A Leisurely Thought and A Thought on Leisure

Leisure with great dignity

Cicero

Leisure...from the old French leisur

"Time at one's disposal"

How you use your leisure time speaks volumes

Do you use it to watch others do the things they love

Or do you use it to find our what YOU love, and then do it?

Do you use it to catch up on the things that are never done?

Or do you use it to do the things you always wanted to do?

Leisure time...the disposable income of life

Dispose of it well,  and it will change everything

and that's poetiquejustis

Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

Time for a visit

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude

Voltaire

To be alone with your thoughts

Should mean that the day to day "you" is lost in the crowd

A place in your soul where you meet  with old enemies 

of things you never did or things you are afraid to do

 where you make peace with them all 

Alone with your with your thoughts is where you reach out to a new idea

Ideas you never knew you had in residence.

Don't hide from them

Don't turn away

Don't be afraid 

Come along, now.....

It is time for a visit 

Just you and your thoughts

and the things you have to say to each other

and that's poetiquejustis

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

Among the Greats

There are days when the great are near us

Ralph Wald Emerson

This week, I had the opportunity to congregate with scholars

(You know, we are the ones who get to wear the great hats at a commencement)

This was a group of scholar practitioners- experts with a passion for their field

Who truly believe in academic tradition and the moral obligation and responsibility of higher education

I was humbled to be counted among them

And I was not alone

I brought with me in my heart  my own entourage of greats 

Long gone from this world-

but with me in spirit

The grandfather who left his home in Italy

And  operated an elevator for decades at a New York College

Where my dad would someday be a professor

The Dad who at the age of 40 got his PhD, inspiring me to do the same

My mother and aunts and grandmothers

Who opened windows of opportunity for women

So I and my granddaughters

Could aspire to even more

Yes, this week in a conference of scholars and educators

I did most assuredly sit among the greats

As you go about your day today

Remember who brought you there

And honor that memory

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Hebrews 12:1

Bagels and Butter

Come Saturday Morning

I'm goingaway with my friend

We'll Saturday spend til the end of the day

The Sandpipers- 1969

There are few moments in the week I enjoy more

Than that twilight moment between sleep and awake

When I realize that it is Saturday

A day off for me

A day off the Internet highway

The email

The rounds of meetings

you know... the whole thing that happens Monday Through Friday

Saturday is....

The Farmers Market

The walk upon the sand

The dipping in to books of no literary consequence

It is the pulling of a weed and the planting of a flower

Saturday is....bagels and butter

 and being thankful for days such as these

 and that's poetiquejustis

“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Exodus 33:14

In Defense of the Dull Bits

Ideas come from everywhere

Alfred Hitchcock

Your next great idea

It could be just beyond the window

Heading right for you

Or reaching out for you to grab

Just hang on

Hitchcock said: Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.

Could be, but I have met some very good ideas 

during those "dull bits"

so I think I will leave them in 

the final version of my life

and that's poetiquejustis

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, 

who^[ have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

 

Getting on Board with Your Life

Surprised by joy

C S Lewis

I made a new friend recently

We decided to meet for coffee at the town's train depot

It was fitting

She and I both were suddenly overwhelmed by the events of our lives

The travels we had taken

The bridges we had crossed

That had brought us both to this particular place and time

To do the things we needed to do

With those things we learned along the way

When you question the whys and the wheres of your past

Reflect on it all

and you may be surprised to see

How those moments good and bad-

 brought you to your present

                                                            and bring us to our future

and that's poetiquejustis

God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10