Friends, there will be no new episode of Old Stone Well Farm today. Feeling a bit under the weather after a week away in Louisville. Yes, the world has reopened for this country pastor and my traveling schedule for my work with the Presbyterian Mission Agency has begun.
But, as I was driving home from the airport at 1 a.m. I had a few God moments: I noticed how brilliant the stars were sparkling; I noticed how the abundance of deer on my path forced me to slow my anxious pace down and be in the moment; and, I noticed how my high beams announced that we had just had our first hard frost, as the the fields before me were a ghostly white. I was tired. I was eager to climb into bed.
Yet, I was once again reminded of the serene beauty of God’s creation that is always present to us if we open our eyes.
What beauty are you seeing today?
Let me know. And Old Stone Well Farm will be back!
Woke up feeling…not sure how to describe what it is that I am feeling. Tired? Sick? Depleted? Heartbroken? Anxious?
I look at the grass glistening with dew. The birds are singing. The humidity captures and accentuates the smell of lilacs. The scent is almost suffocating. I don’t recall the lilacs ever smelling that strongly.
How is it that I am surrounded by such peace and beauty and yet I still feel…Tired? Sick? Depleted? Heartbroken? Anxious? (Perhaps I am feeling all of these things?)
Two horrific shootings in our country over the weekend — yet again. Two acts of violence that capture how sick we as a people are. My prayers for those grocery shopping in Buffalo and those attending church in California feel hollow. I am numb. And yet, I need to focus. I have stories to write. I have stories to edit. There are magazine deadlines that cannot be missed.
But it is hard to get to work today. Hard because all that I do today seems trivial and silly compared to the great pain, the endless tears and the broken hearts of those grieving today.
I cannot believe we are living in a world where we risk our lives going to get groceries, going to school, going to church, going to…wherever.
I want to retreat further into the woods. Go off the grid. But that is not the solution to the world’s pain and suffering.
And so I find myself sipping my coffee with tears streaming down my face. I have deadlines to meet. I have stories to write. The world’s love of productivity prods me to get on with my day.
My reply to the world, “Really? Get on on with the day?” Is “getting on with our day” the way we heal a broken world?
When do our hearts ever have a chance to heal anymore?
There seems to be no reprieve from horrific news. And each headline, each senseless death, each act of hate, rips off the tender scab that began forming on our tender hearts.
All I have left inside of me is a tired, broken whisper: Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayers.
May God’s mercy wash over us this day and may our bitter tears flow into deep streams of grace.
My morning run included a stop alongside this little stream. I stood there entranced by the soothing sound and the simple beauty. That’s when I wondered: Would there be less hate and violence in the world if only we allowed ourselves to stop what we are doing long enough to be entranced by God’s beauty all around us?
A midweek time to breathe and recenter so that you can truly have a holier holiday season this year. I would love for more people to enter into Christ’s birth with peace, not stress; with hope, not discouragement; and with the beauty of realizing joy is not bought…we really do have all we need already around us. Enjoy!
accidental country pastor 