UNIVERSITY BAPTIST CHURCH
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Staff
    • Annette Hill Briggs, Pastor
    • Rob Drummond ~ Music Minister
  • Listen & Read
    • Sermons
    • Pastor's Blog
    • #ITSYOURCHURCHTOO >
      • About >
        • When & Where?
        • Ministries >
          • Worship >
            • Music
            • Worship Arts
            • Worship Resources
          • Fellowship >
            • Wednesday Night Supper
            • Church Recipes
          • Service >
            • MCUM Collections
            • Habitat for Humanity Project
          • Vacation Bible School
        • Our Story >
          • Denomination
          • Who We Are
        • Contact
        • Calendar
    • Social Media Feed
  • Give
  • Newsletter

Pastor Annette's Blog

"OF ALL THE THINGS GOD HAS SHOWN ME, I CAN SPEAK BUT A LITTLE WORD NOT MORE THAN A HONEYBEE CAN CARRY AWAY ON ITS FOOT FROM AN OVERFLOWING JAR."
~ MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG, 13TH CENTURY MYSTIC

Boredom and Contentment

6/11/2020

0 Comments

 
​June 9, 2020
​
​
Beloved:

 In nature news, this little family visits almost nightly.  Three babies and their mother.  Sweet as pie, except another relative has shown up, big enough to stretch from deck rail to humming-bird feeder.  I’ve seen raccoons unhook my feeders and chug from them like beer bottles, then smash the feeders on the ground below; so mine are now secured with zip-tie carabiners.  He’ll need a pocket knife to cut them down. 

Instead, he plucks out the plastic flowers to increase the flow.  That he takes out all the flowers when he only drinks from one tells me everything I need to know about this guy.  This morning I found all my plastic flowers and super glued them to the feeder.  It’s his move now. 

​Otherwise, I’ve been thinking about boredom and contentment.  About the impulse to fill 
Picture
Picture
time rather than be present to the movement of time.  ​

Early morning to mid-morning.  Noon to late afternoon.  Each time has its own feel and even its own light.  I find a certain little pinch of joy in recognizing this.  The ebb and flow of noise inside and outside the house that I have only discovered staying home day after day is a gift of quarantine I didn’t anticipate and hope I don’t forget.  Sometimes I get the urge to check out, to binge-watch TV reruns or play solitaire on my phone for thirty minutes at a go.  That’s boredom, not contentment.  Time to go outside.  Even a nap is time better spent.

Of course, there is also the news — always urging me to DO SOMETHING!  This world’s need compared to my life energy is so vast, I am overwhelmed before I can begin.  I find being present to the moment helps there too, centering me in the reality of what one person can do:  a lot, in fact.  One person can attend a protest.  One person can read and learn and discover the racism within their own thinking.  One can write letters.  One person can encourage.  One person can confront, with love, the misunderstandings they come upon.  All these things feel doable when I am present to the moment and to the eternal quality of time.

As you go about your day, I pray you find joy in the empty spaces.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    I write a Tuesday morning devotional to members and friends of UBC.  It is also posted here. 
     
    Enjoy!  
    Pastor Annette

    Copyright
    Everything on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons license, which gives you permission to copy freely, provided that you attribute the work to me, that you use the work for non-commercial purposes, and that you do not produce derivative works.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    March 2011

3740 East Third Street   Bloomington, IN 47401         812/339-1404                   Life Groups ~ 9:30 am          Worship ~ 10:45 am
Photo used under Creative Commons from TheReptilarium
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Staff
    • Annette Hill Briggs, Pastor
    • Rob Drummond ~ Music Minister
  • Listen & Read
    • Sermons
    • Pastor's Blog
    • #ITSYOURCHURCHTOO >
      • About >
        • When & Where?
        • Ministries >
          • Worship >
            • Music
            • Worship Arts
            • Worship Resources
          • Fellowship >
            • Wednesday Night Supper
            • Church Recipes
          • Service >
            • MCUM Collections
            • Habitat for Humanity Project
          • Vacation Bible School
        • Our Story >
          • Denomination
          • Who We Are
        • Contact
        • Calendar
    • Social Media Feed
  • Give
  • Newsletter