Spiritual Thursday, Poetry Friday, Rejoicing in the Summer Season

 Carol Varsalona of Beyond Literacy Link is hosting this months Spiritual Journey Thursday.  I hosted last month and then went to Greece just a few days after that.  

Carol's Theme this month is rejoicing in the Summer season.  I technically was in Greece this spring as the official first day of Summer was June 21st this year and I left Greece on the 20th.  However I am going to use some of my experiences from the trip in this reflection as the trip took place on my "summer" vacation.  

Carol asked us to reflect on this Elanor Duse Quote:

"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the field has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive"

As I reflected on the quote, I was reminded of the opening verse of Psalm 19 ...

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1

I got to thinking why we  don't always stop to smell the significance of God's creation.  It reminded me of my flight to Athens.  I had a window seat and it was a beautiful day out.  There was lovely view after lovely view as we approached our destination. Most of the passengers were not looking out the window.  Some were sleeping, others were reading.  The majority were on their electronic devices are watching the screen in front of their seat.  

The View Out My Window

God's glory in nature

Is always displayed

To see it, it helps 

When I roll up the shade.

My second thought about creation also has to do with my trip to Greece.  The above picture was taken on my first day in Greece at a place called the Areopagus or Mars Hill.  The Apostle Paul visited Mars Hill and even gave a sermon there.  You can read about in Acts 17: 16 -34.  Essentially Paul is in Athens disturbed by all the idol worship in the city, he is reasoning in the synagogue and gets an opportunity at Mars Hill to explain the new teaching he was proclaiming.  Paul uses the opportunity to talk about some of the things he has seen in Athens and to compliment the Athenians on some of their practices.  He also talks about a statue he had seen that was to an "unknown" God and uses that as an opportunity to proclaim the God of creation and share the story of Jesus.

There is a tendency to celebrate nature in a natural way and not as the creation of a creator.  Instead of talking about God many just deify nature itself referring to it as Mother Nature or Mother Earth but rejecting the biblical idea of a personal God who created it all. Instead of taking an antagonistic or combative approach to these differing world views, I think an approach like Paul used on Mars Hill is more suitable.  People who find inner peace, and contentment, and wonder from nature should be commended even if they do not believe in the God who created that beauty.  Like Paul believers should use that common bond, a spiritual regard, for nature as a starting point to talk about the God that the heavens declare the glory of.

Spiritual Journey Thursday is a gathering that takes place on the first Thursday of the month,  Click here to see the rest of the July installment.  I left for Greece on June 6th and returned on June 21st.  Today I started daily posts about my trip exactly one month after the trip began. Please join me for those reflections.  

I am also including this post at Poetry Friday for the brief poem inspired by this weeks theme and the picture I took from the airplane.  Marcie Atkins is hosting this weeks Poetry Friday.  Join in, by clicking here.

Our Trip to Greece: Day by Day 1 month later

 Exactly 1 month ago my wife and I embarked on a trip to Greece to celebrate 25 years of being married.  Starting today we’d like to turn back the clock and give you day by day details of our trip a month after they occurred.

Day 1

6/1/23 Elgin Illinois

We wake up in our house and the big day we’ve been planning for for years is finally upon us.. We do a final check to make sure we have not forgotten anything and pack our luggage into our car. If you don’t count walking, escalators, elevators or the people movers at the airport we are going on 4  different modes of transportation today. First, we drive to our local bus station and I drop off Amy and our luggage. I then drive home, do a final final check for forgotten items and walk the 1/2 mile back to the bus station.  We board the bus and our trip begins in earnest with us shepherding our 1 each checked bag, carry on item and personal item on the way to the penultimate stop of the O’Hare bound Chicago Blue line train. 

We know this stop very well as when you take it towards Chicago it connects to the red line train, which has taken us to tens of White Sox games and several Cubs games over the years we have called the Northwest suburbs our home. I have since been there this past 4th of July to attend a White Sox game with my daughter. When we got to the station we were thinking back to the day before Mother’s Day a few weeks prior when while on our way to watch the White Sox take on former home town favorite Jose Aubrey and the Houston Astros we saw a man having a drug overdose and had to call 911 to get him assistance. No such drama ensued this time as we hopped on the Ohare bound train and got out at the airport.  

We had built a little what my Dad always called margin into our schedule so we had plenty of time for me to exchange a small amount of dollars to euros before turning in our luggage. This was by far the worst exchange rate I received.  It is always a good idea to have some of the local currency at all times of your stay as you can’t always use credit or debit cards.  It’s just best to only use airport exchanges when absolutely necessary. It’s ta captive audience thing, the equivalent of buying snacks at a movie theatre.  I work at a movie theatre, so I know of what I speak.

At this time of the morning foot traffic at “The World’s Busiest Airport” was fairly light, so we eased right through baggage to Security.  We had talked about paying the extra hundred dollars for a third piece of checked baggage but the previous night had discovered that that bag was light enough and small enough to be considered  as carry on baggage. So we ended checking only 2 bags. What we forgot to assess was whether the items in that bag were compliment to airline regulations.  The shampoo bottles were biggger than allowed so I had to go back to the front and check that bag as well. Something always seems to go askew when you travel, and since we had been planning to pay to transport that piece until the day before the trip it seemed like the small hiccup it was.

I just looked at the time, I have to go the aforementioned movie theatre and inflict 8 dollar popcorn on people. I’m going to have Amy take you to Toronto and beyond, but make sure she mentions the maple leaf cookies.

This is Amy… we landed in Toronto and bought maple leaf cookies because Dave loves them. We hung out for a couple of hours and then boarded the next airplane and flew to Athens. The flight was 9.5 hours and while being a bit squished, we were thrilled to be full-filling a years long dream of visiting Greece. We saved up for 6 years and now it was coming true! 

Elgin 2023 4th of July Parade

 

For more Wordless Wednesdays hosted each week at Comedy Plus click here.

June Stats

 June was a big month for me.  My wife and I went on a trip to Greece.  We left the Chicago area on June 6th and did  not return until June 21st.  It certainly was a trip of a lifetime and an amazing wat to celebrate 25 years of marriage to my best friend.  

It was not a big month in regards to blog output.  I put out 2 posts prior to our trip and exactly 2 more after we got home.  Last June I posted 19 times before posting only 16 times for the rest of the year.  I finished 2022 with 102 posts on the strength of my April A to Z posts.  If I only achieve 16 posts again in the 2nd part of 2023, I will finish with 2 posts  less than 100 for the year.  When May ended I was on track for 178 posts, with only 4 last month my projection is down to 164 by New Years Eve 2023. The problem is,  if I match my  16 posts  from the 2nd half of 2022 this year I won't get near 164 and not even break 100 by years end.  

No need for doom and or gloom.  I am a man with a plan.  Starting on July 6th, I plan to chronicle my trip to Greece with a daily recap a month late.  I did the same thing years ago when our family went to Washington D.C. If I am successful, I'll finish July right around 100 posts and be back in a posting groove.  

By brunobarbato, CC BY 3.0, Linkity: Prodromos 

Island: Paros

Country: Greece

I was in this city on a hike, but don't remember seeing this.  More coming soon.  

Dave Out Loud: Poetry Friday - Aileen Fisher's Rabbits Rabbits

Note:Aileen Fisher wrote the poems in this book but did not do the illustrations.  I did several takes of this video, and this was the only one where I omitted mentioning the fine work of illustrator Gail Niemann. 

Poetry Friday is being hosted by Irene Latham.  You can find it by clicking here.