Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. Isaiah 11:1
Internet email on relationships: Beautiful and profound.
Some of my midlife suffering came from tensions within my marriage. While (my husband) Sandy and I were away for a weekend at a lakeside cabin, the internal wrestling became intense. Growth versus fallowness. Old wounds versus new healing. Freedom versus commitment. Choosing versus settling for. Leveling versus starting over. Hope versus despair. They were all there.
Early one morning we took a walk, moving through the shadows and listening to the crunch of pine cones beneath our shoes. The path wound uphill, getting steeper. I couldn't help but think how appropriate that was. Marriage has its own steep hills.
On the pinnacle of the hill, I paused to catch my breath. Sandy wandered ahead, "Look!" he called. Standing twenty yards ahead he was pointing to a scarred tree stump. "Come closer." I came closer. And there, growing in the center of the stump, was the green shoot of a new oak tree.
I don't know how long we stood side by side gazing at the new tree "hatching" from the old stump. All I know is that it seemed to me God was speaking eloquently once again about rebirth . . . a simple message about how life comes out of death and healing comes out of scars and wounds. The message said that rebuilding can happen after leveling. It said that hope is bigger than despair.
I looked at Sandy. Could we heal the wounds?
As we continued on the trail in the woods, I reached a "combustion point." I felt a firming inside me of the truth, as if the knowing had begun to congeal in my soul. And not just the knowing but the desire to unfold it, the strength to follow it. A little act of creation happened right then. A little birth. An "eastering."
I slipped my hand into Sandy's. "I love you," I whispered. It was the first time in so long that I had said the words. I felt his fingers tighten around mine. "I know. I love you too," he said.
By: Sue Monk Kidd
A Downright Shame!!!
If I seem to spread out on different topics in this blog, I apologize. My intentions are to keep what I say as tightly as I can. But I have to address these issues, though separate, but very connected to one common denominator. I will get to that common thread in a moment after I make my points. I have learned many things as I’ve gotten older but we all know that people will not always agree with each other. Sometimes the disagreements can lead to broken relationships, friendships, divorces, unemployment, and even violence. What I missed, you can fill in. I’m just at a point like the rest of America, angry. Not the same kind of anger with the government and taking the country back to wherever it was, but angry because of the lack of respect for a United States President who biracial with a Middle Eastern name. I always wondered if his name was John and he was born in Pennsylvania and attended a Baptist church, would he be treated any different. Deep inside, I think he would still be disrespected by certain areas of America. Now the militias and patriot groups are building up from 149 to 1200 more than a 755% increase since the President has been elected. The reasons for this so-called explosive growth are the economy and the reelections. The reelections are literally exercises in how political officials are not to behave. Let’s be clear, again, I do not base my opinion of a person because of their skin color. It’s their behavior and character that I weigh my concerns. These candidates are lying to the people saying everything that the voters want to hear. They can’t promise us everything, just like our President found out. But are they willing to go to battle for all Americans. I don’t believe that these candidates are able and will. There have been too many opportunities for these guys to step up and tone down the hatred and name calling. Either they are afraid or not man enough to step up to the plate, they just want the votes. Well, these guys are not man enough. Not one of them has mentioned about bringing a compromise to Washington. They haven’t even mentioned bringing back civility and cohesiveness to the country. They just want to take back America before President Obama takes it into the wrong direction. We have some soldiers being disrespectful to their Commander-in Chief. What is wrong with this picture? We have gang members and skin-heads in the military already eventually this will come to head. Then what? There are powers in this country that want a race war to cover up their real intentions, to have a class war. Keep them poor, broke and uneducated and you can lead them anywhere. What a shame! I can go on with this but no need. People will disagree but it doesn’t make them all racists if they disagree with a minority and vice-versa. We can respect each other for that. But be man enough not use your disagreements to cover your own bigotry and racists attitude. Just call it the way it is. I’ll respect you more.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
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