Choose Kindness

I started this blog back in 2010, and posted regularly for a few years, until October 2014. I don't know what happened next - there was one post in 2015, and then nothing - complete silence for nearly seven years!

When I retired, I decided that I would resume blogging, even if I'm the only person who reads it. A few days ago, I spent time cleaning up broken widgets (so my blog no longer crashes) and remembering how to create posts (still vague on that, but at least I have a clue). I've been going through old pictures, trying to identify major events that happened during this period (we've had significant health issues, lots of family weddings, the arrival of new nieces and nephews, and the addition of Bernie to our pack, to name just a few).

For now, as I move forward with new posts, and try to figure out what I want this blog to be, I'll share a poem by Steve Garnaas-Holmes (from his website https://unfoldinglight.net/2022/03/ ). I like its simple message: Christ chose healing and kindness; we can do the same.

Mother hen

           Some Pharisees said to him, “Herod wants to kill you.”
           He said to them, “Go and tell that fox,
           ‘Today and tomorrow I am performing cures.’
           Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often have I desired
           to gather your children together
           as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…”
                           —from Luke 13.31-34

Holy One, my Beloved, my Savior, my Chief,
you choose to be a hen in the realm of the fox.
You choose kindness in the face of evil.

Give me faith to do the same,
to heal instead of hurting,
to choose kindness even when threatened.

Give me courage to be a mother hen
in a world of foxes,
for always I am under your wings.