June 2007

Take Me Across the Narrows

Have you ever wanted to cross a bridge and come into a place where everything just feels right? Where everything is as it should be and you feel at peace, a place where your soul feels free to join the sea and flow with the tide? Wouldn't that be wonderful? As I am sure you know, life can hard to live and choices hard to make. I am sure all of us would like to go "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at one time or another.

Today, I made that journey over that water, over that rainbow. Today, I crossed a bridge and felt the peace of Jerusalem, the balm of Gilead, wash over my soul and sweep me out to the sea. Being carried on the tide, my troubles slipped away in a wider perspective and I am once again embraced by the deeper truths of love and family. It has been my habit to make the journey every two to three months but I haven't been able to cross that bridge since Christmas, and oh, how my heart has missed it!

I want to assure you, I love where I live. I love the rolling fields, the distant hills, the dilapidated barns that dot the landscape and take your attention when you least expect it. I love the canyons and the waterfalls, the rolling river and the fish it carries. But there is also another place I love, another home, and whenever I enter this home I breathe a deep breath and come back to myself. There are no rolling fields, there are snow capped mountains. And instead of a rolling river, there are miles of water everywhere you look. It seems there are as many boats as fish and those barns are so hard to see among the forests of trees lining the winding roads. I never knew a place I did not grow up knowing very well could become such a deep part of me, that I could feel completely at ease here in this home.

This place is not a retreat center, it is not a cabin out in the woods. In fact, I can see more lights from here than I can in the middle of my home town. But they are on the shore, across the bridge, and I? I am at home on the island. And I do not come out here for time alone. This is where my family is, my aunt, uncle, and two cousins. I come to be with them and to be at home on the island.

Having these special people and this special place in my life has made me think a lot about what home and family means. Being a single adult, those words become more transcendent, broader. Those terms can become more flexible, more often used. But driving around with my aunt, playing aggravation on the game board my great-grandfather made, or eating my grandmother's peanut butter pie (wow...), I remember how connected I am with the family I love and how I am not alone in this world. I have them, and we have God, or God has us. Once again, I feel wrapped in their safe and ever-loving embrace. They have me and we are not letting each other go. In a world where so much else can change, being able to count on a family who loves me makes such a huge difference. To be a part of each other's lives is a joy.

I realize not everyone has family they can go spend time with like I can. I realize there are even some who have no concept of what living in a loving family can be like. I wish I could say just look at the church for a good example, but I know the church can sometimes be a more likely candidate for "Family Feud" than the "Honeymooners".. We are human and still working on looking more like our true selves. But I think there will come a day when we will put down our bats and make an altar. There will come a time when we will stop biting each other, and reach out a hand instead. There will come a day when creation crosses a bridge of its own. On that day, creation will take a deep breath, perspective will come into play, and the deeper truths of love and family will at last be known to all man and beasts. We will be swept out to join the sea of God who connects us all and take rest in him. No matter what your experience has been here, you will have it fulfilled in him for it all points to him. My own hope is I will recognize those bridges in my life when they come for what they are as I have had a taste of that peace here, across the Narrows Bridge in my island home. .

News

On August 4th, 2007, I will have a booth at a craft fair at First Baptist Church

in Salem, Oregon along with two friends who will be selling cards and jewelry.

More information soon to come. Come check it out!

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I am working on a new product line of photography and art.

Ideas I have had so far is to frame and matt them, put them on cards, or make a calendar.

If you have any ideas of ways I could use them, let me know!

Last Updated: 12/30/2011