Skip to main content

One- Minute Writer: Disappear

You may have noticed that I haven't posted much lately. I've been doing some extemporaneous (no notes) preaching. I've also had some other things going on as well in my life. I actually haven't been reading as much lately either and the absence of that is really starting to tug on me in some not-so-subtle ways. 

A friend of mine says, "Writers write." 

Truth. 

It can be very difficult, though, to jump back in because that first rusty post is like the first slow painful walk or run in the start of an exercise program. 

I thought I would go to the One-Minute Writer today for a prompt. Just writing for sixty seconds, or walking for 10 minutes, is a start. 

Today's prompt is a doozy: How would the world be different without you in it?

Here we go. 

I suppose the short answer is to look at this question from the point of view of if I hadn't been born. Thus, all other things being the same, my parents would have had three children. My sister would be an oldest child and the only girl. She would have also been the oldest grandchild on both sides of the family. I assume, via my theological knowledge of It's a Wonderful Life, [Time's up here] that there have been moments in my life that affected the outcomes of the lives of others, whether or not I know about them. 

What about if something happened to me? My children would not have me. My husband wouldn't. My friends, siblings, parents, community would be changed without my gifts. To be clear, it is not that my presence defines an of these people or situations, but my existence does give shape to many things around me. I have certainly struggled with darkness at times in my life. At this time, a relative bright time, I can see that my life is intrinsically entwined with many around me. A loss of one alters a community in a variety of ways, no matter how the loss occurs and especially when it is unexpected. 




Comments

rphinvt said…
"I can see that my life is intrinsically entwined with many around me. A loss of one alters a community in a variety of ways, no matter how the loss occurs and especially when it is unexpected." I just wanted to confirm that this was true for me when we moved from Vermont in mid-July. I had dozens of community members whom I barely knew come up to me with tears in their eyes saying how much they were going to miss me. I had thought I was pretty unconnected, but it turns out I was wrong. The lesson I learned is pretty much what you state in your blog: we are all connected, and the longer we stay in one place, the more connected we become.

Popular posts from this blog

Latibule

I like words and I recently discovered Save the Words , a website which allows you to adopt words that have faded from the English lexicon and are endanger of being dropped from the Oxford English Dictionary. When you adopt a word, you agree to use it in conversation and writing in an attempt to re-introduce said word back into regular usage. It is exactly as geeky as it sounds. And I love it. A latibule is a hiding place. Use it in a sentence, please. After my son goes to bed, I pull out the good chocolate from my latibule and have a "mommy moment". The perfect latibule was just behind the northwest corner of the barn, where one had a clear view during "Kick the Can". She tucked the movie stub into an old chocolate box, her latibule for sentimental souvenirs. I like the sound of latibule, though I think I would spend more time defining it and defending myself than actually using it. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure how often I use the ...

What is Best (Sermon)

Pentecost 15 (Year A)  Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9; Psalm 15; James 1:17-27;  Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 I recently read a novel set in a post-pandemic, apocalyptic world. In the book, people were working to re-establish pockets of society. A traveling symphony moved from town to town in caravans- performing music and works of Shakespeare. Early in their travels, they had tried other plays, but people only wanted to see Shakespearean works. One of the symphony members commented on the desire for Shakespeare, "People want what was best about the world." As I read and since I finished the book, I kept thinking about that phrase.  People want what was best about the world. People want what was best about the world. That is true even when we’re not in a cataclysmic re-working of what we’ve always known. The very idea of nostalgia, of longing for what once was, is about wanting what was best about the world or what seemed like the best to us. One of the massive tension...

Would I Do?

Palm Sunday Mark 11:1-11 One of my core memories is of a parishioner who said, "I don't think I would have been as brave as the three in the fiery furnace. I think I would have just bowed to the king. I would have bowed and known in my heart that I still loved God. I admire them, but I can tell the truth that I wouldn't have done it." (Daniel 3) To me, this man's honesty was just as brave. In front of his fellow Christians, in front of his pastor, he owned up to his own facts: he did not believe he would have had the courage to resist the pressures of the king. He would have rather continued to live, being faithful in secret, than risk dying painfully and prematurely for open obedience to God.  I can respect that kind of truth-telling. None of us want to be weighed in the balance and found wanting. For some of us, that's our greatest fear. The truth is, however, that I suspect most of us are not as brave as we think we are. The right side of history seems cle...