What's encouraging you these days? What's keeping your spirits up? Daily at 10 am and 4 pm, we'll post new bits of encouragement from us and you.

Please Note: This is our second Bits of Encouragement page (starting April 19) because our original Bits of Encouragement page got too long. If you'd like to visit that page, go to https://menucha.org/bits-of-encouragement

As before, we'll just keep adding new items to this top area of the page, so you'll be able to scroll down and see past posts.

Send your inspiring stories of hope, compassion and care.

Pictures. Poetry. Art. Songs.

If it's somebody else's work, please be sure to note the author/composer/source when submitting

 

Hummingbird at Menucha's Office Feedeer

Photo by Lizann Schultz

מְנוּחָה

Menucha: the Hebrew word meaning "rest" "quiet" "still"

Psalm 23:1-2

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still (menucha) waters;

he restores my soul.

"Worry isn’t helping me. But neither is setting my hopes on the calendar" by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Optimism won't save me...but neither will worrying about shit: Lessons from Jesus, and 2 former prisoners

(Note to those unfamiliar with Bolz-Weber, the unconventional Lutheran pastor - this essay contains a few words of profanity. If the word in the title above bothered you, you may want to skip this.)

Here’s a confession:

I realize now that when this global pandemic all started, I think I was trying to be as optimistic as possible, believing it the best way to get through. So I told myself, It’s ok to spend a couple weeks at home, because after this we will be able to go to Holy Week Services!

Then it was, “Well…I still can't wait to preach Pentecost at the Cathedral at the end of May!”

Then it was “Well, at least my gigs in June will still happen.”

To read the full text, go to https://nadiabolzweber.substack.com/p/optimism-wont-save-mebut-neither

To see video of Nadia saying this, go to https://www.facebook.com/sarcasticlutheran/videos/263023411507212/?v=263023411507212&external_log_id=369ea6abc28f4ef1ec517ea81bfabf51&q=nadia%20bolz-weber

"Our role in life is to bring the light of our own souls to the dim places around us." - Joan D. Chittister

The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months

Mr Peter Warner, third from left, with his crew in 1968, including the survivors from ‘Ata. Photograph: Fairfax Media Archives/via Getty Images

 

 

 

Doing good with what you have handy

The owners of a small bookstore in Gold Beach, Oregon, offered to mail a book - for free - to anyone.

Whole story: https://www.oregonlive.com/teamoregon/2020/05/free-book-anyone-portland-sisters-who-own-a-large-bookstore-learn-how-quickly-america-responds-that-offer.html

My grandmother once gave me a tip:
In difficult times, you move forward in small steps.
Do what you have to do, but little by little.
Don't think about the future, or what may happen tomorrow.
Wash the dishes.
Remove the dust.
Write a letter.
Make a soup.
You see?
You are advancing step by step.
Take a step and stop.
Rest a little.
Praise yourself.
Take another step.
Then another.
You won't notice, but your steps will grow more and more.
And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.

- Elena Mikhalkova

John Prine and Stephen Colbert Duet: “That’s the Way the World Goes Round”

"Lyeth in Green Pastures" by Tony Maurer

Before this bell came to Menucha, it lived at Hillockburn, a men's camp owned by First Presbyterian where men came to get sober. Since 1950 it's been ringing at Menucha, calling thousands to breakfast, lunch and dinner. This bell is old. It's seen a lot. It's weathered wind, rain, ice and snow. It's going to be here when you come back.

Daily Quarantine Questions

Here are some fun daily quarantine questions you can ask yourself:

  1. What am I grateful for today?
  2. Who am I checking in on and interacting with today?
  3. What beauty or art and I creating or appreciating today?
  4. How am I moving my body today for exercise?
  5. Have I been outside in nature yet today?
  6. What expectations of normal am I letting go of today, and what am I doing instead?

Source: Annie Lane, Daily Republic News, Solano, CA

Menucha's Carefully-Tended 90+ Year Old Fruit Trees Are Blooming!

John Williams is the Chaplain at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. He shares his thoughts through The AColyte "A Journal of Faith, Doubt, and Other Things at Austin College"

The story of the disciples' walking to Emmaus, ending the school year, graduations, re-opening... "What do we do now?"

“SGN” Some Good News…15 minutes of good stuff!

The Giant Cinnamon Roll that's Feeding Thousands of Oregonians

A woman, feeling down, tries to "bake her way better" and ends up raising thousands for the Oregon Food Bank. Click to read the whole story

Looking Forward to the Rainbow at the Pandemic’s End

The source of my song is a composition by L. Wolfe Gilbert and Mabel Wayne from 1927. The song was created for an adventure film-romance based on the novel "Ramona" by Helen Hunt Jackson. The lyrics to this song and the chords are by Lizann Schultz. (Lizann is a participant in our Ukulele Band Camp)

Menucha loves you too, Lizann!

 

Seeking a Better Loving Kindness Pattern

Algebra Metta

Metta is a prayer of loving kindness. It is often in the form of: “may you be well, safe, and free of fear.” Lately, it hasn’t been working for me.

Algebra is the study of patterns.

1,1,2,3,5,8 is an array of numbers.
Go deeper and you see each number is the sum of the two before.

1,2,4,8,16 also an array.
Go deeper and the pattern is the product of the previous number and 2.

In this time of sheltering I’m looking for a better loving kindness pattern.
So far I’ve got this:
On the surface I’m a bit anxious, tired, worried, and vigilant. But Go Deeper...

Go deeper, you are ok.
Go deeper, you are valuable.
Go deeper, you are loved.

When I pause and think, it’s all true.
So that’s one of my prayers for the time being.

- written by Cecile Pitts. Art by Bahman Kalantari.

A Neighbor Shows Love with Flowers to All Who Pass By

A simple way to lift neighbors' spirits with things they found lying around the yard.

A scuba diving group is making face masks out of recycled ocean plastic

In a win-win for sea animals and humans, a scuba diving group is turning plastic water bottles that once polluted oceans into face masks. And they're selling the masks at cost, not profiting.

read more

Earth Day 2020: 30 seconds of the beautiful sights and sounds of Menucha.

After Canceling Their Annual Tulip Festival, This Oregon Farm Began Delivering Flowers To Isolated Seniors

"I Have All I Need" by Lori Roberts

 

I bought this print about six weeks ago through Etsy and I put it in a frame that my Dad brought back from Belgium after WW II. Turns out it’s perfect for these days. - Mary

"Someone's been putting googly eyes on hydrants all over my neighborhood..." - Dan

"Shelter in Place" and more beautiful poems about our lives nowadays


"...Now is our time to practice —

singing from balconies, sending

words of comfort by any courier,

kindling our lonesome generosity

to shine in all directions like stars."

- Excerpt from "Shelter in Place" by Kim Stafford, Oregon's Poet Laureate. To read seven of Stafford's poems inspired by the coronavirus accompanied by photos, video, and audio, go to https://projects.oregonlive.com/kim-stafford/

 

Some Good News #3 with John Krasinski (Thanks for reminding us of this, Margaret! Everyone, we welcome your suggestions of helpful things to post!)

Want more encouragement? Go to our page with posts from March 17-April 18: https://menucha.org/bits-of-encouragement