BONUS MESSAGE ~ 02/21/00

Date: 21 Feb 2000 09:08:46 EST
Subject: WOMEN: Mindwalkers - A bonus (long) Monday morning message

Elsa, my faithful scribe, has today off, so I can send off something on a weekday morning. What a treat!

It feels good to connect with people. The Writings say that, in the Spiritual World, thought brings presence. That is how I feel about e-mail, although it took a long time getting there.

One of the things I wanted to share is my delight in listening to Contemporary Service audio tapes. This surprised me. I considered these services as "New Church Lite." Because I have difficulty getting out & about before late morning, it has been several years I have attended a morning church service.

Elsa likes to go to Contemporary Service and now John goes with her too. After the service, she picks up an audiotape of the service for me to listen to. I love them. They are shorter and simpler than cathedral service, but that does not make them less profound. They also serve double duty. When I was in the hospital in the fall, Elsa transcribed two tapes of music from the services, which I believe helped speed my recuperation. There are songs that I have never heard before which are dear to my heart because of the audio tapes.

IN THE LION'S DEN
Yesterday, Jonathan Rose gave a talk on Daniel in the lion's den. Anyone who has heard Jonathan give a presentation knows what an effective storyteller he is (he can even make Latin translation seem interesting). What stood out to me was when he talked about Daniel giving thanks for the trials that he had to bear. Jonathan talked about the blessing that come from times when we are experiencing trials and in his exercise after the main talk he asked people to think about times of great difficulties that brought blessings and for us to be aware of and grateful to the Lord for them.

I have my own e-mail address and am here in thought (via Elsa's keyboarding) because of such an experience. For the past week, I have been part of what I had hoped would be constructive but turned into a contentious exchange of e-mail. It was not a pleasant experience for either of us. We were unable to establish any common ground for discussion and there were times I felt my very esse (existence, worth, self, soul) was being torn limb from limb. Instead of feeling numb, as I would have not long ago, I could see the blessings that came from the situation and was grateful to the Lord for the experience and the wisdom to turn it to good.

INSPIRATION FROM UNUSUAL PLACES/SITUATIONS
I am grateful for the courage to share two genuine concerns with someone I love. The person had turned to me for understanding, which was what I tried to give. I kept thinking about a favorite movie of mine - The Bishop's Wife.


To digress ~ until this weekend, I sent e-mails through Elsa's address, with "from (my appropriate name for the person)" as a preface in the subject line. Now, as I thought about this dialogue, for the first time I wanted to share it under my own name, not Elsa's, and I wanted to share it with people who are special to me.

Here I am, delivered safe from a lion's den, thanking the Lord for the new insights I have been given, with the exchange, between Cary Grant (an angel, Dudley) and David Niven (Henry, apparently an Episcopal bishop). To all those movie buffs out there, my apologies it is not verbatim.
Dudley - "I am leaving. I came here to answer your prayer. My work is finished."
Bishop - "But I asked for a cathedral and that has not happened."
Dudley - "No, Henry, you asked for guidance; that has been given."

Love to you all and my apologies for the length ~ M/G/N/K/AK.