Prayer of St. Patrick

An embroidered 'saint cushion' in the chapel at Salisbury Cathedral, which I visited a couple of weekends ago.  (More on that to come eventually!)

I have no idea if these are words that St. Patrick actually wrote or spoke, but I love the message in any case. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I arise today

Through the strength of heaven;

Light of the sun,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of the wind,

Depth of the sea,

Stability of the earth,

Firmness of the rock.

I arise today

Through God's strength to pilot me;

God's might to uphold me,

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye to look before me,

God's ear to hear me,

God's word to speak for me,

God's hand to guard me,

God's way to lie before me,

God's shield to protect me,

God's hosts to save me

Afar and anear,

Alone or in a multitude.

Christ shield me

Against wounding

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye that sees me,

Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through the mighty strength

Of the Lord of creation.

Spring has sprung!

"Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"...

"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine..."

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Used to Boston winters, which last FOR-EV-ER, I assumed that the warmer weather and flowers blooming here in London were a fluke.  The cold weather would come back and freeze every blossom that had dared show its head.  But when everyone around me started talking about spring, I realized that spring actually does come in early March in London...

A Change in Perspective

Last week, I mistakenly thought I had seen everything there was to see in my neighborhood. I like going for long walks on Sunday afternoons (partly because I'm not that into other forms of exercise...), but I've been getting bored of walking up and down the same streets by my apartment, looking at the same houses, admiring the same trees in the same park. Then Monday night, I did something I don't think I've done since moving here: I took a walk after dinner. The sun had set and the street lamps were lit, and suddenly my neighborhood looked like a whole different world.

Christ Church Cathedral at sunset--a magical time--right on the boundary between light and dark (Summer 2012)

The house with the antique car out front was now the house with the flowers in one of its upstairs windows. The house with the pretty garden leading up to its front door was now the house with gorgeous built-in bookshelves and vintage wallpaper. (I promise I wasn't being creepy. I didn't stop and stare in any windows or anything. But many of the houses near me don't draw their curtains, so as I walked past, I did catch quick glimpses through lit windows.)

It was a much-needed lesson in perspective. I had forgotten that when I think I've seen all there is to see, I should look at things in a new light (quite literally in this case!). My evening walk reminded me of a quotation often attributed to Abraham Lincoln:

"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or we can rejoice because thorn bushes have roses."

Once that sentiment was in mind, I started looking at all the challenges of my week differently.  I could agonize over a difficult decision, or I could be grateful to have choices. I could be frustrated with my class of 12-year-olds who are behaving very poorly at the moment, or I could take it as a teaching challenge. I could be sad that I'm so far away from my family and friends, or I could rejoice in the fact that I live in an age when there is a plethora of cheap, easy ways to keep in touch.

I think there's something good to be found in every situation. Sometimes you just need to change your perspective to see it.

God is Involved

You know those icebreaker games where everyone has to say one weird or interesting fact about himself or herself?  Well the one I often use is that I know all the words to the movie Titanic. Embarrassing, I know. It's kind of a long story best left for another time.

I was reminded this morning of one of Leonardo DiCaprio's (Jack's) lines from the film: "I'm involved now." Kate Winslet's character (Rose) is contemplating jumping off the back of the ship. As Jack tries to talk her out of it, Rose essentially tells him to go away.  But Jack responds that he can't; he says "I'm involved now."

I promise there's a reason I'm bringing this up.  I was reading today's psalm (Ps 138:1-8) and was especially struck by the last line: "The Lord is with me to the end. Lord, your love endures forever. Never forsake the work of your hands!"  The thing is, we are all God's creations.  He has invested time and effort into creating us.  We are the work of His hands, and He is invested in our lives.  But God tells us more than Jack tells Rose (of course).  God doesn't just say "I'm involved now" and that He can't leave us.  He tells us instead, "I have always been and always will be involved.  I will be with you to the end.  I will never forsake you because I care about you too much.  You are mine."

I find myself at a point where I must make some important decisions.  I must choose a path, and it is so comforting to remember that God will always be with me.  I may not always feel His presence, but He is here, guiding me with His gentle hand.  He will help me make this decision, and He will stay with me no matter which path I choose.

Encouragement

'Encourage each other daily while it is still today' (Hebrews 3:13)


That's my aim here. (Perhaps not daily...but more often than I have been.) So in case you're doubting yourself today: you can do this. And if you do not feel strong enough to do what you are called to do today, remember that you are not alone. He is always there, ready to extend His helping hand, as are your loved ones around you.

Music Hath Charms

Taken at home a couple of years ago...candid photo I didn't know was being taken...

The perceptive of you may notice that I attend a lot of choral and orchestral concerts, and you wouldn't be wrong.  It's a strange truth that as a former English major and now English teacher--and one who loves Shakespeare no less--I see far more concerts than I do plays.  That's always been the case, even when still in college and surrounded by cheap but good theater.  

I'm not going to puzzle over that this morning, though.  All I'm going to say is that I grew up in a very musical family, and music is an important part of my life.  My mother grew up playing the violin, flute, and piano, the last of which she played at a very high level.  My father also grew up playing the piano, and I grew up listening to him play.  The first thing he would do when he came home from work was sit down at the piano, and I have vivid memories of falling asleep to his music as well. 

I took piano lessons until I was about twelve, at which point I stopped because I stubbornly didn't want to play as much classical music as my teacher urged me to.  (Oops. Hindsight is 20/20, right?) But as I got older, and especially when I moved to college and didn't have easy access to a piano anymore, the piano bench became the first place toward which I gravitated when visiting home.  

Out in the "real world," in a very small flat with even less access to a piano than in college, I've gotten creative when it comes to keeping music in my life.  If I can't play it myself, I figure I can learn more about it and appreciate others' performances.  

In addition to attending concerts, my number one strategy is to pick a different classical composer every day and listen to his (and rarely, her) music as I work.  Because I am also helping with college applications and the school communications (website, bulletin etc.), I have much more time at my desk than a normal teacher would.  And using that two or three hours every day to metaphorically commune with Mozart or Vivaldi or Schubert or Haydn is definitely time well spent.  This strategy gives every day a different flavor to it as well because a day of Debussy will make me feel differently than a day of Bach. There are some great two-hour long playlists on Youtube; type in 'best of ______' and you will be overwhelmed with options.

At home, I listen to more modern music.  A great lover of Mumford and Sons, I am happy to announce to those who know me well that I actually listen to other artists now.  (I have a bad habit of getting stuck on one or two albums and playing them over and over and over and over for months at a time.)  This summer, I discovered Gabrielle Aplin, and I just recently learned of Damien Rice, so their albums are often on as I clean my room or do my laundry. Listen to this and this.  I don't think you'll be disappointed, especially if you like Mumford and Sons.

And finally, to the great irritation of my family, I got pretty into 50s and 60s music this summer, partly due to my love for the show Call the Midwife.  I've always listened to 30s and 40s big band stuff--a lot of Benny Goodman is weirdly great to listen to while getting ready to go out on a date or to a dance, fancy dinner, or some other nerve-wracking evening event.  But this summer, I started listening to some very early Beatles songs as well as classics such as 'Love is a Many-Splendored Thing' and 'Stranger in Paradise' by the Four Aces and 'Love Me Forever' by Eydie Gorme.  They've become my go-to songs while I cook, bake, and do other housework.  

So that's what I've been listening to.  Any recommendations?  Do you have any songs or genres you put on as background music for different activities?  I'm wishing you all a music-filled week :)

Fair England

The view from my kitchen window, overlooking the neighborhood green

I'll be honest with you--I'm a little afraid that if I don't start writing down everything I'm doing, I won't be able to remember all the wonderful things I've seen and done here. So here is a random smattering of the thoughts of an American tourist in England.

About a month ago, a friend and I went to Cambridge for a day, and I'm not quite sure how we managed to fit so many experiences into a matter of hours.  Admiring the Fitzwilliam's impressive collection, and standing awestruck in front of a few Monet works until other museum-goers were visibly annoyed with us, was only the beginning.  From there, we had tea and Chelsea buns (basically glorified cinnamon buns--but with good reason--covered in molasses and currants) and ambled along the Backs with a third friend, who told us all about graduate life at Cambridge.  We ate dinner in an out-of-the-way Indian restaurant and then attended an Epiphany carol service at St John's College Chapel. I have always been a fan of boys' choirs, but this service was particularly lovely.  Just before 6:00, the chapel went completely dark, and we waited in silence while we listened to the college's bells toll the hour.  Then the audience slowly set the chapel aglow as we each lit a small candle. Listening to the readings and music by candlelight was a real treat, though I did feel badly that I ended up dripping a good deal of wax on a prayer book... 

Cambridge in all its glory.  But my heart will always belong to Oxford over Cambridge, of course. (And Harvard above both!)

The main reason my friend and I had journeyed to Cambridge that day was to listen to our third friend sing in a choral and orchestral concert at King's College, so after the carol service finished, we made our way to King's.  On the way, we happened to bump into Stephen Hawking, which was particularly timely as we had just watched the film The Theory of Everything that week.  Clearly, he and we were both busy, but just seeing someone so famous was an added pleasure to an already exciting day.  Although I was incredibly tired, and despite the fact that I spent the two hours perched on a very cold and hard stone bench, the concert at King's was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. A long admirer of King's College Choir, I spent much of the concert trying to get over the fact that I was actually sitting in King's Chapel!!  If you haven't heard the King's College Choir sing, please do yourself a favor, and listen to this or even this if you have time and don't mind getting into the Christmas spirit in February.

Choral and Orchestral Concert in King's College Chapel, Cambridge

Two weeks later, we made our way to Oxford but with entirely different intentions; we went for a Superbowl party that an American friend was hosting.  We spent a good deal of the day hunting up American food (Can you say Domino's pizza, chicken wings, Doritos, and Sprite? I think my heart is happy that I'm in England now where it's difficult to find these horribly unhealthy things...) We planned our day so that we could attend mass at St Aloysius, which I've missed ever since that summer I studied at Oxford. Though I was horrendously tired the next day--and really the remainder of the week--it felt nice to stay up so late for once and to let my inner-American out in full force. Plus, the fact that the Patriots won made it even more worth it...

The NFL is very slowly gaining an audience over here in England...

In front of Christ Church, Oxford where I studied the summer of 2012. (Confession: this picture is actually from August; it was too cold to take pictures when we were in Oxford a few weeks ago.)

Last weekend, the sun came out, which was very exciting.  I spent all of Sunday afternoon walking through central London.  Starting at Green Park, I made my way past Buckingham Palace, through St. James's Park, up to Westminster Abbey and finally to Trafalgar Square, where I took tea and caught up on some letter-writing. This weekend, I was back in central London both Friday night and yesterday. On Friday, a couple of friends and I had the very lucky opportunity to sit in on a BBC-recorded choral and orchestral concert to be aired in April.  It was strange to see radio behind-the-scenes; the musicians had to replay several pieces in order to get them good enough to be aired.  But since the music was spectacular, I certainly wasn't complaining! Yesterday afternoon, I met some other friends for a traditional Sunday roast at a nearby pub, and we spent the rest of the day poking around the Museum of London, admiring St Paul's, and taking tea at a tea room overlooking the gorgeous cathedral.  

A horribly blurry photo snapped of the Big Ben in the rain after the concert in Central Hall Westminster on Friday evening

Traditional Sunday Roast

Lest you think that all I do is wander around England with friends, you should know that every day of the last month except those recorded above was spent teaching, applying for jobs for next year, or doing the sorts of things that no one ever talks about--cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, etc. But that's the nice thing about life, isn't it?  Just a few fun days with friends make the quiet days at home and at work a welcome blessing.  I'm a creature of routine at heart, and I'd actually far rather have a string of quiet days working or reading than a string of days out-and-about.  But at the same time, I wouldn't give up those few days out-and-about for anything.  Balance really is the key, my friends.  Until next time :)

Because my every-day life consists of cups and cups (and cups) of tea...