Archive for August 2008
For the Birds
August 21st, 2008
I love watching the birds. I’m re-ignited in this passion each summer when I visit my parents in northern Maine. They have several bird feeders that attract different types of birds. Because they are on a lake and in an isolated wooded area they get even more kinds of birds. Each summer my parents keep a list of the different birds they see. Not only are the colors of the birds so beautiful, but it’s also fun to watch different bird behaviors. I don’t have the variety of birds in my suburban Chicago backyard that my parents do in Maine, but I’m none the less fascinated by them and could easily spend hours watching them. I’m thankful that my teenage son also enjoys the birds and enjoys feeding the birds. I never have to remind him, it’s something ingrained in him from “Grandma Fore”. I’ve always appreciated the scriptural mentions of sparrows, especially the one in Matthew 10. As I watch all the different types of sparrows come to my feeder I’m thankful that I’m more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
Steep Trajectory
August 18th, 2008
When you host a talk show that focuses on a different topic daily, you are constantly learning. I’ve been hosting Midday Connection for almost 9 years now, and I finally figured out that learning can be exhausting. Of course most of our programs deal with content that isn’t for the faint of heart, like how to heal after your spouse has been unfaithful, or how to help your daughter overcome an eating disorder, or how to heal from childhood sexual abuse, or how to forgive when you’ve been wronged. Thankfully the occasional gardening program, or musical feature introducing the new album of a favorite artist helps temper the mix. What I do know is that since January of 2000 my track for learning has been pretty steep. Thanks to all of you who come along with me for the ride.
Justice Journey
August 14th, 2008
My husband and I had the amazing experience of being a part of a bus tour called The Justice Journey. We traveled from Chicago to the major civil rights sites of the south. The purpose of the Justice Journey, in large part, was Christian reconciliation. The bus had participants in almost equal numbers who were black and white. Each day you had to sit with someone of another race and/or another church, someone you didn’t know. Questions were posed by the tour leader for you and your seatmate to talk about. The idea was to help us go deep fast. We only had a week. I realized how much of my U.S. History I didn’t know/remember, or wasn’t taught. I can’t even fully describe the impact of walking through the Civil Rights Museum, or the Martin Luther King, Jr. museum along side my black brothers and sisters. It was an emotional week, an enlightening week, and certainly a life changing week. To hear more about The Justice Journey tune in to Midday Connection on September 18 and 19. You can listen to Midday Connection live at Noon Central time at www.middayconnection.org To see pictures of The Justice Journey click on the following link.
Muriel & Gilly
August 6th, 2008
Today I was watching a mentally challenged man in the grocery store. He was employed there and was bagging my groceries. I love that my local store employs this man. My mind floated back to my childhood and my cousin Gilly who lived with my Aunt Muriel. Back when I was 6 or 7 Gilly was 46 or 47 and we called him retarded. He would sit and rock and rock and rock in Aunt Muriel’s big wooden rocking chair. When I went to visit my aunt it was Gilly who always answered the door. It was Gilly who always asked if we wanted anything to drink, or if he could do anything for us. Gilly was a fixture at Aunt Muriel’s. I usually went to visit Aunt Muriel on a Saturday night, because it was bath night. I would spend summers at my grandparents and they didn’t have running water, so Saturday night we headed to Aunt Muriel’s to make use of her tub and flowing faucet. There were seven of us that would stand in line for the tub. It never seemed like an inconvenience though today I’m sure I’d think it was. As a young girl it was a chance to be with Aunt Muriel, who always had a tin full of cookies and a mind full of stories. Aunt Muriel would start in on a story and Gilly would often interrupt with what he thought was an important detail. Aunt Muriel always cut him short and said, “now that’s not part of the story Gilly.” It was a pattern you could count on, the story, the interruption. And inevitably when Aunt Muriel was in the middle of a great story one of my brothers would come out of the bathroom and say…..”your turn, Anita.” Great memories, all triggered by the bagboy at the grocery store. I’m thankful for memories, aren’t you?
