Life is for living: and living abundantly

Talk about the lazy, hazy days of summer. That's how I've been feeling since Christmas. I haven't felt like maintaining my blogs. This happens to me quite a bit these days - and it is one of the reasons why I have not been very good at journalling until blogs came along. Life is for living, for being in the present moment.

Now, don't misunderstand. I believe in the reflective life. I do reflect. I think reflection is a continuous part of my life, my spiritual existence. But to sit down each day and write what has been lived, what has been thought, what has been experienced takes a lot of time. And to go back years later and relive what I have written? Nuh-uh! Not my style. Not that I haven't done this. I just don't manage to maintain consistency in doing it. I have a large brown paper shopping bag full of journals, jottings, attempts at journals - and I have a couple on the go. But, by and large, they are not literary efforts. They are jottings. They are the working through of ideas, notes of where I am now and where I might be going.

To sum up, I think there is a spiritual narrative of my life going on inside me. The stars of the narrative are me and my Creator and the story is about the journey we are on together. And my recent insight is that, just as I am on a journey, so is my Creator: a journey of surprise and delight in his/her creation, a journey of wonderment in how it is all going and how it will all turn out.

So my summer has been full of the joy of my garden - the pumpkins and tomatoes and basil and beans competing and co-existing and producing. A wild mixture of edibles which I have tended into existence. I have been reading more consistently and voraciously than I have in a long time. While I am always reading one way and another, I have taken the time to be absorbed by and in what I am reading. I have made some new friends simply because I have stepped out in some new ways - and there have been some lovely lunches with Harriet, Lee and Marian. My carport has been turned into a lovely, simple, and most unfashionable living area. The perfect venue for lazy lunches and lingering coffees.

So, dear Reader, please excuse your correspondent if she goes missing in action from time to time. It's because she is living a life which is to be lived - and lived abundantly.

Ethical eating: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Miss Eagle has just posted on Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle over at Oz Tucker. Pop over and have a read.

Praying for Melbourne 2008

Archbishop Philip's Prayer for Melbourne

God of community, we give you thanks
for this beautiful and vibrant city:
for its diversity of people and cultural life,
for its industry and commerce,
for its hospitals and agencies of care,and
for its places of learning, recreation and worship.

God of compassion,we pray
for all who live and work in this city and
for those who visit here:
open our hearts to welcome the stranger,
shelter the homeless,befriend the lonely,care for the needy, and
offer hope to those in despair,
for these are your people.

God of community, Giver of life, of love and hope,
hear our prayers for the welfare of this city.
Amen

Translation: God of compassion - you are here 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You are at home, at school, at work with all generations. Thank you. Lord help me to care for others. For they are your people, Amen.

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We are a large and dynamic faith community in one of the world's most multicultural cities. We are diverse and vibrant and our parishes and other ministries cater to a wide variety of expressions within the Anglican tradition of the Christian faith. We trust that you will find resources, support and inspiration on our website to help you with your faith journey.

Dr Philip Freier, Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne

Water for beer but it's a drought in the garden

I reckon Miss Eagle can say without fear of contradiction that Denise Gadd is hopping mad. Denise blogs at The Age where she is also the gardening editor. Now the blog is in a bit of a hiatus for the silly season. Denise burst into the Opinion Pages of The Age with this piece to-day. Almost a year ago to the day, Denise was having her say with this piece.

You will have noted, dear Reader, that Miss Eagle is promoting the petition, to which Denise refers, on her blogs. Go for it Denise, I say. Anyway can we send Tim Holding a ticket to a Permaculture design course for a New Year pressie? He clearly is not a gardener and has no sympathy for those who garden. I get mad when I think of all the water that it takes to make beer - and I don't drink a drop. I presume that Tim drinks his fair share - so how about giving me some leeway with my veges, Tim!