I've been pondering...

 ..."Eternity".

And it's a waste of time, so far as I can ponder.

I have no idea whatsoever what 'eternity' could be like.

And I'm not sure I would want to have an idea.

I know the brand of religion I practice has some inkling that somehow we will spend 'eternity' in the Light or in Fire.

I don't know what I believe about that.

"Ends" are a part of my reality.

"End-less-ness" is beyond my ken.

Spring ends.

Each day ends.

Dinner ends.

Sleep ends.

Experiences end.

Life ends.

I'm never any help when people ask me, as a priest, 'what happens when we die?'

I have no clue.

I leave all that up to God.

I'm concerned about living.

Let the Almighty handle dying.

Eternity is far out of my ball park.

I guess I'll just wait and see....

 

Tomorrow will be great

Tomorrow with be a respite from the heat--though it will return, for months now.

But I've kept my word so far and not complained about the heat.

But Bern does.

I do better with heat and she loves the cold.

Amazing we've been together all these years!

Biden is on his way to meet the last President's buddy--Putin.

VP Harris is back from talks in Central America.

Bills are being pushed before Congress to do good for our democracy and our country.

It is such a joy to go to bed not dreading what the President might tweet during the night.

Or might say or do during the day.

We're moving toward normal after the pandemic, especially in CT, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country.

And politics (except for those who believe 'the Big Lie') is getting back to normal.

Let the heat do what it may--I'm feeling so much better about every thing I could go and howl at the moon.

If we can see it tonight....

 

Getting older

I don't know how old you are, beloved, reading this, but I am 74 and have some questions for you in that area of life.

Do you ever walk purposefully into a room and forget why you went there?

I do.

Do you ever open a cabinet or a drawer to get something and not know what you're looking for?

I do.

Do you ever open the refrigerator to get something and are not sure why?

I do.

Ever pick up your car keys and wonder for a moment where you're going?

I do.

In my youth my IQ was 154.

Not sure I want to take the test now.

But maybe IQ doesn't have to do with the lapses of memory as you get older.

I don't know.

But I do know this: sometimes in a few seconds, I forget what I'm up to when I knew for sure those few seconds ago.

Getting older is a trip!

Just not always a good one.

 

It's in the eyes

My eyes have itched all day. Bern's have too. Must be something in the air.

I need my eyes because I need to see the Truth.

Here's one true thing I see: I greatly dislike the state I grew up in and lived for my first 21 years and then served a church there for five years.

West Virginia is the source of my ire.

McDowell County, where I grew up, had a population of 100,000 when I was a teen. Now it is 23,000. Coal is dead--which is good--but so is the County of my birth.

It was a Democratic state most of my life there--but now it is ruby Red and getting redder.

The last state wide elected Democrat in the mountain state is Joe Manchin. And he's the one who is holding up all of Biden's bills--infrastructure, voting rights...on and on. 

With the Senate at 50-50, every Democrat is needed to pass anything. But Manchin won't budge.

He might as well become a Republican since he's voting with them at almost every turn.

I guess he fears going back to WV and losing his Senate seat to a Republican.

Like oh, so many politicians, he's more interested in keeping his job than in doing the right thing.

Alas and alack.

(I'm still a fan of WVU's sports teams--their the only thing that holds me to my home state.)

 

Compost

(I owe Harlan Dalton, a long time friend and the priest of the church I once served in New Haven for this poem. I found it in a reflection of his on line. It is about how nothing is wasted--all is compost.)

 

Nothing is Wasted

Reflections on What We Call Rubbish

(Janet Morley, All Desires Known 3rd ed.)

O, God

with whom nothing is lost, nothing wasted

we thank you for the miracle of compost --

our daily leavings, what we throw away,

able, with time and care, to fertilize the earth.

Take what we regard as useless in our lives,

failure, pain, or poverty,

and transform them through your power

to become a rich source of growth.

 

 

 (Ponder that, dear readers.)

As wonderful as I imagined

The wedding this afternoon was great. 

30 people or so in a garden with a string quartet.

How good is that?

A little warm, but lots of shade from many trees.

The 5 kids looked great but were rambunctious, as you might expect.

I've seldom had a wedding party that interrupted me so much!

And I loved it!

Joy to them all on their new life....

 

 

 

 

 

A wedding...a wedding!

 I love weddings and I'm doing one tomorrow in a wondrous garden in Milton.

I can't wait to do it.

They are a great couple--married before and have five children between them!

Bern and I were married almost 5 years before we had a child. Another child 3 years later.

The kids in the blended family are from 6 to 11.

I was with them today and it was hard to tell who was whose!

Already blended.

I love doing weddings and look forward to this one tomorrow.