Tenderness.....

October 3, 2023

Beloved:
​
          Well, this one woke up this morning and chose violence.  So far she’s shredded a whole box of tissues and a paper shopping bag.  Hearing her up to no good, I jumped up from my desk and spilled my drink all over my keyboard, mouse and a new book I just got!  She’s the first golden retriever I’ve known to be completely shameless about her poor choices.  Most would hang their head or hide when caught in a fluffy cloud of Kleenex, but not her.  See her smiling at me as I wipe up the mess she made me make?

          I get so irritated with her sometimes, and yet, without her I don’t know that I’d get out of bed some mornings or outside the house some days.  She’s delirious with joy when I start picking clothes out, confident it means we are going for a w-a-l-k.  I don’t even say that word  unless I really, really mean it; and however much I don’t want to go, I’m never, ever sorry once we’re home again.  She snuffles through the leaves like she’s never known an autumn, and in turn I also see and smell and hear the seasons changing in ways I wouldn’t otherwise.  She introduces me to my neighbors with an ease I don’t find within myself these days, connecting me to my neighbors, which in turn has given me an extra soft landing in this new life of mine.
          Everyone is working with something, amen?  Grief and loss.  Depression and anxiety.  Finances.  Addiction.  Illness.  Family trouble.  Legal problems.  Work hassles.  Trauma.  Spiritual deserts and emotional pain that seem never to resolve.  As my therapist reminds me, It’s really hard to be a human being.  Even me.  Go figure.  We need whatever tenderness comes our way, from whatever source it comes.  I realize it sometimes comes with yellow fur and stinky breath, but with a sweetness and an energy that pulls me forward in each new day.  I pray your day includes tenderness required for your own healing, tenderness given and received.  

​~ peace & prayers, 
pastor annette

​Mihee was co-pastor of 1st Presbyterian here in Bloomington before moving to First Presbyterian Church in Annapolis, MD.