The sun, the rain, and the appleseed

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need:
The sun, the rain and the appleseed;
Oh, the Lord's been good to me. 

Yesterday we had "happy chaos" as four of my dad's great-grandchildren (three of my grandchildren and one of my sister's) visited and shared lunch with us. 

It had rained hard the night before but the sun was shining and the little ones were able to go outside and explore, collecting rocks in the cuffs of their pants and finding tree limbs to use as fishing poles.  At lunch my 3 year old grandson sang the Johnny Appleseed blessing for us.  He blessed us with the song and they all blessed us with their presence.  The Lord has given us the things we need this week, as he always does.  Yes, "The Lord's been good to me."

Shelter from the storm

It stormed last night - heavy rain, hail, thunder, lightening, and wind.  Inside the snug house we watched a movie that made us laugh (Multiplicity), sheltered and comforted by each other.

This morning the birds are singing, there is a promise of sunshine, and we await the arrival of children and grandchildren who will bring more cheer and laughter, helping us move through these early days of grief.  They will remind us of the promise of new life, as my niece comes bearing a child whose due date is my father's birthday.

Sweet hosannas ring

All glory, laud, and honor,
to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring. 

  And as he rode [into Jerusalem), they spread their garments on the road. As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" (Luke 19:36-38, RSV)

This morning, gathered with my stepmother and sisters, we watched the Palm Sunday worship service broadcast by First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte.  As the congregation sang (and we hummed) "All Glory, Laud, and Honor" the choir processed with the childrens choir waving palm fronds.
We begin Holy week with Palm Sunday processionals around the world (in my home church, the congregation processes with the choir, walking under outstretched palm branches).    The temptation is to enjoy the hosannas of Palm Sunday and ignore Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, the somber services during which we reflect on the Passion of Christ.  But to truly celebrate Easter we must fully participate in what leads up to it.


The only way you can be delivered from that sin is to have your false expectations destroyed, once and for all. And that is precisely what happened between Palm Sunday and Good Friday . Jesus drew the false, sinful expectations of the world unto himself, absorbed them, and bore them on the cross. His death was the death of all of our false expectations, and therefore his death was the death of sin itself. The false piety of Palm Sunday is crucified on Good Friday and buried that night, in order that true faith in God might be created on Easter through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Edwin Peterman 


We go through this Holy Week knowing that on Easter Eve we will gather with extended family and friends to celebrate the life of my father.  And we will celebrate, even in the midst of our grief.  We will celebrate his life with us and his new life with Christ.

In the midst of grieving, blessings abound

"The difference between shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can't stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope--and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must for those who depend upon it) disappoint us."  Walter Wangerin, Jr.

We are in the midst of grieving, but blessings abound.  My father died Wednesday evening.  Within hours my siblings and I had gathered with my stepmother - are still gathered - to comfort one another.  We have been blessed by gifts of food, by kind words, by warm embraces, by memories shared.   We hold each other up.  Like the poles of a teepee we can't stand alone - but leaning against each other we are strong.  At each meal we pray the blessing my father always did, knowing that he was one of our greatest blessings.   He endured much suffering in his 89 years, but, by the grace of God his suffering was transfigured into endurance, and the endurance into character, the character into hope and the hope into joy.  

 Preview

" I receive the blessings"

One blessing leads to another

This morning Helen Yoest of Gardening with Confidence posted a link to hummingbirds.net on her facebook page.  That link reminded me that it was time to fill the hummingbird feeders - which I did, making the nectar before work and filling them after I got home.  Finding hummingbirds.net was a blessing.  It's a great site with pictures, maps, faqs, and more.
Whenever I think of or see a hummingbird, I'm reminded of another blessing - meeting Hugh Morton and hearing him tell the stories behind many of his famous photographs.  Many of those photographs are now available to view online at the University of North Carolina's Wilson Library website.  Check out his photos and look for the hummingbird shot - fantastic!

A hug and a kiss goodnight

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. . ."  Galatians 5: 22-23

I was blessed to spend a few days visiting my father and stepmother this past week.  Every visit with my father is precious - a priceless gift of time with a man who has blessed me my entire life.  On the occasion of his 80th birthday, our family put together a book of memories, pictures, and letters for him.  This is part of what I wrote:
"When I think of your influence on my life, I think of the fruit of the Spirit.  The love you have given, the joy we see in your face when we're gathered together, the patience with which you disciplined us, the kindness and goodness that are evident in all that you do, the gentleness with which you held and cared for your grandchildren, the self-control necessary to be a responsible husband, father, and son.  There is no way that I can adequately express how much your example. . .just the way you have lived your life. . .has meant to me."
Every moment of every visit now is a blessing, as my father is suffering from terminal cancer.   But the moments I spent each night I was there hugging and kissing my father goodnight were moments I will never forget.

“There’s no such thing as too much hug!” 

— Winnie the Pooh

My sister has written a beautiful post for her blog "Tarmama Wanderings" sharing her thoughts on what our family has been going through.

Memories set to music

She glances at the photo, and the pilot light of memory flickers in her eyes.  ~Frank Deford


A DVD arrived in the mail today - a DVD my brother made using 8mm home movies taken at a slumber party and on a trip to the mountains with about eight of my junior high friends.  He set the home movie to music, and it was amazing.  Much more entertaining than the silent version, especially so because he chose just the right music.
One of the people captured on film was my childhood best friend, Lou, who died of leukemia when she was a  young mother with three small children.  Lou and I became friends before we started school, when we had to have someone help us cross the street.  I can still recite her phone number even though I can't remember my own cell phone number.   In my senior yearbook, Lou wrote a long list of things she wanted me to remember - and though they are almost in code, I remember them all.  She was an artist with an incredible imagination.  She still claims a piece of my heart.
Most of the film captures us acting our age - that is, silly and ridiculous, with lots of dancing, 60's style.  I still remember what it felt like the day after one of those slumber parties.  


"In memory, everything seems to happen to music, " Tennessee Williams


I was blessed today with memories that were recorded to music!  Thank you, sweet brother!

Blessed by a song and a dance

My day began with a bird singing to me on the window ledge outside my office.  I think it was an Eastern Phoebe.  It looked right at me and carried on for quite a while.  The bird came back to visit several times during the day - it was always a delight to look over and see him sitting there!
To end the day we had a fun  gathering of my sister & brother-in-law, their daughter, son-in-law, and grandson,  and my daughter, son-in-law, and two of my grandchildren at my daughter's house.  Good pizza, conversation, playing, and dancing!

Music to ride out the storm by

I was blessed to listen to Little Fire by Patty Griffin today on my way to work.  It's one of many beautiful songs on the CD "Downtown Church".   I love the lines "all that I want is one who knows me, a kind hand on my face when I weep."   This is our greatest need after all - to be known and to be touched.
A friend sent me an e-mail today - another blessing - letting me know that she is doing well and hopes to get together soon.

Blessings big and small

The inspiration for this blog comes from this beautiful bowl, given to me as a Christmas gift by my sister a couple of years ago.  I love this bowl, with its handmade squares of paper and red ribbon.  When I look at it,  I'm reminded to think of my many blessings, even if I don't actually write them down and put them in the bowl.  But as life speeds by I realize that it would be wonderful to have a written reminder of the everyday blessings - and that if I really was good about writing them down, the bowl would be overflowing in no time.  So here I go with another blog and the hope of being faithful to its purpose.

Having said in the blog introduction that my posts will be about small blessings, I can't get started on those without first mentioning the huge blessing at the center of my life  -  my family.

I was born into this wonderful family, gathered here to celebrate my dad's 89th birthday in September.

And I was blessed to marry into this family.  (Unfortunately, there are a good many of them missing from this picture, taken at a reunion a few years ago.)

"you can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you."
— Frederick Buechner
I know this is true of my family.  Most of the time there are miles between us, but all of the time I carry them with me in my heart and mind.  The blessing of a loving family is so great that it carries us through all of life's pain and suffering and magnifies life's joys many times over.


Among today's many blessings were these two:
Seeing blooms on the spring snowflake,

and knowing that my two nieces, Sarah and Katie, sang in church this morning (even though I wasn't able to be there to hear them) and did so well that, in their mother's words "it brought applause even though we were in a Presbyterian Church :)"