Forgiveness

A Good Word

Have you ever gone to great lengths to fix a special meal for someone close, only to have your efforts completely, or minimally, acknowledged?  Or just the most basic, "it's ok". When, in your eyes, it was a very special effort on your part?  I imagine many of us have been in these shoes. 

As I have been writing these posts, I have asked several folks their thoughts, input and comments. To me, it sort of ranks right up there in asking if the dish on the table needs a touch more salt...or something. I don't expect a dissertation, nor a critique from Julia Child.  But I guess my mom raised us right; there wasn't a meal that we didn't smack our lips and tell her what a good meal it was! 

Now that I have recently added the option of writing a comment, I invite you to add a thought or two, if you so wish. When I began this website I was told that folks love blogs. Sometimes I ask myself if the topics are interesting or if others can relate.  Sometimes, just like cooking every day, I need some ideas of "what to cook"!  So, with this new option at the bottom at my posts, I invite you to write me a note if you so desire! 

Lenten Reflections

Once was Blind

We had our gas tank filled up as winter began. The truck driver pulled in the driveway, pulling the hose the entire length across the front yard to the tank along the side of the cabin.I wondered why he did that with the road right there on the other side of our gas tank.  He has been there a couple times. There was no snow on the ground at that time. 

I stood there visiting with him and mentioned the dirt road. That road goes to the cabins down behind our place. I asked if he had ever tried pulling his gas truck closer to the propane tank, using this road. He looked at me with the most incredulous look on his face! 

With an astonished tone he said he had never known there was a road that went so close to the tank, had never even seen it. (It was about 20 feet away...couldn't really miss it!)  He was amazed and now that he knew about it, yes, would use it...if it wasn't loaded with snow next time. 

How many times in life are we blind, absolutely blind, to something in our day, perhaps even about ourselves or our behaviors that never ever dawned on us, until a kind soul pointed it out?  It could be words we've used, language or expressions, acts of omission, behaviors...anything.  I know I have!

Isn't it great to have others in our lives that might help us find another path, through kindness, that helps the scales fall away from our eyes, helping us grow in our ways that we never imagined...opening roads for us we never knew were there!  We probably all can say, "I once was blind but now I see!" We all have been blind in one way or another!!

Joys...Or Snowshoeing Continued!

I hope you read my last post on snowshoeing. When I got into the yard with the snowshoes on I followed deer tracks to the edge of the yard and was amazed when I got to a huge compost pile I have been working on for years.  Well, "working on" is a misnomer...all I do is keep adding leaves.

I discovered the pile all kicked up by possibly the deer, turkey and who knows what else. Maybe the deer even used the cushion and warmth of the pile to bed down overnight.  This was quite interesting to see. 

A branch in winter.

I never got far because a bum toe started acting up pretty badly.  So, I headed back to the cabin, only about 25 yards away. I stopped at a little maple tree and discovered that buds are beginning to form on the tips of the little branches. Even in the dead of winter there was a very subtle sign of life right before my eyes. My mind raced forward, thinking about spring with new shoots of green coming on this little tree. What a hopeful thought!

How often do each of us race through our day or time with special friends and events and miss subtle things right in front of us. Perhaps for each of us too, discovering the presence of our Creator in the small things of life, will offer us hope during those dark days of our soul, when we think nothing is happening. Possibly the divine is really very much at work and we just don't see it or feel it. Consider that maybe, just maybe, we need a "bum toe" to slow us down in order to see the love around us, to be grateful for all that we do have and to know that God is nearer than we think! 

This "stroll" I had intended to take could have left me miserable because it didn't go the way I had wanted. I believe it was not a coincidence that when I had to stop, because of pain, that this was when I really saw what was right in front of me.  Hmmm. What joys might you experience next time you plan to take a stroll, especially if you have a "bum toe"?


Molly LaFond is a spiritual director and can offer appointments in either Two Rivers or Crivitz, Wi. She can be reached at 920.793.3530 or see mollylafond.com

Snowshoes

Not long ago a friend of mine gave me her snowshoes to use because I was at our cabin alone and I wanted to "take a stroll" through the fields in the snow. I had used the snowshoes last year, too, when the snow was quite deep. I knew this time, with snow only a fraction of last year's depth, it would be like a "stroll through the park."

Think again! Even though the snowshoes fit me just fine, for some reason this "stroll" was only step by step...some steps agonizingly so. In some places the drifts were deeper than I had expected so the terrain slowed me down even more. Then to top it off, a bum toe began hurting. This adventure was not cracked up the way I had wanted nor expected.

Then I chuckled out loud and thought to myself: "Isn't life just like snowshoeing some days?" Many times each of us could say we got out of bed expecting one thing but went to bed and looked back to only have had something entirely different come our way. What we expected was not what we got! 

The secret in still having a great day, in spite of the curve balls of life, is something each of us must discover for ourselves. How do each of us deal with a "bum toe" when we expect to take a "stroll through the park?" Something to think about.

PS.  Be sure and read my next blog.  This one actually continues!


Molly LaFond is a spiritual director and can be reached at 920.793.3530 or see mollylafond.com

Brr...

17 below zero may sound cold, and it is, but 35 below and more is colder!! Those were the temps a day or so ago.Either way, we can relate when a person simply says, "Brr."   A person certainly must bundle up when going out in these temperatures.  Cuddle duds, insulated boots, warm gloves, sometimes even hand warmers help quite a bit. Dreams and conversations of warmer weather certainly become the headlines, don't they?

On the same topic of cold, however, have you ever experienced someone in your life who decided to give you the "cold shoulder", refusing to speak to you or hold a decent conversation?  What do we do with situations like that?  Hopefully, they don't happen too often, but when they do, it's a real challenge. 

I remember working with someone, and because of his skin color and foreign accent encountered these situations quite regularly.  He told me that he just loved them all the more, continued speaking to them and didn't retaliate in kind to the behavior.  It sounded great but oh, so hard to do when it's "me" (or you).

How do each of us deal with a "cold shoulder"?  Have we come to the resolve to "do the next right thing" as the 12 Step Program of AA proposes, making sure our "side of the street is clean"?  This can be translated many ways with the details. Does it mean speaking when we'd like to ignore or be cold back?  I don't think so. 

It takes a lot of energy to protect ourselves from further cold, frostbite and danger but how can we be in the weather, enjoy it to a certain degree but not do harm.  It's a challenge but the temperatures eventually get warmer, even if the cold days are really cold! We can continue to say, "Brr", in various situations or do something that just may help the relationship warm up!