Whatever He Says

I met her at a writers' conference--a woman whose age I found hard to guess, but whose slowed and stiffened gait told me she was at least a few years older than me.  Her voice carried the warm musical cadence of the Caribbean, slow and deep. She was quick to break into peals of laughter that shook her body. I was drawn to this woman, who arrived alone--but seemed at ease with her own company. I caught sight of her over the three days of the conference, en-route to the next workshop or pausing to take a rest, large red purse resting on her lap, while her hands held onto her bag of conference leaflets. It turned out that she is a self described conference addict--a Senior who believes in life-long learning--and this was her fifth conference so far this year. We sat together at one point and my natural curiosity prompted questions, which she answered slowly and thoughtfully, I learned that she had endured three major tragedies in her life. No-one would blame her for being crushe...

By Belinda I have a paradox to share today. Thank you in advance for being so patient with my endless epiphanies.:) As I continue to work on carrying out my choice to eschew negative thoughts and words, I find that silencing my mind and being still; not raising my heart or voice against another, creates mental and spiritual space to learn. Negativity and criticism come from a place of pride; listening and learning from a place of humility. It is in observing and listening that learning takes place and too many words and predetermined opinions are blockages to the education others have to offer. The paradox is this: I thought that age was a place of sharing the great wisdom accumulated with many years. Instead I realize more than ever how much there is to learn. We joke about young people's refuting of parental wisdom and how much parents apparently learn by the time their teenagers grow into their twenties. The young person recognizes that they didn't hav...

The past two weeks have been busier than usual, with long hours. Even though it was only a four day week because of the holiday last weekend I was so looking forward to Friday. When I finally left the office in which I spent Friday afternoon, I urged the other stragglers to leave as I bid them farewell with a sense of joyful anticipation. Today I did a bit of this and a bit of that--talking on the phone to family, folding laundry, digging in the dirt and pulling weeds--a spot of shopping too. Then finally as the twilight gathered, I stepped out with my golden boy for a walk. The air outside the house was cooling down, but the moisture in the air still clung to us. I considered how Christmassy Molson looked, with his mismatched red collar and green leash--like a reindeer that had showed up for the wrong seasonal celebration. But he was happily oblivious. He cared only for sniffing the trail, and he did it, nose to the ground, with the concentration of a forensic detective. My senses wer...

The older I get, the fewer things I am sure of. You would think that with each successive year, more things would be securely nailed down, but I am becoming much more comfortable in saying, "I don't know," and thinking that is okay. I don't need to know everything. I remember with embarrassment some of the passionate and pompous pronouncements of my youth. I hope that now a little humility has pushed aside the certainty with which I held forth on certain subjects. It is a little disconcerting to be unsure of some things, but I believe it is part of the journey of discovering truth. I have some questions for God; I don't understand everything, but I do have some core certainties and they are enough for now. I don't believe that God is threatened by questions, and I do believe that there are answers. That is one of my core certainties. I turned on my car radio recently in the middle of a call-in show. The host identified himself as Jewish, and he was in dialogue...

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 (New International Version) New International Version (NIV) 1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. 2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few . "God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few." It is an admonishment I need, and not just when coming before God. Oh, to master the art of Few Words. Why is it that just when I've made a simple point and all is going well, I invariably go further, say more; and dig myself a hole I would like to vanish into? You would think that I would learn. Apparently not. I already had this theme stirring in my heart when I opened up my little green note book and read something that my friend Frances said last year, when her husband Brian shocked--I mean surprised , her by bringing...

John 15:5-8 (New International Version) 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. The vine grew into the distance horizontally, seeming to go on forever. Many branches sprouted from it, strong and supple, with spiky, vibrant green leaves. Some bore tiny green or yellow green flowers, while others had clusters of the tiny berries that would grow into grapes. On the ground, scattered at the base of the vines, lay branches that seemed to have fallen or been broken off, perhaps by the wind. Those that had recently become detached still appeare...

Judges 6:12-13 (New International Version) 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." 13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." Sometimes the events that overtake us in life are mystifying; but the human race has a great capacity to be deluded and some of the things that make us wonder; shouldn't. A couple of years ago I read a really good book by Dr. Henry Cloud, called, 9 Things You Simply MUST DO to Succeed in Love and Life. Principle number 3 of his list of 9, was called, "Play the Movie," by which he meant, understand cause and effect. This is how he put it: "There are several ways to think about Principle Three. The simplest is to look at...

A sentence overheard...a line on a radio program...a friend on the end of the phone; any of these can trigger inspiration and send me scrambling for pen and paper. If I'm up as early as I mean to be, I start the day with CBC Radio Overnight and listen to news from around the world, then at 6.00 a.m., to Andy Barrie on Metro Morning. During a recent CBC radio interview first thing in the morning; with a young dancer who also composed music, I heard some words that captured me. "We are only as good as the music we dance to," he said. I carried on with my morning race, the minty toothpaste waking up my mouth as the glass carafe in the kitchen slowly filled with that nectar of the morning; first coffee. And I pondered the thought, "We are only as good as the music we dance to." "Yes, we are," I thought, "And what music am I dancing to?" I went from the bathroom to the quiet of my olive green sitting room, opened up the Daily Light for March 17th ...

Our friends the Furuya's came for supper tonight; Brian and Frances, with Jacob, Summer and little Eden Belle. Frances gave me a gift; a potted white calla lily. The plant is lovely, with an abundance of creamy white blooms. It came beautifully wrapped in clear plastic, tied with green and pink ribbons. Inside, the pot was surrounded by two layers of tissue, one decorated with sprays of red flowers and one plain, a vibrant green. I unwrapped it carefully but I hated to throw out the beautiful tissue paper. "Throw it out," Frances urged, "It's only tissue paper!" So I screwed up the tissue paper and threw it in the garbage and didn't smooth it out and save it as I as tempted to. And we laughed as we were reminded of something that had happened to Frances a while ago. A friend had come to visit, and stayed longer than she expected. Frances had been looking forward to a pasta salad stowed away in the fridge. The friend though, seemed oblivious to the time, ...