hands off! It's MINE!

I found myself faced with an interesting dilemma recently. Sitting on my backporch early one morning, I saw someone walking past my fence on the side near the street.They were walking slowly, peaking through the slats, bending down and walking again. It did not take me long to figure out that they were taking the pecans from my tree that had fallen on outside of my fence. No WONDER I never found any over there when I went to gather them!

When my sweetheart went over to meet the new neighbor, he found the culprit. Without shame, the man said "I've been taking and eating the pecans that fall in your yard by the sidewalk. I'll take any more pecans you have that you don't want!"

names

I have a party gag I like to do. Sometimes when I'm out and about, I play this game with strangers I meet. "Tell me your name and I'll tell you about yourself." People look at me funny, then they laugh and with raised eyebrows they tell me their name. I tell them what I know about that name. Names say a lot about a person - not always the name you were given at birth, but what you go by.

Sometimes I'm wrong. More often, I'm right. About 95% of the time I'm right. Because names are powerful things - they make us who we are.

"But that doesn't seem right, how can something so important, something that makes me who I am, be given to me by someone else? Don't I have control over my own destiny and life? How, then, can a name I had no choice about define me?"

It's a question I get a lot when I'm playing this game... I smile and shrug, usually. I don't know how it works, I just know it works. People don't like not being 100% in charge of who they are.

I believe that everyone we allow into our heart names us - they call us friend, sister, wife, mother, soul-mate, daughter... and with the name, they change us, we evolve toward who we are meant to be.

There are so many people who have named me in this life, and I am thankful for their gift. My daughters and my mothers, my sisters and brothers, my friends and soul-mates, my husband and my tribe-members. Thank you for the gift of my name.

forgiveness only goes as far as murdering a child

So I read an interesting study recently done by an American University. In the study, participants were taken into 2 separate rooms.
The Rules: There are 2 participants in each experiment. One of them must receive a good reward (such as a candy bar), one must receive a punishment of doing something undesirable (such as writing the same sentence 100 times).

One participant is given the opportunity to EITHER choose whether to assign the prize unilaterally, OR to flip a coin so that the prizes are decided fairly. The other participant would not know whether the coin was flipped or the prize was assigned unilaterally.

The majority of participants opted for flipping the coin, because it was more fair, BUT in 85% of the coin flips, the prize was awarded in the flippers favor. So it would seem that APPEARING fair is more important to the participant than actually BEING fair.

In similar blind studies, when the deciding participant was given complete privacy from the experimentors, the participant chose the reward over the punishment.

Equality and Fairness are ideals that we embrace... to a point.

Religion Census - 2010

The latest religion census has come out, measures compiled from the 2010 census.
The census accounted for 236 varieties of religious traditions from Zoroastrianism to American Baptist. They differentiated between sects of Christianity.

The results are interesting to me. In Tarrant County, several denominations lost people: The American Baptists Association went down 72.9% from the 2000 census.Ba'hai, on the other hand, gained 32% with 1 fewer congregation overall, but a gain in membership.
The Catholic church picked up 34,000 people in Tarrant County, and Mormons picked up almost 10,000. Muslims gained 25,000 followers as well.

If you're interested in this sort of thing, I encourage you to check out the data! Here's a Summary.
And here is the link for the whole report!

apple trees are strong

I had a dream. (This is a common occurrence.)

In my dream, I was near my home, in a safe place. I was driving a small vehicle – like an ATV or tractor – and I drove around to the back of my property.

Behind my home there was an apple tree blooming – the pink petals raining down on the ground, growing wild against a fence. The beauty of it broke my heart and healed it with joy.

As I looked at the ground, I saw tarantulas coming out of dark holes and for a second I was afraid – there were several of them, and I was afraid of their hairy backs and painful venom... But as I drove under the tree, the velvet petals of the flowers brushing my cheeks, I didn't fear them. They couldn’t get me here, I was safe. I may have run over some of them, and they scattered before me, knowing I was too strong for them.

I’ve found as I venture further toward my fear and vulnerability, I find unexpected strength and beauty. My growth is stunning to me, and I’m proud of the fruit that will follow the pink blooms. Apple trees are strong and wise...I hope I’m a little like my apple tree.

Source

storytelling

Image courtesy of Jill Clardy

"So I dressed myself in a sacred manner, and I went among the people who were standing around the withered tree. 

Good Thunder, who was a relative of my father and later married my mother, put his arms around me...and...he offered up a prayer for me. He said: "Father, great Spirit, behold this boy! Your ways he shall see!" 

Then be began to cry....I raised my face up to keep [the tears] back, but they came out just the same. I cried with my whole heart, and while I cried I thought of my people in despair. I thought of my vision and how it was promised me that my people would have a place on this earth where they could be happy every day. 

 I thought of them on the wrong road now, but maybe they could be brought back into the hoop again and to the good road.... I danced....By now I was crazy to kill, and I said to Protector: "Help me on my horse! Let me go over there. It is a good day to die, so I will go over there!" But Protector said: "No....Your people need you. There may be a better day to die"."

Black Elk Speaks, 1932, by John G Neihardt

Storytelling and truth are interconnected and it is with the utmost trust that I receive the tales from those who have walked a different path. Share with me your story. I will hold it gently with my heart. Ours will be a sacred space.

the end is near - a case for the zombie apocalypse

In case you were wondering, it’s pretty much fact that we’ve reached the end times. I mean, if you believe the reactionist super Conservative end-times fanatics Bible. There are 6 signs Jesus gave, 2 signs by Paul, and 5-ish (possibly 11) more signs from other prophets in the Bible for how we can recognize the end of days and impending approach of either the Rapture (if you’re in that camp) or the Tribulation (if you’re in the zombie camp).

In Matthew24:3 Jesus was asked, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus told his apostles to look for the following signs prior to his second coming and the end of the age:

Home

Source

Hold on, to me as we go 

As we roll down this unfamiliar road 

And although this wave is stringing us along 

Just know you’re not alone 

Cause I’m going to make this place your home. 

Settle down, it'll all be clear 

Don't pay no mind to the demons 

They fill you with fear 

The trouble it might drag you down 

If you get lost, you can always be found 

Just know you’re not alone 

Cause I’m going to make this place your home 

Settle down, it'll all be clear 

Don't pay no mind to the demons 

They fill you with fear 

The trouble it might drag you down 

If you get lost, you can always be found 

 Just know you’re not alone 

Cause I’m going to make this place your home

"Home" by Phillip Phillips

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she's gone off the reservation...who knows what will happen now!

Source

When I started this religious journey, I wanted to connect with God. I thought my idea of God was all wrong, and I was right. In typical Joni fashion, I drew a clear roadmap with destinations and directions. In typical Joni fashion, I followed that map to the T, stopping at all my pre-determined points… until I ran out of gas/saw something shiney. The truth is, I love this project. I love religion! (gasp!!) And I love God. But what I really, truly love is hearing the stories. The stories are what ignite my passion, the stories are what move me to tears, the stories are what distracted me from my plans. I struggled for a time with the fact that the stories weren't fitting in categories, they weren’t matching my master plan, they were off the beaten path.