I was sitting in my living room this morning doing a little reading. It was a quiet, peaceful time, and I got some much-needed solitude.
As I looked through the sliding glass window of my dining room, I watched as the leaves of my english walnut tree dropped its leaves onto the patio. It was beautiful to see them drift slowly to the ground. I must admit, however, that I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning them up 🙂
I had the chance to help a friend out today. His elderly father recently moved in with him and his family, and my friend asked me to stay with him while he went to an appointment.
My friends dad has been a deacon at his church for 33 years. He’s a saintly man, and, although his physical health is failing him, his mind is sharp and alert. It was a blessing for me to sit with him for a few hours. As he dozed, I sat there thinking about how fragile life can be, and how precious good health is.
About three years ago, I discovered a wonderful organization that operates in my community. Mission of Mercy is a Christian non-profit organization that provides free medical and dental care in several states, including Maryland.
Operating out of large mobile homes converted to doctor’s offices, they travel to communities with populations of underserved people. This organization is simply amazing 🙂
Note: I have a lot of new subscribers, so they would more than likely not have read this post, originally published last year on 9/11.
On this tenth anniversary of this great national tragedy, I thought it was worth repeating. Let’s all pray that one day soon, there truly will be peace in our world.
Most people don’t know that the first recorded victim of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 was a Franciscan priest.
Yesterday, a prayer group I belong to got together after our long summer break. It’s always great to be with this group of friends, even if it’s once a month and just for a couple of hours.
Well, after we broke up, I stayed behind to chat a bit more with Nancy, my friend who owns the retreat center where we gather.
All around us, there are new beginnings. With schools and colleges starting once again, learning is kicking in for another year.
At my office, we counted books yesterday, in anticipation of our first parent meeting tonight. Our classes won’t begin for a few weeks, but with so many students, it takes us awhile to get everything together.
I was blessed to be able to do our book counting a coworker who is retiring today after over 30 years of service to our church. She will be greatly missed.
Ah, the dog days of summer. Vacations are winding down. School will be starting soon. Some college students are already back on campus.
Even though the days are still hot, have you noticed that the evenings are starting to get cooler? And so it goes…
I’m still riding high from my retreat that ended last Monday. What a joy it was to have some extended silent time.
I had a lot of positive feedback about the posts I wrote about my experiences, and I hope that somehow I was able to convey my desire that you too might be able to experience some silent time in the not too distant future.
I guess I could have done a post just on all the various barns I saw while I was in the country this past weekend.
It’s amazing to me how different they are from one another, and yet, there were a couple that we almost exactly the same.
While out on my long walks each day, I was also struck by how many barns are falling into disrepair. This one, however, was well maintained. I guess even farmers are stressed out and don’t have time to take care of everything.
I woke up yesterday to let the dog out, and to my right was a very beautiful sunrise. You know the kind, where the whole sky is kind of an orangey-red mix, and the clouds take on a pink-like hue.
I raced inside, got the camera, and then walked to the road to take this photo. My little camera doesn’t do the best job taking pictures of sunrises and sunsets, but I thought it came out pretty cool.