Sunday Grace

Woke up to beautiful, silent beauty this morning. Snow.

Today in church, we talked about grace. I love the word grace. It's lyrical to me, music to my ears. I'm continuing to learn that grace is not something I can "get" or buy by being good, moral or right. It's a gift that is freely given by the giver and freely accepted by the recipient. It's given out of selfless love and many times great sacrifice. There are no strings attached. It is quite simply a gift. Do you have any concepts of grace?


On another note, a dear friend of mine's daughter is a movie producer. Last year, Gina produced a short film that was just nominated at the Sundance Film Festival. The short is really cool.....I think it's about strength, persistence and the underdog. I hope you like it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbfLXVI-OMQ

Sammy

A New Day

Today marked a new day......a chance to breath again.......a chance to hope again.

I love this photo!

I also loved the poem that Elizabeth Alexander wrote and read at today's inauguration.

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other,

catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise.

All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform,

patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons

on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky;

A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed;

words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said,

"I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe;

We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day.

Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then

keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day.

Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national.

Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

by Elizabeth Alexander

In the words of President Barack Obama,

"Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

Sammy

A Call To Serve

Tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King Day. It comes at a time of enormous significance preceding by one day the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. “I will ask for your service and your active citizenship when I am president of the United States,” Obama said.

Coretta Scott King wrote, "Dr. King once said that we all have to decide whether we "will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. Life's most persistent and nagging question, he said, is `what are you doing for others?'" he would quote Mark 9:35, the scripture in which Jesus of Nazareth tells James and John "...whosoever will be great among you shall be your servant; and whosoever among you will be the first shall be the servant of all." And when Martin talked about the end of his mortal life in one of his last sermons, on February 4, 1968 in the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, even then he lifted up the value of service as the hallmark of a full life. "I'd like somebody to mention on that day Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others," he said. "I want you to say on that day, that I did try in my life...to love and serve humanity."

We are the only ones that can bring change to our communities. In my own personal life, I have grown the most and have found the most meaning to life when I am in the service of others. It humbles me and keeps my own issues and troubles in perspective. I have also been tremendously blessed when I have allowed others to help me in my time of need.

If you get a chance tomorrow, go out of your way to serve someone, however small it be seem to you, it will not be small to them.

Sammy

16 Things About Me

1. My big toe nail has fallen off and I don't know that I'll be able to wear sandals this summer. Poop.
2. I have had a head cold all week and I am not happy about it.
3. I get up at 5am every morning to kill myself at the gym (not this week).
4. I actually love getting up early every day to kill myself at the gym.
5. I love to read sappy love stories.
6. I love to watch sappy love movies.
7. I can't read/watch scary things at night or I will have nightmares. (Karl doesn't like that.)
8. My favorite day is Sunday. Run with the girls, then church, then nothin' all day long.
9. I'm a perfectionist who is in recovery.
10. I need my quiet personal time or I tend to crack.
11. I prefer smaller, get together's at home with friends, talking for hours around the dining table.
12. I'm trying to live more authentically, with grace and humbleness.
13. I feel safest when I am with Karl.
14. I know that God loves me, but I'm working on what that really means.
15. I can spend hours/days at Powells Books.
16. I want to have my own chickens, named Mabel and Aunt Bee.

Consider yourself tagged. Leave a note in the comments or direct us to your blog so we can find out more about you.

Sammy

Amazing Women

Check out this link "The Little House that Love Built". It's a beautiful story of love.

Sammy

New Beginnings

In the midst of winter, I found there was within me an invincible summer.

Albert Camus

The new year began in the midst of winter rain (or more like a monsoon), cold, wet and a bit dreary. But I feel that I have an invincible summer within me. I do not begin to know what this year will hold, but I feel hopeful and expectant......not for something great to happen, but that LIFE will happen and I will embrace whatever may come.

Today is a new day, a day of rebirth, a chance to refocus and renew. So here's a little lovely......

My amazing friend, Sherrie, is an Oma (grandmother) again. Her baby Charrise had a second child, a precious little girl. Congratulations Charisse and Dan.

Riley Marie Treuko

Welcome to the world, little one.

You are loved.

Hmm, that picture just makes me smile. There is no more beautiful picture than that of a mother and her child.

Happy New Year,

Sammy