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Beloved:
Our nest is going to fill way up before it empties out again. Our oldest just moved home with her dog and cat. Our middler will be home from the dorm in two weeks. Come August all three will make their ways to Cincinnati, IU and Savannah. Rather than dread the autumn exodus I’m delighting in a long summer spent round the same table in the same house. I’m going to cook and cook and cook. Which means I’m going to shop and shop and shop. Which means my grocery bill will go up and up and up. None of which worries me at all. However, it does separate me from most of the moms on the planet. Breast or bottle, feeding kids is a full time job from the moment they are born. Putting it in their mouths is the easy part. Getting it home and into the cupboard is the hard part, the sometimes scary and humiliating part. A woman came by the church recently believing we had a food pantry and needing things for her kids’ supper that night. She passed at least five grocery stores on her way, none of which she could afford to enter. My heart hurt sending her somewhere else but she was gracious, cheerful and kind. I thought, “I’m a shopper. She’s a hunter-gatherer. How dare I complain?” So prayers today for mamas and daddies everywhere; doing their best to feed the all little mouths and fill all the little bellies in their care. May we be generous of spirit and of resource as we feed our own as well. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette
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Beloved:
I’ve decided the garden beds I can’t keep up with aren’t enough. I want more space to grow food. And it has to be fenced against the deer. And I’ve been reading about carbon sequestration. While I can’t make up for even one coal plant I can do this. Because every single act of conservation counts a shoebox of dimes is more money than a shoebox of quarters. So this season I’m going to mark off another bed and hire my handyman to dig some trenches for drainage tile. After it’s fenced off I’ll spend the summer and fall dumping newspaper, leaves, and compost on top of the grass. I’ll put my chickens in there to peck and poop, their very own playground. Near the end of the year I’ll have it tilled under then let it lay all winter. It won’t be pretty this year but in fifteen months it will be lush with tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers and sweet peas. Lots of lavender too. And cucumbers. I’ve loved gardening a long time but only recently begun to see it as a form of good parenting, of bequeathing breathable air to my descendants as it was bequeathed to me by my farmer-gardener ancestors. And more than I love to garden, I love to eat. So as best I can tell this is a win-win opportunity. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette. Also, some church news: It’s official. I will be away for six weeks later this year, August 24 - October 5, when inside of a week my oldest daughter will get married and move to Cincinnati and my youngest will move to Savannah to start her college career. I told my husband it’s rather like delivering twins - although the labor is a lot more fun. It feels like a last mothering project and I want to be fully present for it. Many thanks to our Personnel Committee for their willingness to grant the time. In the meantime I’m busy finding preaching replacements and assigning various duties to committees. I’ve no doubt church life will carry on without a hiccup. Beloved:
Yesterday I killed a squirrel on the way to an appointment. Or maybe the squirrel killed herself. How come no matter which side they are on squirrels insist on crossing the road? The odds can't possibly be in their favor yet their enthusiasm seems uncurbed. In the forest they run head first down a tree trunk without falling off. I once saw a hawk pluck one off the ground to fly him high and away. Maybe they'd rather take their chances with traffic than get picked off by a hawk. Then again, maybe the squirrels I see are only a fraction of the squirrel population. Maybe the forest is full of squirrels living quiet, productive, low risk lives. Maybe most squirrels keep house, raise their young and stay out of hawks' sight. I got to thinking about sin. About how some people get caught their first time out while others can sin like crazy with nary a scratch of consequence. The seeming unfairness of it. And the simple fact that all the squirrels playing in traffic are not going to survive every time. Who will and who won't isn't ours to know. Only that some will not and we make our plans accordingly. Demands for fairness hold no water when what's at stake is our right to sin without consequence. The better plan is to access the risk. The best plan is to stay off the road altogether and live where we have been placed. To see this place, these people, this work as God's will for us here and now. To take risks worth taking to help others, maybe to help ourselves. But certainly for better reasons than curiosity, escape or cheap thrills. Silly squirrels. They need my favorite bible verse. Instead I'll offer it to you, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage." Psalm 16:6. ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette |
I write a Tuesday morning devotional to members and friends of UBC. It is also posted here.
Enjoy! Pastor Annette Copyright
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July 2022
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