Ripples

I attended a funeral today. I had never met the man who died.  He was the brother of a friend.  Many people were there.  It was standing room only. Some of those people I knew; most I did not. 

The service began with the ancient hymn, Be Thou My Vision.  Knowing that it is a very old hymn, I looked up the history.  I learned that the words were written as a poem in the 6th century and the melody was written in Ireland in the 8th.  I wondered how many people over the centuries have been both inspired and comforted by that hymn.  The chapel where I sat was fairly modern, but during that sacred song, I was transported to some aged cathedral surrounded by all the saints whose lives have been touched by that melody and those words.  The poet who penned the words and the musician who set out the notes had no idea how in the 21st century the ripples of their lives would be felt and appreciated by a lone woman sitting at the funeral service of man she never met.

Awaiting the start of the service, I sat engrossed in my own disjointed thoughts.  A couple sat beside me.  They knew the people in front of them.  They spoke of the deceased and his family.  After a few moments, the wife touched my arm and asked me how I was doing.  I told her, "fine."  I found her question to be amazingly kind.  She asked how I knew the man who had died.  I explained that I did not know him, but that I go to church with his sister, a woman I greatly admire.  This lovely woman explained that her son and his family also go to our church.  She gave me their names.  I exclaimed how I love her son and his wife and children.  I also explained that I grew up in the church with her husband.  I should have recognized him.  She asked my name; whispered it to him.  He remembered my family.  I remember his well.  It also dawned on me that a year or so ago, I was praying fervently for this woman, the mother of a friend, a woman I had not met until this day.  I asked how she was doing.  "Really well," she replied.   I felt little ripples from that church family of my childhood and ripples going out from my present church family. 

This man who had died, that I never met, was an amazing person.   He was a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather, an uncle, a friend.   He will be remembered by those who knew him as a servant who cooked for many, and often wrote notes of encouragement to those who both grieved and rejoiced.  Today, the unanswered questions as to why, in this modern world, there were no adequate medicines to heal him haunt his family.  There are unanswered questions as to why God did not see fit to intervene.  But, I sat in that chapel, at the funeral of a man I never met, and felt the ripples of his life lapping against me.  I left that place feeling as though I knew him, and inspired, by his life, to live a better one myself. 

So, for today, I wish you gentle, healing ripples from the lives of those around you and gentle, healing ripples sent from you for those who cross your path, and I wish you

blessings 

Privileged

I posted on FB today, in a subtle response to ALL the political vitriol.  I made the statement that all I really know about the current election is that I voted yesterday.  I voted with a choice and with no threats.  I consider it a privilege and not a right.  Someone questioned me about why I do not consider it my right as a U.S. citizen.  My response was because I did not earn it.  Probably, it is just a matter of semantics.  I find life ever so much more enjoyable when I view the gifts around me as privileges and not rights.  As odd as it may sound, privileges seem, to me, to come with responsibility while rights come with entitlement.  Again, probably just a matter of semantics.

The reason I voted yesterday is because I am going to be in Florida on election day.  I will get up, get in my car, pick up my mother and sister, and drive down the east coast of Florida for a week of rest and relaxation.  I am not scrambling to get permission from the government to cross state lines.  I consider it a privilege to be able to go wherever and whenever I have the time and money without having to let the government know about it.  I will not be passing checkpoints as I travel.  People in other places are not so fortunate.  That is why I voted yesterday.   Someone close to me informed me that they would not be voting, and when I made a puzzled look (possibly translated critical look) they informed me that it was their privilege to not vote.  Touche.

I voted yesterday in one of my favorite places ever - a library.  I love the notion of a free lending-library.  Seriously, what a privilege to go to a place and select books to read, return them, and get more.  The free  library is not always free to me because I often am derelict in returning books on time, so I pay overdue fines.  That to me makes the difference in privilege and right.  I have no right to be able to go check out books for free.  With that privilege comes responsibility - take care of the books, return them on time or pay a fine.  If it were my right, I would be incensed that someone would expect me to return the book ever.

After I voted, Mr. Lincoln and I went to see the movie Argo.  That movie drove home even more strongly what a privilege it is to live here.  There are no burned out cars on the side of the road, no bodies hanging from construction cranes.  Please, do not hear me saying I think this is a perfect place to live.  Certainly, we have lots of problems...big problems.  It would be impossible to name them all, and what some would consider problems, others would consider solutions.  History tells me that we have had better times in this country, and we have had much worse times.  It will be interesting to see who is elected.  It will be interesting to see if whomever is elected actually accomplishes anything of great importance.  We will see.  But, in the meantime, I will make every effort to live in gratitude for all the privileges I enjoy.  I will also strive to not let this election dictate the level of peace in my mind.

So, for today, I wish you appreciation for the privileges life affords you, and I wish you

blessings

With God's Help

His wife of 37 years is gone.  He has suffered with ALS for over 20 years.  She was his caretaker.  She was his voice.  She was the laughter and humor in his days.  She died because of a mistake someone else made.  She was healthy and whole trying to get relief from neck pain in order to continue his care and all the other activities in her life.  When asked if he is angry, he replies, "I'm not angry.  Why would I be angry?  I am a blessed man."  Some would call him foolish.  I call him a mighty warrior.  He may be physically frail, but he is spiritually and emotionally robust.  In his deep grief, with God's help, he triumphs.

They are adorable.  They are, to me, a young couple.  Their child is as a character in a quaint children's book.  They laugh, they smile, they love.  While they were out to dinner, their house burned.  They lost almost everything.  She is an artist with art shows coming up, and a good deal of her art destroyed.  When asked what she wanted the firemen to try to rescue, she replied her laptop and her daughter's Pooh Bear.  When laments are expressed over the loss of their beautiful, charming home, she replies, "home is where my husband and daughter hang their hats." Some may find their response odd, but I am inspired by them.  They, with God's help, are moving forward.  They are not simply surviving, they are thriving. 

Her husband has left her.  He has left her with three children.  She is deeply wounded.  When given the opportunity to share his faults, she will not.  Despite his misguided ways and his poor decisions, she loves him.  Truly, after her children, her greatest concern is for him.  She is learning to open up and sincerely share her life with those she trusts.  She does not go about polluting the air with bitter vitriolic talk.  She leaves the drama behind and puts one step in front of the other, caring for her children, doing her job, and praying for her husband.   Some would encourage her to "make him pay."  I find myself awestruck by her dignity, her lack of retribution, and her refusal to blame.  With God's help, she will overcome.

These are people I know and love.  I feel privileged to have them in my life.  They counter those who seem to create one crisis after the other.  They give me hope for those who cannot seem to shut their mouths for the good of others.  They remind me that bashing and trash talking are not necessary.  They contrast sharply those who refuse to set themselves aside for the greater good.  They let me know that those quick to anger are not to be emulated.   They do not hold grudges.  They are not angry.  How do they manage?  The only explanation I can find is their genuine reliance on God, and their wholehearted participation in community.   I watch and learn.  I am grateful for their influence.  My life is enriched for knowing them.  Through them I get a glimpse of Kingdom life.

So for today, I wish you community, good examples, and I wish you

blessings

Crossing the Causeway

Mr. Lincoln and I are blessed to be able to go to Sanibel Island every January.  We love it there.  We drive.  It is a long trip.  Georgia is a very long state.  I get very restless as we drive.  There is not a lot that is particularly beautiful in south Georgia; just a lot of kudzu and scruffy pine trees.  The entire trip, I anxiously await the moment when we cross the causeway and once again, I feel at home. 

My friend, Diana, crossed the causeway yesterday.  Once again, she is home.  I have always wondered if  we leave the presence of God for the earthly part of our journey only to return home again at the end of this leg of the trip.  Sort of like driving through south Georgia to get to the island.  Diana is the first person that I ever heard claim boldly and loudly, "this world is not my home."  She knew she was not going to stay in south Georgia.

Those of us still traveling are going to miss her big laugh, her self-deprecation, her very presence as we continue on our journey.  We mourn that she finished this part of the journey before us.  We want her to still be traveling with us, keeping us entertained.  The truth is, she will continue to travel with us.  We will laugh and be comforted as we share Diana stories.  Sometimes, when we least expect it, a memory will cross our minds; we will see her smiling in our mind's eye.  We will be grateful to have had her as a traveling companion for a time.

Diana has crossed the causeway.  She can now say, "this world is my home."

blessings

God, Are You There?

How can this be anything but devastating?  What possible good can come from this?  How can all those prayers, those pleas for mercy and healing go unanswered?  How can a family suffer so? 

"How long, O Lord?  Will you forget us forever?  How long will you hide your face...How long must we wrestle with our thoughts and every day have sorrow in our hearts...?" 

We know that if the Psalmist, a man after God's own heart, can express anger and frustration, that we can as well.  It is without fear that we rail against this pain and what feels like complete injustice and silence from God.

"Will the Lord reject forever?  Will he never show his favor again? Has God forgotten to be merciful?  Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"

She had hard days.  Her beloved husband has been progressively and devastatingly ill with ALS for over twenty years.  She cared for his physical needs, and he cared for her emotional needs.  As we have watched his body weaken, we have watched his spirit strengthen.  Why must he live out his days without her?  Why must her sons?

Hearts are broken.  Friends are grieving.  A circle of family is breaking.  We do not know why.  Some of us will having difficulty knowing where to turn in the next few days.  Most of us will go to the only place we know; to our God - the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.   Even as we question, we say: "...I will remember your miracles of long ago.  I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds."

We are confused, hurt, and, yes, angry; still we will "give praise to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens."   We will walk through the next days and weeks and months and years, believing that He walks with us and grieves with us.  We will struggle to live that out for each other.

We pray that she will go gently, and that soon she will have complete joy and rest and healing.  We choose, in faith, to believe "the Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace" 

So for all of us who weep today, I pray blessings