Tag: reflections
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The Misfit Funeral Organist – Part 2
“When in doubt, leave it out.” That was the advice of the soloist for the funeral last week. She teaches music at some college in Minnesota. I took her advice to heart. For her solo, Mendelssohn’s “O Rest in the Lord,” I learned the piano accompaniment just fine, and I didn’t need to leave anything…
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Funerals and the Misfit Organist
That’s me. The misfit funeral organist. I’m not sure which order the words should be in. They’re all nouns linked together to convey one image – me as an organist who likes to play for funerals, even though I shouldn’t. I’m a misfit. I should avoid funerals, at all cost, just like my mom did.…
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Red and White Images and a Little Black Book
Yesterday morning, I decided to take out my mom’s little black book – the one where she wrote the Bible verses she memorized, week by week, when she was in high school. I looked up the verse for May 28, 1922. I wondered if she might have chosen a verse to memorize that would relate…
Marian
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UFF DA
Yesterday morning’s prayer in Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim by Edward Hays included these lines: Grant me the grace to look with respect upon all I will meet this day and upon every event I encounter. Mindful that I am a pilgrim, may I treat each and every one with reverence and love, as a…
Marian
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An Odd Memory from 1961
One morning last week, as I was trying to concentrate on my devotional readings for the day, an odd memory popped into my mind, totally out of the blue. My mom was buying groceries at the IGA on Main Street in Cambridge. The check-out clerk was a high school student, an older sister of one…
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Surpassed in Giving
On Sunday I read the best story about generosity I’ve ever read. It was written by my niece, Michelle Kornelsen Hauge on her blog, www.strategicparenting.us. I asked her if I could share her story on my blog, and she agreed. If you would like to be added to Michelle’s email list to get regular notifications…
Marian
blogging, car for sale, fairness, generosity, generous, give, giving, God’s love, God-given gifts, guest blog post, guest blogger, kindness, life challenges, listening for God, love your neighbor, Michelle, Michelle and Kerry, Michelle Hauge, Michelle Kornelsen Hauge, reflections, spirituality, strategic parenting, surpassed by kids, van for sale -
The Virtue of Inconsistency
My favorite quotation of all time was made by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I loved it the first time I read it, back when I was a literature major in college: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” I always thought “hobgoblin” was a fun-to-say word – almost onomatopoeic – the sound it makes…
Marian
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My Grade on Giving up Hurry for Lent
On Easter Abbey spent about an hour out on our deck, watching two geese float back and forth on the pond. She said to me, “Mom, did you notice that two of our geese have finally come back home? Two years ago they were here at the beginning of Lent. This year they didn’t come…
Marian
Abbey, Alan Fadling, An Unhurried Life, bonfire, Easter, Easter hymn, Easter Vigil, Edward Hays, Exultet, geese, giving up hurry for Lent, God’s love, hidden joys, hurry, hurrying, Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Jesus’ rhythms of work and rest, Lent, life challenges, listening for God, love your neighbor, Messiah Church, Messiah Lutheran Church, nature, pillars of fire, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim, reflections, spirituality, talking with God, The Good Samaritan -
Flipping Patterns
One of my favorite stories that my mom used to tell is about when she was trying to make a dress. She laid out the fabric on the table and pinned the pattern to the fabric. She carefully cut out each piece, but she was having trouble with the dress sleeves. She kept getting two…
Marian
confirmation, Edward Hays, Elsie Korth, God’s love, keeping company with God, listening for God, Lord’s Prayer, Nancy Kornelsen, Our Father, patterns, Philip Yancey, piano prayer, prayer, prayer patterns, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim, reflections, spirituality, structured prayer, talking with God, The Lord’s Prayer -
A 50-cent Thrill
I learned a new word last week – “mirabilary.” Well, it’s not exactly a new word – just new to me. The dictionary (if you can even find it in your dictionary) says it’s obsolete. The 101-year-old 1913 edition of Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary defined it as, “One who, or a work which, narrates…
Marian
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