Poetry and practice

This is Memorial Day -- a day to remember to give thanks to those who serve and have served in our nation's military (remember, its not about war, but about the warriors!).

Yesterday I agreed to help out at our local church -- our young pastor had one of his beautiful children come down with the H1N1 virus so I took all three services (please pray for Pastor Rob's family and others who are combating this virus).

Sabine stayed home (as she must) and rested (and I used a lot of Purell hand sanitizer and preached about "the resurrection of the body." (Thanks for N.T. Wright's helpful work on the subject, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church!).

Compared with last Monday, Sabine is greatly improved -- remember, I am not comparing day to day progress anymore, it's too difficult; so I have shifted to week to week progress -- and feeling better about it already!

Tomorrow we get another post-transplant checkup at UW hospital and Sabine is starting to get back into a daily routine, eating a wee bit more, suffering less nausea and (most importantly) no fevers! Things are looking up.

A couple of poems about aging and thankfulness...


i look
at this
hand
strangely mine
i see
the hand
of an old man
veins, spots and
wrinkles
scars
and growth lines
like the back of
the old leathery turtle
which lives
near our
pond
or
like
the ancient layers
of the sedimentary rocks
which surrounds
our valley
and
warmly hold
you
the woman
with whom
i live
and love
and have my being.


+++++++++++++++++++++

i rejoice
did i tell you?
i’m thankful
did i forget?
you know me, god
you know
i pray in distress
anguish
and
fear
you know
what i do
when you help
me
when you work
it all out
you know
my brokenness
when
i think
perhaps was me
and not you
yet
you still
hang around
knowing
when i
am in distress
anguish
and
fear
you will wait
give me time
to realize it
was you
and
hear my prayer
(once again)
to be more
thankful
and to rejoice
with all my
might
just as my namesake
did
in front of your arc
so very long ago.