Obscure Wedding Readings and Mindfulness.

Gentle reader, It was 38 degrees in Gorham this morning when I got in the outback to traipse off to school. Brrrr. It's only October 6th, and, since my school has some--how shall we say this nicely--"fiscal challenges," they've decided not to spring for heat just yet. Good thing I wore a wool poncho (which served mostly as a portable blanket for the better part of the day). It might be time to dust off the space heater. I must admit to sneakily turning on the heat for the first time at home this evening while Steve is away working in Massachusetts--not too high--61 degrees--just enough to ease the chill. It's working; I'm thawing.

I spent the better part of the weekend in Providence, Rhode Island attending the nuptials of Mark, one of my best college buddies, and his lovely bride Stephanie. I was asked to do a reading at the wedding and I must say, although I'm not typically one for bible verses [being a somewhat lapsed Catholic]--it was a particularly lovely reading [no 1 Corinthians here] and so I'll quote from it below.

From the Letter to the Hebrews:

Brothers and sisters:
Let mutual love continue.
Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.
Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment,
and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you are also in the body.
Let marriage be honored among all and the marriage bed be kept undefiled.
Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have,
for thus he has said, I will never forsake or abandon you.
Thus we may say with confidence: the Lord is my helper and I shall not be afraid.

Maybe it's because I practiced it a few times and read it over a lot [slowly] so I could say it with meaning [the priest asked me at the rehearsal if I read for a living--I told him close enough--I stand in front of students all day and lecture], but it struck me as good advice for a marriage/partnership, and advice particularly relevant for our tumultuous financial times. I like the idea of letting mutual love continue. I'm a fan of hospitality. But most of all, I needed the message of being content with what you have. Being content with what we have is, at times, more difficult than it should be--at least for me. Being new homeowners [again] saddled with some debt from school, our first house, and my time as a grad student, we're sticking to a pretty tight budget. My husband is so good about it, but I catch myself resenting it sometimes. Old spending habits die hard, I suppose, but doing this reading on Saturday gave me pause. I have a lot--a great marriage,a wonderful family, good friends, a lovely home in a place I am growing to love more and more each day, a job and some financial security in this terrible market, more books than I could ever read, my health--the list goes on, but I'll spare you the rest of it. I should be content; I'm working on it ;). And I'm working on being more mindful. I'm even listening to some heady new age music while blogging and thinking that I really need to find a good yoga class to attend at least once a week.

This Columbus Day weekend we're heading up to the F. Holland Day House in Georgetown, ME for the weekend [the summer home of the photographer I write about] and I look forward to using my little "October Break" as a time to get re-inspired to write and to just soak in the rocky coastal landscape of Little Good Harbor that served as inspiration and muse to a whole cadre of artists and writers in the early-1900s. I plan on doing some long walks, some serious camera work as well as some writing. The leaves are turning here [too quickly] and my eyes formulate photographs wherever I look these days. I need to savor the fall because it comes and goes so quickly here. Time for bed. Good Night.