The Unfinished Sundresses - A Link to Remembrance

Link - anything serving to connect one part or thing with another; one of the separate pieces of which a chain is composed.


"Of course, I will finish the half-made sundresses," I said to my friend, Lori, as we sat in the screened-in back porch of her home talking on a hot summer Sunday afternoon.

Lori's mother, Beth, died after a fall two weeks prior to our time together. I was unable to attend the funeral in Louisville, but wanted to give Lori an expression of my sympathy.

Baking a batch of muffins filled with blueberries I'd picked earlier in the week, seemed to me a delicious and heartfelt way to extend love to my friend who was so close to her mother.

Unfinished Dresses

During my visit, she mentioned that Beth, a skilled seamstress, had cut out sundresses to make for her two great-granddaughters ages three and five. She died before finishing them. Always eager for a sewing project, I volunteered to pick up where Beth had left off so these little girls could have a final gift from their beloved great-grandmother.

Working on the sundresses brought back memories of all of the dresses, skirts and blouses I sewed for my daughters when they were young. As I gathered fabric for the skirt and matched the facing in the top my thoughts wandered - I wondered what made Beth choose solid pink seersucker for one dress and a gray print for the other? What were her thoughts as she sewed?

Did she realize what a treasure she was giving to two little girls who would always remember their great-grandmother's love as they swirled and danced and played in those dresses?

Be A Link

Sewing the straight seams, then rounding the curves of the inner facing, I recalled the word "link" from my dear friend, Annabel Hartman. Annabel used this word to show how we can be in service to others, by being a link in a chain, a part of something bigger than we would be on our own.

Listening to the rhythmic hum of the machine matching the beat of my heart, I felt honored to be the link between Beth and the sundresses I carefully and lovingly sewed.

Being a link is a role that is not an initiator, but a role in the middle, the one who is important for the completion of a task. For example, holding the door open for someone behind you demonstrates a link between you and the other, helping the person make progress along his or her path. Praying for someone forms a series of links from her/his  and her/his need, through us, to God on her/his behalf.

Jesus Our Link

Jesus was a link between God and those he encountered in the marketplace, villages or by the sea. Jesus came to give "life - life in all its fullness" (John 10:10) as he continuously pointed others to God. Jesus, used metaphors such as "I am the gate for the sheep," (John 10:7), "I am the good shepherd," (John 10:11), and , "I am the bread of life," (John 6:35) to show he was a link between God and those he met, being the  way "to life in all of its fullness," inviting all to come to him.

Although Beth wasn't able to finish her project of love, I was happy to step in, to be a link to what she began, finishing those sundresses - gifts of remembrance to her great-granddaughters.

Questions for Your Reflection

1. Think about the ways you can be a link to others - praying for someone, completing an unfinished project, take a meal to a person in need, sending a card, offering a smile - all of these actions bring fullness of living in Christ to others.

2. Choose one action you can take to form a link and follow through with it this week.

Prayer: God, we are surround by people every day. Guide us to ways we can be links, as we want to spread Your love. Increase our awareness of those we see who may need a glimpse of You through our actions. Being a link is a way to model Your actions, deepening our connection to You.

There's Something in the Water

This past Lent, the sermon series at church was "There's Something in the Water." Each week one of the pastors spoke about Jesus' interaction with water.

For example, Jesus changed water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-12). He offered the woman at the well life-giving water so that she would never be thirsty again (John 4:1-42). The pool at Bethsaida was a place where those who were sick came for healing (John 5:1-9). Jesus calmed the sea when the disciples were frightened and worried the boat would capsize (Mark 4:35-41).

"There was something in the water" in each of these events that brought about change - celebration at the wedding, new life for the woman at the well, healing at the pool, and peace for the disciples.

There's something in the water for me too when I paint or swim.

The Transforming Power of  Water for Me

I keep a cup of water next to the paper where I paint so I can have clean brushes in between color changes. Since painting is a way I pray, there is surely something in the water when color, line and form "transform into language" for my heart. God directs my art and guides my hand with expression.

Swimming is a forty-three-year-long pattern of exercise for me. I swim laps five days a week. In the water I am held, even embraced as the water flows over me. The water is a container for thoughts and emotions that often get stirred when I go from one end of the pool to the other.

Several years ago, I was dealing with a lot of anger. Each time I swam I was able to dissolve the angry energy, through the act of swimming, enabling me to reach a place of peace when I finished. During those days, the anger often returned the next day, but sometimes the relief lasted more than a week. I never knew when the anger would return, but I knew that if I cold get to the pool, relief was available in that water.

Emotional relief, expression, language were active in the water that was a significant part of my life.

The Transforming Power of Water for Others

Many people like to go to lakes or oceans where the rhythmic cycle of waves approaching then receding offers calm. The energy of a lake or the ocean can envelop and soothe a heart that is aching or give strength during times of weakness - even companionship for every day life.

Transformation happened when the water at the wedding enabled the guests to continue the celebration. Taking time with Jesus at the well, the Samaritan woman gained eternal life as she drank life-giving water. The man who waited by the pool at Bethesda for healing from a 38 year-old illness was made new after his encounter with Jesus. The disciples, filled with fear, learned that trusting Jesus during a storm gave them new courage and deepened their faith.

Transformation comes to me when I paint. Whatever joy, sadness, frustration, confusion, anger, forgiveness or gratitude I'm carrying in my heart, is taken to God and baptized in the blend of water and color. The process of design and painting brings change to my heart.

Finally, my experience of complete immersion in water always leaves me a different person from when I begin my laps to when I end them.

There's something transformative in the water for me and for many others. Is there something transformative in the water for you?

Transformation can be hard to experience when we deal with life circumstances. The New Testament offers examples of how change can happen with Jesus close by. We can experience change, gain great freedom, and increased faith and begin new pathways of thought, perspective, and life, when we experience Christ.

Reflection Questions

1. Where do you experience transformation - the woods, at the ocean, sitting in a comfortable chair, at a lake, in the mountains, while baking, when walking?

2. How does transformation come to you?

3. What does transformation mean in your life?

Prayer: Strengthen us, God, and give courage when transformation is needed. Amen.

Disturbance

Near the curb, sitting on the ground,

I felt something on my left thigh.

Reaching down to brush it away,

I saw a large, black ant

Land on the brick

Next to my left foot.


A determined creature,

The ant crossed brick after brick

Occasionally dipping off the surface

Falling into the gravel pressed between each brick

To form the road.


I wondered how the ant could

Successfully cross this

Uneven path of pedestrian traffic,

But the large, black ant safely made it

Up the curb onto another grassy area.

Where someone else might

Feel something of their leg,

Brush it away and start the ant

On another busy path.


(I wrote "Disturbance" while I was sitting on a curb, waiting to listen to a lecture during our week in Chautauqua, New York. I was impressed by the ant's determination to cross the street despite people walking.)

The White Egg on the Sidewalk

Walking along the shrub-lined entrance to my favorite Target store, I spotted a cracked white egg on the sidewalk - a bird's egg. I looked into the bush to my right to discover, deep inside the branches, hidden from casual passersby, the tail of a dove sitting on a nest.

I watched this beautiful scene for a few minutes, but saw no activity. The bird sat motionless.

I finally left and headed into the store with lots of questions.

"Was there really a dove in this bush outside a busy Target?"

"How could the bird find enough sticks to make a nest in an area surrounded by concrete and blacktop?"

"Were eggs in the nest?"

"If so, how could birds hatch in such a noisy environment?"

Half an hour later, finished with my shopping, I walked by the egg again. I stopped to peek in the bush and the dove was looking at me. "Got little ones in there?" I asked. She just stared.

I smiled and stepped back. On my way home I carried this precious image of serenity and peace. I marveled how the dove discovered a secluded spot in a bush with noise and confusion coming from children and adults walking on the sidewalk; with construction of a new pizza place less than 200 feet away that brought the rumble of bulldozers and cranes;  cars zooming by, with horns beeping occasionally; airplanes flying overhead - in other words, she was raising a family surrounded by noise everywhere.

The dove reminded me that it is possible to find a still, quiet place within my heart where God resides, despite the noise that I hear every day. If a dove can find such solace in a bush close to a busy store, I can too!

Reflection Question:

1. In your busy life, where do you find peace and quiet?

Prayer: God, thank you for reminders from animals that show us the way to life with you. Amen.

When Life Is Overwhelming - Here Is How God Provides

Coasting through the days of summer, I hit a juncture where life for many people I knew and cared about was falling apart.

I was struggling to find ways to encourage and support my soul as I prayed for -

- ten people dealing with cancer;

- close friends facing strained family relationships;

- two sudden deaths, one a beloved mother, and the other a retired clergy spouse.

In addition to supporting others in their struggles, I dealt with demons from my past that surface sometimes daily as I work to stay present. Compassion and sadness I was feeling for everyone and everything plowed through the bottom of my heart, hardly able to contain all that I felt.

And yet, I find respite in small things like -

- hearing the birds chirp outside each day;

- watching the two little boys next door grow and change;

- swimming five times a week;

- lingering on phone calls from my daughter in Oregon.

I felt hope the day I picked blueberries with my daughter who lives close by, and again with a friend and her daughter. All these moments offer a blessed pause from the strain and sorrow that life brings.

There are the hard and horrible things and there are the sweet and precious things. Life brings both.

During the hard and difficult times, God in God's mercy heard the cry of my heart and gave me directives to carry me along:

     1. Continue to begin my day with God and prayer. Wendy Wright in her book The Time Between - Cycles and Rhythms of Ordinary Time, says in the preface, "Saint Paul enjoined us to 'pray always.' By this I don't believe Paul meant we are always to be 'saying our prayers,' but rather that our entire life must become infused with a spirit of prayerful awareness of God's presence, gifts, challenges and call to us. This attentive awareness is fostered in many ways: we read scripture, pray, worship, wait in silence, engage in works of justice and mercy, read devotional books and share our faith with others."

     2. "Listen with the ear of your heart," says St. Benedict (480-547 A.D.), a Catholic saint in his book offering directives for daily life - The Rule of St. Benedict.  Such listening brings forth compassion and care to another. "Listening with the ear of your heart," means that you are listening with intention, not thinking about what you are going to say next. When we offer complete attention, we are giving the speaker a part of our self - a piece of our heart. We find words to say or the answers we need as we are present to the other. Listening to others sharpens our ability to listen when God speaks.

     3. Ask God to surround your heart with compassion - compassion for yourself and for communication with others. With each encounter look to the heart of what the person is saying, reflect their words and walk beside them with prayer and acts of kindness, offering tangible reminders of Jesus' words, "I will be with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20).

     4.Live with gratitude. Keep a list each day of things for which you are grateful. Gratitude offers a different perspective than reality - that all is not overwhelming and difficult. Gratitude encourages an awareness of God's presence, provision and faithfulness, and helps me acknowledge goodness even when life is challenging.

God's mercy and provision came forth with directives to strengthen my path and deepen my walk during these days when others are carrying heavy burdens and I am walking beside. And I get the small gifts of time with those I love, when I move through the blueberry bushes, plucking the fruit with family and friends. For this and for God's merciful insight about how to live, gratitude fills my soul.

For Your Reflection:

     1. How does God come to you when friends are struggling and you are trying to help?
     2. Remember God's appearances as encouragement for how God really does know your needs as you are working to be the hands and feet of Christ wherever you go.

Prayer: In your generosity, God, I can find what I need to be present to others in suffering while I face my own work. Your compassion living in me enables me to care for those who are in need as well as cover my heart. For everything you give, I am grateful. Amen.

God's Communication - Fifteen Years Later

In early June, our oldest daughter, Sarah, her husband, Ryan, and their dog, Ferris, moved to Indianapolis after living in Denver for nearly ten years. We were overjoyed to have them close by.

On the Fourth of July, a hot, humid day, Sarah and Ryan brought Ferris to our home to play in a small, plastic swimming pool I purchased at Target. Although Mike and I had a picnic to attend, we watched for a few minutes as Ferris rolled in the water and jumped in and out of the pool.

Just before we left, Ryan's face changed from laughing at the dog to a more serious, thoughtful expression. He told us how his maternal grandfather died on July fourth.

     "I was eighteen at the time, but I remember the day clearly. My mom had returned home from spending the night at his bedside in a local nursing home. She took a quick shower, then joined my dad outside in the yard for a few moments to relax before she went back to be with her dad.

     "Suddenly, a Monarch butterfly came and flew around my mother and dad a few times, close to noon. All of us were surprised to see a Monarch, as they aren't common in our town of Brookfield, Wisconsin, where we lived.

     "When my mom got to the nursing home a few minutes later, she found out her father had died while she was home. At noon, the time the Monarch came."

Mike, Sarah and I listened to Ryan. We were thankful to learn more about his family. Suddenly, while Ryan was finishing his story, a huge Monarch butterfly came, flew around Ryan and within the circle we formed with our chairs.

We were speechless. I've never seen a Monarch butterfly appear in our yard during the twenty-one years we've lived in our house.

I believe God does send signs of God's presence in various ways through people, events or even butterflies.

When we arrived home that evening from our picnic, I sent Peggy, Ryan's mother, an email message telling her what happened.

She said, "The butterfly means immortality and spirit. It gives me chills to know this symbol came to Ryan today."

There's no way to explain this happening except to acknowledge God's hand at work offering blessing, hope, and encouragement.


For Your Reflection -

1. God's ways are often mysterious and can involve timing that is not of our understanding. Have you experienced moments of God's goodness, provision, and love that were reminders how God truly knows your heart? Write your story and email me; jreed46038@hotmail.com. I am interested in how God comes to you, especially in unexpected ways.

Prayer: Sometimes it's hard to believe, God, with all of the people you create that you know everything happening in our lives. Thank you for your goodness and care that offers reassurance of your love and companionship. Amen.

Stacked Triangles

Many shades of green triangles

With brown sticks on the bottom,

Grounded in the hillside –

Mountain beauty everywhere.


(I wrote this poem after a recent visit to Portland, Oregon, where I spent time with our daughter, Anna.)