Living on the East Coast has made us avid storm watchers.  We’re not used to having so much weather activity during the summer months . . . and so, we watch the predicted weather changes.

In order to avoid a coming storm, and to maximize the weekend, we decided to travel east and south to visit Assateague and Chincoteague Islands in Maryland and Virginia, respectively.

We managed to avoid the storms and had a lovely weekend!  It was just far enough away to make us feel like we had traveled to another place and time.  The weekend felt like it was weeks and not just an “end.”  We came home refreshed and renewed from sights and sounds of beaches and the beauty of natural landscapes and protected wildlife.

Even without trying to avoid the storms we could treat ourselves to the grace of such a weekend more often!  Where do you go to avoid the storms?  Where do you find renewing grace when you’d rather not be in the eye of the storms of life?

I’ve always wondered about “drawing rooms.”  I was probably first introduced to the drawing room in the game CLUE, remember?  Colonel Mustard did it in the drawing room with the candlestick.  But, what exactly is a drawing room?  I never knew.   It was especially confusing when old houses I would tour would have both a “parlor” and a “drawing room.”  So, what’s the difference?

Well, I just recently learned, that a drawing room is a room where a person could “withdraw” and be away from the clamor of daily activities.  It was a place for family only, and usually guests were never invited to enter the drawing room.  The parlor was to receive guests, and the drawing room’s function was to provide a place where the family could “withdraw” and not have to deal with the guests!

Small wonder that drawing rooms have disappeared from houses now that travelers do not stop at our dwellings and expect to be taken in for the night because there is no place else to stay.  Hotels and motels now provide adequate lodging for travelers and so there is little need for drawing rooms today.  Or, is there?

I can’t help thinking how welcoming a drawing room might be when we just want to be alone and sit with the silence for a moment.  Or, how inviting a drawing room might be if we wanted to read a good book without the television in the background entertaining some other member of the family.  Even Jesus withdrew to a quiet place – away from his disciples – to think and to pray.  So, where do we go to withdraw?

It’s worth thinking about.  Where do we go when we need space by ourselves and we would like grace alone to be our companion?

Inspiration.  What does it take to inspire us?  And, how do we inspire others?

When everything seems little more than ordinary, there is seldom opportunity for inspiration.  I think of this as I watch our political conventions this summer and wonder what makes something inspirational and something else simply ordinary?

“No matter what our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that will turn the tides.” These words by author Jan Phillips touch me deeply today.

Information; the ordinary; and the current state of affairs  . . . are all wonderful, and they all have their place.  But, what inspiration does for us is heighten our awareness to see in new and different ways.  Inspiration helps us to see possibilities we may have been blind to, or may have lacked the imagination to see.  Inspiration gives us a blank page; a clean slate.  It gives us the ability to see the possibility that something might be different and might bring new life and new energy to our day-to-day existence.  We are inspired when we can feel, see, taste, hear, or touch the “more” that is possible.  Inspiration moves us, and we are inspired when we feel we may be capable of the “more” we didn’t know we had within us.  It is a movement that can “turn the tides.”

Inspiration is so much more than information.  And, it is dispensed largely by example.  The way we live our lives; express our joys and fears; handle our problems; or confront our challenges can all be the stuff of inspiration.  And much of it is spoken in our lives without words or explanation.

Who has offered you the grace of inspiration?  And, who do you think you inspire?

Another short drive over the long weekend and we were – once again – (this would actually make the third time) looking for the home of James and Dolly Madison at Montpelier.  It is not an easy place to find, being nestled in the Piedmont of Virginia at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  But, it did help us to decide that we would look specifically for Montpelier and not see it as a side interest to other destinations!

The approach is a long and winding drive up through beautiful meadows until we reached the house situated on a hill.  Making our way through the visitor center we learned that the Madison family, much like the Washington family, owned this land for 100 years before James was born.  He grew up here, lived here, brought his wife here to raise their family, came back here often during his presidency, and then lived here in his retirement, continuing to offer his brilliant mind to the unfolding of this new country he helped to create.   Truly an American, long before America was independent.  No wonder the colonists felt they needed independence – many of them had never seen the shores of England.

In the midst of all this firsthand history, standing on these grounds that nurtured our political ancestors, I can’t help but think of the similarities between our history as a free country and our history unfolding in the church in 2012.

Yes, now we have instant communication, and the world wide web, resulting in one world community.  But, truly, each individual community has its distinctive differences.  Each group of believers responds to the demands of the day slightly differently.  Each group of disciples prays and worships with their own experiences in mind, not the experiences of others in some far off distant land.   Are we one church?  Yes!  Are we different expressions of that one church?  Indeed, yes.

And similar to our political ancestors in this country, perhaps we need some prophetic voices today in our church that will help lead us to a grace-filled expression of church that truly embraces diversity – all kinds of diversity.  There are similarities here.  I pray for the grace for someone to voice them and to have the strength of mind and spirit to lead us into a future filled with grace and hope and unity.

I’ve been extra aware of colors for the past few days now.  It all started because I was photographing on a cloudy/sunny day.  When the sun was full and shining on my subject, the colors were vibrant and beautiful.  If I was focusing or adjusting settings and the clouds came across my subject, the colors faded into the background.  What an amazing thing light is!  And, colors can only really truly be seen in all their vibrancy in the fullness of the light.

It got me to thinking about how much light we allow into our lives.  How do our colors shine forth to the world?  Do we embrace the sun and show ourselves vibrant in the glowing light, or do we welcome the clouds and prefer the muted colors of cloudiness?  I imagine we are all a mix of both, and that is some of the beauty of creation.  No one – not even creation – can survive in constant fullness of brilliant light.  We need some shade to mute our experiences or we would never see the brilliance and fullness of the colors of life when they do appear.

Appreciate the light that allows our colors to shine brightly, yes, but also appreciate the clouds that mute the brilliance so that we can recoup and recover to appreciate the brilliance of the sun once it returns.

Everything must ebb and flow; shine and recede; rise and set; wake and sleep; live and die.  Accept each moment as grace.

Yesterday, as the weather is cooling down into the 80’s, I went for a six mile hike around the National Mall in search of finding grace.  Since I went out at an hour that is uncharacteristic for me, it wasn’t hard to find little pockets of grace that I usually miss.  Everything looked new in the early morning sun and I had the whole park virtually to myself!  Unheard of!  Well, it was partly due to school being in session this week, I think, but still, it was grace to find myself alone with so many beautiful sights.

I marveled at the sun rising and breaking through the morning clouds over the U.S. Capital; at the mirror like surface of the tidal pool before the sun was fully up; at three friends fishing – alone – along the tidal pool in the shadows of the King memorial.  I savored the time to be alone in the FDR memorial as the morning sun highlighted the sparkling granite rock; the roses reflected in the polished face of the Vietnam memorial symbolizing someone’s love and remembrance; and the solemn figure of Mr. Lincoln brooding over the war as the morning light washed his face.

I paused at the Korean War Memorial and said a prayer of thanks that my father, who was there when I was born, was one of the ones who returned.  I rested beside the newly refurbished reflection pool and just allowed the gentle breeze to cool me.  I admired, again, General Grant, who sits atop his horse in front of our capital.  I have spent many hours in the last year reading about this amazing man, including his own memoirs, and am always saddened by history’s misrepresentation of his brilliance and uncommon goodness.  He reminds me again that no matter what others think I should be doing, I have to do what I know to be right and take the best action I know to take in any given situation.

It was a holy walk, a holy day, and grace was all around.  Take a walk and see what graces you might find.

True wisdom comes from many sources, but is certainly unexpected from a fortune cookie!  Recently I opened my fortune cookie after a wonderful Chinese meal to find this nugget of wisdom:  Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.  Needless to say, this was an uncommon fortune, indeed.

It certainly caused me to stop and think.  I went on to eat my cookie, but have kept the wisdom.  I’ve carried the little piece of paper with me for weeks now, meditating on the truth it holds.

There is no denying that discipline can be a refining fire and can certainly refine many things in our character, our habits, and our talents.  By continual practice – discipline – we hone our talents so that it looks as if we have a natural ability.  The ability, however, is only natural, and looks easy, because we have put the hard work and discipline into making it so.  Nothing is easy and everything, even ability, comes with a price.

So, since discipleship comes from discipline, I began to think how our discipleship might be the refining fire that allows us the ability to look more naturally like the one we want to imitate.  Perhaps discipline within our discipleship is what will give us a mind like Christ; a heart like Christ; a manner and compassion like Christ; a servant attitude like Christ; and a willingness to give all we have for others, like Christ.

No wonder it takes a lifetime of discipleship to grow into Christ-likeness.  Any ability we have to do it comes through fire in the hard work of discipline.  Yet, the moments of grace in the lifetime of discipline will be what provides the grounding grace in the disciple.  Savor the moments of grace.

Look who is looking for a parking place along our circle in the neighborhood!  I was stunned to see her lazily munching the grass right out front.  I guess it’s a reminder that we must share the beauty and bounty of the earth with everyone!  Especially those species who live amongst us almost unnoticed.

What a grace to think that there are deer living in this densely populated urban region.  We are definitely not alone.  So, keep that in mind:  we are not the only ones here.  Be kind to Mother Earth and share everything!

What’s a person to do if they leave home and forget their phone?  It never used to be a problem, as you know, since there were phone boxes on almost every corner in almost every city throughout the country.  But those were the days before cell phones and the convenient phone box no longer exists.  Now we carry our own phones and never have to worry about how we might be able to contact someone.

Still, if you happen to be in Turkey Run, Virginia and have no phone – you are in luck!  The last of the dinosaurs still stands and is still in working condition!

I just had to laugh!  It was such a funny sight – out in the middle of this lovely wooded area. And, I found it a little grace that here stood this working phone, waiting to be used for someone’s call.

It was a reminder to me that first we need to see the grace that surrounds us, name it as such, and then share the story of that grace with someone else.  And, we can pick up the phone and do that – even if we are in Turkey Run and have no phone with us!

Call someone you know and share a grace that you have seen today.