Clatter, chirp, and chatter

Sunday, September 8, 2019
We love Sundays - we have another day as our rest day. We start with the monthly leadership team breakfast at 7:15 and join the international Gathering after.

The joy of meeting people and sharing scripture makes each Sunday a hit. W loves to speak and does a good job today. It's our last day in the Jewish scriptures (Old Testament for Christians). We've been in the stories and poetry of the OT since January - starting with creation and beginnings of nations, through many kings and prophets.

Next week, we start into the New Testament with the story of a prophet - John the Baptist. He is esteemed by all 3 mono-theistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

After a few weeks of meeting in a semicircle, I can hardly remember what it was like to have "the tunnel" seating in the auditorium. The kids snuggle into pillows on the old stage where they can overlook the adults. A few wiggles - but they're attentive most of the time.

Monday
At 21:30, I'm part of a panel of female leaders, thanks to the internet. The other participants are in the USA. We talk about the importance of titles (are they even important?) for female leaders. We agree that women themselves care less about their own titles. However, others do care. Titles help us identify someone's role and if they have authority in leadership.

Tuesday
I arrive early to the office. It's quiet and I can focus without the house calling me to this or that. Our team meets in the morning, then it's back to writing. I forget the clock and work until late.

For me, writing feels like the picture below (snagged from Pinterest). Your seat is flexible but the support (table) is fixed. You have a goal, a menu, and empty seats to which you invite ideas and creativity, putting fingers on the keyboard. Then the swinging starts.

When a few drafts of an article or book are done, the hard work of editing starts. I've been working on 3 books, off and on for a year.

This week, I clamp down and get the last one sent off today to someone writing the Foreword. The first two are already in friends' hands. They'll be tweaked even after publication - that's the privilege of Kindle publishing!

Here is my proposed cover for Book One. For my dissertation, I chose a group with low status, low income, and low empowerment in their home culture. I wanted to know how their "get-up-and-go" and results could be replicated in others who might be considered disempowered by their backgrounds, lack of training, or low status.

I found some outstanding women in a historical archive. The file room was like a treasure box, a place where I met women transformed global cultures with hope and the ability to read. They gave locals a chance to explore new ideas, and did compassion work among the neediest, the poorest, and the sickest. The women were teachers, social workers, and preachers who served abroad without a lot of support.

I found their spunk irresistible!

My primary gift is connecting - so as I meet people, I love to ask for their story. The women in my dissertation became my mentors and inspiration. "YOU CAN. Look at us," they told me.

The driver for much of my own activity is helping people thrive in the way they're wired. Internally, as a connector, I'm curious. "What is your unique contribution to the world? And what makes you think you can - or can't - do what you're designed, skilled, or trained for? Who should meet you?"

I'm always watching for people who are fully engaged in life or service. Who needs a boost into their next stage of life or service? Do W or I have something to offer? Encouragement, training, networks, or resources?

Wednesday
It's a day of writing - and by night, I'm far enough along to send off Book 3 to the reader. Hurrah!!!

The big news headline in Indonesia is the death of a former president. What a life he lived, and what history he oversaw. In the USA, it's all about 9-11 and the loss of life 10 years ago.

I think about how many people are uncelebrated in life and death. Every day, we ignore thousands upon thousands who die in regional conflicts, poverty, or from abuse. I feel called to pray for them and their families. To remember their suffering.

God knows each name, even those who are unknown to us or those who die unseen by others.

Thursday
From early morning until noon, I catch up on blogs and emails, and listen to podcasts. I'm sitting on the porch, sipping cold peppermint tea left over from last night and hot jasmine tea from this morning. It's a working luxury, for sure.

I wish you could hear the chit-chat of the lovebirds, the sweet melody of the canary, and the clattering of the bamboo wind chimes as the breeze runs up the valley. Roosters crow in the distance. Occasionally a car or motorcycle revs on roads across the valley. The wind ruffles the dog's fur as they sleep at my feet.

The helper waters our very dry garden. We usually have enough water pressure for one soak a day. But sometimes, there's no water from the city at all. Without watering, the garden withers and dies like the lawn has ... until rainy season comes. Then everything miraculously pops back to life.

The seasons have shifted over the past decades, the old people tell us. Rainy season used to be in the "-ber" months. Now it's more like October through May.

We love this city - think of all the stories, all the efforts, and all the families who live under these roofs.

Read more:

*You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. Deuteronomy 16:19

*Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:1-6 NIV

*Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. 2 Timothy 2:19 NASB

Moravian Prayer: O Lord, we are yours. Help us to remember that fact when we are tempted to take the easy, more comfortable road. Help us to live according to your teachings, and to be honest, loving, and kind in dealing with others. Amen.