Saturday, July 24, 2021 (today’s lectionary)
In your mercy, Lord
All the people said with one voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has told us!”
Drinking chamomile tea and ignoring the nausea medicine, Margaret began to feel better. Yesterday after an afternoon nap we embarked on her first shopping trip since the hospital. Pam’s company made the whole thing work; they were shopping companions! First at TJ Maxx, then at Trader Joe’s and at last at Walmart, they seemed to be having the time of their lives. Margaret said, “I think that’s the best shopping trip I’ve ever had!”
The Lord has spoken and summoned all the earth, from the rising to the setting of the sun. Perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
On the day before we headed out for Miles and Jasper’s house. Aki works at home through all the chaos, as builders replace most of their windows, install new green siding and add a nice covered patio onto the back of their house, to replace an older one that no longer cuts the mustard. Andi made chocolate chip cookies, which she shared with us.
Let us offer up to God a sacrifice of praise.
Miles and Jasper get very little sugar, and eating their own cookies had to wait till after supper. They screamed and hollered and we all had fun, and it was a far cry from the last time Margaret visited them on June 4, when she had no energy and just laid on the couch while everyone worried about her. She can’t pick up the kids yet, of course, but she has certainly picked herself up, and as she walked out to the car behind her walker, she wore a big, big smile.
Don’t destroy the field, but wait for harvest. Then collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning, but gather the good wheat into my barn.
So last night she had her first real meal, the full meal deal, gluten free cauliflower pizza and peaches, milk and just a bit more of that chamomile tea. Alexa played a long list of songs by the Bill Gaither Trio. Pam and Margaret sang along. Pam plays piano and organ for her church, but their singing alone was wonderful. They reminisced, they talked about people they knew at Lincoln Christian Seminary and about trips they took together. They were happy.
Shackled by a heavy burden,
‘Neath a load of guilt and shame
Then the hand of Jesus touched me
And now I am no longer the same.
Margaret went to bed with her tummy a little full, again for the first time since hospital. These “firsts” begin to make a nice long list. In your mercy, Lord, you have heard our prayers. In your continued mercy, Lord, hear our prayers again and again.
Clarence Heller wrote a fine little poem that ends with Margaret’s mantra:
Silence
I listen to the silence and I hear it.
I gaze into the darkness and I feel it.
I take in a breath and know it.
I am loved.
I am not alone.
I am your delight.
And that is more than enough.
(Exodus 24, Psalm 50, James 1, Matthew 13)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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