The sticky summer heat is back with a vengeance. The pleasant break in the weather lasted long enough for us to enjoy last weekend, but now it is everything we expect for July in Virginia. So I was drawn to this photo of my dear friend Marge’s silly goats. A few times a day, Marge opens the gate and the goats roam around the pool. On this day, the goats decided lounging around the pool was more like it. When we visit Marge, we often sit in the living room and watch the goats through a wall of windows. The goats are very amusing, often jumping around and playing games with one another. Yet when it is hot like today, even the goats settle down and relax by the pool. When my daughter Tori was a toddler, we would often go to the pool after I picked her up from daycare. We seldom stayed more than an hour, but that hour made all the difference in the world. If my husband Mark wasn’t traveling, he would pick up fried chicken and meet us there. We would have a simple picnic, lounging by the pool like the goats. When Mark and I both worked full time, our leave was often consumed by childcare responsibilities. We seldom took much vacation, so these few hours by the pool became a sort of vacation. We took time to enjoy each other and relax, rather than rush onto the next item on our never ending list of things to do. So perhaps these goats are not so silly after all. To be present to the joy and beauty that surrounds you is to dip you toe into the vastness of eternity. Take time today to relax and enjoy the company of loved ones and the simple pleasures surrounding you. Don’t wait until you can get away to take a vacation. Enjoy what life has to offer, here and now. Photo by Marge Rumbaugh
Reflecting on Presence….
19 Jul 2011 Leave a comment
in Reflecting on...... Tags: beauty, blessings, family, goats, joy, sabbath
Reflecting on Community….
18 Jul 2011 1 Comment
in Reflecting on...... Tags: beauty, blessings, commitment, community, faith, journey
It’s summer and folks are heading out of town. Some of us are visiting family, or going on long journeys. Others simply head out for a day trip or long weekend. There are so many awesome photos that it has been difficult to choose just one to reflect upon. So what caught my eye today was the number of photos of old bridges. My cousin Diane took this photo of a masonry bridge while driving along the back roads in Bucks County, PA. These arches remind me of the ruins at Fountains Abbey, a World Heritage site in England. Originally built in 1132, the abbey is amazingly well preserved. While living in England, we attended a service in the cellarium celebrating 2000 years of Christianity. The monks built a beautiful and incredibly strong cellarium, entirely made of arches, simply to store food. An arch is strong because it distributes the weight above it. Masons have been building arches since ancient times. It has been said that if you understand how to build an arch, you can build anything. So is it any wonder we are drawn to these old bridges with arches? It seems to me that Christian community is a lot like an arch. Each member, each brick, takes on a little of the load. The burdens that can be shared by many together far exceed the burdens that can be carried by each one alone. Brick upon brick, burden upon burden, can be piled on top, without compromising the community. Yet the community, like the arch, must maintain a delicate balance. If the arch is pulled in too close, or stretched out too far, it fails. A healthy community also must learn to find that delicate balancing point. We need to be connected, but not too close. Sometimes the person with the most insight is part of your community, but not your immediate circle. The distance allows a more balanced perspective, a different view of the situation from those closest to us. Take time today to reach out to those in your Christian community. Offer to be there for someone else, to just listen. Be respectful of one another, accepting that now may not be the time to open up. And remember that like the arch, we must remain connected to be strong, not too close, but also not too far away. Photo by Diane Brooks Myers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountains_Abbey
Reflecting on Commitment….
15 Jul 2011 Leave a comment
in Reflecting on...... Tags: blessings, commitment, faith, journey, love, marriage
Today is our 22nd wedding anniversary. So I looked through old photos, of other times and other places. This photo was taken by my dear friend Pam Nelson, in Hermosa Beach, CA, not long after we started dating in 1986. It was a very late night, and Pam asked us to stop before heading up to Mark’s apartment to take this photo. Since then, we have lived Michigan, Colorado, England and Virginia. Our daughter Tori came into our lives 16 years ago. Both my parents have passed away, my father in our own home. A lot has changed over the past 25 years, yet the important things remain the same. Marriage is a covenant relationship, first and foremost a promise to God that you will remain committed to one another. It means sticking together, no matter what. I have heard folks say getting married is a leap of faith, but perhaps it would be better to say staying married is a journey of many leaps of faith. You may not be moving across the country or overseas, yet life throws you for a loop. Jobs change, families change, children grow up. Each time you are sure you have things figured out, it all changes. So I am blessed beyond measure to have my dear husband Mark faithfully at my side these past 25 years. He told me this morning that he was thankful that I was a patient woman, patient enough to stay married to him all this time. I would say the same thing about him. Take time today to consider what commitment means to you. Let that special someone know what they mean to you, and pray for the Holy Spirit to bless and protect your relationship, today and always. Photo by Pam Nelson
Reflecting on Simple Pleasures….
11 Jul 2011 Leave a comment
in Reflecting on...... Tags: beauty, blessings, blueberries, childhood, family, wonder
We stopped at the grocery store this morning after running errands. All we really needed was bread, but we went home with two bags of groceries. Sometimes you just don’t know what you need until you see it. So when I saw these beautiful blueberries from Hammonton, NJ, I knew we needed them. I grew up in Southern New Jersey, where my mother’s family grew blueberries and cranberries. In that area, the soil is very sandy, and packed full of nutrients. Blueberries love this soil, and grow in abundance there. I remember going to our cousin’s farm to pick berries, then packing them up in the back of the station wagon. My Mom and Aunt Audrey, along with my sisters and cousins and I, would all pile into our old station wagon. On one trip, I ended up in the back with the berries. I must have fallen asleep. I woke up as we drove home, looking up at the sunlight filtering through the trees and smelling the berries all around me. Part of me wanted to sit up and eat the berries, but part of me didn’t want to move. There was something magical about that moment, and I wanted it to last. The car was quiet and the radio was playing very low. No one was talking. I suppose I wasn’t the only one that had fallen asleep. It seems all the simple pleasures of my childhood are wrapped up in that one memory. I was surrounded by those I loved and the beauty of living in that particular corner of the world, all together and at peace. Take time today to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, to resist the temptation to make life more complicated than it already is. Enjoy the sights and sounds and smells of your surroundings, and the company of those you love. God blesses us with such bounty, and God is pleased when this bounty pleases us. Photo of blueberries at Emery’s Farm in New Egypt, NJ by my cousin and fellow childhood blueberry picker, Diane Brooks Myers
Seek the Sacred Amidst the Ordinary 