LineaLanoie's Weblog

I have sent my daughter off to North Battleford to dance competition.  She can drive, she’s 18 and so I bravely let her use my car to get there.  I am driving hers.  What a deal she got!  I realized this again as Icrammed myself behind the front wheel.  Her seat seems to be stuck on “very close” as in about six inches between the steering wheel and the seat.  I can fit but just.  I don’t recall her telling me that there was a problem with the seat!  Oh well – two days.

I had to go to the hospital tonight.  Parked in the doctors parking lot.  It looked a bit out of place this 89 jalopy with peeling paint – but it has a valid parking sticker.

Wow!!!!

The call came this morning at work.  I have been accepted into the Certificate in Spiritual Direction program at North Park Seminary in Chicago. 

I have been waiting – patiently, mostly.  I have been trying to wait on God for this and have been telling myself that I would accept whatever comes.  But I must admit, God knows how much I have been wanting to do this.  I guess it is what he wants for me too.

The course begins in July.  It will be quite the way to start my vacation. 

Settle down, heart.  There will be a lot of just hard work I am sure.

Tomorrow it is back to work – although it turns out to be a very short week for me, today being a stat holiday and Friday being my day off.  This week is a school break so I am really off on Friday.  No school program to supervise. 

This weekend has been good but very busy.  Easter services were a refreshing break from getting all the documentation in order for my taxes. 

Oh, yeah – I also cleaned house.  A major cleaning.  I even emptied out a closet that, well I confess, had not been cleaned in ages.  Today I shredded, recycled and filled a bag for the Salvation Army.  The yard was also a disaster area so I hired Micah and he put in a good 5 hours of work on it.  We can now walk on the deck without getting wood chips caught between out toes.  Our dog thinks she is a wood chipper! 

One of the best things I did was begin walking again.  It is so easy to just gradually stop that kind of physical activity in the winter.  A stationary bike is no substitute for walking along the river bank.  Tonight I took Maisie (the dog) for a walk.  She hasn’t been trained much to walk on a leash but she seems pretty easy to train.  By the end of the walk she had stopped pulling on the leash and would sit down when we stopped moving.  I rewarded her with a big rawhide bone which is nowhere to be found.  I have no idea where she hid it.  I just wish she would chew it up rather than the firewood that Micah stacked by the fire pit. 

The geese, crows and robins are back. 

The sun is up before 6:30 already. 

This morning it rained – a good rain, not a freezing one.

Today the ice went out on the river.

It is definately spring.

I have begun reading The Genesee Diary  by Henri Nouwen.  The thing that strikes me most about the book is its simplicity.  It is a journal of his daily life.  He lets us in on so many of his feelings, good and bad, frustrating and inspirational. It is striking in its honesty and in the way he expresses his feelings just like I would, not like the saint I sort of expected.

I struggle with the ordinariness of my daily existence.  It is hard to comprehend that this routine life is pleasing to God or that this is how he created us to be.  Well, maybe he intended for our existence to be more “whole”, not so full of messiness, but that is only a distant longing in reality. 

What would my journal be like if I was writing in a way similar to Henri Nouwen?

This morning I got up and spent some time reflecting on Psalm 25. 

Show me the path where I should walk, O LORD;
       point out the right road for me to follow.

Lead me by your truth and teach me,
       for you are the God who saves me.
       All day long I put my hope in you. (vs 4,5)

I wonder if I put that into practice today.  Did I listen for God’s direction?  More likely, I just went about my day as it was programmed, without much thought – other than what to take for my lunch.

I try to pay some attention to the fact that my patients are loved and cared for by God every bit as much as I am. 

God sends me one of my long time patients – a very simple woman.  She tries hard to care for herself but is not very successful at it.  Still, she does much better now than when we first met.  Life has not been easy for her. 

Then there is the guy with the really gross mouth.  It is hard to see the “belovedness” with which God loves him.  

Returning home there is supper to prepare.  I am asked to feed and baby-sit my grandson.  Somehow this task is more easily done – more palatable – at least until I have to go and change the very poopy diaper.

And my evening is spent tidying up the office.  To tell the truth, I have misplaced a paper I need.  After everything is checked through, without finding what I need, I do ask God for help.  I feel like a child who has by their own fault left a job to the last minute so that they have to go to a parent for help.  I guess God understands my dependence and likes me anyway.  And there are the papers.  I feel as if he has just taken care of me – as a father would his child.

And to wrap up my day, I am asked to help straighten hair for Sara.  She is getting ready for her big trip to California over the Easter vacation – going on Calbreak with YFC.  She will have fun.

What have I learned from my day? Looking back over it, it has been good.  Mostly just ordinary and busy but there have been places where I have also seen God. 

Now to bed.  Sorry Fans – no time to scan the paper.  I will try tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be no less busy, no less long.

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

I trust in you, my God!  (vs1)