Mary's Heartbeats

Hungry and very ready for lunch, yet knowing it was time to pray, Peter went up to the housetop to do so.  Being a devout Jew, he continued his habit of prayer three times daily, even though he now pursued his faith by being a follower of Jesus, his risen Lord.  He fell into a strange dream, one in which the sky opened and a great sheet unrolled before him.  Creatures of all kinds,animals,reptiles, and birds appeared upon this backdrop. Then to his horror, a voice told Peter, "Get up, kill and eat!"  Peter responds "No way Lord! I have never eaten anything unholy or unclean!"  Don't you know Lord, I am a good Jew?  But the voice gave a puzzling answer, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy,"(Acts 10:15).  As if once was not enough, this dream repeated itself three times, and Peter awoke perplexed, and probably without his appetite. . .  Revival is coming to our church or at least three special services are being held for such....

"Oh death, where is your sting?" I am awakened with the music and the lyrical phrase in my head.  Yes, death stings, wounds and pains me.  It always will.  It's never right, it goes against the very fact of life.  It seems to creep in upon you and often unrighteously snatches away the innocent, the one least expecting it.  It leaves us behind in sorrow and with a host of unanswered, unexplainable questions.  The obvious question is why?  Why death, why now, why them? The answers never really satisfy, no matter how we attempt to provide rational consolation.  My dear friend has just found out her baby of 9 weeks no longer has a heartbeat, so she awaits the miscarriage.  Only guesses and conjecture give reason for the cause, it comes down to accepting the pregnancy wasn't made to be viable from the start and this is nature's way of halting life.  Perhaps all that is true, but the sting wounds deep . . . Thumbing through old photo b...

Sliding open the backyard door, I am greeted with such strange silence. The plants and trees still host the birds, the lizards, and the squirrels, but the one who patrolled it is only in my mind. His evidence is all around me, as I work my way around the yard, completing my watering chore.  I find his favorite shade spots he often hid in just to avoid the daytime heat.  I know exactly where he buried that lamb chop bone to enjoy at a later date, and the ba re faced tennis balls are stuck along the edge of the patio deck. The pool is calm, no ripples from a wading, thirsty dog. Even the stucco on our home is dry with brown faded streaks from the numerous times he used it as a wringer for his coat. No barks are heard for the Friday garbage collectors or for the dog at the corner fence. My Goldilocks has been laid to rest. My loyal and loving Rottie mix is gone after almost 12 years of family life with us.  I don't know what it is about dogs that have always capt...