Beelzefly

Today begins the sober season of Lent, but before embarking on this time of personal introspection and repentance for all the ways I fall short of what God intends my life to be, it's good to pause for just a moment to think back to last week and especially to last week's choir practice. We almost always have a lot of fun at choir practice, but last week's practice was over the top. Seemingly out of nowhere, a giant fly joined us shortly after practice started, alighting on the director's hair and refusing at first to budge. As efforts to shoo the fly away became more energetic, choir practice degenerated into a slapstick farce. Following the director as she flapped her arms alternately in time to the music followed by attempts to wave away the fly became a challenge. Some of the women on the front row began jumping up to help the director wave the fly away, making it even more difficult to stay in sync with the music. But when the fly landed on the piano keys, things really got out of hand! Responding to the cries urging her to swat the fly, the pianist swung gamely away, slipping backwards off her chair in the process. About this time, the pastor reappeared in the room with a can of insecticide and a large piece of cardboard and began chasing the fly around the room. Fumes filled the small space, but the fly finally began to slow in its gyrations. One of the tenors told us about a website where people can combine words to make new ones and of the new word "beelzebug" for an annoying insect that haunts a room. When the fly finally landed on the floor near the door, the woman next to me jumped up and, after several attempts, succeeded in squashing Beelzefly. In the midst of the cheers and hilarity that followed, the choir director was finally able to take us through the music for Sunday, which we sang with hearts made glad by holy laughter. If we are alert, we will often find God sprinkling our lives with joy, something like the fairy dust in the tales I loved as a child.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue

Out of Chaos, Hope

I'm not sure why I thought that life would slow down a bit in the New Year. For the moment, I'm grateful for a few minutes to write. After months of planning and frustration, the mission trip from our church to the Texas Gulf coast actually came off the weekend before last. We were the first group to stay in the new Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Volunteer Village at Texas City. As it turned out our arrival was an answer to the prayers of the brand new manager, Doug MacDonald, who, with Mike Kelly, had been working to ready the place for our arrival. There was no way the two of them could have accomplished all of the tasks that needed to be done in the time they had between their arrival and ours. The bunk and shower trailers pulled in from further east along the U.S. coast needed cleaning after coming out of storage, and also needed to be hooked up to sewer, water and electricity. The pots and pans and utensils also brought out of storage needed cleaning as did the kitchen at First Presbyterian Church in Texas City, which had agreed to allow the volunteer village to set up on their grounds and use their facilities. Somehow when God is involved in the planning things come together. So we showed up with folks who knew how to do plumbing and electrical work and construction as well as one man who was able to hook up a giant industrial gas stove in the kitchen. Add to that the magical cleaning genies (my name for the amazing women who spent their time cleaning anything that didn't move out of the way), and the amount of work that was accomplished from noon Friday through Saturday afternoon was nothing short of miraculous. Doug provided us with bright blue T-Shirts that said Presbyterian Disaster Assistance on the front and on the back--Out of Chaos, Hope. We managed to bring some hope in the chaos of the village so that other volunteers coming after us can bring hope in the chaos of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ike. It was an humbling experience to be thanked by strangers who saw our shirts in church and at dinner for offering hope for the future simply by our presence. We came home tired, but ready to make plans to return again for the important work of helping to rebuild peoples' lives in a disaster area. There is still much work to be done, and many more volunteers are needed. If you want to help, call Penny Noel in the PDA housing office at 1-866-732-6121 and make your reservation. Groups of five or more adults from any organization are welcome. You don't have to be Presbyterian to sign up. I promise you will be blessed as we were as you in turn bless others.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue

In the Company of Women

I had the privilege this past week of meeting for the second time with a group of women who gather to write and then to share stories from their lives. It's an eclectic group with a variety of life experiences, and both times I have met with them have been a blessings, especially the experience of learning more about these unique individuals. Of course God has created each of us as unique individuals, it's just that we don't often intentionally take the time to learn more about our sisters and brothers on this planet in such detail. This time we talked about crossroads in our lives--those times that changed the direction of our lives forever either through life circumstances or through our own actions. After listing all such crossroads we could think of in 10 minutes, we chose one to write about and to share.

Of all the many times of change in my life (and I was surprised how many I could list in such a short time), I chose to write about my decision to go to seminary. Doing so meant walking again in memory through the painful job change that led me to take a sabbatical from law practice and go to seminary to study God's word. In retrospect, I realize that God had already been calling me in that direction for some time. I learned through my own experience and those of my fellow classmates at seminary that when God calls, you might as well go quietly. Sooner or later you will likely end up there anyway, and it's less traumatic to go peacefully rather than wait to experience some of the ways God has of getting our attention. I personally know what it feels like to be run to ground by the Hound of Heaven. As a result, I've learned to pay better attention and to respond more promptly when God calls.

How richly my life has been blessed by the change I made, as painful as it was at the time. And how much I would have missed had I chosen to stubbornly stay in place rather than face the pain of loss and change. Time with these wonderful women was a good time to reflect on that hard earned wisdom and to share my story with the others. It was a time to remember that God is good and perhaps especially so in times of change.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue

Sanctuary

I spent four days this past week in a little corner of heaven, among poets and musicians and artists, all intent on encouraging each other and sharing their art. I have come to know these people in the past three years of attending the annual UMHB Writers' Festival, which is a remarkable, intimate experience of learning from other creative people. I have had few places of true sanctuary in my life so I welcome those when I stumble upon them. The last time I felt as safe as I feel with this group of folks was during my seminary experience. In a world that too often seems intent on conquering others rather than embracing their unique gifts, it is good to spend time among those who pursue a different more cooperative agenda. So my special thanks to Audell and Helen and all those who made the conference happen, and to the poets who have encouraged me in my stumbling efforts: Chris Boldt, Angela O'Donnell, Alan Berecka and Anne McCrady among others. Their work is worth finding and enjoying as is the music of Still on the Hill, two remarkable musicians who are hard at work saving and promoting the folk music tradition I loved as a young person. They led a song-writing workshop at the conference that was delightful. My life has been blessed once again by this festival, and I have come away refreshed and ready to tackle anew this solitary task of writing to which God seems intent on calling me.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue

Travels at home

We had the privilege of hosting a student from China during the Christmas break, and said goodbye to him yesterday afternoon as he moved on to spend the last few days of break with another family. The visit took me back to the days when our three sons were college age. He definitely lives in a different time zone. He was going to bed shortly before we got up each morning. We learned more about his country at dinner, and he was patient with our efforts to speak Chinese. We're learning the language for one of our beautiful grandsons, who is learning Chinese from his mom and other grandmother. We don't have many opportunties to practice here in Central Texas, so it was fun to try it out on Lan. I miss our conversations at dinner, and find myself thinking about this young man and how much his mother and father and grandparents must miss having him at home. Hopefully we'll get to see him again this spring, and perhaps meet some of the other Chinese students who are currently attending the university where I sometimes teach. What a blessing to get to know another child of God from the other side of the world. Shangdi bao you ni, Lan. Zai Jian!

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue

Beginning Again

I'm not sure what it is about the artificial beginning of a New Year that seems to provide a clean slate, but it is nice to think about the next twelve months and what 2009 will bring. We are expecting another grandchild this spring, so more joy is in store. I'm hopeful that this year will include fewer losses than last year, when my husband lost both his parents, and I lost my dad. I will be celebrating a milestone birthday this year and will have to give some thought to how best to do that in a way that honors God for all the blessings I have enjoyed in this good life I have been granted. I'm thinking about a trip to Zambia with a group from my seminary, but we'll have to see how things go this spring as well as how expensive the trip will be. I'm sure as the year continues, it will rapidly start to feel less like that clean slate. Fortunately I know that God's promises are new every morning, so I don't have to wait until next year to begin again--something I have no doubt I'll want to do frequently as the year progresses.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue

Hurting Heart

The past few months have been difficult, and I'm looking forward to that artificial clean slate that comes with the New Year. I said goodbye to my latest class of students a little over a week ago, and I miss them. Several have graduated and are moving on in their life journeys. They were a bright spot in the bleakness of coping with my dad's illness and death this fall. I suppose in light of what's been going on in my life of late, it's not too surprising that my heart has been hurting. Unfortunately it's been more than emotional hurt as I've struggled again the last few months with palpitations and spells of rapid heart beats. The doctors have me on a monitor that records the problems so they can see if this is something that can be fixed. I hope so. This past week has been especially difficult, and left me contemplating my own mortality. That's probably a good thing for most of us to do from time to time. In any case, this past week after a particularly bad 24 hours, my husband and I went to dinner to celebrate with our church choir at the organist's home. As we gathered around the piano in her brightly decorated living room to sing Christmas carols, I closed my eyes and thought that if I had to die anytime soon, the memories of the beautiful music would carry my spirit heavenward. Then I thanked God for the good life I've had. My husband thinks that whatever is going on with my heart is not life threatening, and that's a good thing to know. I hope to live to see my beautiful grandkids grow up and to have a few more years to serve God here on God's good earth. As has been true from the beginning, however, my times are in God's good hands, and I'm content to rest in the peace of that knowledge.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue