Thursday, December 14, 2006

Sidebar

Boy, I wish blogger had a feature that automatically entered a blog into your sidebar if you visit it over and over. It sure would save me a lot of trouble. I am trying again to add links to the sidebar. It is an ongoing process. This is a heartening thing, though, because it just means there are so many wonderful women in the world that I can't sit down and manually type each of you in in one sitting. It does my heart so much good to know that spread out all over this big blue marble, there are women such as I've come to know here in Blogville. Because of the women I've come to know here, I honestly want to know more about the women that I rub physical elbows with here around my town. I find myself a better listener because I understand how much goes unsaid in real life because we chatter on about nothing. Sometimes it only takes a question to bring out the deeper thoughts of another person. Sometimes it just takes shutting up long enough to listen. I look at the women around me differently now. I don't worry so much about how they see me. I worry more about really seeing them. That is thanks to you wonderful women in Blogville.

Yesterday, I attended the funeral of my friend's husband. She was incredible. She was comforting everyone else. I must say that I was relieved to find that it was not entirely shocking for her. He has lived with a heart condition for some time and they always knew this was a possibility. I was so worried about the shock aspect of it. I know she will miss him and I know that the full realization has not come to her yet but I am grateful that she is surrounded by people who love her and loved him.

The meditation given by our pastor was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard from him. (and there have been many, many beautiful sermons and meditations from him) We presently have a stable set up that the congregation must walk through in order to reach the sanctuary. We are adding stuffed animals to it and at the end of the holidays will disperse the animals to foster children in the local area. There are all sorts of animals out there..some who probably would feel very strange in a stable. Pastor Garden pointed out that the animals in the stable are a poor reflection of the animals they represent. He likened them to us as poor reflections of the light we represent. He spoke of my friend's husband as now being a true reflection of that which he represented here on Earth. He is the real deal now. It's as if God went into that stable full of stuffed animals and said "Today you will be the reality of what you represent," and they suddenly became real bears and sheep and puppies. It all reminded me of Narnia, a bit. I mentioned to the pastor how beautiful the sermon was and he thanked me and said that it reminded him of the Velveteen Rabbit. Indeed. I hadn't even thought of that, but it surely fits.

After the funeral, my wonderful friend Elizabeth and I were talking and she needed to stick around to deliver some groceries into the kitchen, but didn't want to do so while the reception for family and out-of-town guests was going on, so we decided to take a walk to the coffee shop down the street. The air was indescribable. You know when you're in a lake and there is cool fresh water and sun-warmed water swirling around your body all at the same time? It was like that. Ok, so it was describable. There was cool air coming up from the damp ground and the warm sun shining down. Yummy. So, we walked and had coffee and chatted up a storm. We walked back, unloaded the groceries and parted company. I came home and napped until choir time. LOL Isn't that terrible? It felt good, though. Elizabeth brought me a Christmas gift to choir. I am not allowed to open it until Christmas. She trusts me, huh? hehe Tim almost opened it..he said she didn't say anything about him opening it. :) Choir rehearsal went well..then we went to a local surf 'n turf (in fact, I guess that's the name ,come to think of it)and I had a beer and some fries and good conversation with good friends. Then home to watch Top Chef with Tim and then to sleep, perchance to dream.

Today is our date day, as we postponed it for the funeral. I need to get on the stick for Christmas. I am starting to feel a bit panicked.

Lots more detail than I intended to offer. lol It's fun to relive a good time though.

Talk to you guys later. Lots of love your way.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lisa, I left you a comment at Violettes. If you switch to Beta you will LOVE it. No problem posting links. If a tekkie deprived person like me can do it, it must be easy! LOL

Anonymous said...

Lisa, I left you a comment at Violettes. If you switch to Beta you will LOVE it. No problem posting links. If a tekkie deprived person like me can do it, it must be easy! LOL

Anonymous said...

Lisa, I left you a comment at Violettes. If you switch to Beta you will LOVE it. No problem posting links. If a tekkie deprived person like me can do it, it must be easy! LOL

Anonymous said...

Lisa, I left you a comment at Violettes. If you switch to Beta you will LOVE it. No problem posting links. If a tekkie deprived person like me can do it, it must be easy! LOL

Anonymous said...

Oh, I am glad it was an uplifting funeral and I am glad you had such a lovely day aftwards....

Hugs, M

Bea said...

Lisa, you can use bloglines or blogrollling, to post your links easily at your sidebar.

Hope it can help you.

Hugs!

Anonymous said...

Hey there Lisa Froggy! I am on Beta and it is easier..but blogger still gives me fits! I am going to eventually switch to typepad or get a website of my own! Any hoooo....Christmas is the weeeeeeeek after this!! Help! When did that happen! I AM SO BEHIND!

Anonymous said...

Argh, Blogger isn't recognising my password at all so I have to post as Anonymous :)

You know, when I started blogging I never would have guessed that I would end up forming real friendships with other women from all over the world. My Bloglines is getting longer...and longer...

I'll also echo what "Me" said above

Amy from Contemplations Amid Chaos

Anonymous said...

Hello sweet Lisa

What a beautiful and heartfelt post.

Am glad that the funeral for your friend's husband went well. Sounds like she is a special, special woman. To be comforting every one else on the day shows her strength (and compassion for others during her own grief).

I thought what you wrote about blogging was very interesting. Am sure you were a good listener before. But I know what you mean.
Everyone has their own story. And I know through blogging my world has opened up too. And the knowledge that people have much to share.

What a lovely meditation your pastor gave! A beautiful way of looking at death. And the release of our spirit.

I could almost feel the air you described during your walk with your friend Elizabeth. You are quite poetic you know!

Hope you enjoyed your date day with Tim.

Much love

Dotee xoxo

Anonymous said...

Yes Blogger Beta was sooo easy, much easier to do than Blogger. Once you get used to it you can do all sorts of fancy things to your template just with a click of a button. FH&L was really easy to change it only took a minute or two, though you lose any fancy template changes. Like you might lose your Glitter sisters button I'm not sure. Have a go with Messe Musings first (?) perhaps because you don't use that one as much. We can't have you and Amy not being able to comment!

Anonymous said...

I love the Velveteen Rabbit analogy for the eulogy - that is such a sweet book. I love your church's stable idea, too.
Good for you taking a nap - sometimes emotions can really wear us out, and I think we need to listen to our bodies more than we often do. Other cultures aren't so uptight about the whole napping/siesta thing - it's just us Americans afraid someone will think we don't work hard. Sorry I got off on a tangent there, huh?
I'm a bit panicked here, too. I better get busy!

Lena said...

It sounds as if you've had a touching day. It is nice that you were there for your friends and that you have them to depend on as well.
Thank you for your kind comments, I've enjoyed reading them and I appreciate you dropping by very much.

Hulda said...

Hi, Lisa! Have you forgotten to link to my blog? :)

Hulda said...

Hi, again, I am glad you havent forgotten me. :) I can see you have just a dot for me. I think you just had to write my adress. http://huldals.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoy these days before Christmas. :o)