I just read the newly posted newsletter which opened with Father Marty’s always inspiring words. I felt compelled to act right way, first to thank Marty for his loving work at St. George’s and all the work he does in God’s kingdom, things that we know about, and many that we do not. Marty’s first day “on the job” at St. George’s was the first service I attended there, and I fell in love with him and the church right away. Next, thank you to Kate, Hope, and all the office staff who work so hard and do such a beautiful job with the newsletter and keeping everyone informed. One of the things that I am personally most thankful for is the ability to read and write. I was thinking as I was reading the newsletter what a blessing it is to be able to share experiences even when we can’t actually participate by being present. We all have such busy lives and there’s a limit to how many things we can actually go to, even if we want to. But the next best thing to actually being in a place is to hear about it from someone who was there. Reading about it and seeing pictures let’s your imagination drift into the experience. Can you imagine what life would be like if there was nothing to read! We wouldn’t know about anything! As usual when I start thinking about things like this, my mind wanders into “space” and I wonder about the first words ever written, the first person to ever think about picking up a writing instrument and putting something down on paper. About the creation of language, the alphabet, grammar and spelling. Where and how did it all begin? Fast forward a few thousand years, and look around us today with so many forms of media used for communicating with each other. I have always loved to read and I’ve always enjoyed listening to stories, whether fact or fiction! Some of my earliest childhood memories are filled with wonderful times spent with my father, reading my sister and me nightly bedtime stories. No matter what kind of day it had been, he always made time for this special event, knowing how much we loved it. He would read a chapter or two each night, just enough to fill our heads with visions of different worlds, different lives, places, people, adventures, laughter, suspense. We would beg him to read longer each day, but part of the joy was drifting off to sleep, imagining being in that very place he had told us about in the midst of some adventure. Some of my favorites were stories of the American South – Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. We lived in such a different world – a large, bustling city with a large population, lots of roads, buildings and concrete!. Hearing about Tom and Huck, their simple lives spent outside fishin’ and misbehavin’, was such a thrill. Their adventures leading them through swamps filled with gators, snakes and all kinds of critters, not to mention suspicious sounding characters like “Injun Joe”. Canoes and camping. Fishing poles made of twigs and strings. Family gatherings with fried chicken and home baked apple pie. I think it is some kind of personal destiny that my path should bring me here to the place I dreamed about, and to find that it is just as awesome as I thought it would be. (Although I try to stay out of the way of the snakes and gators!). I love writing about experiences, but even more, I love reading about the experiences of other people, especially stories of travel and nature, as it adds to my own experience, giving me an idea of what it would be like to be in those places. I’ve recently discovered a wonderful new source, another on-line blog, and I’ve asked the author for permission to share some of the accounts on the St. George blog space. It is nature living at its finest, and takes me to places I wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to experience. I think you’ll see what I mean when you read it. Pictures too! I will end here with this note of thanks to God – for our brains, our imagination, and the gift of the written word. So keep writing and sharing all your stories. You never know what a blessing it might be to someone who may not be able to experience it otherwise.
