Communcations 101 - Remedial School

I have a problem. I think prayer (at lease the way I know how to do it) is contrived.

That probably means I'm doing it wrong. Is that possible? I've sat through 152 teachings on prayer. (Yes, I've counted. It's 152!) But somehow I still don't get it.

Darkness

This morning when I woke up for work, it was dark. That's the first time it's been dark when I woke up since last winter. That's just about the most depressing day of the year, accept for when it's dark when I leave work too. But I think I've got a bit of time before that happens.

I think if it's dark, I should be asleep. I think that would be a good rule.

When I become Queen of the World, that will be my first law.

Stories

I like stories.

I think life is made up of a series of intertwined stories. I like sharing stories with people - being part of their stories and having them in mine. Sometimes it's fun to write or think about daily circumstances in story language. At first it seemed silly or exaggerated, but then I realized it really isn't, nessesarily. It's just a different way of looking at a situation.

It helps a bit if you have some folks around to provide a little drama and intrigue. Too much drama isn't good though. Just a little bit. :-)

Rob made me post

Rob told me to post, but I'm a bit void of inspiration today. So I'll babble. What fun is a personal blog if you can't babble about useless drivel?

We just got back from a 2.5 weeks at the Lake. It was a weird mix of fun and chaos and peace and busyness. Somehow the time evaporated and I didn't get to read nearly as much as I'd planned. That always happens. I never learn. I did manage to run or swim "laps" almost every day. I wrote a fair bit. I thought a lot. Mostly in a self-focused, indulgent kind of way about my own dreams and hopes. I thought a lot about things I've been learning recently. There's been a lot.

We had "church" on the pier two Sundays. Celebrating Communion with friends and family that were guests at the Lake. That's good church! I shared the first Sunday about how I think I might be learning how God talks to me, but I'm not sure. I'm a bit slow on the uptake after 15 years of being a Christian. Maybe I'll post about that later.

We buried my Uncle Kinley's ashes. He passed away three years ago, but we were waiting till "the whole family" could be together to "plant him", as my dad would say. We didn't succeed in getting the whole family there. My sister and cousin's husband were missing. We went ahead, though, with their permission.

Kaylee got a wasp sting and the girls made up a magical mythological creature that is pink with polka dots and wings and comes out to eat "bad bugs" but never gets seen by people.

I ate too much and I'm sure I gained weight!

Goose Bumps

What gives you goose bumps?

There's two kinds of goose bumps I get. The creepy stories, spooked out goose bumps, and other kind. The kind where something is cool and intense, in a deep kind of way. Those are my favourite kind!

But I was wondering where they come from. What they mean. Some kind of emotional response must release a physiological reaction causing those little bumps on your skin.

Once I heard someone call them "God bumps" instead of goose bumps. My reaction was about as charitable as it is when people call pot lucks, "pot blesses" because "we don't believe in luck". =sigh=

But today I got goose bumps listening to Eminem. (I know, my soul is in peril...) and something just hit me that way, that cool, intense, deep kind of way. And I thought about "God bumps" and I thought about how God speaks to me (I'm not sure really) and what his voice should sound like, should feel like. That seems about right, cool, intense, deep in a way that defies any kind of coherent explanation. Maybe they are "God bumps" after all.

And maybe, just maybe, God speaks through Eminem. Go figure.