“May(b) it still means something.”

I have a daily morning ritual that takes place around 6:58 (learning to be more intentional these days): I read the One Year Bible that gives me a dose of Old Testament-New Testament-Psalm-Proverb, a daily thought from Henry Blackaby, a daily offering from C.S. Lewis and finishing up with some quietly prayer-full thoughts. And then I write. So, recently on the morning of Labor Day, 2009 I was rummaging through my thought attic for some a new inkling; it was out of the corner of my eye that I noticed one of my journals misplaced on a shelf where it did not belong. Compact, black and leather-bound it created an imbalance with the larger books stack above. Feeling a tremor in the Force, I yanked it out. Sucker that I am for random discoveries, the book was oozing smokes of curiosity that drew me in (I can hear some of you chanting, “Like whoa, dude! That’s heavy.”).

The following is what I read; an entry I wrote one morning in 2006 while sitting at a Starbucks in Hong Kong. It reads (and speaks for itself):

5/6/06 Day 2 – Hong Kong

The first words I read after my ritual time reading scriptures was a passage from Hugh Prather’s Notes to Myself. “My prayer is: I will be what I will be. I will do what I do.” He ends with: “God revealed his name to Moses, and it was I AM WHAT I AM.” I am what I am. I sip my non-fat latte in a Starbucks in Hong Kong realizing I am a foreigner, I do not speak the language and I feel perfectly at home. OK, maybe I’m fooling myself. I mean, come on, Starbucks and a “Good morning” with a Chinese lilt in the greeting. Maybe not so remote; just another side of the world. The comings and goings are the same. I fit, because I fit. I love the line, “It will be interesting to see what happens.” What a sense of freedom. Expression. Movement. Promise. Another Hugh Prather quote; really, this could be my credo: “There is a part of me that wants to write, a part that wants to theorize, a part that wants to sculpt, a part that wants to teach…. To force myself into a single role, to decide just one thing in life, would kill off larger parts of me. My career will form behind me. All I can do is take the step before me now, and not fear repeating an effort or making a new one.” So here I remain, still, at Starbucks. Reading and reflecting. I am getting the clear message about the power of solitude. I grow and learn so much in the sanctuary of my immovability. It’s where my soul produces vines with small beads of fruit that ripen with time. It is the place where I become the wine of God’s pressings.



Are you still doing the same thing? Trust me, you will never be the same doing the still thing.

For emphasis.
(b)