A bed of roses

Heh - no comments on last night's entry tells its own story :D :D

Today has been a Good Saturday. I managed to Wrangle The Words for tomorrow's talk, so I'm feeling better about that. My challenge to the congregation, and myself, is 'what is your part to play this year?'. I didn't really have an answer for myself - I thought I was still waiting for the Universe to speak to me. Then I read today's Daily Meditation from the Centre for Action and Contemplation and found a very similar challenge there - if you knew you couldn't fail, what would you do to bring about the healing of our world? This was followed by a series of questions designed to make it happen, such as what resources would you need? what would you need to learn to do? what would be your first step. Again, I didn't have an immediate answer but as I was doing the dishes it hit me - the challenge I took up in the summer following the Parish Away Day! To create a 'new monastic community' to be the prayerful heart of the Parish. Doh...

We're picking up the Tuesday evening prayer group again this week and I want to start making some Proper Plans with them. But first, I want to reread 'Highstreet Monastaries' and make notes, which will be my writing task for the next week or two. And then we can get to grips with WTF this new monasticism even is and set some proper goals.

I also watered my houseplants (chanelling my inner Tsugumi :D) and planted the lily of the valley plants that arrived yesterday. Lily of the valley is my birth flower, so I'm hoping they thrive. I believe it's one of those plants that can take over, though, so I've put them in a pot next to the back gate. They should provide a nice waft of fragrance whenever we enter or leave. I do need to find a way to keep our local squirrel out of the pot, though, at least until they get established.

And, of course, I played some more of Sea of Stars. It's VERY linear at the moment. No sidequests to speak of, although there are collectables. Oh, and there's fishing and cooking - because OF COURSE there is. And there are trophies for catching every fish and cooking every dish. There's a character who mocks video game tropes, who makes me giggle. An example - why do the blacksmiths make stronger swords the further North you go? and why do they all live in wooden huts when they charge 25,000 gold for a dagger?! I enjoy games that are made by developers who enjoy games. There have also been some Easter eggs for other games - like one boss had a move called Shovel Night that was just like the attack of Shovel Knight. I'm not going to catch all of them but I'm enjoying the ones I do spot. I'm also levelling up at a good pace without the need for grinding.

Nothing stressful, nothing too involved, just gentle progress on a number of fronts.