Category: About Life

One night, some years ago, I was home alone.  Ron was away on a business trip.  It was 10:00 and I was ready for bed, answering some mail before turning in for the night.  All of a sudden, a small explosion occurred against the front door of our home.  Our dog erupted with a vengeance.  The force against the door sounded like a large person was ramming against it.

Heart racing, I went to the door and flicked on all the outside lights.  I believed they might startle and deter the predators.  Then I went to all the other doors in the house to make sure they were locked.  I ran to change my clothes, put on running shoes, and prepared to exit the house through a back entrance if needed.

Then, a 2^nd explosion against the door occurred.  I knew I was in trouble.  I called 911 and asked for emergency assistance from the police.  Two squad cars were dispatched and the operator stayed on the phone with me.  While talking to her and waiting for the police, there was a 3^rd attempt ramming against the door.  I steeled myself for what might come next.

After what seemed like an eternity (though it was only four minutes), two officers arrived in two squad cars and walked the entire property.  Concluding their search, they knocked on the front door.  I was relieved to see them and sure enough, they pointed to evidence of force against the door.  A wire basket/wreath that hangs decoratively was hanging crooked, had been bent, and smashed, and most of the contents had spilled all over the porch.  However, the officers reported seeing no predator.

Finally, one policeman pointed down toward our feet.  A baby bird lay on the landing, fighting for his life.  Reaching down, he picked up the bird, looked at me and said, “Maam, by any chance, do you have a cat?”  I nodded yes.  The story began to take shape.  Our cat, named Steve, had been the predator.  The wire flower arrangement had a nest in it and he was running, leaping, and slamming against the door, trying to get to the birds.  Still stunned and shaky, I watched the policemen move the birds, in the nest, to a safe, new location.

I thanked them profusely, watched them drive away, and began to think about everything that had occurred.  Cats and people operate on different wavelengths.  Steve, our tiger cat, wouldn’t be deterred by bright lights, house alarms, even by my verbal threats to leave the premises ‘or else!’  The only way Steve would be stopped would be for someone to remove the temptation.  I treated him like a human; Steve reacted like a cat.

Just as the human world and the animal world operate by different rules, so does the natural world and the spiritual world.  Oftentimes, I try to address a spiritual problem with a physical solution.  It is completely ineffective.  Spiritual predators must be addressed spiritually.

Is Steve in the doghouse?  No.  He was just being himself.  The baby birds?   All lived.   My appreciation for the Athens, Georgia police department?  Huge.   My nerves?   That was another story.

WRITTEN IN 1997- The year God dismantled my world and started rebuilding me from scratch to the glory of His name.

WINTER

I was born in winter and died the same year.

A heart can’t grow in stark sterility.

Any chance of life beneath the ground was frozen and pressed into the cement of frozen soil.

SPRING:

And so winter came and went and though I died, I lived.

I kissed the promise of springtime.

My passion of youth breathed life and tried to join creation in its new beginnings.

But the gentle rain was really a downpour; my seed too fragile to sustain itself.  All hope washed away with floods.

Yet all around me, others grew and survived the rains.  They thrived…and I watched…and lived some more.

SUMMER:

Summer’s sun matured all those around me.  They grew tall and strong.

My chance to grow had passed by me; all hope baked by the heat of the sun.

“Fire and heat refines”, I’m told, but for me, it kills.

My process of dying is perpetuated by the deceptive beauty of the seasons.

FALL:

I rested and finally lay spent in the fall.

Fitting; while everything around me did the same.  I was in sync for a brief moment with the rest of humanity.

I could pretend that I was resting from all the growing; just like them.  But only I knew that my seed of life never gasped its first breath of air.

The autumn gave permission for all of life to rest, stop. They did and I did. But I planned to stop forever.  After all, autumn is the time to die.

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WINTER:

I met You, Jesus, in the winter.

Funny, it doesn’t feel like other winters.  The cold blast of air is but a game for two; frostbitten noses ~ connecting playfully.

The winds howl, but I rock in your arms safely, snugly.  The warmth of you spreads throughout my being, thawing frozen parts…making them supple, healthy and pink.

SPRING:

Your breath ushered me into spring ~ effortlessly.  I was a tender chute, tucked into the rich fertile soil;  watered, tended, protected by the watchful eye of You.

The gentle rains came; you stood, watched my roots soak in the moisture.

We tipped our faces to the warm drops and sang to their rhythm.

Moving across the ground in threatening speed, you sheltered me and I felt only raindrops, for you took the storm in my place.

In the resurrection of spring you threw me into the air with careless abandon. I was caught by the wind, propelled by hope, and kissed with promise.

SUMMER:

You blessed my life in springtime. I played with you in summer.

You taught me laughter, lazy days, giggling ~ blowing bubbles, flying kites, floating on our backs on a mirrored lake ~roasting marshmallows, napping in a hammock ~ sleeping on a Sunday afternoon with the warm, balmy breezes wafting through the screens on the windows.

During this summer, I did not measure to see if I had grown. I just plain forgot ~ lost in the joy of you and the lessons of being.

FALL:

I was awed by you in Autumn.  I’m tall, alive, and free.

The many shades and hues of rich earth tones remind me of the richness and colors of your love.

The chill refreshes me and as all around die their natural death I believe in their resurrection; I have lived to see my own.

I finally rest. Not to die as autumn suggests, but to rest and evolve in the company of your heart.

I know a love that transcends all seasons.