“Suffering produces endurance, and endurance, character,
and character, hope.” Paul’s
letter to the church in
Healing
is such a slow, time-consuming, tiring process.
On
my first walk after surgery I noticed several long dewberry vines As
I continue to see them on my daily walks, I
see that very few have reached their sun-ripened black sweetness.
I
must wait patiently for them to ripen As
I must wait patiently for my body to heal. There
is no other way. Even
in optimum circumstances, Nature
will have its own way And
do its job perfectly And
at its pre-established pace. I
cannot use any means of persuasion to hurry the process.
I
can only use well the time it takes. Learning On
retreat today I walked up mountain To
the prayer garden. On
the crest of the hilltop Among
the towering oaks and maples Stood
several gray-green majestic stones – Some
larger than an elephant. Embedded
in a section of one massive stone Was
the trunk of an elm tree – Three
roots straddling a lower portion. Growth Nearby
was the gnarled root system Of
a fallen evergreen – Beautiful
in its intricate, intertwined woody core. Twisted
in varied hues of brown, muddy orange and sienna. It
had taken a lifetime to form that root system: That
vibrant tree sending tiny rootlets here and there Seeking
a hold for the storms of life And
an increased water supply from the ground Surrounding
these hardened masses. And
then years passed as the tree aged, fell, And
began the long decaying process Until
only these lovely brown root bones Were
left to demonstrate the hard work done by the sapling.
And
these majestic gray-green stones Were
not dropped from heaven. Eons
ago they were deposited In
the bowels of the earth Under
the ground that became this magnificent mountain.
And
little-by-little, as the centuries passed The
upheavals came to stand them upright, And
the top soil washed away. And
the wind and rain rubbed them smooth And
deposited the sand at their base And
turned them from white to gray And
the green puffs of moss And
brown tatters of lichens attached to their thin stone skin. Some
of the stones appear to be small, Quite
easy to pick up, But
they are the noses of more massive stone Hiding
beneath mounds of earth And
waiting for future generations To
discover them and marvel at their size. Around
these stones and among them, And
at last people discovered them And
created a prayer garden in their midst. Healing And
so what is this TIME I am concerned about? Creating
and healing and change take time: Sometimes
eons, sometimes decades and sometimes weeks. Now
I am healing and creating and changing, And I am not alone. More Excerpts from Comfort for the AfflictedNovember Notes
Please Note: All materials that appear on this web site are donated material. They are all under copyright. Please respect all copyright laws. Please email Bonnie Meadows with any questions at bonnietexas at hotmail.com. Thank you. Our Network for Pilgrim's director, Bonnie Meadows is writing a novel about a small mountain village as seen (and loved) by their new, young pastor. She is entering a contest with a subplot and hopes to share excerpts from her first novel, Autumn Secrets, with the readers who visit the Network for Pilgrims web site soon. Let us know what you think. We would like to hear from you. Bonnie's writing is a work in progress, so we would like to know what you think and what you are curious about. We are also looking for interesting, real stories about incidents you have personally witnessed. All of the characters and all of the events that drive the plot are imaginary; however, other incidents (like the mountain lion visit) have really happened in the area over the past few years. If you know about an interesting incident that might be included in one of the books, please share them. Email your ideas in the body of the message to bonnietexas at hotmail.com. Further books are coming as well. There are five books in this series. All of these books relate the experiences of five current women who share their lives as they attend seminary together and become new pastors. Although all the characters are fictional, some of the events they experience are real. Their stories haven't been written yet because they haven't yet happened. Visit this web site often for more information. Pastor's Book of SecretsAutumn Secrets—Secrets of First Corinthians—Katelyn's Story
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Network 4 Pilgrims/Christ Covenant Int'l Ministries
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