Swedes do Fat Tuesday with style! Semla (singular), semlor (plural). This is whipped cream on a almond paste base within a fluffy sweet bun.
While these technically are a Fat Tuesday specialty, they start showing up many weeks in advance. And, they continue to be available, even during the Lenten season. That’s fine for me, as I’m not an ascetic.
However, I will be reflecting on being attuned to the Spirit during Lent. (Two passives in one sentence! Does that make it active, like a double negative makes a positive?!?) And I sense this may mean breathing gratitude. Today, I’m grateful for semlor!
My first honor at Johannelund was the prize for the best mask for the Bible school’s community gathering that had a masquerade theme that encouraged DIY masks. Mine was a pizza box left over from my last weekend’s guest and the battery-operated lights that I put on Anya’s graduation sign last spring (reuse, recycle)! My prize was a home made candy cactus, where gum drops were skewered by toothpicks into a cucumber core and held in a terracotta flower pot with chocolate-covered marshmallow candies. Here’s the photo of my mask posted on Instagram.
I actually left the gathering early and missed the awarding of the prize, but it was given to me the next day. I left early because my deadline for getting a co-edited book project to the printer was the next day, and my co-editor submitted his chapter for me to proof for the first time that morning–and it was the longest chapter. (And I was the only native English speaker of the 10 authors.) We had lots to do in about 36 hours. But the other first is that my first role as an editor on a book project was done and sent to the press on Thursday night at 11:00 pm. Fortunately, we are ahead of New York City by 6 hours!
The publisher for this project happens to be the publisher that printed my PhD dissertation, which made it strategic for me to be the one to format and prepare the content for delivery. The other first is that this week I was notified of my first royalty earnings of $154.08, with $141.48 coming from the sale of 59 books, and the balance coming form E-book sales. Wow! I didn’t think anyone would really buy the book! Most of the people who would be interested got one from me! I have been notified about half-a-dozen times that I have been quoted somewhere, but the details are behind the Academia.edu paywall. I do hope that the citations continue the conversation of intercultural hermeneutics (the philosophy of interpretation), so I am a bit curious, but paying to see this seems like the vanity of Googling yourself–on steroids.
The first meeting of the women’s lunch met this week. As one who does not have fluency in Swedish, I haven’t initiated this, but I encourage this development. (Initiating things that are English medium does not seem very hospitable, so I don’t do it. I’m still ponder about this, as in an English-speaking context, I would naturally initiate or get connected with other avocational ministry aspects.) Curiously (Providentially?), the day that there was a 3.5 hour faculty meeting–which always puts me into a funk–the text discussed at the women’s lunch was from Esther 4, which includes the phrase, “for such a time as this…” This is not the first time that when confronted with the challenges of being here–especially learning Swedish–this text comes to encourage me on. I realize that my circumstances aren’t as horrific as Esther’s were, but there is a similar message to trust God with a faithful living out of one’s calling.
My sister, Elenn, has faithfully served her calling as a missionary doctor for a total of 19 years in Pakistan. She’s been there for 2 months again, as she tries to go every year for at least one month, and–if they extend the visa–then stay for two months. (Last year she chose to use the time to be with my dad after my mom’s death.) On 27 February, Elenn was scheduled to fly out of Islamabad. Three hours prior to her flight’s departure, Pakistan closed their airspace. She is grounded in Islamabad, staying at a guest house. The latest word is that her rescheduled flight was on, then off, and now on again. So, join us in prayer for a safe return home soon, and in the meantime, that she is able to rest well.
Anya is off at a weekend retreat with some from her university-age Alpha group. I hear it was on the coast somewhere, so I’m hoping for beautiful pictures. I also pray that this is a meaningful time for her, as faith formation was not very opportune for her during her time in Sweden. I also pray for the deepening of friendships and a joy of making new ones.
While you’re praying, I have a friend here with two older daughters who are struggling with loneliness.
