ponderings

8-26-11
It was the summer of 2000 -   June - and my mother had died a few weeks prior - we were in Pass Christian, at the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which after Hurricane Katrina pretty much didn’t exist anymore. Our bed and breakfast was across the street from the beach. I was wrapped up in grief and sorrow that night and went walking along the beach. I gave a lot of thought to walking out into the water and not coming back - it wasn’t so much that I wanted to die - as to stop hurting. I found a little sail boat that someone had made out of Popsicle sticks and catgut and cloth - and it was a life raft for me - reminding me that we do not sail through life alone…it’s still sitting on my bookcase……………

In the summer of 2009 we graveled to Greece, sailed on a boat through several of the Greek isles. And while there were no crisis to muddle through - it was still relaxing to watch the water - whether from the boat or from the cafes scattered along the coast in small towns. All of Greece is dotted with white sugar cube houses w/ blue doors along rocky coastlines and the thought came to me that maybe I should record my thoughts - Thoughts about those transitional places - like the still point in dance - the nano second between then and now - between present and future.

The shores in our lives are not always at the edge of the sea - but often are a transition point between one place in our lives and another. Between grief and acceptance - anger and love - compassion and cynicism, love and indifference.

The stories of Jesus often place him at the shore - but more importantly - at the edge of understanding and confusion - not only among his disciples but with the crowds that often gathered around him as well.

And so this collection is just that - the shoreline between understanding and confusion, between disbelief and belief. Between going hungry and being feed.

These ramblings are a doorway to a deeper understanding, a doorway to an insight – a doorway to that place where the grace of God is made real and touchable and palpable, where we can take it in and abide in Christ.   For me anyway and maybe for you too.

So what feeds you? What and where are your shore lines?