RevGals Friday Five - Recharge!

Hello friends, it has been a LONG time since I have paid any attention to this here blog. Mostly, I have been confining myself to SpaceBook, because I just dig the instant feedback and for some reason when I blog, I get all concerned over whether anyone reads what I write. Not a good reason to blog.

This Friday Five, from one of my fave bloggers, Sally who blogs here brought me back. Here is what she writes over at RGBP:

A few weeks ago my lap-top battery died, suddenly I found myself looking at a blank screen and was rather relieved to find that it was only the battery and not the whole computer that had failed. This morning a new battery arrived in the post, and suddenly I am mobile again!

After a week with what feels like wall to wall meetings, and Synod looming on the horizon for tomorrow I find myself pondering my own need to recharge my batteries. This afternoon Tim and I are setting off to explore the countryside around our new home, I always find that walking in the fresh air away from phones and e-mails recharges me. But that is not the only thing that restores my soul, so do some people, books, pieces of music etc....

So I wonder what/ who gives you energy?

1. Is there a person who encourages and uplifts you, whose company you seek when you are feeling low?
That would have to be my husband, Starman...we have been through a lot together, and he is a great listener, comforter, and even better a great dancer! We don't usually get down at the same time, so we can bring one another up. On October 25, we will celebrate 25 years of togetherness (our first date was that night in 1984, when I was a freshman in college and he was a senior).


2. How about a piece of music that either invigorates or relaxes you?
When I am feeling low, I like music that has a beat, to lift me up. I like some of Phil Collins' or Genesis' stuff, and lately Axel F, the theme song from Beverly Hills Cop of all things, has been playing loud in my car.




3. Which book of the Bible do you most readily turn to for refreshment and encouragement? Is there a particular story that brings you hope?

I love the "comfort passages" in Isaiah. This week while at the bedside of a parishioner I read Isaiah 25 to a woman who has been in her hospital bed for 3 months.
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 7And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. 8Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

9It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.



4. A bracing walk or a cosy fireside?

Both, in that order! I walk every day, and I do mean every day, no matter what the weather...and it clears my head and recharges me and readies me for what lies ahead. But in the evening, a cosy (love that British spelling Sally!) fireside is the place to be, with the family gathered round.


5. Are you feeling refreshed and restored at the moment or in need of recharging, write a prayer or a prayer request to finish this weeks Friday Five....
I am in serious need of a recharge after a very busy summer of trying to fit work in around the girls' summer schedules! But today, Starman is taking the three, right after school, for a weekend in Michigan at his parents' cabin. I can't go, since I have to preach. It will be the first time, ever, that I have been alone for more than a few hours in our house! I have been looking forward to it for weeks. I have a long list of cleaning chores, but the hammock is already set up in the backyard, and it promises to be a beautiful weekend - my prayer is that I can balance making the house look better with taking some time to read and reflect and journal. If you could pray that I end the weekend feeling refreshed, recharged, and accomplished, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you! And if you are not a reader of RGBP, post your own recharging thoughts in the comments :)

Thank you Sally!