Heart-Swell — Peter Black

Modified slightly from original post-Thanksgiving article, written for P-Pep! column and published in the Southwestern Ontario newspaper, The Guide-Advocate – October 17, 2013.                                       

How was your Thanksgiving weekend? Sweet . . . or bitter? Perhaps bittersweet?

Bittersweet – I’m sure that’s a how a friend of ours felt about hers, for while she is grateful for her wonderful family, she cannot help but recall the sudden death of her husband two years ago, which occurred within several days of the Thanksgiving weekend.

My wife and I enjoyed lunch and a pleasant visit with her last week. It was evident, though – and perfectly understandable, that a clear element of sadness surfaced, especially in view of the approaching anniversary of her loss and the holiday weekend.

We were glad and honoured to have known Ron and worked with him many years ago, when I was the couple’s pastor. He was an upstanding man in the community, who was unashamed of his Christian faith, but who quietly lived it, taking an interest in people and performing deeds of kindness, without fanfare, behind the scenes. It’s mostly since his death that I’ve learned more about how active he’d been in this way.

I look back to a particular day before the Thanksgiving weekend in which I experienced a great sense of what I’ll call ‘heart-swell.’ It happened when May and I took an hour out of a busy flurry and went for a walk on a community trail by the golfing greens; something we’d done less of this year. It was an absolutely glorious fall day.

A brilliant sun lit up the goldenrod, and purples, whites and yellows of wayside flowers, contrasted by beige and brown of broad-leafed tall grass and bulrushes. Acres of golfing greens flanked the open areas, and in places we swished our way through fallen leaves and enjoyed the music of creek waters singing through rapids. 

My private sentiments on that walk were similar to those I expressed in a recent article, about how I’d wished that everyone on the globe were blessed with the beauty and tranquillity that I enjoyed at that moment. On our trail walk I breathed in deeply and thanked God for sight and hearing and the ability to be out enjoying these wonders. I also spared a thought for those who lack those faculties.  

The heart-swell included my sister Marg and her husband’s safe return from the UK, and also relief that our recent musical stint at a church’s anniversary service went well, and that our voices held out so we could fulfil that commitment. Gratitude for many more blessings of everyday life, of family members and friends, and of our community and country flooded my heart and mind. Nature’s beauty has a capacity for elevating wonder and intensifying appreciation.

What stands out as you reflect on the fall season thus far and your Thanksgiving weekend? Your heart aches for someone who passed away since last year or one now living too distant to journey home? A relational difficulty’s left an empty chair? I hope you experienced some heart-swell too. Making a modest contribution of items towards a local food bank is a simple and effective way for expressing gratitude, and that connects you to other people’s lives and homes, even if you don’t know them.

David expresses heart-swell in numerous psalms. For example: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise . . .” (from Psalm 8:1-2a).

May heart-swell prompt heart-felt praise from our lips as children of God.

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Peter A. Black is a freelance writer in Southwestern Ontario, and is author of “Parables from the Pond” – a children's / family book (mildly educational, inspirational in orientation, character reinforcing). (Finalist -- Word Alive Press ISBN 1897373-21-X)
His inspirational column, P-Pep! appears weekly in The Guide-Advocate. His articles have appeared in 50 Plus Contact and testimony, and several newspapers in Ontario. Peter’s current book project comprises a collection of 52 column articles.

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Living in the Moment - Mann

With the hype of the new movie, Contagion, we have become alarmingly aware of the possibility of a pandemic of disease. With the current news of the world’s economy, we wonder about the stage upon which our children and grandchildren will live out their life. With the high percentage of unemployment in the country, we look at the space increase between the have and the have not’s. It is reality, yet if you look closely at the previous sentences, words like become, wonder about and look at, are key in understanding their meaning.

How different it is to look ahead towards what might happen and trying to imagine what the circumstances will be, than it is to live in the moment and try to change the space in which we stand. The later may very well change another’s space in a positive way. Now we have two and the possibility of more lives experiencing good things. But I’m getting ahead of myself and looking ahead, aren’t I, which takes me away from the moment.

Doug and I have always had a small group in our home since we discovered the enjoyment of learning together with other people. One gentleman, whom I’ll call Jack talked a lot about living in the moment. He maintained that if we loved to the fullest, acted appropriately, kept the Great Commandment in mind at all times, our live and others would be changed, in the moment.

I liken this to taking a walk. If I begin my walk with the goal of walking four town blocks and maybe a glance over the David Street Bridge in Elora as I scurry across, I will probably reach my goal that I set for myself without difficulty. However, if I start walking, noticing the tiny white flowers, or weeds as some people might call them, crowd the sidewalk—my entire walk may be different. If I notice the natural sculpture on the huge walnut tree in the neighbour’s lawn or maybe the hanging branches of the willow tree on the corner house—my walk will be enhanced. And when I cross the David Street Bridge, if I pause to look at the wonder of the rock formation beneath me and the persistence of the trees that appear to grow from a scrap of earth on the side of the Gorge, surely I will learn a lesson.

What is different from casting my view at the horizon of my thinking, my fears and decisions, or as Jack would suggest that I stand, ‘in the moment’? Could it be that everything I touch, see and feel will directly affect me now—my attitude, my ability to do, to be? Could this in turn strengthen me, encourage me, empower me more to then go forth and do what I’m called to do . . . in the future?

Blessings,
Donna
ddmann@bell.net
http://www.donnamann.org/        Watch for the Agnes Macphail books

Honouring the past in our present - Mann

Have you ever been the recipient of what I have come to know as ‘not them, but me?’ What I mean by this is a common statement that's often used whenever you change direction in your life. This might be a doctor, music teacher, church, political party or garden designer where you might hear words something like, “What you have been doing/getting/eating/voting/planting is really not right for you in this situation. You should be thinking/talking/speaking or digging this way.”

Why can’t we just stay positive and add to what has already been done. If we don’t think previous treatment or advice has been adequate, rather than dismissing it, could we not just add to it to make it relevant? My friend recently changed doctors and lo and behold, her new doctor shamed her previous treatment. Another friend purchased some plants for a shady spot in her garden and then the local florist said that truly wouldn’t work, dig them out and buy the ones that he’d suggested. Surely, there would be room for both plants.

In listening to the ongoing political conversation that breaks news each day, it seems that some people take great delight in dismissing another’s contribution rather than adding to it. We in the church are even guilty of this. It would seem that some love to discount all previous religious or relationship experience except the very moment of stepping on the proverbial church doorstep on which they are at the present time. This always seems to me as if we miss the point of the Apostle Paul's words, "I planted, Apollos watered and God gave the growth."

Recently my husband and I moved from a large farmhouse to a small house in town. We’ve lived in a number of places in thirty years of serving the church and in each place we’ve learned valuable lessons, never to discount any particular one.

The image I want to leave with you in this blog is one of a bridge. In every illustration I named above, there has been a bridge from and to, each piece of journey giving a valuable message. The bridge in Salem, Ontario gives you a definite to and from picture. When you look over one side of the bridge, you see a tranquil river. At this time of the year the water pushes the grassy banks and appears like a mirror reflecting the sky hanging over like a canopy.

From the other side of the bridge, you see the same river conceding to a high waterfall where the Elora Gorge begins. Locals call it the top of the rocks. I like that – the beginning of something totally and refreshingly new, yet coming from yet, another place. Perhaps we can consider that most change ends up from one extreme to another. May your waterfall be refreshing and may the river, from which you came, continue to nurture you.

Blessings,

Donna Mann

http://www.donnamann.org/

IN EVERYTHING ? GIVE THANKS - Wenger

I’ve been doing a lot of ruminating on a couple of Scriptures. The first contains the injunction, “in everything give thanks.” The other is the story of Jesus and the ten lepers he healed. One came back to give thanks while the rest of them went on their way, blissfully celebrating their new life.

It is proper that we heed the oft-preached exhortation to give thanks for and in difficult times and we Christians are fairly competent at giving genuine praise to God for His sustaining power. It’s just that we sometimes become fairly selective in deciding what qualifies as important enough for the extra efforts we have to put forward.

I’d like to introduce another view of this mandate to express appreciation and thanks in everything. Though far from where I want to be, I have made it a daily habit to go out of my way to give thanks to those people and organizations that I tend to take for granted. If you’re at all interested, here are a couple of suggestions: Why not drop a personal note to the local police department expressing your genuine appreciation for their role in serving your community. Sure some of them are rotten – as are some other folk I know - but I sure wouldn’t want to live somewhere that had no one to enforce the rules. Speaking of the rules – why not genuinely thank the officer who might stop you for speeding or jay walking? Who knows, perhaps God has used him or her to prevent your being involved in a fatal accident!

Because this is a blog directed to writers, I’m going to suggest that we have unique responsibilities in this “exercise in gratitude.” How often since you’ve written to someone who beat you out in a contest you really wanted to win - just to thank them for setting such a high standard of excellence for our profession/ministry? You haven’t? I haven’t either but I’m thinking of a long overdue note I need to write. And what about sources you’ve interviewed (even the ones who were, shall I say, less than uplifting in their remarks)?

I’ll close with just one more reminder: have you TWG recipients of monetary awards ever taken time to voluntarily thank your sponsor? No one approached me (and perhaps they just forgot) but a thank you would have put a smile on my face. I didn’t win anything this year (I didn’t enter, either) but in the past I found that a simple handwritten note evoked great appreciation from the sponsors that made it possible for me to have certificates hanging on my wall. Gratitude produces gratitude and we could all use more of that.

I’d love to see 100 per cent membership in the Appreciation Participation writers’ organization. Who would be the objects of our expressions of appreciation? Why not use this question as a topic of discussion on the writers’ list serve.

Linda Wenger

Yeah For Contests - Mann

Maybe I should have titled this blog 'Protecting our Babies': Writing contests initiate celebration and isolation, ecstasy and sorrow. I have entered several contests in my life: The Word Guild, song writing, and a Miss Pilkington Township Century contest many years ago. I have to admit it’s been a little like the old saying, “Always a bridesmaid and never a bride.” I can honestly say that in all the cases I was content to be short listed and happy for the winners. And in all the situations, what I had to offer would have applauded and supported the winner’s offering in some way. I guess that’s a little like being in a group and having something important to say. In your waiting, someone else speaks to a similar issue and you sigh and say, “Point well said. I rest my case.” So we offer congratulations, accolades and best wishes for more of the same from those who won, especially at the recent Word Guild Contest.

What is maybe even more important is the fine-tuning our writing gets in the process of preparation for submission to a contest. The time we spend with it resembles intimacy with a good friend. We talk to it, about it and sometimes even with it. Stranger things have happened. We protect it, defend it and support it. We sidetrack any new initiative in our life that attempts to rob our time or distract us from finishing, polishing and reshaping our baby.

And when it comes down to the moment of putting that stamp on it and carefully placing it in the mailbox or sending it by email through attachment, we offer a sigh of relief. We have been like the mother killdeer that flips and flaps a few feet away from her eggs trying to divert unnecessary attention away from her yet-to-be-born babies so they can mature and have new life.

Donna Mann

http://the_meadows.homestead.com/mann.html