Sunday, June 14, 2009

Sleeping With Bread

The examen, based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, helps a person hold onto what spiritually nourishes them by looking at what is giving them consolation in their life or causing him desolation. It allows someone to express his gratitude to God for the good stuff and turn to him for solace for the bad stuff. It is quite simple. You simply ask yourself, in the last day/week/month what gave me consolation and what caused me desolation.

So, without further ado ...

The Good.

The wind that comes sweeping down the plain. Here in Oklahoma it's never very far away from one's mind. The good is like this ...


These are the blades of the giant windmills that turn wind into electricity. You see a lot of these things travelling north to places all over the Great Plains were wind is plentiful, bird traffic is small, and the money and jobs that energy production translates into is considered a God-send.

The good is also like this ...


and the Bad like this ...


We had a tornado right here in Norman yesterday. It was a small one and touched down on the east side of town. It is very rare for tornadoes to touch down inside the city limits of Norman, but it does happen. This tornado didn't do very much damage, but none of them go without leaving a calling card.

I'm so thankful that my house wasn't damaged by the twister, but it's one of those things. I hope it's not tempting Fate to be so. Most people carry around a certain sense of foreboding when it comes to tornadoes. Everyone who has lived here for any length of time has a storm story. Who determines whose stories begin with the pronoun "I" and whose doesn't? I promise you, that "Who" is not pure, dumb Luck.

12 comments:

Amber Star said...

How's the bread risin' today after the big tornado scare? I am NOT making fun of you at all ever...I'm the biggest weenie when it comes to a tornado that you have EVER seen. We have cable with 3 dedicated weather channels, plus the local news networks like channel 5, 4, 8 etc., and a storm scanner so I can listen to the RACES channel....they will give you a stomach flip with their carrying on. And I have all of them on at once. My sister says it is storm central here. We got a lot of rain last week...and that will probably be it for us until October or so.

I liked the album you put on the blog today. Very soothing.

Take care,
AS

Leni Qinan said...

Nice video -very very relaxing-. I'm impressed by the size of the windmill blades. They're huge!

These are the uncontrolled forces of nature. Winds can be so beneficial, and so horrible too.

I'm glad to know that your house was not hit by the twister. We never have them over here -maybe just exceptionally, I guess it's the climate change thing...-.

Me said...

Thank God. You and your house is safe. Take Care.

About the windmill blades.. haven't seen them before.. so am surprised.

Marisa said...

The one thing I constantly tell myself when the tornado sirens go off is that it won't hit my house because Norman was built on a sacred Indian burial ground...or some other urban legend that people seem to think prevents tornados at bay. This, however, never seems to stop the tornados from dropping branches on my powerlines.

Maria said...

I live in Nebraska, so we are tornado neighbors....

Ugh.

Lavinia said...

I'm glad your house wasn't damaged by that mighty wind too!

Your tornadoes make the news up here on a regular basis.

I like when you right about that Saint exercise.

Let me tell you, I got desolation in my life right now and Jesus is being a tremendous solace to me as I wrestle with this burden upon me.

Words of wisdom from Skeeter...thank you!

Lavinia said...

That windmill song is fantastic! I had to listen to it twice. Really like angels singing. They have voices of such sweet purity, really beautiful.

I'll add this to the list of youtube music I listen to .....especially when I'm stressed....

Skeeter said...

I'm really glad the music helps Lavinia. I like that song, and these singers really sing it.

Yes, Marissa, that's the Norman legend and it gives me a great deal of comfort out here.

Thanks everybody. Best wishyes.

Sharon said...

Praise the Lord you and the house are all ok... Thanks for the visit!

Have a beautiful day!

Brandy Wilcoxen said...

Lucky it was just the fence. Take care.

Technonana said...

Hi Skeeter... I tried to comment Yesterday, but for some reason.. it didn't come up... so here we go again...
Tornadoes are very frightening things.. I have seen a few, but never been 'caught up' in one!!
So very glad that you didn't get more damage!!
We are all fine here, just very busy!! Vacation last week, VBS this week and wedding planning.
Just 2 months til Aug. 15.
Thanks for checking on me!!
Love,
Sharon

Grass said...

i'm glad your house was not damaged by the tornado. my country is not within the tornado belt but i've seen in the tv how powerful it could get and how huge the damage it leaves behind.

take care Skeeter. my warm regards to Ms. Sunshine. :-)


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