Where to begin?…..

I am currently at Rivendell Writer’s Colony.  It is a beautiful isolated place tucked in the mountains and backwoods of Tennessee near Sewanee.  It is designed for writers to find the space around and within to allow the depths of creativity.  I feel like I have been captured and carried deep into Mystery.  I feel like Alice in Wonderland where the magnitude of God’s immense creation and the wonder of every tiny creature come to life in new and nourishing ways.  Sounds of nature make music through the intense silence.  Leaves of the forest begin to burst forth colors of Fall, before they fall.

The land sits on the precipice of a deep ravine.  The clouds hang low across the ravine encircling the mountains like puffs of smoke, signaling that essence of Mystery that invites the imagination into the yet unknown.  (Thus, the name “Smokey Mountains”).  A hammock hangs between two towering trees with a view across the ravine, inviting one who is willing, to surrender to the call of nature and listen to the whispering message of the smoke signals, the winds of the Spirit moving.

I have to say that I have never been in a place quite like this!  It seems there is so much to write about that I am filled up, and it wants to burst forth.  It’s more than I can possibly put into words.  But something inside me says I have to try!

nk

There are certain people in my life to whom I feel the closest.  In some cases that has to do with how long I have known them.  But even more, it has to do with how well I KNOW them and they KNOW me.  It has to do with a willingness to love unconditionally, to be totally open and vulnerable, to be intimate, to have total trust with every thought, feeling, expression…to be free to be one’s true self.  To feel that you are deeply known by someone else is such a gift of love!

This week I have had the opportunity to be in a place called Stone Mountain, Georgia.  My friend is a pastor there and she and I entered the ministry together 30 years ago.

The photos you see were taken in Stone Mountain.  The small village sits at the base of the mountain.  The photo of the Christmas tree on top was my first visit there.  That view was taken outside my bedroom window at night.  I felt like it was shining just for me.  I felt some connection to the mountain which is the landmark and represents the strength of that community.

This visit we went to “Tunes by the Track”.  It happens every Friday night.  Locals bring their lawn chairs and gather beside the railroad tracks which run right through the center of town.  As the little band played, I couldn’t help but notice the older couple sitting in front of me holding hands.  I was touched by this as I listened to the words of the music…”I’ll be here for you….that’s all you really need to know.” Something about that moment spoke to me of this entire community. They are very diverse, yet they have come together to love unconditionally and to be their true selves with one another.

As you enter the red door to the church where Ellen and I preached together on Sunday morning, the first thing you see is a painting on the wall where the angel proclaims, “Be where your heart can express.”

YES!  I think the angel says it all.

nk

I am anticipating leaving this Wednesday to visit grandchildren.  SO much fun!  I am looking through a few past photos to help me get ready…..MEMORIES….

Letting the girls play dress up and do whatever they wanted to with me…

Taking the older kids to the water park “Wet and Wild”.  As we left, we were stamped by the park employees in case we wanted to return that same day.  I expected a small smiley face stamped on my hand.  Here’s what I got…

A huge “WILD” stamped the full length of my forearm.  Just how I wanted my grandchildren to remember me!

Another memory…retirement party for “Papa” with a house full of adults and kids wall to wall.  I promise it was a decent, upright sort of party, full of good clean “family fun”.  Yet, here is the view of the patio out my back window the next morning when I opened the blinds….

Then, after a week packed full of all this fun, I am driving three of the grandkids to the airport.  I am still energized from such a fun, wild, crazy week.  One glance into my rear view window…

I love them all SO much….can’t wait til Wednesday!

nk

Yesterday I met with three other pastors to discuss some of the issues facing our world and the church today. How do we find the place to be united and strong?  One of the pastors spoke about being sent to a church that was very broken and divided.  At the end of his time there, someone said, “You brought us back to be a place of joy and love.  We found our sense of mission.”  The picture of the church….what the church is supposed to be….suddenly came before my eyes and into my heart, and I just had to smile in that moment!

In that very same moment I felt affirmed in my own ministry.  I recalled a church I served as pastor where there were struggles and days that were not easy.  I remembered that at the end of my time there, a woman who had been a charter member in 1977, stopped me in the hallway and said, “You brought us back to be the place of joy and love we were in the beginning.” They could now move forward in their mission.  Well, what happened in both these churches was the power of the Holy Spirit at work to bring the love and joy of Christ.  That IS the picture of the church. I could only give thanks and be grateful for what God had done!

The cross you see above sits on the counter in my kitchen to remind me that my true strength is in the Joy of the Lord.  The picture with the Romans scripture is a drawing I did which we put on the bulletin cover my last Sunday with that church.  I wanted it to be something of myself as a gift for the church.  Then a staff member showed me the bulletin of the first worship of that church in 1977.  I was struck by the similarity of expression in the two drawings.  For me, they said it all for that church and for any church….”The Joy of the Lord is our Strength”!

Thoughts for you today….Where is your joy?…..Where is your strength?

nk

One of the photos above is a friend of mine feeding a deer that just appeared and came close to her.  Such peace and love are present that the animal came to eat out of her hand.  I love that picture.  What a special moment!  My friend said she felt like she was standing on holy ground.  Certainly she was!  It is a picture of perfect peace.  There is a “deeper knowing” present.

The other photo is of Chicky, a dog who has become a special friend.  I really didn’t know Chiquita that well until this certain day when I was at the home of another close friend.  She had commented that Chicky does not warm up to people quickly.  While I was there I received a phone call that my aunt had died.  As I sat on the couch sharing the news with my friend, tears began to fall down my face.  Chicky ran from across the room, hopped up on my lap, put her paws up on my shoulders, then gently and tenderly began to lick my tears away. There was a “deeper knowing” present. Such beautiful love expressed!  AND….you won’t believe….the very same thing happened a couple of years later.  I was sitting in that same place on the couch again when I received a call that my brother-in-law had died.  Again, Chicky came to lick my tears.  Wow!  This truly was holy ground!

I remember late one night outside under a full moon when I deeply needed an embrace, but it was not possible at that moment.  As I was sitting on that reclining chair, a strange cat appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to wrap itself snugly around my neck and stayed there awhile, purring gently.  There was a “deeper knowing” present!

I don’t fully understand all of this.  It’s a mystery.  I just have to believe that there is a deeper communication going on in creation that reaches beyond what we can see or even imagine.  Love can unite us in wonderfully wondrous ways.  God brings these miracles of a “deeper knowing”, causing our hearts to overflow with grace and love.  These moments are a gift!

nk