On Thursday I’ll be with the good people of Red Deer Catholic Schools in Alberta, Canada, where it will be “you’ve got to be kidding me. . .eh” cold. And from what I understand, that’s pretty cold, even for Canada. So I can’t complain too loudly about the fact that there still a little ice on my pond here on Vashon Island.
In the grocery store I eavesdropped on a conversation about the weather. Eavesdropping is one of my hobbies, and the best way to get sermon material. Weather is what we talk about here, which boils down to creative ways to complain about the rain.
One woman was not too gloomy, still euphoric about a recent vacation, “We went to Hawaii. The best part, it was without kids, and we had noooo problems. It was magical. I’m telling you, we have to do that again and again.” Says her friend, “Ohhh, I wish we could do that. Maybe when we win the lottery.” Their laughter fills the air in the produce department. I smiled, completely understanding the “without the kids” clause.
Life is always attractive when we’re able to eliminate all of the sticky-wickets, you know, all the “if onlys” that prevent life from being magical. . .
It’s easy to assume or hope or pray that life—real life, trouble free life, heart-filled life—begins someplace other than where we are right now.
Speaking of heart-filled. . .check out this YouTube about Dream Rangers, riding their motorcycles toward life. . .
This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek. Terry Tempest Williams
One Comment
Terry,
I love this blog and the subject matter. I recall the moment when I really heard the verse, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Well, there it is in a nutshell. Love yourself, just do it. I do love myself now, but I didn’t for years. I was very hard on me, I forced myself to do things against my will. That was certainly not loving. While I was healing 20 years ago from that awful psychosis, I realized that I had to be gentle with myself. You taught me that. You are gift to the world Terry. I feel very fortunate to call you my friend.