My Christmas gifts

Merry Christmas, planet. For those who do not choose to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I send warm greetings and my intense wish for peace and good will. Part of my celebration today will be to open my checkbook wide and give give give to those who help people and parts of the planet that need my money way more than I do.

Peace, y'all!

Molly

Peacemaking on Halloween

Here's what we gave out this Halloweeen.  We also gave the kids (except the under three crowd) a whistle.  We had a pile of them left ovr from a Halloween many years ago.  Oh how I hope my concern reaches not just the eyes but the heart of at least a few of the parents whose little ones came to our door on Halloween.  With more holidays approaching, there's lots more chocolate to buy or to bake, and most of it is tainted with child slavery.   If we know slavery is wrong and have banished it in our country, how is it OK to eat chocolate we KNOW has come from children who are starved, beaten, and denied what we all think childeren deserve?

Peace, y'all

Molly



International Buy Nothing Day approaches!

I like planning and in my head Halloween is already over. My head hopped ahead to the end of the month and my next opportunity to spread the word on simplicity and sustainability. I had a great idea.

I want to host a big party for International Buy Nothing Day!

The message of IBNDay is a negative one -- to NOT do something (to NOT join the mobs engaging in the post-Thanksgiving retail frenzy).

Rather, I want to have a party to enjoy and have fun with friends, maybe even make it a left-overs potluck.

Play games, share ideas on ways to celebrate sustainable and sensibly, popping popcorn,maybe making something for someone more needy--with companionship and fun.

Sound good? Steal my idea! Only it isn't stealing if I give it to you.

Hope you accept this gift, observe IBNDay, and share the occasion with others in a fun way.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Unplug 'the Christmas Machine

Six coworkers signed up my my workshop, but I needed 8-10. So I sadly canceled it. Yep, sadly. Better luck next year.

I so hoped to reduce the stress in my workplace. Perhaps I will find another way.

Peace y'all


Molly

Peace is non-linear and today it's circular

The path to peace is not linear, and today I'm seeing this quite clearly. My decision to reuse my eternal calendar from the good people at Alternatives for Simple Living (http://www.simpleliving.org/) lead me back to Doris Janzen Longacre's Living more with Less.

Alternatives for Simple Living is a non-profit organization that equips people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and create meaningful celebrations (cut and pasted straight from their web site). It's Christian in a gentle and practical way.

Doris Janzen Longacre was a Mennonite, and this book is part of the Mennonite Central Committee's work to meet human needs world wide. It's nourishing. Like hors d'ourves rather than a 3-course dinner. Her categories are

Do Justice

Learn from the World Community

Nurture People

Cherish the Natural Order

Nonconform freely

Yummy! It comforts me to organize my own activities along these lines. Is my food donation today a "nurture people" and "do justice" ??? Is my party tonight to make it fun to take down the Christmas tree sort of "nonconform freely?" Am I doing a bit to cherish the natural order when I recycle?

As I drink coffee grown and processed by Gustavo in Turriabla Costa Rica I feel pretty good. I honor the memory of Doris Janzen Longacre.

Back to circular. I got this book years and years ago and it has rested quietly on my bookshelf for quite a while. It's practically new to me once more.

I did some work with AltSimLiv years ago too. And I am led there once more. (More on this in Sept or October 2010.)

Peace, y'all

Molly

Retail abstinence

I decided last week to have a moratorium for shopping in January. No retail, besides groceries, medicines, stuff for cats, toothpaste, stuff like that. No restaurants either, unless I'm traveling. The very hardest part of this for me is staying away from Starbucks, Coffee Bean, etc.

I am eager to learn what I will say YES to while saying NO to shopping. I am also eager to compare expenditures in January from those say, last September.

This is like the polar bear dip, I think. January is the longest, darkest, coldest month (beside December, which is full of activity and lights).

This is my way of deepening faith and practice, to have a new approach to daily living. I think when it is over I will have learned to spend less, and more wisely.

Peace, y'all

Molly

What to do after Christmas

This is the curious interregnum (love that word) after the mega holiday, approaching a smaller one, sliding into the post-climax bleakness of January. Dark, cold, and wet.

The first definition of interregnum refers to the interval between two reigns. I can see that retail reigns up till December 25. Now what?

It's a good time for quiet inside work. Such as learning, writing, sending messages across the world. Good hobby time, to keep hands busy in positive ways. Good time to cook, spend time with friends.

For me, it's a good time to plan. (Then again, for me any time is good time for planning.) This sentiment leads to new year's resolutions, and putting out new calendars-- turning the page.

My usual prayer is for stength, wisdom, and grace. I hope the new year brings lots of them. I hope I can blog more consistently, with good messages. I want to deepen my faith and practice and invite you to do so as well.

Peace y'all

Molly

Gratitude during the Christmas hustle and bustle

Hmmm

The Saturday before Christmas and there is lots to do. In this culture, anyway. Thanks to God I don't have to add finding fuel and food to the list. Or finding my loved ones (okay, I do need to retrieve my kid from a sleepover).

Thanks to God I have the tools I need to do my chores--health, money, safe wheels for the driving errands, a full tummy and strong back.

Thanks to God also that I don't really have to worry about my daughter getting sucked into a civil war between the people and the government, which is in the hands of multinational oil companies. This is the situation for a classmate of mine who lives in Nigeria. He could have been your classmate too. There but for the grace of God......

Gratitude is a great habit, and helps ground me in this time of year.

Cheerfulness is with me today and I will share it.

Peace begins at home

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.

Lao Tzu - born 604 BC

Molly here. If it's to be, it's up to me. (and thee) After delving into those 21 peacemaking steps I felt much more committed to peacemaking where I live. This is a 6-step process. Or perhaps its a 6 billion-step process, since there are so many hearts and souls on this planet. I will focus on one or two of them. (souls)

Holiday stress is nipping at my heels. I have been escaping into a book and have not done the holiday-related things I think I should have done by now.

Back to peace in my heart and home: I will work hard for this today. I invite thee to do likewise.

peace y'all

Molly

Thoughts about Christmas

I'm a mainstream Quaker. I live in the present. I live among nonQuakers. I guess that makes me a real 21st century Quaker, rather than a 19th century Quaker or a fictional Quaker in the 20th century.

As a Friend I have struggled against the mainstream culture of Christmas commercialism. This year I think I have reached peace, or at least truce, with it.

The mainstream culture has lots of stuff to pile on us--parties, group charitable efforts, tons of special food, and an obscene amount of commericalization. Every retail place, from coffe shops to hardware stores, wants us to buy gifts. It makes Christmas impossible to ignore, even if one is Hindu or Jewish or some other faith besides Christian.

I like the holidays anyway. I like lights outside since it's so dark and cold. I love the food, though my higher self urgently reminds me to practice my moderation skills. I enjoy giving and receiving. And I like holiday music, to a point.

The bulk of the commercialism relates to the giving--which quickly equates in our culture to buying. But it need not. So much joy comes from giving of ourselves. I have never thought myself creative, but I married a man who is.

The gifts he has made amaze and delight me. One year he used colored pencils to color a 50-cent map of my favorite lake, and he framed it himself. Bought the wood, stained it, made a frame, cut the glass to size.

Another year he restored a chair that was my father's and his mother's before that. I received this restored chair December 25, 1997, five days after my father's death.

Another time he sewed me a cape. I don't know how long I've had it but I know I wore it when pregnant 15 years ago. I still wear it often, in cold weather.

Even I can do a few creative things. I can harvest lavendar, add it to flax, and sew it into a little eyeglass-shaped bag, then put that bag into a slightly larger bag out of gorgeous silky fabric. Instant eye-pillow! If I can do that, anyone can.

So Christmas reminds me of hope--that even someone like me can make nice gifts.

Back to what I like, or love about the holidays. I like getting in touch with my family, and do enjoy card I receive from friends and family (but not from charities and insurance companies).

Most of all I love that it's open season for wishing for Peace on Earth. OPEN SEASON. This is one time of year Christians and others share this wish.

Sharing the wish is good. Now...what do we do? Have a green Christmas, practice joyful moderation, and love love love, and give (of self) give (of self), give (of self)!!!

Peace y'all

Molly