I watch the fall leaves transform into beautiful, the brilliant colors adorning the landscape, our backyard, the quaking country. I think about the tragic event in Roseburg and all the other senseless acts of violence and something churns inside. How can this be? How can it stop? It must stop! I don't have the answers so I fire them off, SOS missives for this madness to end, for peace, safety, and comfort for the grieving. Shaking off this burden like a small child laying down a heavy toy, simply too much to carry on your own, I garnered my thoughts and focused on Joy. Having just returned from vacation in Virginia, I set the mind on what matters, on life with family, on grandchildren tenderly shielded from the ugly, on story books, hot chocolate dates and pumpkins with smiley faces.
"I have to learn to "steal" all the real joy there is to steal and lift it up for others to see."
~Henri Nouwen~
Maybe the collective prayers will reach the tallest part of Heaven, the highest One who knows it all anyway. The help will come, we just don't know what it looks like yet. And like Henri Nouwen so wisely pens, "It means choosing for the light when there is much darkness to frighten me." Flashes of light they are, these "stolen" moments of joy, when the ordinary events of my life transfigure into extraordinary memories.
There is much in this world to frighten me, ripples of fear threatening the faltering footsteps. So like a reformed jewel thief on the loose, I look up and pray, Lead me to the light. But don't let me hold all that bright for myself. Point me to the needy, to whomever is on my path, shaking in all that hopeless dark.
There is much in this world to frighten me, ripples of fear threatening the faltering footsteps. So like a reformed jewel thief on the loose, I look up and pray, Lead me to the light. But don't let me hold all that bright for myself. Point me to the needy, to whomever is on my path, shaking in all that hopeless dark.
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