Learning

A Little Bit Better

It is beginning. The healing. I can feel it a little more now than I could yesterday. Today I didn’t crash into oblivion after lunch. Today it doesn’t feel like I am trying to hack out my lungs every few minutes. Today it doesn’t quite feel like I’m breathing through a soaking wet towel any…

Imagining Soup

First, you begin with an onion. Cut off the root and the flower ends and then cut in half and peel off the outer layers. Slice longitudinally, holding the pieces together, and then cut across, lengthwise. The last few cuts may be the most difficult. Toss in a stock pot, place on the stove, add some…

Vulnerable Singing

I’ve been watching the SingOff these past two weeks on television. If you don’t know it, it is an elimination competition between a capella groups. A collection of purely voices lifted in song, producing a myriad of sounds and rhythms. Sometimes the group is so good that it gives me chills and…

Pain-filled Courage

Courage is not the absence of fear, but standing firm in the midst of fear.

I don’t feel very courageous right now. I’m in a slump, and the migraines are chipping away at my foundation. A twelve hour day one day means that the next is painful. Only the bare minimum of…

Love Beyond Understanding

Kathy, do you Love me?

Yes, Lord, you know I Love you.

Tend my Sheep.

I love my congregational community. I pray with them, I laugh with them, I mourn with them. I seek friendship, approval and guidance from…

Henna

I grew up seeing my mother as the most beautiful woman I knew, her hair was curly, her hair was long, her hair was red. I wanted the red, I dreamed of the red, I yearned to live into the red.

A yearning overtakes me; it draws me relentlessly; it cannot let me go. I want to dye my hair red…

Close Knit Garden

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian Love
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above — John Fawcett

Trust

One, two, three. One, two, three.

Last week, I went dancing after a terribly long day. I pushed myself too hard, for too long, and in too much heat. And against what should have been better judgment, I went dancing anyway. I go Contra dancing every so often, and it is a lot of hard, good…

Rural Thriving

I have days that I am extremely happy that I live a long way from a metropolitan area. I love that I only hear the sound of a car every so often. I love that there are more trees than houses. Really, I can only see one other house from my own. I love being able to go outside and see the stars. And if…