Let Me Sow Love

our daughter has been here visiting for a week.  we see her a couple of times a year:  once in the summer while she is on her summer break from teaching and again at christmas when she and her husband come to spend a few days with us.  occasionally we will visit them in their home, but we hate to cause extra work for them because they need their weekends to rest from their demanding jobs and take care of chores around their homes.

i am always impressed with her patience and kindness when she comes to see us.  she helps around the house and does all she can to relieve us from our work while she's here.  when things don't go her way, she takes life in stride, letting go of the inevitable stresses of life.  when our nephew, her first cousin, came for a visit during her stay, she was patient with him, even though he's hard to be with for any length of time.  his conversation is mostly about his health issues, and he shares all the details of his frequent doctor visits and the pains and limitations he faces that are caused by poor choices he made earlier in life.  as he talked, she sympathized with him.  she never appeared to be weary of his unending talk about himself.  this is the sort of person she is, and we love her for it.

as i saw her off at the airport this morning, i thought of how lucky we are to have such a wonderful daughter.  may we do all we can to instill a sense of kindness and concern in others.  may we recognize the good in those around us.  may we believe that the basic human impulse is kindness, recognizing that hatred and prejudice are learned rather than innate characteristics.  shalom.

And the Tears Will Clear

as i write this morning, our gray tabby cat, bossy, has disappeared.  we inadvertently left our garage doors open overnight, and when i went out to feed our two cats, bossy was not there to greet me as she usually does.  bossy is blind and has cancer.  i fear that she wandered outside the garage and became disoriented.  if that is the case, she wouldn't be able to find her way back.  i've walked around the house calling her and driven around the neighborhood looking for her to no avail.

later this morning i'll go to all the houses nearby to alert our neighbors of bossy's disappearance.  perhaps she will turn up.  she is such a sweet cat and never tires of being petted.  she loves her morning and evening meals.  she's been with us for at least twelve years, having appeared in the yard of our former home one day, a frightened and abandoned kitten.  she made her home under our guest house in the backyard and refused to come out unless coaxed by food.  little by little, she became accustomed to us and her new home, eventually joining our other cats for her meals outside our back door.  she never strayed from our yard and spent most of her time lounging on our deck.  since her blindness, she has stayed in our garage unless we carry her out to our back deck when we sit in the evenings.

it's now later in the day, and bossy has been found!  while i was over talking to one of our neighbors about her, our daughter, who's visiting us for a week, walked across the street calling her.  there is a pasture filled with tall grass there.  it is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, and bossy was lying the grass just on the other side of the fence.  when she heard our daughter, she began to cry.  fortunately, our daughter heard her and located her.  she picked bossy up and brought her back to our home amidst much rejoicing.  she was none the worse for her adventure and happily took her place on the cool concrete floor of the garage to rest.

being lost is an experience that most of us have known from time to time.  we are so relieved when we find our way back or someone rescues us.  may we be grateful for those who care enough to seek us when we are lost.  may we understand the causes of losing our way.  may we take responsibility for others, helping them find a way back.  may we recognize the value of home and those who care for us.  shalom.

For the Clear Morning Light

"i am grateful" is easy to say, but it's not so easy to live a life filled with gratitude.  each day i ask that i become more grateful for all that life has given me.  yet, i don't embrace the sense of gratefulness that my many blessings should kindle in me.  today i want to enumerate some of those gifts and to express my gratitude for them.

i am healthy.  i have the pains that come with my body's years of use, but i am still mobile.  i may be a little slower, may have to rest more often, and may pay the price when i overdo it.  still, i can do pretty much anything i want to do.  for this i'm grateful.

i have a wonderful partner, terrific children, a beautiful granddaughter, and many friends.  my life is filled with people who love me and are loved in return.  for this i'm grateful.

i want for nothing.  i have a lovely, spacious home.  everywhere i look in my home, there are beautiful things.  i don't have to worry about my financial well-being.  i have all the resources i need and then some.  for this i'm grateful.

i don't have worries about my safety.  there is little crime where i live.  while i don't always agree with the policies of my town's government, our city services function well.  those in elected office are conscientious in making those who live here secure.  for this i'm grateful

i live in a country where i have many freedoms:  freedom of and from religion, freedom to express my opinions without fear, freedom to vote as i think best, and freedom to read what i want.  for this i'm grateful.

i've lived a long, happy life.  my vocation was rewarding.  i have few regrets and more than my share of joy.  i continue to engage in my love for music and to share that love with others.  for this i'm grateful.

all in all, life is good.  may each of us look back on a life well-lived and rejoice that we have much to celebrate.  may we give thanks for the many blessings life has afforded us.  may we take time each day to practice gratitude.  shalom.

You Left A Row Half Done

the past week has been incredibly busy for my wife and i.  we yearn for time to be at home without one obligation after another.  much of this is because we aren't good at saying no.  after almost eighty years on this planet, we should have learned our limitations!  the next few days don't look any better.  as we look ahead, we say to ourselves, "if only we can get through the next four days, we can stop and catch our breath."

most of us are guilty of living lives of "if only" much of the time.  life happens as we live it.  we need to learn that this journey is what life is.  we don't have to get past our responsibilities to begin living.  those responsibilities are our lives.  they are experiences that give life meaning, not something to get past so we can start living.  may we relax into the busyness of life.  may we recognize the value of what we do.  may we carve out time for stopping to smell the roses and realize that those times are as important as the times of work and helping others.  may we make helping and caring for ourselves as important a priority as caring for others.  shalom.