Round Two

You Didn't Miss a Thing!

Some would say that the Allentown, PA weather did not cooperate with Gather Ground this week.  I would say that the weather was a perfect representation of what this group intends.  We have no say in whether or not it snows; when it begins or ends; how much accumulates or where it lands.  All we can decide is whether or not we will go out in it and which warm delicacy we will enjoy when we are indoors watching it.  Aren't we lucky?  So spoiled in our warm houses with hot chocolate or grilled cheese (or both, if you can stomach that).  Gather Ground was warm and cozy this week, with one attendee besides myself.  I believe that's exactly how it was supposed to be.  The right person, the right time, and a great conversation that is now shared with all of you who could not physically attend.  Enjoy!

SUSPENDERS
What can I say?  This week's conversation somehow started out on the unique note that the votes are in, and it's been decided: There is something undeniably sexy about a man in suspenders.  Agree? Disagree?

A QUICK REVIEW
We also reviewed the Starting Point with the reference from Romans 8 where Paul makes an excited and powerful exclamation that nothing can keep us from God's love.  The natural response could be "Hooray! God loves us all and no one will ever die!"  However, like all scripture, it's context is very important, and it must be noted that Paul is specifically talking about Christ being the key to all this unstoppable, uncontainable love.  All we have to do is accept Christ and then we can reach the "Hooray! God loves us and I'm not going to die."  Although we usually avoid deeply theological discussion, we dug a little deeper due to the small group size.  Yes, I personally believe that Jesus lived a perfect life, died for our sins and rose again 3 days later.  Yes, I personally believe He is coming again.  Some of you agree with me, some of you do not, some of you have questions.  That's ok, but this week I had to be clear about where I stand on those issues, so I figured it would make sense that I reiterate them here for all of you, with no expectation for you to agree with me. 

SING-ALONG
Alternatively, we reminisced about the Jagged Little Pill album by Alanis Morrisette (which I had on cassette) and the lyrics used in the Starting Point.  It's hard to read them without humming the melody, but we agreed that her feminine honesty and non-chalant inner conflict were easily relatable.  She has this tone of simply "knowing" that regardless of what she can grasp about life, people & emotions there will also always be greater elements of life that happen without her permission, control or understanding.  And that's ok. It's definitely refreshing and beautiful to hear a woman admit to what kind of 'animal' she is. "meow"

POWERFUL
So what kind of animal are you? We both thought about what makes us truly feel powerful and 'ok with ourselves.' Looking good came to the top of the list rather quickly. It might seem shallow or overly simple, but when we know we look good: the hair is did, the makeup's on, the boots are black and the night is young... There is a type of power we can revel in. There's some kind of security found there. Is it shallow? Maybe, but it doesn't make the feeling any less real.  Same with a clean and/or orderly home. I've heard it said that a home is a reflection of the woman who lives there.  So when our space is clean and uncluttered we can feel more empowered.  Perhaps the beautiful physical image produces an energy free of judgment; full of acceptance and the orderly environmental produces a guilt-free space full of potential.  But then again, feeling good and being powerful remain two very different categories.

FRITTATA WHO?
What's the difference between a quiche and a frittata? A quiche has a crust; a frittata does not.  This week I made a frittata with mushrooms, half an onion, half a red pepper, some sliced up hard salami, most of a block of sharp cheddar, 11 eggs, a little milk, salt, pepper, and basil.  I sliced and diced while we talked and ate brownies.  Then I sauteed the veggies and salami for about 5min, added the milk/eggs/seasonings/cheese and transferred the pan to the 350 degree oven for a while.  Ta Da! Frittata! I realized the next day that I had forgotten to add the spinach.  Oh well.  What's your favorite egg dish?

RESTAURANT JOBS
We mulled over the many facets of working in the restaraunt industry. There's a lot of money to be made if you get in the right place!  Even if that place only requires a micro-fiber T-shirt with the company logo as the uniform, don't be fooled, the place might be a gold mine!  Alternately, you might go to a lot of trouble to look really trim and proper for a place that's a total bore.  Regardless, it's interesting to see so many young, college-educated people employed at restaurants, because it's a more lucrative and accessible career than what their degree merits.

Comment Below Please!

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PRAYER REQUESTS

Please feel free to email me privately any prayer requests you may have.

I will/do pray for you.

Like the First Time, Every Time

The Necessary Details

Join me this Saturday January 25th for the discussion that starts here, goes anywhere & ends in prayer.  Doors open at my home at 10am and we end around 2pm.  Remember - it doesn't matter when you show up or how long you stay.  My dogs will be contained in the kitchen and will beg for our food the whole time.  There will be brownies, apples, coffee and possibly a quiche (if I'm feeling up to it).  Please leave the children at home, so that you can get properly re-charged.  Parking is possible and if you need my address, phone number or directions please send me an email: sclemens247@gmail.com.  I'm so looking forward to this week's Gather Ground.  Below is the Starting Point for our Second Discussion:

Discussion #2 will be based on Good Rhythm and Complicated Women

VERSE

Romans 8:38+39 (Paul explaining the breadth of salvation to the Romans)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

ANECDOTE

An excerpt from "Hand in my Pocket" by Alanis Morissette

"I'm broke but I'm happy
I'm poor but I'm kind
I'm short but I'm healthy, yeah

I'm high but I'm grounded
I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed
I'm lost but I'm hopeful, baby

And what it all comes down to
Is that everything's gonna be fine, fine, fine
'Cause I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is giving a high five

I feel drunk but I'm sober
I'm young and I'm underpaid
I'm tired but I'm working, yeah

I care but I'm restless
I'm here but I'm really gone
I'm wrong and I'm sorry, baby"

Keywords & Beginning Thoughts

Rhythm / Indecision / Confusion / Contentment / Power

The verses in Romans reflect a beautiful rhythm of an enthusiastic writer who was sure and passionate about his statement.  Paul's words are saturated in finality and hope.  Alanis has a rhythm of her own as well; one that I think every woman can relate to: the flip-flop of everyday life and the roller-coaster of emotions that we so easily find ourselves riding.  What's your natural rhythm? When do you feel most powerful?  When do you feel most decisive?  When do you find yourself at a loss?

Check back on Tuesday for the Discussion Highlights and to Continue the Conversation!
Comment below if you have anything specific you'd like brought up on Saturday but you know you cannot physically attend, otherwise, wait to pitch in your thoughts till Tuesday.  Either way, your contribution will be accepted with glee.

A Brief Re-Introduction

Hello Beautiful Ladies!

FIRST I'd like to thank so many of you for participating in the beginnings of what I believe will be a beautiful thing.  Over 50 women have read the first few posts of Gather Ground and although the first round has received only 2 comments thus far, they are excellent.  I encourage you to revisit the first few posts to gain a deeper understanding about the Goals and Groundwork of Gather Ground and then skim through the first conversation to familiarize yourself with the style of our online discussions. 

Below is a REVIEW for the NEW Readers/Attendees:

WHO
We are women who are eager to connect and contribute to a conversation that is rooted in the Word of God but that branches out into a normal discussion. We want to grow in strength and positivity and share our thoughts with one another. 

WHY
Women today are very busy, and although we all seem eager to connect, it is becoming increasingly difficult to physically get together and we hardly have time to pick up the phone any more for a lengthy chat.  Gather Ground removes those pressures of time and location and just presents "Today's Woman" with a physical place to go without time or space constraints.

HOW
Either participate by physically attending (for any length of time) one of the Gather Ground meetings (currently every other Saturday) OR by reading and/or responding to the Summary posted every other Tuesday.

NOTEWORTHY
Many of you have Read the first few posts but not Responded... THAT IS PERFECTLY WONDERFUL! If you have read this blog, please consider yourself a part of it!  Likewise, if you want to contribute a comment to any summary, at any time... do it.

BOTTOM LINE
Gather Ground has taken the guess-work out of getting ladies together.
We need one another.
We need to know there are other women out there trying to stay positive.
We need be encouraged that our differences make each one of us valuable to this forum.

Look for Thursday's post introducing our next Starting Point for Saturday January 25th!

I can't wait!

And We Have Lift Off!

Gather Ground has taken off!
We enjoyed a relaxing, rejuvenating and retrospective discussion this Saturday and now we want you to join the chat!  Below are a series of tidbits taken from our ceaseless conversation.  Skim the titles and read what pricks your interest; skipping whatever disinterests you. Please respond to one, two or all of them and comment with your thoughts.  The idea is that this web of words and women continues to reach a larger audience.  We can learn so much from sharing with one another and making the effort to connect.  We might not all become a nationwide club of BFFs in the end (sarcasm intended), but we're all women - and that's enough Common Ground to make your contribution worth something to each of us.

THIN PLACES
We decided that the concept of 'Thin Places' can easily be transitioned to more of a mindset, then a physical place.  Yeah, we all feel closer to God in beautiful places (i.e. alone on the beach), but mostly we feel close to God in times of trouble.  "We feel closer to God, like He's more accessible, when we need a God"

READING
The group that joined this week consisted of like-hearted women that all admire those people that seem to have endless shelves of books (even if that person is someone we live with).  However, we all concluded that we are what people refer to as 'slow readers.'  We feel this completely inhibits our ability to feel 'well read.'  Maybe it's enough to just appreciate reading (and readers) and participate in it sparingly and slowly.  Furthermore, it has made us unashamedly proud when we miraculously actually finish a book.  Are you a reader? What are you reading now? Or are you a 'slow reader' like our group on Saturday?  We might not always remember what we've read either but....

WE CAN MAKE OUR OWN DOG TREATS
More or less, our discussion concluded that you can put any 3 ingredients together with one egg and call it a dog treat.  Do you have dogs? Please post a comment with your easiest dog treat recipe. 

OUR YOUNGER BUSIER SELVES
Yeah, we are doing important things like making our own dog treats and learning how to cook various trendy vegetables, but when each of us reflected on our younger selves we found ourselves reminiscing about how energetic we were.  Our days were non-stop from morning till night and we were aggressively intent on managing every minute of the day to fit in as much as possible.  Now that our lives have slowed down, partly due to career changes; partly due to health/life-stage changes, we each recognized an underlying feeling of false laziness.  It's easy to begin to feel that your life has become less effective because there is more long-term planning, more waiting; heavier decisions.  We resolved that while the physical pace of our lives seems to have slowed, the momentum that we are trying to build towards our long-term goals is very real and completely commendable.  Good job grown ups!

INTERIOR DESIGN
It's a skill that you have (exquisitely) or you do not.  While I do not possess this skill, the other ladies do and it offered a nice common ground for new acquaintances to bond over.  Color schemes and textures all wrapped together with reclaimed and revived furniture.  It all sounded great, and after being in each of their homes, I know they're not exaggerating when they talk about it with such passion.  The Real Estate Agent in the group specifically gushed about future opportunities to 'stage' homes.  Is there anyone else who loves these concepts? Is there anyone else that feels completely lost?

HARD ON OURSELVES
One thing is for sure: women are very hard on themselves.  We feel a deep need for maximum effectiveness in everything we do and often a misplaced sense of guilt when we feel we've missed the mark. I like to believe that's God's stamp on our lives: that we crave perfection.  It could also be a cultural pressure we fall victim to.  We collectively decided that it's important for the sake of our individual happiness to ensure that our expectations for ourselves and others are reasonable, and to understand how those closest to us are perceiving our efforts.  If we desire to make our husbands' feel relaxed when they get home from long work days... rather than try to maintain the 'perfect' home all the time, we could focus on what actually makes him feel 'at home.'  What makes you feel at home? What makes your significant other feel at home?

GRATEFULNESS
All of us felt strongly about remaining grateful despite these tough economic times.  We've all experienced job loss, job changes, husband's career changes, husband's struggle with career goals, and the normal stresses of managing a household these days.  Although we might not be juggling as fast as we did when we were slightly younger, we're juggling heavier objects and we're much more afraid to drop anything.  (i.e. missing a car payment is a lot more intense then missing soccer practice)  We're very hard on ourselves, but we all took a moment to appreciate how hard we work and how much effort we put into everything we do.  It's not to be overlooked.  And we're getting by! We have our homes and our jobs now and there's light at the end of the tunnel.  Have you recently undergone a household shift?  What have you found helpful during this time of economic unsteadiness? What are you most grateful for in your household?

APPLES vs BROWNIES
This week there were brownies and apples available and I'm happy to say we polished off equal amounts.  Rest assured, if you attend in the future, we did not all stick to one side of the fence when in came to 'healthy' eating. Apples, Brownies, Coffee or all 3?

FULLNESS
Although this weeks meeting didn't dig deeply into the Word of God, we all left feeling 'full.'  Which was the theme of the scripture we covered in Ephesians. As adults we find our lives can easily be filled with two kinds of deeds: those that drain us and those the fill us up.  Gather Ground was a filler for us this week.  I know I had a bounce in my step after intentionally connecting with women that were decidedly working towards exciting personal goals, who love good food, big dogs and well decorated homes, and whom genuinely appreciated the smart company of other positive women. What/Who filled you up this weekend?

Comment Below Please!

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PRAYER REQUESTS

Please feel free to email me privately any prayer requests you may have.

I will/do pray for you.

Ready, Set, Go!

For those of you who have checked in with the first post of Gather Ground: Thank You!
I am so excited to begin this journey with you.
Below is our Starting Point for Saturday January 11th: The First Discussion

READY
I wish to clarify that this group is not contingent on time, dress or any other form of typical 'appropriateness.' Come as you are, when you can, for as long as you can.
I believe we will ALL benefit if you do.

*A note about my 'Ground'*
My home is not in any way perfect and 'yes' I will fervently clean before you arrive (because I am a woman and that's what we do), but you will notice the unfinished home projects, half-eaten couch & piles of things.  I will make up for this by burning a candle that smells amazing.  Thanks for understanding.  My dogs will be contained to the kitchen - unable to reach you physically.  I will coax them to cooperation with new toys.

*A note about the 'Gather[ing]'*
I will have my 3month old daughter with me and not to be contradictory, but I would rather attendees leave their children at home.  Children can be very distracting to adult conversation, so for the sake of conversation preservation, please come alone.  Even if you can only escape from the kids for a half hour - do it!  We will have brownies for your trouble (and you can take one back to whoever kept your kid(s) alive while you were away).

SET
Parking can be interesting because I live in the city, but I assure you it is possible.  For those of you who have been here and know about the parking spot behind my neighbor's house... it's first come first serve.  All others can happily ignore the 'No Parking' signs that line 8th Street.  And if you get lost or are having trouble, simply call me and we can figure something out for sure.

GO!
Discussion #1 will be based on Thin Places and Full Lives:

VERSE

Ephesians 3:14-19 NIV (a prayer from Paul for the Ephesians)

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

ANECDOTE

"Thin Places" an excerpt from Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist:

“A thin place, according to the Celtic mystics, is a place where the boundary between the natural world and the supernatural one is more permeable—thinner, if you will.

Sometimes they’re physical places. There are places all over Ireland where people have said, if you stand here, if you face this direction, if you hike to the top of that ridge at just the right time of day, that’s a thin place, a place where the passage between heaven and earth is a short one, a place where God’s presence is almost palpable.

An alternate and possibly lesser known usage of the term “thin place” refers to those very rare dressing rooms, where somehow the light and the mirrors and the cosmos are all working together, and magically, miraculously, every pair of jeans I try on fits. I’ll be honest, I’ve only encountered this kind of thin place a handful of times, but just like the mystical kind, once you’ve experienced it you keep going back over and over again, hoping for the same kind of magic."

Keywords & Beginning Thoughts

Fullness / Love / Strength / Depth 

Where's your Thin Place? Is it a place you can revisit? Was it a specific moment?
How Thin is your home? How full is your home?  Fullness is used as a positive term in the scripture; is it a positive term in our culture? 

Check back on Tuesday for the Discussion Highlights and to Continue the Conversation!
Comment below if you have anything specific you'd like brought up on Saturday but you know you cannot physically attend, otherwise, wait to pitch in your thoughts till Tuesday.  Either way, your contribution will be accepted with glee.

Hello My Name Is...

This is the formal introduction of Gather Ground to the WORLD!

What is Gather Ground?
It's a time and a place where I envision women meeting on a regular basis to sharpen their blades.  To be safe in times of trouble, to be open in times of curiosity and brave in times of innovation!  And of course a place to eat something.

What is the 'Ground?'
The Ground that the group is built on is the Truth of the Word of God (the Bible).  This will not be a place to discuss and debate fundamentals in the Bible... i.e. Is the Word of God really divinely inspired? Creation vs. Evolution? etc. Even if you personally have not accepted these fundamentals for yourself, that's ok! But please respect the fact that this group wishes to move forward in the acceptance of them.

What is the 'Gather?'
The Gather[ing] will be a 2-fold discussion group with Part 1 taking place every other Saturday at my home from 10am to 2pm* and Part 2 taking place on this blog every other Tuesday following up the conversation that occurred over the weekend and opening the platform for a wider discussion that can include anyone regardless of location or time of day. Preview days will be Thursday with a short blog post about the Starting Point for the next discussion.

*10am to 2pm is when my door will be unlocked.  Walk in whenever you like between those times.  By remaining slightly unstructured I hope to foster an open-door environment that lends itself to today's busy woman.  You will never be too early or too late to Gather Ground.

The Gather Ground Rules:
#1 You MUST eat something
Women are either eating too much or not enough and feeling guilty about both... here, we will eat.  Sometimes "healthy" - Sometimes "not healthy" and that is a core principal of the group.

#2 Negativity in its various forms should be AVOIDED
We can all be Givers! No takers.  Emotional support where/when needed is perfectly fine, but we will not be a group of complaining, negative, bitter, angry or gossiping women.  We refuse to be hopeless.

#3 NOTHING leaves the 'Ground'
To provide a safe and judge-free platform for learning and experiencing life as it happens we must respect each others privacy.  General thoughts and interesting turns of discussion may and will be used anonymously in the follow-up blog discussions, however deeply personal matters will always be kept hush-hush between us ladies.

Gather Ground Map:
Each meeting will begin with a scripture and anecdote and end in prayer.
The middle shall take its course organically, however new material and additional contributions (journal entries, book segments, poems, lyrics, personal stories, youtube videos, etc.) are encouraged.  Contribute what feels most natural for you!

Check back on Thursday for the kick-off verse and anecdote!