Book Recommendations

Holding Up the Sky Alone

One benefit of reading messy fiction is that an author can help me understand myself.

I’ve spent months reflecting on a task I undertook. It was rewarding. I was successful. I was exhausted. I wept at random times when I remembered the experience. I tried to dissect why I had been, and was still being, impacted so dramatically. And then, I reread a favorite passage from a favorite book by a favorite author.

But I wonder if what Hercules was most afraid of when he was holding up the sky wasn’t that he was going to have to hold it up forever. It was that he was going to have to hold it up forever while he was by himself.

The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt

My trauma came from the never-ending, day-to-day aloneness. My husband, son, and close friends encouraged me, but they could not do the work.

I’d assumed I’d have help holding up the sky. As the days accumulated, I realized that the person I expected to take a turn, was holding up her own sky. Alone. And we both might be stuck forever.

Has a novel given you insight into your experiences?

Relationships

So, What Are You Making For Dinner Tonight?

During daily walks with my friend Kathy, why did we discuss what we were making for dinner or had made the previous day? Why does my book group discuss our meals more than our books? As I typed these questions, I realized I could identify some friends by their meals.

Given the response to a recent blog (see here) it seems that many of you do the same. I have been pondering these close-friend, food conversations, and I have a few ideas.

Meals reflect our tastes, culture, allergies, time limitations, and income levels. Meals reveal our patience as well as the friends and family whom share our table. We save these intimate details for the trusted.

But why do we talk about food so much with those closest to us?

Meals dominate our time, and our friends care how our hours are spent. They appreciate our toil, marvel at our shortcuts, rejoice at our triumphs, and either lament or laugh at our mistakes.

Meals nourish our bodies, but the telling of them nourishes our friendships.

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.

Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

So, what are you making for dinner tonight?

God's Faithfulness, Stories I Share

An Unexpected Gathering of Saints Pt 3

If you followed my inheritance distribution—see here and here—you still haven’t met everyone. The last to arrive—and feast on pizza and ice cream—were brothers from the local hobby shop.

After the only child of my widowed uncle passed, my uncle turned to model trains as a diversion during his lonely, lonely days.

Uncle Floyd documented the building.

My last conversations with my uncle included his train set. Who would enjoy it?  He finally bequeathed it to a nephew, who took many cars and tracks.

The remainder of the set weighed on me. My husband called a local hobby shop in hopes of finding a taker. The employee who answered the phone said his brother would be interested. Coincidence?  He offered to pay what he could. We declined and only asked him not to take items to sale.

I documented the dismantling, which took over 25 hours. (Above and below)

While we visited, we learned that these strangers were Believers, too.

We received a thank you text that included a promise that the brothers’ use of the materials would make Uncle Floyd proud.

It was a grand day. I look forward to our reunion in heaven.

God's Faithfulness, Stories I Share

An Unexpected Gathering of Saints Pt 2

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Galatians 6:10 (ESV)

January four years ago, my husband and I flew to Oklahoma to distribute my inheritance. (See here.) What we gave away was overshadowed by the unexpected experiences my inheritance allowed us to have.

The best came through a young boy. I was only told he was staying with my uncle’s friends, and an adult was sleeping on the sofa so the child could have a bed.

Whenever I found a stash of candy, I handed it to him and he passed it around. I thought that being the keeper of the candy would make the child’s day. What made his day was seeing my uncle’s washing machine.

My mother doesn’t have a washer.

The boy’s mother didn’t have a dryer either, but her son’s words provided her with both. The next day, his sixteen-year-old sister came with him to retrieve the appliances. One day, will they tell how God provided during a hard time? My husband and I already have.

Stay tuned for more unexpected, joyful encounters.

God's Faithfulness, Stories I Share

An Unexpected Gathering of Saints PT. 1

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 8:11 (ESV)

My Uncle Floyd’s passing allowed me to experience an unexpected, unforgettable gathering of God’s people.

During January 2021, my husband and I flew to Oklahoma to finish a task my brother and I had started—distributing my Uncle Floyd’s possessions. I had inherited quality furniture and expensive medical equipment that would be costly to ship. Therefore, I called the man who drove my uncle to church.

The friend came with his wife, a young boy, his son, who was a deacon, and the son’s wife. They rented a truck and spent Sunday distributing goods among the needy. I urged them to take whatever they personally wanted.

The process lasted the entire afternoon. My husband and I dished ice cream into paper cups and distributed it with pizza we also found in Uncle Floyd’s freezer.  We were quite the lively, happy group of feasting strangers brought together by our relationship with a godly man and bonded together through Jesus.  That Sunday was a glimpse of heaven’s gathering.

Stay tuned for more.