Traveling Mercies

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice,but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-the demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

I has all the best intentions to keep up with my regular practice of writing my blog daily. On Friday we headed to my Mother's house in Cape May Point where all our children were to gather, and I would do the services at St. Peter's by the Sea. All went well, really. Except I could never find a place where I could use a wireless connection. My Mom's house is lovely but utilitarian. So, I leaned back and enjoyed our daughters and my family. I loved them well, completely and fiercely, savoring every moment with them all together. So what's attached is Friday's post and today's reading from Mark. All about women loving their children so fiercely that God incarnate had to sit up and take notice. Tomorrow we pack out early to take our youngest to her last year of college. Prayers this night for all the parents sending their children off to school and for all the children trembling in their beds, no matter what age they are. And for the teachers who have such a hard job to do.


Summers End

We rolled into town late last night and there was very little traffic and no people. A summer town at the end of summer. They have taken their hustle and bustle and gone home, to hustle and bustle elsewhere. There is suddenly more room to move, a sense of getting back some equilibrium and breathing space.

It is startling, when the place that resembles home most is deluged for a season and overrun with strangers. They will never know the crystalline air of deep winter by the ocean. The stark ravaging beauty of the ocean in winter. The sweet isolation where there is time and space to imagine and to dream. When the Ferris wheels stop turning, a whole other possibility comes to life.

This day has been spent enjoying family and friends. This has been a day of visiting and resting. This has been a day that is only possible when the crowds flock elsewhere. A slow gentle burn kind of day that cooks in the best sweetness.

May God bless us all with places and people who invite sweetness. May God grant us all the time to rest and visit. May the crowd part for each of us so that we might all experience, if but for a moment, the sweet light of God.