My BE Day by Ruth Smith Meyer

After a busy three weeks, I woke on our first of July holiday morning with nothing urgent that needed attention. My head knew that, but my inner self was still on fast forward. I felt as though my head was at least a foot ahead of my feet and that I would fall flat on my face if I slowed down.

When my husband asked if I wanted to accompany him on an hour's drive to his daughter's where he wanted to work on the truck he's been restoring, my mind went into a whirl. I have writing I need to do. I have calls to make. I need to play catch-up from the busy schedule of the past few weeks.

My hubby, my Wise One, often tells me "You're retired you know!"

Often I jokingly reply, "If I am re-tired, that must mean I've been equipped with new tires and ready to keep travelling."

I was about to say that very thing when I heard the echo of my first husband's frequent observation. (He was another Wise One.) "You have trouble being content to just be, don't you? You seem to feel that every moment you have to do."

Abruptly, I hushed those voices that bid me Do,do, do! I decided this holiday Monday would become my Be Day!

With determination, I let go of my to-do list and turned my face the other way. I happily busied myself making a lunch for the two of us, gathered up my camera and a book to read then joined my husband.

As we drove, the glare of the computer screen I had anticipated staring at was gently replaced by the clouds and the sun in seeming competition to see who would win. The interaction produced beautiful light and shadow patterns on the fresh spring growth. The smell of the rain-washed earth replaced the odour the burning-rubber of my active mind. The rolling countryside stretched out inviting my tightly focused mind to enlarge the borders of my vista and to relax to see a bigger picture.

When we arrived, I vacuumed the inside of the truck on which My Wise One was working and not only found pleasure working near him, but also satisfaction in changing the appearance of the carpet. That work reminded me of the neglected corners of my life where little bits of litter gather when I am too focused on one thing. I prayed that God would help me take the time to clean out those corners too.

The book I had picked up happened to be Pressing into the Thin Places, Encouraging the Heart toward God by Margaret Harrell Wills. That's exactly what it did for me this morning. After reading awhile, I needed to let my discoveries settle in, so I picked up my camera and strolled around the beaurtiful grounds and flowerbeds around our daughter's home, capturing bits of the beauty. There's something about looking through a camera lens that forces one to see through diffferent eyes. Some shots were of the larger scene, but many focused on a bird house nestled among the shrubs or a single flower or close up of a few blooms. Each opened a different vista in my increasingly thankful and peaceful heart.

Back on my chair, I was pleasantly interrupted to visit first with a daughter,then with a granddaughter, both of whom have brough much joy to my life in the past few years. It was a pleasant addition to my Be Day.

The afternoon finished with my husband and I working together to build two birdhouses to add to the ones already on the property.

On our drive back home, we drove through a driving rain that seemed to finish the cleansing of my cluttered mind. At one point in the midst of the driving rain, we could see the clear blue sky to the right with the sun peeking through the clouds.

Ah-hh--that is life. Sunshine and shadow, a time for intense focus, a time for stepping back to see the broader picture, a time for a through washing away of the cob-webs of our brains, the sun always ready to shine through the clouds--a satisfying Be Day!

www.ruthsmithmeyer.com

Contributing author to Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider

Famine of feeling - Wright

According to Tom Hayden, the lack of a proportionate response to today’s catastrophic human needs is due to "a famine of feeling". Hayden’s interview appeared in the May 17th Globe and Mail. I had no idea who Hayden was—a California activist prominent in the 60’s student movement—until I read the article.

He makes a good point. "What’s depressing to me is the lack of response in comparison to the need…the very dangerous exhaustion of belief in solutions on the part of the people who are supposed to be the world’s problem-solvers."

I admit to a certain exhaustion with 24 hour news coverage of tornadoes ripping through US neighbourhoods, storms ravaging Myanmar, and earthquakes devastating parts of China. Meanwhile no solution looms for Darfur.

Probably, the wave of popularity for Barack Obama’s platform of change reflects people’s cynicism with old institutions.

Evan Solomon, the columnist who interviewed Hayden, chose a counter-intuitive way to interact with Hayden. He sent him a photo with no explanation and asked Hayden for a caption. Solomon, a writer, journalist and host of CBC News: Sunday and Sunday Night, does this every month. He sends an unidentified image to someone in the public eye. The resulting interaction creates an interesting interview.

I wonder, however, if images aren’t the problem. Confucius, not Christ, claimed that a picture is worth a thousand words. Christ came as the Everlasting Word, without passing on any images. Today we have a billion images bombarding us everywhere we turn and making less and less impact. Perhaps we are suffering from visual exhaustion and need a few more well-chosen words.

The picture Evan Solomon sent Tom Hayden, of hands raised in entreaty, could have been interpreted in thousands of ways.

A church friend recently returned from Liberia with a story about murderous boy-soldiers turned compassionate missionaries. His story evoked many emotions: horror at the atrocities they’d committed, astonishment at their transformation, and praise for the God who did the impossible. Admittedly, the pictures he showed at church helped.

Pictures may supplement our attempts to evoke emotions but they will never render words obsolete. Hence, our mandate as writers to touch people with well-crafted word pictures.

Eric E. Wright, www.countrywindow.ca