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| Sculptor and public artist, Olga Ziemska, uses reclaimed willow branches and wire to create these complex organic figures. |
This morning, I was re-reading the story of the woman who had been sick for 12 years. 12 years is a long time ... I thought back to what my life was twelve years ago ... my body was making a child ... it's easy for me to remember back that far and forward to now from there. It would be a long time to spend sick, reaching towards "healing". Here's a part of the story ...
Mark 5:27 (NIV)
When she heard about Jesus she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, (v28) because (I love this part) she thought "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. ... and (v29b) ... she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
later, in verse 34, Jesus says ... "Daughter, your faith has healed you, Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
I like it, I like it a lot. Seems like I always want Jesus to touch my life, for him to reach out his invisible hand to me, and I know I am guilty of saying ... Uh, where are you? I want to at least feel your presence (and I am not so secretly dismayed that God set this up as Him invisible and yet ... not ... I wish it were easier ... ).
Right over on the next page I re-read a note I left for myself written in the margin of my Bible;
Jesus
compassionate
touch is soft
How can I?
1. spend time with Jesus - let his heart beat in me
2. see people as Jesus sees us
here's the verse ... (Jesus feeds the five thousand) Mark 6:34 ... he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd ... .
The five people I spend the most time with .... hmmm. I know that would be my family, but ... I think there's more written between the lines here in this little saying. I think I bend or form myself in collaboration with who I value ... and value is asserted with time. The time I have to spend and where I spend it ... clearly on what I value. And ... I think I would do well to reach for the invisible hand of Christ more often, more purposefully. I do know what it's like to reach for an invisible hand. I have a good strong picture of that in my heart ... and ... I know God can make good things come from the most fumbling of my attempts.
I also want to note, while I'm remembering it ... David was talking to the children at church and I listened ... he had a flattened packing box which he observed would hold nothing ... he said it is a box, but it is not useful as a box while it remains unopened. I thought of all those boxes loaded up on the freight planes ... flying through the starlit sky ... treasure boxes, smile makers. Obviously, his point was, we might open our lives and find ourselves filled ... useful.
I'm not really doing the "bucket list" anymore. I am trying to find the joy in this day, this place ... rather then fantasizing a fabulous list of somedays ... somewheres. But ... I saw this and ... I think it is a perfectly lovely place. Nova Scotia. Magical. I love these colors ... rock and water ... solid and liquid ... the scale ... all of it. I am glad to see this picture.
I think I may spend most of my time, the time I absorb, thinking about stuff I have read and pictures I have seen. I spend a lot of my time alone ... and even when I am with people, I am careful to chose how with them I am. Maybe too careful.
Well, I'm thinking about that ... and I'm thinking about that woman thinking about reaching out and touching Jesus ... it was a good idea.
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