Day 13 Good News #lutheranadvent

I'd taken a different picture this morning for today's theme but then as I was walking to my apartment from the bus stop . . .

It's hard to tell what's happening here---I took the picture from a distance on purpose, to avoid invading others' misfortune---but all the lights on the other side of the street are flashing lights from a fire truck and ambulance. As I walked by , I saw there was someone on the sidewalk and they were laying a stretcher next to him/her. There were no parked (or crashed) cars nearby and I wonder if it's one of the neighborhood's homeless guys---they camp about a block from there. I thought, "blessed are the broken, for they will be cared for." also: turn around---here is the Reign of God. 

So I took this picture.

Day 12 Await #lutheranadvent

I have this relationship with the moon that I don't think I've ever written about. Maybe it's because I was a preschooler when Neil Armstrong set foot on it or maybe it's something more primal. I can't say. The moon in a day sky especially feels mysterious and, in some way, inviting. Just a white orb in a field of blue.

Today's word, "Await," had a few possibilities for me, particularly since I rely on public transportation in a city notoriously bad for public transportation. In other words, I spend a lot---a LOT---of time waiting at bus stops.

But that "A" at the front of the word felt like something other than "waiting" for a bus or for the Messiah  or even Godot for that matter. It felt like something less tangible than even the undefined Godot. Wouldn't the play have a different feel if it were called "Awaiting Godot"?

Maybe I'm having some idiosyncratic word parsing here. It's a feeling, not a definition.

Anyway, as I've thought on the word all day, I kept coming back to a night sky and particularly the moon. A moon seems to have some promise in it to me (again, an Apollo thing?) but it's not going to fulfill it, either. It just hangs there and says, "at dawn, maybe, you'll see . . . "

Something about the moon teases me with potential I can't name . . . 

Day 11: Beginning #lutheranadvent

Day 10 Rejoice #lutheranadvent

Day 9 Awe/Wonder #lutheranadvent

I try to find awe and wonder everyday, but I have to admit, the cold, wet weather we're having here in Houston these days makes that a little bit more of a challenge than usual. Still, I took a few pictures and i decided this very dark (you may need to click on it and go full screen with it to see it best) photo captures something of the mystery I experience in many contexts.

Day 8: Rose #lutheranadvent

I'll admit that this prompt (Rose) is my least favorite so far in this exercise. Too concrete for my tastes. How many ways can you illustrate "rose"? I toyed with the notion of trying to figure out a way to do a photo that would illustrate the past-tense verb meaning of it---but nothing came to mind that I could actually pull of.

Luckily, we sang on my favorite advent carols this morning and I thought that was about as good as it was going to get for this day's prompt.

And I've been humming the tune all day. A bonus.

Day 7 Hope #lutheranadvent

I posted this to my facebook page first and immediately this thread followed: 


Patty: Whenever I see plants growing out of pavement, I am reminded of how tenacious nature is.

Angela:  Plants is FIERCE! 

Me:  i believe in a fierce and tenacious hope.

Angela: Amen. Is there any other kind?


I love my friends, and I love when they "get" me . . .