Mary's Heartbeats

  Walking in the morning desert heat, the wind is warm and subtle.  I have adopted my friend's naming of the wind as the "heavenly breeze."  We often use this phrase when we have panted and sweated during our hike up the mountain and then are refreshed as we are greeted with cool brisk air as we descend.  But this morning, it's only warm breath that I feel as I walk along the winding path . . . It's been a good road trip for us as we traveled to Arizona to be with family.  I am really not a fan to go to desert lands in the middle of July, but even with the heat, I realized the beauty of  this area.  The horizons were endless before us, with wide skies in which clouds always took up space in just the right places.  Hovering over mountain tops, the clouds brought dimension and humidity.  The night skies lit up with jagged lightening spikes and roared with thunder.  Rain came in a few large splats and poured in other distinct and very limit...

  There's a pattern over and over again in the history books of the Old Testament.  It goes something like this, the king did evil in the sight of the Lord, in which he made the people sin, and provoked God to anger with their idols, (I Kings 16: 13).  God is not human, and we are limited in our language to truly describe an Infinite Invisible Being.  We use our human terms to describe outcomes or actions that are visible to us.  The people viewed their King as their protector and advocate.  If it went well with the King, it was well for them, even if the King veered from the teachings of their heritage, i.e. the Law of Moses.  It seemed as if there was no real discernment on their part, but rather a complicity of going along with majority thought or rule.  I could be wrong, but the phrase that the King made the people sin, makes me wonder.  After all, isn't there personal choice with our decisions?  Are we any different today, on this ...

  I start out my walk this morning with Gypsy Rose, deep in my thoughts.  I am wondering about ancient days, times that in some ways seem so surreal, especially as I look around at our paved roads, sidewalks, and grassy lawns with magnolia and myrtle trees in bloom.  I admit it is hard to imagine the time of 913 BC to about 873 BC, as I hear cars whizzing up and down the main streets.  My question stuck in my mind, is how did King Asa know how to follow God? I reflect on my past reading of 1st and 2nd Samuel, along with almost the whole book of 1st Kings.  It hasn't gone well for the tiny nation of Israel, even from the beginning with their first King, Saul.  Yes, King  David did bring a willing heart to execute justice and to follow after God with his whole heart, but he brought a lot of baggage and drama into the mix too.  His son, King Solomon ushered in the golden age for Israel when they had unbelievable prosperity and peace.  But his re...

Starting out up towards Bear Flats, we were met with 4 very curious and friendly dogs.  A husky was the largest in the group, along with 3 other hound like dogs, one even like a Rottweiler mixed puppy.  I was immediately reminded of my Goldyn.  One dog seemed to be the oldest of the bunch, with a peppered gray and black coat.  Just one had a name tag, the others with collars but no tags.  I thought that they would greet us and then leave us as we left the paved road and began our descent up the mountain.  But no, they seemed as eager and determined as us to go on a hike.  My hiking buddy and I mused about them, she at first reluctant to let them follow us, but we both figured that sooner or later they would tire, and would go on home.  But not . . . Seven and a half miles later, those dogs had become our best friends!  They never left us, and in fact paved the way up the trail.  The husky definitely took the leadership role, and always w...