"3 Cent Blessings" or "I'MNOTPMSINGNOWGETOFFMYBACKANDUNDERSTANDTHATIAMJUSTKINDAPRAYINGGEEZANDWHILEYOURATITGETSOMEICECREAMONYOURWAYHOME!"

I admit it.  I have been pretty emotional lately.  I would be easy to go into default, blaming PMS, but I have never really been impacted emotionally by my menstrual cycle.  Perhaps because I have recently started exercising seriously for the first time since 4th grade, maybe my body is just reacting differently than I am used to. The human body does do strange things.  And then, maybe it's the new relationship-thing in my life: that coupled with the impending September move could be causing the wider and more rapidly changing slew of emotions.

But, I'm pretty sure it's answered prayer.  This year, during Lent, I have given up alcohol (as usual), and started exercising (for a half marathon, and also for a new years resolution; Easter is kind of like
Christian New Years). But as an added discipline (and I need that word, discipline, applied very loosely) I have also renewed a prayer that I forgot I was no longer praying.  It usually goes something like this:

"Father, let me taste and see your goodness.  Open my eyes to all your beauty in the small things.  Let that be my daily bread."

It always seems to be answered too. (Like with the LSD/Holy Spirit incident assisted by Henri Nouwen about this time last year.  See my post about being afflicted by thigmorphilla.)


I had a good friend who was praying the same thing with how he lived his life. We would often end a day talking about all those little surprise revelations, usually over "pint-sized" blessings.  I guess, we would in a way RE'count our blessings', without the cognitive tally.    These conversations were a type of praise, of worship.

My friend moved away, and has ceased to be a daily reminder for me to continue this practice.  I guess I just forgot to pray.  I miss that type of worship, especially when lately, my prayers of relying on God look more and more like a stress relief wish list.  Yesterday, I also saw a friend from back home Chicago had updated his facebook status to "I can think of nothing good, except submitting two scholarships, that happened today."  That made me so sad.

So, in an effort to begin again, as I often do, here is an inexhaustive list of the small blessings from the beginning of to today, waking until getting to work. 

- There was sunshine outside my curtains when I woke up.


- I went for the teapot, and there was already enough water left from the roomies for my oatmeal.


- On my way out I realize that I needed 3 cents more for coffee.  I keep change in a big 5Gal. water jug, that is hard to get change out of once it is in (that's the point).  I found 3 cents in the first alternative place I looked.

- When I walked out my front door, there was a sunshine immediately on my face and an unidentified child walking up the stairs. The first person I talked to/greeted this morning was a child.

- My Deli Guys had my coffee ready (small, no sugar, little bit of milk, napkin please) and I got to skip the line of high school students ordering sandwiches.

- I got a new monthly Metro card at work yesterday, because someone else was grabbing one, not knowing that this morning my current one was not going to have expired.

- The line in the Khrusty Brothers song Every Time A Lie song came on the headphones. "So I was sipping on my whiskey in Kentucky-town, where the top-shelf burboun is a Jim Beam brown", reminding me of my wanderlust, and the beauty in the commonplace and average of most of America, even if it is about liquor at 8:30 in the morning.

- I got a seat on the train while still in Brooklyn.

- There was an article on the NYTimes iPhone app.  called "JFK Condolence Letters Published for 1st Time".  It's about a new book complied of letters Americans write to Jackie after JFK's assassination.  After reading,  I was thinking about human connections, and that what creates the most intense connection (between non-lovers, and even then, maybe lovers, I wouldn't know) is sharing our
purest, most singular revelations. Which all led me to thinking about my pure, singular revelations.  Which reminded me of my forgotten prayer, and led me to sharing this morning.

- Mike bought my Americano for me this morning.


Blessings!

Round 3 of introductions... And it's a 3-fer!

True Stories
Sam Wedelich & Corey Hayes
Show Specs:
251 W 80 Street (Btwn B'way & West End; All Angels' Church), NY, NY 10024
Opens March 6: 6-7:30 Opening, 7:30-9 Coffee House Concert, 9-10 Reception & Second Viewing


In keeping with the theme of True Stories, Jeannie Rose Field, our Coffee House curator (and the voice behind the stellar blogs City Stories and The Faux Gourmet), has put together a show of the most storytelling inclined genere: the singer-songwriter.  That plus a few other people, telling their stories.
(Jeannie Rose also tweets up a storm under @_CityStories and @TheFauxGourmet.  Follow her.)


Shalom Sahbity Preview- Catherine Hanna and Simnia Singer-Sayada
The full Shalom Sahbity performance will be showing at All Angel's Church on Saturday April 10th.

Shalom Sahbity is a collage performance of storytelling, dialogue, movement, music and media, written and performed by Israeli-American, Simnia Singer-Sayada and Egyptian-American, Catherine Hanna (an All Angels' native).  It tells their unique personal experiences of Middle Eastern culture, as well as the stories of Arabs and Israelis who have been directly impacted by this multi-facted political and historical conflict.  As they tell their stories through word and images, they incite a variety of themes and topics including: immigration, mixed cultural identity, race, family, language, motherhood, woman’s self-image, religion, and tensions in relating to the news and media, among other topics.  The performance provokes a fresh new dialogue about the Middle East and the surprises found through friendship.  This will be the second year running that All Angels' Church is pleased to present this performance.

Visit Shalom Sahbity on the web. 




Melanie Penn

 

I have never met Melanie before, so I am going to be looking for someone to introduce me to her Saturday.  But I hear good things.  And, DANG, ain't she cute, boys?

Take a listen over at her MySpace page.
Homepage: www.melaniepenn.com



Paul Johnson

 

Paul Johnson needs little introduction.  If you want to talk about singer-songwriter, which, honestly, who doesn't,  Paul's music is in the vein of those originals.  I mean, when he plays, you are looking around for Peter and Mary.  (Har, har, his wife's name happens to be Mary.)  Personally, Paul's music also makes me a little nervous sometimes.  It's Pavlovian.  I will have shuffle on the iTunes at work, and all of a sudden the Senior Warden is in the room singing to me; it seems like I should immediately close the non-work relevant Firefox tabs (like Blogger?).
Purchase: www.cdbaby.com/cd/paulleejohnson


Who'd You Miss:
Sam Wedelich
Corey Hayes

Still to come:
Cory Cavin