Dear Reader:

When I woke up yesterday morning the rain had finally ceased. There were no wind gusts..all was quiet. The forecast was for partly cloudy skies with warmer temperatures around 80. (That was a big jump from 70 (as a high) the day of the storm Monday.)

I jumped in my jeans and shirt anxious to see what had really happened…and the miracle was…not what had happened…but what hadn’t!

There were lots of pine cones, limbs, and a few larger branches all around… but that was it. All my flowers were smiling back…none of them were beaten down or drowning under mud puddles.  I got my trusty wheelbarrow and set out on my mission to play adult “Pick-up Sticks” in the front, side, back yard and garden.

Boy…am I out of shape! After an hour and a half (and two wheelbarrows filled with debris) I was huffing and puffing… I certainly didn’t have enough wind left in me to blow anybody’s house down.

What really put me to shame was seeing my wonderful neighbor, Vickie, who has a little age on me on top of her roof with a large blower taking pine cone sprays, branches, and heaps of pine straw off the roof. I was terrified for her…but Vickie was calm as a cucumber! She is my “muse”, “mentor”….She puts new meaning into the expression “Pioneer spirit!”

Kate Wolfe-Jenson wrote about ordinary, every day sacred places and their importance in our lives in her last blog several days before the storm. She included this quote by Joseph Campbell:

“You must have room or a
certain hour of the day or so where you do
not know what is in the morning paper. A place
where you can simply experience and bring forth
what you are or might be.

At first you might think nothing is happening.
But,if you have a sacred space and take advantage
of it and use it everyday, something will happen.
Where to begin? The word “sacred,” evokes a
feeling of something holy, serene, worthy of
reverence.  Any space can be a sacred space, prepare
yourself as you stand on holy ground!”

Jenson suggested putting stickies or small signs by everyday objects we see or taste or smell…so, for example, while we are drinking that first cup of coffee in the morning…we can give thanks to the coffee makers, agricultural field hands, and transporters who make the coffee a wonderful and miraculous gift to us each morning.

As I read this…I thought to myself that my garden is still my sacred place where I go to talk to God, usually in the evenings right before darkness falls, beside the fountain so I hear the ‘living waters‘ and be soothed. It will always be my special sanctuary.

But after reading Jenson’s example of regarding that first cup of coffee as a miracle in her daily life…I realized that my daily habit had changed too…I still turn my Dingle Dell teacup over at night and then set it right side up in the morning…symbolically, for the simple reason that I woke up…I am alive and that this is my first miracle each morning!

So I made a card to remind myself of the gift of life…

So until tomorrow: Remind us Father that every day when we look in the mirror we are looking at your greatest miracle and blessing bestowed on us.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Hurricane Irma brought so many daily miracles to so many…but for our family (who were all worried about Walsh and Mollie’s new home)…They checked it first thing yesterday morning….and pronounced it “All good.” Everyone of us came through the storm without injury or serious damage to our homes….what a miracle that in itself was…and is.