Everlasting

It's not as if I did anything terribly strenuous.  In fact, this time I think I was just sitting there minding my own business when, suddenly, I felt it: that old familiar stabbing pain.  And just as suddenly I knew I was in for a long and painful two weeks.  That's just the way it goes--when it goes.

It's the little things.  Pick up that pencil?  Reach for the faucet?  Put on my socks?  Not without bracing myself for another spasm and that excruciating pain.

It's OK, though.  It gets better.  The Advil helps--and rest (easier said than done!). After a while, most folks get used to the wincing, the cloud of wintergreen, the constant excuses.  "Wish I could."  And usually, after a while, the muscles relax again, and eventually things go back to normal...at least they always have before. 

I wondered, though, this time.  What if they don't?  What if things don't go back to normal?  What if "normal" now means "in constant pain?"  It was almost a panic that washed over me--and then I was filled with sadness.  What kind of a life would that be?  Would I want to live it?

Chronic.  It means "lasting for a long period of time."  How many people live with things we call "chronic"?  How many live with constant invisible pain?  Emotional stress?  Mental illness?  How many live with a "normal" that is chronic and unbearable?

These days I find myself so grateful.  Not because "there but for the grace of God go I."  But because I've been given a new gift: to see that I don't always see--that I can't possibly know what burdens others may be bearing.  And all I can do is live out the call to see beyond my assumptions about them, to be a little less judgmental and a lot more helpful.

I hope it lasts...

"Bear one another's burdens."

  

Perfect Together!

That's what the ad in my in-box said: "Perfect Together."

It had little hearts all over it and was clearly geared toward the discerning Valentine's Day shopper.

But it stopped me dead in my tracks...because I suddenly realized that they were dead serious.  They really meant it: perfect together.

Thing is, it can't be true--can it?  Human relationships are never "perfect," at least not in the sense that everything is always wonderful and people never stop swooning and the floor never stops spinning and the stars never stop twinkling and our hearts never stop racing.  The reality of human relationships, as you well-know, is something else entirely.

What is true is that people are wonderful, and people are horrible--sometimes people smell like a bouquet of Valentine's Day roses, and sometimes they just stink.  And a "perfect" relationship isn't one that denies this reality, but embraces it...and keeps loving anyway.  You remember: "What credit is it to you if you love those who love you?"  Real love embraces the UNlovable...which is ALL of us--at least at one time or another.

Come to think of it, the ad may not have been that far off--because as long as the batteries are charged and my internet connection is in tact, my iPad and I really are "Perfect Together."  

It's just not much of a relationship, that's all.

With love to all for a Happy Valentine's Day!

Birthing Room

Strange things happen under the couch in our living room.  I really can't explain it, but it's like another world under there: a world I know little about...

Oh sure, every once in a blue moon some light is shed on that mysterious land.  Things get moved around for a little cleaning, maybe, or the beam of a flashlight sweeps across that barren, dusty plain as it searches for something dropped or misplaced.  But something tells me that when the light hits it the magic pauses...until my eyes turn away...and then it all begins again.

I have no proof, of course, only evidence: a beauty of a tabby, once a tiny orange kitten whose announcement--just a faint cry in the hustle and bustle--rose from that underworld to let us know he'd arrived.

And while I may never fully know what's going on in that land of mystery, as I go on fooling myself into believing only in that which I can see for myself, I sometimes wonder.  

Maybe there's more.  Maybe there's more.

"Now I see through a glass, darkly."

Here's an invitation--if you enjoy reading, share the good news.  Feel free to steer your family and friends here: help spread the word!

Bless You!

With cold and flu season upon us, chances are you're hearing the words with some frequency:

"Bless you!"

Some say that the practice of offering a blessing when someone sneezes is rooted in an ancient belief that a sneeze was the body's way of expelling evil spirits that were trying to work their way inside.  The blessing was offered as a prayer that those demons would be gone for good.  In a way they had it right, though these days we're more likely to call them "germs" rather than "demons."

Same difference.

It's all said rather casually, though, and that's what gets me wondering.  If we were to stop and think about what we were saying--if we were a bit more deliberate in not just spouting off but actually delivering on our hope and promise--the world might a better place.

So the next time I find myself saying it, I'm going to stop and think about it too.  How can I put my own words into action, and be a source of healing?  I've a hunch, in doing so, some of my own demons might just be gone too.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

The Whole Enchilada

Ever since the king of burgers told us that we could have it our way (OK, maybe even before that!) we've gotten a bit spoiled, don't you think?  It's really hard for us to accept those package deals...we want control over all the details.

"I like the color of THOSE and the style of THESE and the shape of THIS ONE..."

"I like THAT model, THIS year, THAT feature..."

"I'll take that one over there, but with THESE, and not THOSE...."

Options, options, options.  If we can't have it OUR way, well, we'll just head over to the Golden Arches, right?

We run into a bit of a problem, though, when we're dealing with people, don't we?  We may prefer certain features over others, and get a little frustrated (or worse!) when we have to take the package deal.  So I might enjoy my friend's good humor, for example, but when she needs to let off steam because her marriage is in a shambles, I'm no longer entertained.  You might like to be entertained by Uncle Harry's story-telling, but when he has one-too-many at the party (which happens more often than not...) you soon lose patience.  We're good with good listeners, until they want us to listen to them.

Can't we have the parts we like and leave the rest behind?

The answer is "yes....and no."

Yes, we can just enjoy the pieces of others we like and leave the rest behind.  But the consequence, for us and for them, is a fast-food diet of shallow relationships.  If we're willing to go deeper, though, and to accept people completely for who they are, we'll discover a deep, rich, complex blend of flavors and textures that is mutually nourishing and, in the end, far more satisfying....

It's the whole enchilada, which is probably what we've been craving all along--and maybe what we all really need.

"Love one another as I have loved you..."

True Colors

There's a purple church in Hollywood--you may have seen it--just off the 101 at Hollywood Boulevard.

Yes, it's purple.

Now, from what I gather it wasn't always purple.  Something about the sun shining on the tile and the weatherproofing that was used that turned this house of worship a light purple.

It's subtle.  It's also unmistakable.  

The original designers and builders didn't intend for that church to turn purple, you know.  And I can imagine that the congregation of that purple church, at one point, found themselves in a state of dismay over the color change.  But do you know what they've done?

They've embraced it.  Check it out: www.hollywoodsda.org.  Their website pops up in varying shades of purple.  Their online blog is called "The Purple Journal."  

All of which makes me wonder how those of us who call ourselves a "people of faith" deal with change--the unexpected surprises that seem to develop out of nowhere sometimes.  What do we do when life turns us purple?

Do we then turn black with rage?  Green with envy?  Red with shame?  Blue with sadness?

It seems to me that we have a choice.  And how we choose to embrace an ever-changing world reveals what you might just call our "true colors."

Don't put your trust in the things of this world "...where moth and rust destroy" 

(and occasionally things turn purple)

Blooming Dirty Laundry

Not long ago our washing machine started to make a funny noise.

My reaction?

I started shopping for a new washing machine.  I worried about how much it would cost, and how we would get it delivered, and whether it would fit in the same spot, and how the hookup would work, and, and, and....

Yesterday I did the laundry.  I loaded up the machine, added a little bit of environmentally safe detergent (that's a plug!) and went about my business.  After a while I unloaded the clean clothes...and then I remembered.

But did the machine make that noise?  Honestly, I don't know.  I'd forgotten all about it.  And apparently those clean clothes don't really care.

It reminded me of something I've heard more than a time or two--something about borrowing trouble.  So this week I'll try a little harder, and spend my energy on something more productive than worry.

Here's to new beginnings!

"And why do you worry about clothes?  

See how the flowers of the field grow.