Recently

Life at the Henry house has been hopping for the last few weeks. I always have to remember to slow down and take some quiet time to reflect and as a college classmate would said "marinate" in what is happening around me. Having lunch today with good friend was the time to remember and remind each other of things we already know, but our lives and duties can, at times, overwhelm the beauty of our journeys. As we both talked about our joys and frustrations of schedules and duties, it was good to hear that what I do on a day to day basis is not the thing that defines me, it is who I am on a day to day basis that truly matters. This reminds me of what Richard Rohr says about pain and what he calls "shadows" in life... He says we all have two choices of how we deal with pain, suffering or hardships; it can either transform us, or we transmit it upon others. I have to remember this not only about the big things in life that I've experienced but also about the small stresses that I so easily transmit upon others.

Through a rabbi - trail - sort- of way... this reminds me of our trip to the monastery that we stayed in while we were in Arizona. For those of you joining this blog more recently, David and I took a trip South about 5 weeks ago and did a short pilgrimage among other things. Though I struggled with some of the concepts and ideals of seclusion and complete simplicity of every entity of their lives, there is much that I still have to learn from the munks. The time they devout to pray and quiet reflection is quite shocking in our loud, busy, rushed, cultural inundated lives. Some days I don't even spend 10 minutes in quiet. This must change. I've been so busy, and though I am getting quite a few things accomplished, I've also gained a bad attitude, or a quick fuse, due to the rushed nature of my days. Nothing major really, but as my teacher friend gives a "refocus" to her disruptive students, it looks like I need to give myself a little "refocus"!

Since I brought up our trip at the monastery, here are a few photos from our time there. They believe in a simplicity and humility in dress, so respecting their desire to keep the monastery a place of self denial and modesty, I'm dressed the way I am in the photo. Again, something I believe we can learn from and respect. There is great freedom, though I would have thought contrary initially, about not thinking about what to wear. There is no need to make any statements, good or bad, with clothing and outward appearance.