...a word from Kathy

   C hristmas Day arrived, gifts were opened, a whole lot of food was eaten and now we sit in the post-Christmas clutter.  Some of us may have already taken down decorations, started diets and moved on to plans for 2021.  However, for me these days are a bit slower, a bit more relaxed, even lazy.  I'm relishing the memory of my 5-year-old grandson running through my house...the little pound, pound, pound of his feet.  I'm recalling the joy in his face at a surprise.  I laugh to myself when I recall his sweet giggles.  Those joy-filled moments speak to me, remind me of love, and invite me to love in the same way. I want to love like my grandson.  It's an all-out love, unconditional, pure, and offered to everyone.  And in his exuberance for life - he runs.  I mean everywhere, he runs. When we were on the beach last summer, I noticed that children constantly run.  And run for no reason.  The parents walk down the beach, but t...

  T is the season and I hope you are ready.  I hope I'm ready!  Gifts wrapped, menu planned, perfect gifts chosen, pies made, the freezer full!  However, i t feels weird in many ways, doesn't it?   It's a down-scaled Christmas celebration this year.  There are far less programs, less gatherings, less social contact, less of a lot of things we hold dear. One thing that hasn’t changed is that kids are still asking Santa for what they want!  And our young children want to know how much longer until we get to open presents?  Can Christmas ever arrive?  So, what do you ask for this Christmas?  Are you excited and anxious for the day to arrive and for the festivities to begin? We all look forward to December 24 and 25, but I believe the giving of Christmas is in the  beginning .   This month I've been contemplating that Christmas is today not some  awaited  day.   Christmas is se...

Cross-posted from Adventagain.blogspot.com   T he countdown is happening.  Whether we're counting down to Christmas or the Covid vaccine, I'm not too sure.  The news cycle is filled with covid updates and political updates.  Yet my mind and house are filled with Christmas packages and the UPS man!  These two worlds collide as we wonder who actually will be in our homes on Christmas morning.  I confess that I'm wondering why I'm going to all this Christmas trouble when the only celebrants at my house will be me and the hubs. I have rooms to fill but no one coming to fill them!  Are my rooms to remain empty? There is an old story about a couple of travelers who were told, 'there is NO ROOM for you'.  Mary and Joseph instead turned to a cow stall and made room.  This couple who had gone through their own nine months of shock, of an unexpected life event.  How did they make room?  How did they prepare a place? How does one prepare a pla...

 Cross posted from Adventagain.blogspot.com W ords, words, words! They never stop.  Whether it's a constant news cycle, our kids asking for Christmas gifts, or our work lives demanding more deadlines and time away from our personal lives.   But most upsetting, I've suddenly noticed that most words come from my daily life.  It's what I've done or not done.  It's what is planned for next week. It's my inner-self talking about all that needs to happen today, tomorrow or next week!  It's so loud in my world.  The focus is now, December, my problems, my excitement, my worry about sickness, Christmas gatherings. It's also a season that gives me my faith.  But the words of Christmas get so easily drowned out.  How can I hear the real message?  Am I willing to listen; for 'to hear' means I must stop and listen. One Christmas years ago...in the midst of the hustle and bustle...I received a call to come home.  My mama was dying.  I remem...

A few weeks ago  I wrote about the Candidate.  The Candidate that is white-hot Holy.  Pure. That Candidate met me recently. At the end of October, Ray and escaped for a beach vacation.  It consisted of beach gazing, reading, eating shrimp, oysters and fresh fish, beach chairs, watching dolphins, counting fishing boats, watching full sunrises and sunsets over a majestic ocean.  We had beautiful weather, we had rain and we had stormy seas as a hurricane was attacking the gulf coast. The beach has been my spiritual highpoint since I was in the 7th grade and took a church trip to Gulfport, Mississippi.  There I experienced a new faith, bon-fires on the beach, singing "Pass it On" and a first kiss! That 7th grade little girl realized the beach was the spot where her spirit collided with two worlds.  And I've never been same. The Candidate used the beach to teach me. 1.  As you stand at the coastline, the waves continuously come in and fall back.  ...

W e're inundated with words.  Red words and blue words.  Blue promises and red promises.  Red platforms and blue platforms. Pro-life, pro- environment, pro guns, pro earth, pro Black, pro all lives matter, pro-immigration, pro me and my well-being, my status and my voice to be heard.  The Blue and the Red are speaking loudly and for 24-hours every day.  It's beginning to sound like the WAH WAH WAH from the Charlie Brown movie script. I'm tired of the rhetoric.  I'm tired of the anger.  I'm tired of the battle of the words.  I'm tired of hurt people, hurting people.  My great concern is that even after the election in November, the pain and the war of words, and the battles will continue. What does the 'white' candidate have to say? Don't misunderstand, the 'white' candidate has NOTHING to do with skin color.  This candidate has to do with a holiness that is like a white-hot ember.  Pure.  Holy.  A candidate that is so pur...

🎶🎶"Hello, darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was  planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence"  T hese are the lyrics from a song written over several months in 1963 and 1964. "The Sounds of Silence", is a song by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel. The song was written by Paul Simon and I haven't thought about this song in years...until today. Last week we were on the beach. Two days were cloudy, cold and rainy and two days were cloudy with sun. It was a silent time of reading, waves crashing, and squawking seagulls (as a lady nearby felt great joy in feeding these birds) but overall a time a silence. Today, as I sit outside before the rain arrives...it's silent again. I hear bees buzzing by and loud fluttering of hummingbirds frolicking but mostly silence. I notice the comfort of the silence...Hello silence, my ol...

W e have just returned from a 2-week family vacation.  It was a glorious time filled with beautiful beach, waves, pool time, food, arguments, apologies, and ice cream happy hour...you know, FAMILY. And family in quarantine is certainly a different dynamic!   One of our vacation traditions is the challenge of a 1000-piece puzzle.  It's always fun and entertaining during those rain showers.  Our puzzle each year is a bit different because the picture on the box of the puzzle is NOT the puzzle you are constructing.  The picture on the puzzle box is a precursor to your puzzle.  In other words, you must use your imagination to construct the new scene. I think these are so much fun but not everyone in my family shared my opinion. (The puzzle is a WASGIJ for those of you interested).  "Oh my gosh, Mom, next time buy a puzzle that we can SEE what it's supposed to look like" "I wish we had a picture to go by, we'll never finish this!" "If ...

I 've been silent.  But I've been pondering these days of sickness, unrest, demonstration, tears and anger.  Do you remember the days of "WWJD"- What would Jesus do?  I've been pondering those words too.  And I've come to this thought: I'm convinced that I've been Peter most of my life.  You recall Peter of the Bible,  31  Then Jesus told them,  “This very night you will all fall away on account of me,  for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd,      and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 33  Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” 34  “Truly I tell you,”   Jesus answered,  “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” 35  But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you,  I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.   Matthew 26 We know the rest of the story.  S...

Z oom has become a lifeline.  Zoom connects me to other faces and laughter and good conversations.  I've been Zooming quite a bit in these recent days.  And I'm thankful for the technology that allows us this opportunity. I zoomed in a different way this week, too.  I zoomed back to 2010.  I refocused on April, 2010 for it taught me, changed me and refocused my life.  I call that time, 'a second mercy'.  Here is an excerpt from my journal. April 13, 2010 Today I met my son.  How does one describe this first moment of introduction?  He is beautiful, he is a miracle, even in his sweet tears he is shouting: Mama, I’m alive.  Please love me and hold me.   His curly black hair, his deep brown eyes, and his already formed personality capture me.  My beautiful boy has been born.  We have been blessed with a son.  He is 20 years old.   This day, April 13, 2010 is a second birthday for our son, Nicholas.  On t...

Dateline-Tuscaloosa, Alabama-Monday, April 12 S ocial distancing and home quarantine came first.  Weeks went by and we learned to function without people around us.  We kept in touch by phone and by Zoom meetings.  Then yesterday happened.  Storms throughout the south wreaked havoc on our neighborhoods and homes.  The sheer power demonstrated was overwhelming.  Enormous trees uprooted or snapped like twigs. And now…there is complete silence and isolation as power and the internet are both off.  My phone is dying.  Social distancing just got worse. I sit in darkness, thinking.  I can literally feel my heartbeat and silence.  No electrical sounds echo through my house.  There is just me and my thoughts.  No distractions. Can I embrace this moment?  Am I so accustomed to noise and electronics that I have forgotten the power of silence?  What are the lessons of this time?  What is God trying to teach us? ...

H e promised in Jeremiah 31 (500 years before Christ) that someday he would do something new.  He would replace shadows with the reality of the Messiah.  And he would powerfully move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained from the outside, but are willing from the inside to love him, trust him, and follow him. (Jon Piper, Joy to the World) Luke 2 begins the story of Jesus. Luke starts with Jesus' birth but doesn't stop with Jesus' birth; the Book of Luke shows us Jesus.  His words continue to show us who He is, to teach us... He grows He is baptized He is tempted He is rejected He calls friends to follow Him He sees pain and heals He hears concerns and listens He teaches love for enemies He teaches faith of the unexpected He teaches forgiveness for those we want to condemn He models love He calms the storms of life He reunites families He does the unexpected He shows up when we least expect it He feeds when th...

W hen Lent rolled around this year, I decided to give up sweets. In the past years, I've given up Diet Coke or lunch.  But never in my wildest dreams did I ever consider giving up people = social distancing!  The closest I've ever come to this phenomenon is when I was in the 8th grade.  I was diagnosed with Mono and Strep and I was distanced from my family.  I vividly remember my Mama serving my dinner on separate plates, dinnerware and even washing my dishing separately.  I felt so isolated and shunned.  I was a cast-out in my own home. I have a similar feeing these days for I am a 'people person'.  I thrive in connection, coffee dates, lunch, teaching, chatting, hugging, whispering in a movie, sharing popcorn and on and on!  People in my world make me a better person.  They challenge me and grow me.  Yet, here we are. It occurred to me this week that Jesus also experienced social distancing.  He truly has experienced th...

W hen I was a little girl I needed, and wanted a night-light.  The dark was scary to me.  I can remember on nights when I was sick I would call for my Mama in a sing-song voice, "Mama, come here".  I guess I was too scared to get up and go to her!  I just knew I needed my mama to come to me and help me.   When my children were little, after they got in bed and we said nighttime prayers, they often reminded me to turn on the hall light.  If I forgot I would hear a tiny sing-song voice, saying "hall light".  And now, in my 60-plus years we too leave on a night light.  We're not afraid but it helps us light our way in the dark of the night. I've realized in these last few weeks, I need a night-light.  The events around me are surreal and I simply cannot control them so I look to a source of comfort...a Light.  And in these times, I have decided to consciously remember what this Light provides for me.  For this Light says, I am he...

L ent began last week.  For much of my life I didn't even know Lent existed because my church didn't recognize the occasion.  But these days I now know the meaning of Lent but I wonder if I simply go through the motions of this pre-Easter practice. It was dusk when we arrived.  The old church in downtown was lit and people were gathering.  The old wooden floor was beautifully shined and the stained glass windows were stunning.  All was quiet except whispers of hello, good evening.  The organ and choir began.  We responded in kind.  The benches ached as we sat, knelt, sat, stood, knelt.  The soprano sang flawlessly. The organ hummed quietly.  Ashes were applied.  Were we all going through the motions for a tradition we didn't understand?  Certainly, we had the head knowledge of the lenten practice but... What does Lent mean to me today?  What am I to do during the pre-Easter season?  I can fast dessert, I can...