Friday Five...Rather Late!

Well, I am usually busy on Friday's, and so I never get on to doing this when I want to. But, last week's seemed very apropos to me, because reading my mom's post really stunned me; it hit me how much God has been revealing Herself to me recently.

So, Sally at RevGalBlogPals writes:

With this Sunday's gospel reading in mind, that wonderful revelation of Christ to the companions on the Emmaus road. I wonder where you might have been surprised by God's revelation recently.

So with no further waffle I offer you this weeks Friday 5:

How has God revealed him/herself to you in a:

1. Book
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I read this book last summer, and I think it changed my life. I say "I think" because it rarely happens that you KNOW something has changed your life until long after it has been done and gone! However, the way she speaks about having to sift through what the world expected of her, what she expected of herself, and what the Universe (i.e. a higher spiritual element) expected of her, and using all that to become a healthier, happier and more attuned human being, really
The biggest revelation for me was when she talks about a voice who spoke first to her in the bathroom one night when she thought she couldn't take anymore. I have "heard voices" my whole life. I never thought I was supposed to talk about it because only crazy people hear voices. But my "voices" comfort me. They drag me out of darkness at times when no one and nothing else can. I have come to look on this as a sign of the Divine in my life - an almost tangible, but not quite, representation of the unending love that God has for me. I was nearly ecstatic to read someone admitting to having this experience as well!

2.Film

Well! What a question. I think it is not so hard to answer though. Last Spring I wrote a paper on the film Leaves from Satan's Book, directed by Carl Theodore Dreyer (well known for his amazing Joan of Arc film). Dreyer was raised by fanatic Lutherans, and had some interesting ideas about faith and religion - perhaps most interesting is that he seemed to question, which was not all that popular at the time (1920's). The premise of the story is, in a nutshell, that Satan is forced to tempt Humans into doing evil things, and every time someone is successfully tempted, another hundred years is added to his "sentence". BUT, for every soul whom he can not tempt, a thousand years is taken off. We see Satan as someone to be pitied, and we rejoice at the end when, after centuries of successfully tempting mortals (from Judas through the French Revolution) A woman is able to do what no man before her has done. She resists Satan by, of all things, killing herself. This film really opened up a whole new channel of thought for me as far as evil and Satan, having been raised in a virtually sin free denomination. I still ponder all the ramifications of this film in my life.

3. Song

Another toughy! Here are three, because I just can not narrow it further!
Morning has Broken - wonderful for spring, but I think also would be nice for a healing service, since coming out of the darkness of an illness can feel much like the sun rising on a clear spring morning!

Evening Star - A classic! In true UCC/Grundtvigian fashion, I was raised to see, feel and hear God in all of creation. Evening Star is a wonderful song about how different parts of creation teach us valuable lessons for our everyday life.
Be Thou My Vision - this is in the same vane as Evening Star to me, just a little more churchy, less hippy! Plus, the tune sends shivers down my spine and pops into my head at very unexpected, but welcome, times.

4. Another person

Enough with the hard ones already! Everyone from my most atheist friends to my most devout acquaintances reveal god and godliness to me daily...but as I was writing this, I was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. There was a woman at the door who lives in the neighborhood (oh, I should clarify that I am currently at work!) and I often feel as though she is the bane of my existence! She smells of cigarettes and is very forgetful. She often will talk your ear off about nothing and everything and she is always trying to get me to let her bring me treats! Anyway, when I saw it was her, I must be honest, I almost snuck back upstairs. But I didn't, because that is not my job. My job is to be welcoming to ALL people who come to this door. So, as she was leaving, she told me (for about the hundredth time) that I am an angel. And I responded, "Well, thank you! So are you!"
Hmm.
Could my auto response have been God trying to tell me something? This woman is trying, but what kind of blessings does she hold? I will have to ponder that one...

5. Creation

The rain. Yesterday it rained all day, which was awful because I really needed to do homework and instead I lay in bed watching the water all afternoon! But, really, it was awe inspiring. I talked with a friend from church about how in film, rain often signifies a rebirth, rejuvenation, reconciliation -a general purging of past wrongs, wiping the slate clean in preparation for the good things to come. Recently, two of my teachers granted me a boon. They are amazing women who didn't need to care about me (one I have never actually met, being that it is an online course) but who are willing to help me wipe my slate clean to start again. I love when Creation mimics life and vice-versa!

Bonus answer: your choice- share something encouraging/ amazing/ humbling that has happened to you recently:

A good friend of mine has two children who were adopted from Russia. They have now been together for four years, and I just saw them today. As I watch these children grow and see them move through their various (sometimes difficult) developmental stages, I am so grateful for their presence in our lives. My friend once told me that she had known she had two children, somewhere- she felt them before she knew they both existed. If that isn't God revealing herself, giving hope to the weary, I am not sure what is.

Their story fills me with awe, gratitude, bountiful love and faith.