, and I slip from ‘Thy will be done,’ to ‘Why God have you forsaken us?’ Yesterday I heard that a terrible cancer has hit a family that has already experienced more than its share of tragedy. (At least that’s my judgment.)

I need time to sort this out, so here I sit in the AR (Angel Room). Sitting, praying, writing, praying. I was planning to clear out some files this morning, but that task seems pointless. My heart tells me to be with God. My call to pray for people take precedence—at least for today.

Praying the Jesus Prayer in Florence~

3/2/2015

One of the magnificent benefits of the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me) is that I can practice it wherever I am—on the streets of Florence, on the walkways near my home, and certainly at an airport; and the prayer is with me whether I am alone or with others. I say practice because that what it always is, never perfect, no goal to be reached, just a simple prayer to be prayed. I began practicing the prayer over five years ago when I first started going to the cottage. My challenge continues to be to remember it. I can be with me wherever I go, whether alone or in the company of others.

It is raining today but I am cozy and content at the RED Café in La Felltrini Book. RED as in Read, Eat, Dream. I am writing, not reading, as well as eating and dreaming, but this place is also a book store, and besides there is a red motif. I have already wandered the streets to Santa Trinita, one of my favorite churches for prayer.

"Gone Writing"

11/29/2014

Here’s what I just posted on my cottage-by-the-sea blog. For all you prayer people, I would ask that you say a ‘soft prayer’ that I will answer God’s call and finish sharing Mom’s message of love and faith.

“It is time,” as the expression goes. Time to start writing again in earnest; time to finish ‘Very Grateful’. A memoir? A biography? An autobiography? All of the above? none of the above? Somewhere in between? I don’t know what to call this celebration of my mother life, but I do know that I need to finish it, and that I need to do it now. I need to share the gifts that my mother gave to me, her family and the many people who knew her because these gifts are treasures worth spreading beyond her circle of acquaintances. Her gifts are for daughters and sons who are living with aging parents; they are for men and women who are circling seventy; and they are for everyone in between. They are gifts of love and faith.
In order to immerse myself in this writing, I must let go of the other writing I am doing, particularly for this blog. I must dedicate all my physical and psychic time to it. And so, I’m going to hang up a “Gone Writing” sign for a while. Every Saturday I will check to let you know how I’m doing, and maybe I will add a quote along the way. But during the week, I have "Gone Writing”.

A book about faith~

9/29/2014

Today I return to 'Very Grateful'. I am wearing the light pink Carpe Diem t-shirt that my nieces had made for the family for Mom's memorial service. My morning coffee is in my "Book Woman" mug. I will be writing in the front room where I keep all of Mom's papers. I have faith that I will know what to say. In fact, during this week of waiting and listening to how God wants me to proceed, I have heard that this is a book about faith, and specifically about Mom’s faith that inspired mine.