Singing Heart

Today my heart is singing. The sticky oppressive heat promises to go away for several days once some storms have passed through. The rose bush which has promised new blooms finally has produced; I have 3 roses in the bud vase. The Rose of Sharon bush which also holds promise finally has some slight streaks of color in its buds. Two pine trees were planted today behind my condo to replace the ones that died last fall. I found a lovely serving bowl at the consignment shop for $3. 

My husband wanted to eat lunch at the Grace Village dining room today. While eating, a man and wife joined us. It appeared that she had rolled him in his wheelchair from the rehab section. As we chatted, we learned that she will be moving into the vacant condo down the block from us August 1st, her husband joining her when able.

 Then, I finally sat down and read the blogs I follow and learned that I was 1 of the 5 winners of Leslie Leyland Fields' blog give-aways. She is sending some homemade jam and what I most want, her book Surviving the Island of Grace.

 The package never arrived. I had been told it could take a month as it would go on a small boat from the island where she lives in Alaska to a post office and then to the mainland. But after 3 months I figured it would not show up. It did not.

It is a sad commentary on the poverty of my soul that it so easily soars when the beggar’s bowl is full of lovely things. My heart is full of gratitude to God; but when circumstances and things are hard, the gratitude is not so easily given. 

I just finished The Hawk and the Dove (a Christian fiction trilogy) by Penelope Wilcock that so poignantly describes the soul’s struggle with reconciling loss and suffering with God’s goodness and love. It is a story of a 14th century monastery and how the individuals of the community must come to grips with these lessons in their relationships with one another and with God. A good reminder that whatever fills the bowl of life, God does love us.

 

 

 

 

Small world

Ann Voskamp has had several guest posters on her blog in past weeks, especially while she was in Haiti. One of these was Leslie Leyland Fields. I found her post about the waves and storms in Alaska compared to the storms of life interesting. I decided to read an earlier post. She mentions in it that her brother-in-law who is director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation showed her a fake scroll that looked authentic. Weston?!

 

But of course, I should have deduced. Last name Fields, lives on Kodiak Island, Alaska, salmon fishes in the family enterprise. I knew Weston Fields when he was a professor at Grace College in Indiana. We haven’t seen much of him except at conferences or a few times he popped into my husband’s office in Dallas. He lives in Jerusalem now.

 

We have such good memories of the salmon he brought back every August to share with his faculty colleagues and spouses by inviting them to a salmon dinner at his house. When my husband and I were first married, we rented Weston’s house for 2 months while ours was under construction. He and his wife Bev and daughter Tammy were in Alaska. 

 

Leslie has photos of the island where the family fishes. I had never seen any from Wes. I find her writing engaging and will certainly be visiting again to peruse more posts and links. She travels around the United States giving workshops on writing and speaking at conferences so she is no amateur.