Sandra Heska King

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Grateful For These

November 17, 2010 By Sandra Heska King

They orbit a Center in cyberspace. And sometimes in that sacred galaxy, entered words find their mark. There’s a holy collision. Splayed hearts melt, mold, and magnetize–creating and drawing new friendships.

Deep friendships.

Real friendships.

Friendships that share joys and dreams and fears and hurts. That fervently pray and encourage and inspire. That speak truth into each others’ lives.

Yes, real friendships.

Heart to heart. Spirit to spirit.

But sometimes the cyber mist lifts.

And hearts behold face-to-face.

Sticky sisters from four states for such a time as this. Women with a vision of shining brightest in a land of shiny things.

There are no axes under my bed.

No knives under my pillow.

Not that I expect that.

Even for a wisp of a second.

It is a weekend of love and laughter and tears and dreams and ministry.

And lots of peppermint ice cream pie. With crushed Oreos and dark chocolate fudge sauce.

It begins when Michigan and Florida converge in Tennessee.

Me, Tami, Melinda

And Kali stands guard, prepared to herd and defend.

Georgia arrives later and we add Mexican spice to the weekend menu.

Me, Tami, Brenda, Melinda

Shining online.

Melinda and Tami

Tami and Brenda

Sock sisters following Jesus.

A morning of ministry.

Melinda, Toni, Tami, and part of me.

And a three-hour lunch.

Me, Tami, Melinda Y, Melinda L

The weekend continues with a lesson in the fine art of eating M&M’s, emerging from the fog of the directionally challenged, tons of food, worship, a Saturday Night Live skit, a missed plane and an unexpected overnight stay (me) for Sunday night football.

In the end, I sit sandwiched between a turbine and a wing. My body reverberates with engine rumbles while my heart rearranges itself with pieces gained to fill spaces from pieces left behind. It realigns itself with Him.

At times it seems I float on white foam billows. Other times I tiptoe on misty tentacles. There are moments where I see clearly, and times when the world seems to stand still in spite of speed.

But mostly the plane is enveloped in fog. I have no sense of place, no sense of direction. And I am grateful for a pilot who knows the way.

And I’m grateful for sticky sisters, real friends, sock souls, who journey with me.

And a Pilot who knows the way.

Celebrating Bridget Chumbley’s One Word at a Time Blog Carnival on Gratitude.

Spilling this for Emily’s Imperfect Prose on Thursdays.


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Filed Under: stories and reflections

Comments

  1. Brenda says

    November 17, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    Perfectly said. And now I’m crying 🙂 Love you.

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:01 pm

      Love you back.

  2. Carol Garvin says

    November 17, 2010 at 4:33 pm

    It sounds like you had a wonderful, blessed experience. I envy you the opportunity to meet some of the online friends that have become so special.

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:03 pm

      Amazing how the Internet can bring us together. Someday maybe we’ll run into each other in the real. 🙂

  3. Melinda Lancaster says

    November 17, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    All I can say, through tears, is “me too.”
    XOXOXO

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:03 pm

      So blessed to have hugged your sweet neck. XOXOXO

  4. Melissa says

    November 17, 2010 at 8:22 pm

    precious, precious, precious!!! What a gift!

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:04 pm

      Wrapped in gold. Tied with love. Left part of my heart there. Stole pieces of theirs to bring home.

  5. Tami Heim says

    November 17, 2010 at 10:36 pm

    Oh what a treasure of memories and my heart is making room ready to do it all again! Life is rich living sticky here with YOU.

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:05 pm

      I. Am. Ready!

  6. Toni Birdsong says

    November 17, 2010 at 11:06 pm

    Ok, where is John Denver? We need to put this masterpiece to music. You are amazing Sandy to capture every-thing in one precious post. Wow. So blessed that you flew here. Can’t wait to see you again. This side of heaven is so much sweeter with transcontinental Twitter friends….what a gift. Feeling very thankful … for each one of you. xoxoxo

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:06 pm

      We WILL meet again. I am sure of it. You have a piece of my heart.

  7. Hazel Moon says

    November 18, 2010 at 2:42 am

    How wonderful when friends and loved ones can gather and enjoy a time together. Gratitude of friends and Jesus our friend who is always with us.

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:06 pm

      Amen to that. Thanks for stopping by, Hazel.

  8. Courtney Walsh says

    November 18, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    Wow. I long for these kinds of friendships. Too many years of pushing people away, holding them at an arm’s length… but this makes me see what I’ve been missing. So happy you have them. 🙂

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:09 pm

      It would have been so easy to say flying off to spend a weekend with online friends took too much time, took away from family, cost too much . . . But–the value of this visit can’t be measured. So, so glad and so ready to go again.

      Praying for you today, Courtney, and so glad you visited and took the time to comment.

  9. Susan J. Reinhardt says

    November 18, 2010 at 9:53 pm

    Hi Sandy –

    I’m so glad you were able to meet your friends from cyberspace! Nothing can replace the joy of meeting face to face.

    I LOVE socks! Every now and then, I surprise people with my wild, crazy footwear.

    Blessings,
    Susan 🙂

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:11 pm

      Hi Susan. It was awesome. And someday–maybe you and I will connect on land. You are a blessing.

      So you are another sock sister. Cool!

  10. in the hush of the moon says

    November 18, 2010 at 11:48 pm

    oh, i see him in these photos. in your radiance. i’m jealous in a good way 🙂 what a beautiful ode to the online made tangible, dear sandra. thank you for sharing. xo

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:11 pm

      Thanks, Emily. I so treasure connecting with you.

  11. Stephanie Shott says

    November 19, 2010 at 11:29 am

    I loved this post! It’s awesome how cyberspace expands our ministry borders and connects us with God’s girls. Sounds like you and I are on the same page these days! 🙂

    • Sandra says

      November 19, 2010 at 12:13 pm

      For such a time as this. The Internet is God’s new tool for reaching out. Can’t wait til the time I can reach my arms around your neck, girlfriend.

  12. Melinda Y. says

    November 19, 2010 at 6:26 pm

    Blessed that I could wake up at the feet of our Master with beloved friends. Grateful for treasured times- engaging in laughter, love, authentic caring and sharing. Praying we are putting tables together for the next 3hr “Living Sticky” luncheon:)
    I left part of me there. I have a part of you all here.
    Folding each of your hearts into the corners of mine.
    LYI

    • Sandra says

      November 23, 2010 at 9:13 am

      Grateful for you!

  13. Abby says

    November 19, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    yep. sounds like Life to me…I would love to know what you lovely ladies were dreaming together…aren’t dreams wonderful??!!

    • Sandra says

      November 23, 2010 at 9:13 am

      Indeed! Welcome, Abby.

  14. Bridget says

    November 20, 2010 at 12:35 am

    How could I not smile after reading that? I love seeing the pics too. Thanks, Sandy!

    • Sandra says

      November 23, 2010 at 9:14 am

      Thanks for doing these, Bridget. Thankful for you.

  15. Joanne Norton says

    November 22, 2010 at 10:58 pm

    So happy for you to be blessed by yours. What fun!!

    • Sandra says

      November 23, 2010 at 9:15 am

      Hi Caryjo! Still amazed at the deep that can flow online.

  16. Anne Lang Bundy says

    November 28, 2010 at 11:44 pm

    Grateful for you, too, Snady. 😀

    • Sandra says

      November 29, 2010 at 9:32 am

      So grateful for you, too. Another now face-to-face sister. 🙂

  17. Cheryl Smith says

    August 25, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    Oh my goodness! I didn’t know there were others before us… 🙂

    What fun!

    • Sandra says

      August 25, 2012 at 8:07 pm

      A weekend tweet-up. 🙂

      Tami is leading the team to Haiti in December. 🙂

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I tossed and turned all night. And then the storm I tossed and turned all night. And then the storm started. I finally got up about 5ish and sat outside to watch. Until a couple mosquitoes found me. Also, the jasmine hadn’t gone to bed yet and smelled heavenly.
Sunday evening. That is all. Sunday evening. That is all.
“The news is not and never has been, because it “The news is not and never has been, because it doesn’t talk about the small moments. Moments that matter to individuals, whatever they do or do not do in the grand scheme of things. And it is in those individual moments that belong to people, that deserve to be faced and remembered as much as every big, world-changing disaster. And nature, because it exists in the details, is too easy to elide, even when trying to talk about it.” ~ Sara Barkat in her introduction to Earth Song: A Nature Poems Experience
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I had to look up “elide.” It’s not a typo. 😊
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Sara goes on to write, “The structure of this book is that of a piece of music. The poems are to be read in order…”
🍃
The first poem she includes is Sara Teasdale’s “Lost Things” that starts, “”Oh, I could let the world go by / It’s loud new wonders and it’s wars / But how will I give up the sky…”
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Good morning sky. Good morning moon. Good morning little bird flying to the moon. Good morning red bottlebrushes nodding in the breeze. It’s good to emerge from this Covid fog. Day 10.
“Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to “Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood. . . Let me keep company always with those who say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment and bow their heads.” ~ Mary Oliver in “Mysteries, Yes”
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Food truck night with a newcomer—@crepstick. So Food truck night with a newcomer—@crepstick. So yummy! I hope they come back.  But maybe not too often or I’ll have to do double time on the exercise.
“Embrace this day knowing and showing the world “Embrace this day knowing and showing the world that your God is more than enough for you.”
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@tamiheim @tonibirdsong 
In @stickyJesus: How to Live Out Your Faith Online
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the str My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion.” Psalm 73:26 (ESV)
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I’d almost forgotten what quiet mornings on the patio were like. (Quiet except for the birds and the sound of the neighbor’s AC.)
So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the fir So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the first time he wanted to see me in 6 months instead of a year. He said my aortic stenosis had gotten worse. Like on the cusp of moderate to severe. 😬

So the first thing he asks me is, "How's you daughter?" Wait. Isn't this supposed to be about ME?

Then he asks if I've had any symptoms. "Well, I don't know. Maybe. I felt a little dizzy out of the blue a couple times. And felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I wouldn't have paid any attention if I didn't know I was supposed to be watching for symptoms. I DID walk all over Israel and up a bunch of steep hills, even all the way up to the Golan Heights--against the wind--without anything but normal fatigue.

He laughs. "I created a monster." Ummm, yeah.

"Have you been exercising?" 

"Well, yeah. We walk a couple miles a day. I'm back on my Nordictrack Strider." I didn't tell him I'd been lifting some light weights and some very heavy boxes and other items during this renovation, though I was told in December not to.

So he listens to the beating of my heart. Then he says, "Well, I don't think the valve is ripe yet. I don't expect you to have symptoms for three or four years. You don't need to come back for a year."

Wait! So you ask if I have symptoms. But you don't expect symptoms--yet. And when I do have symptoms, someone is gonna do something. And then I'll be older and maybe weaker. Or what if I have some sudden and silent symptom and boom! And now I have to worry about that. 

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When the folks in my hometown of Gaylord, Michigan When the folks in my hometown of Gaylord, Michigan ate their breakfast Friday morning, they had no idea what terror and devastation they'd face before dinner. Everyone has a story. You've probably seen pictures.

If not, take a peek at @mlivenews .

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The Valley of the Communities was very moving. It's a labyrinth of stone from which there seems no way out. Our guide said It gives an idea of the endlessness of the horror. His parents emigrated from Vilna (the Jerusalem of Lithuania), before the Holocaust. In 1935, thirteen of his family members still remained there. By 1945 only one--an uncle--had survived. He wrote a book about them from a bundle of old letters. "One story out of millions."

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From a post I wrote for @tspoetry after a visit to the @holocaustcenter.

https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2016/07/27/regional-tour-holocaust-memorial-center-farmington-hills-michigan/
Stunning tree I parked near at Bible study yesterd Stunning tree I parked near at Bible study yesterday. I was in a rush and failed to snap the whole tree. I need to run back before the flowers fall. I think it’s a jacaranda? I want one.
Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this a Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this afternoon. I thought he was hurt, but I think he was just trying to cool off. (Maybe it's a young one.... unless it's the light?)
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Many wonder if this tomb, which lies just a few yards west of Golgotha could be the place where Jesus lay and rose. I wish we could have lingered longer here in this garden and in the tomb itself. It was easier for me to imagine the events of that weekend happening here than in the heavily incensed, decorated, dark and crowded Church of the Holy Sepulchre… though my hairdresser said her old boyfriend “got chills”’when he entered that tomb. We did not go inside that one because the line was way too long. 

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