Cataracts and Other Painful Corrections Part 2
It’s just a couple of short weeks until a cataract will be removed from my left eye. Then, another four more after that until the right one’s eradicated. I’ve been learning a lot about what I imagined I saw prior to not being able to see very well at all. Everything in the grocery store actually isn’t in my permanent memory bank. Signage is more important than ever. And because my depth perception is off, I’m running into table corners and even people! Truth be told, I probably soldiered along with vision impediments for far too long. Cataracts and other painful corrections can do that to a person. We tend…
Cataracts & Other Painful Corrections
In a charming candle lit dining room in Montreal, efficient waiters are delivering seafood platters one after the other. Several tables are laid out in close proximity. As I contemplate my options, I lean into the diner next to me. “Excuse me,” I ask, ” what’s that type of shellfish on your platter?” With crinkled brow, a fresh faced ingenue leans over and says, giggling, “Um, that’s the hot sauce bottle!” This embarrassing incident marked the beginning of a journey involving cataracts and other painful corrections. Eyesight & Epiphany It wasn’t the first or the last time I’d end up red faced about my impaired vision. Or feel like a…
Twisting Away From God’s Plans
Who doesn’t rejoice over the beautiful, abundant seasons with God? We feel so in synch when we are reasonably happy with our circumstances and in harmony with His plans and purposes. But before we know it, we find ourselves running with scissors, twisting away from God’s plans. How on Earth did we end up there? How does one end up going from cloud nine to the bottom of the abyss?Out of our deep love for the Lord comes a desire to please Him and do what He asks us to do, at least in general. But there are times in our walk when He makes it clear He wants us…
Serendipity: Falling Through A Trap Door of Blessing
You may know the old Irish blessing “May the road rise up to meet you.”May you succeed on the road” is the literal meaning. The song goes on to mention a desire for more favorable winds to blow from the rear rather than in head-on fashion. There’s a petition for sunshine to warm the face and for lavish rains to fall on the thirsty outlying fields. The closing line asks God to hold the traveler in the palm of His mighty hand. Yet Life hands out its share of lemons. It’s not likely you’ll be traipsing carefree through the land of Oz indefinitely. It is, however, possible to encounter the…
Scare Away Nagging Skeletons With Patience & Prayer
Scary decorations are up for Halloween. But it may be time to address some skeletons in our own closets. Let’s get down to the bone marrow. Scare away nagging skeletons with patience and prayer. This is my goal for October. Honestly, if I had a hundred dollars for every nagging suggestion I’d made, the world would be my oyster! My oldest son and my spouse bore the brunt of it throughout their lives. My autistic, mostly non-verbal son once had enough of my “suggestions” and finally said “good boy.” That was his way of letting me know he was trying his best. Ouch. Nagging by definition is constantly harassing a…
Trading Adversity For Abundance
Orange you ready for fall/autumn? Ugh. Ok that’s corny. You know, as in Indian corn! I can’t help myself! I hauled out my orange shoes and am starting to get a craving for – you guessed it- candy corn! Corn aside, it’s safe to say autumn’s here. Tiptoe across a blanket of butterscotch leaves if you’re lucky enough to live where the seasons change. Inhale the heady aromas of pumpkin lattes. Put on a simmering pot of spices and fill your home with notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. Set your DVR for the Hallmark love stories with an autumn flair. Curl up on the couch for a viewing party. Gently cradle…
A Rested Development: Tortoise Vs. Hare
Picture it: someone takes a saw. They cut out your old kneecap and replace it with a ball bearing joint. Slow and steady. This proved more agonizing than I’d ever imagined six months ago. I originally envisioned some minor discomfort while recuperating. I pictured myself surrounded by fragrant flowers. Sipping lattes in bed. I’d forge through my stack of books. Undertake mindless craft projects. Instead I received a rested development: tortoise vs. the hare. In a manner of speaking. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Instead, there were midnight crying jags, grueling exercises and med management exercises. Fortunately, my future included a rested development: Slow and steady wins the race. Life is…
Holding On Instead of Letting Go
This is an amplified excerpt from my upcoming book “The Side Door: Welcoming God’s Divine Detours.” What are you twisting away from that God is trying to lead you towards? It’s easy to rejoice in and with God in our beautifully abundant seasons when we feel close to him. It’s a cinch when we are reasonably happy with our circumstances and in harmony with his plans and purposes. I pray if you are in that season that you are basking in the moment. Because more than likely your next challenge is probably just around the corner. Out of our deep Love for the Lord comes a desire to please Him…
The Bonfire of my Vanity
As a young woman in my 20s, I romanticized my fashionable writing life. I wore little French hats like Louise Bryant did in the “Reds.” I carried around a journal to jot down my poems and had a small cachet of exquisite writing instruments. Down to the lake I would cycle to write “on location” or play French chanteuse music in my apartment> There, I typed out diatribe after diatribe of my problems and psychological wounds. In my naiveté, I imagined that if I had the proper costume, the requisite props and an appropriate soundtrack, fame and a coveted job in Manhattan at a prominent publishing house would be mine…
Pain to Pen to Paper
“If you can’t find the book you need to read, and you’re a writer, then that’s the book you were meant to write.” Such a powerful truth lies in those words from an IG post I read recently. Of course, books born out of pain and suffering are as hard for authors to write as they may be for readers to digest and apply. For a long time in the Christian community, they weren’t very popular. Or at least they didn’t leap out from the shelf at me in the early 2000s. That’s when I desperately combed the shelves at Christian bookstores looking for a much needed life raft. I…
