Saturday, October 8 We said goodbye this morning Hugged the grands Waved our waves Packed the car Caged the cat. The daughter who was done with her goodbyes came back. Later said God knew she needed time alone–with us, with the house she grew up in. There were tears and more hugs and […]
31 Days of Moving Reflections – Day 1 #SouthFloridaBound
Saturday, October 1 It’s been raining for three days. Muddy waves churn from the newly dug drain field in the side yard. I’m wearing a Tshirt when I meet D at the airport. I take along a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and a jacket. He changes in Bob Evans’ restroom. His blood has […]
When You Entertain Unaware
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,” wrote the author of Hebrews, “for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” “Did we talk about that [the following event] then?” I asked Sissy the other day. “I don’t remember,” she responded. Maybe our brains were still reeling from the bourbon. I asked […]
When You Need to Seam Home
The men are laying new vinyl today. “Do you want the seam here… or there?” asks the one in charge. And I’m thinking, I don’t care. I won’t be living with it. This will no longer my home. I’m losing my sense of home. I’m already separating from it like a dying person begins to […]
Of Green Mohair and Breakdowns
Charlene gave it to him. The same Charlene who scrawled across two pages in his high school yearbook. I tease him and call her “If-Our-Love-Is-True-Charlene.” He laughs and crosses his arms and scratches them like he does when he gets embarrassed. But he still wears it in spite of the holes that have unraveled. He’s practical like […]
Still Saturday: Longing
; “O God, I have tasted of Thy goodness and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more . . . I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still . . . Give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this […]
Becoming Mindful in Place: Under the Maple Tree
I’m sunk into a red sports chair in the shade under the backyard maple. The site of the Great Lilac Massacre is behind me and in front is the home of the baby bluebird murders. In my mind, I still see the blood-splashed walls and little pecked heads. The grandgirl no longer plays softball, […]
I Didn’t Expect
I never expected to have children. I never dreamed of a family. I didn’t play love and marriage or stuff my shirt with pillows. I did dream of caring for others. Maybe in far countries. I even used to hope I’d find an injured animal so I could take care of it. But I […]
Still Saturday: Surrender
Sabbath requires surrender . . . If we refuse rest until we are finished, we will never rest until we die. Sabbath dissolves the artificial urgency of our days, because it liberates us from the need to be finished. ~Wayne Muller in Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest In the […]
Still Saturday: All Is Well
Do not think, believer, that your sorrows are out of God’s plan; they are necessary parts of it. “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom.” (Acts 14:22) Learn, then, to “count it all joy . . . when you meet trials of various kinds.” (James 1:22) O let my trembling soul be still, […]
