Sunday, May 26, 2013

Ponderings #46

Dear fellow travelers,
  Thank you again, again for being on this journey called life with me.
 
   I may never know what my true purpose is,  I do my day to day tasks. and then every now and then, something happens, to cause me to really think how life has unfolded and unfolds in unexpected ways beyond my sometimes limited concepts.  How life is this magnificent tapestry, and I haven't been able to fly above this magnificent work of art to view the design from the top,  because  my vantage point has been seeing  just a small section from underneath.  But we are all part of this design, all interwoven.  and maybe someday we will see the entire design.
 
  I heard this true story the other day, it really touched me,    and since it is Memorial Day Weekend,  I felt it appropriate to share it.
 
  I have this very special friend,  who may never realize how special he is.  During his teenage years, he being white, in a very Southern South, befriended a black boy who became his best friend in  Ku Klux Klan country. This obviously was before desegregation.  in the early 60ths. Because of his relationship with this best friend. He was hooded and beaten severely by the Klan.   I wont go into all the details, but he did miraculously survive. 
And he never gave up his friendship with his best friend.  He had the strength and courage to refuse!!  He followed his heart.
Graduation from high school came and he graduated from his white school and his friend graduated from his black school,  the two schools did not mix!
Both were drafted at the same time for Viet Nam. 
His friend passed his physical and was deployed.
My friend did not pass his physical.
 
His friend was killed in Viet Nam. 
What happened from this act of valor to me was the purpose for his life.
He was the first black boy, or white boy,  to be killed in Viet Nam from this town.
The white Baptist church, set aside its prejudice and opened its doors for the closed casket funeral,  to standing room only.
The store owners stopped serving, who they knew to be in  the Klan, and the Klan lost its force. 
Thru this chain of events,  this town became desegregated. 
 
 The country also thru changes in its laws and Martin Luther King  began   desegregation and integration  happened.
 
My friend to me is one of extraordinary courage,  he stood his ground, stating "both of us had red blood".  He didn't cave, or renounce his friendship, when he could have easily done so.  He is a hero.  Strong, with a great sense of purpose to do what he knew for him was right.
 
Both are hero's  to me.
 
Have a wonderful  Memorial Day
Please, remember all who serve and all of those who gave of their lives in doing so.
 
How well do we stand our ground in the face of adversity?
 
Just pondering on doing what I feel is right.
 
Rev Linda Patton  ENTC
 

 

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Ponderings #44


Dear fellow travelers,

Happy spring in the North East!!   and to you,  I'm happy to have you as a fellow traveler.  I received many comments from my last Ponderings on heaven.  Very interesting concepts you have.  All good!!

I was also very happy last year when I settled down and wrote out a list of things I had been gifted.  It seemed to grow and grow the more I thought.  Things to be totally appreciative and grateful for.  I admit, sometimes things I just took for granted.
I need not ever to take these things for granted.  Be grateful for everything.
Things like an entire paid for weekend in NY with a friend, dinner paid for by friends, a great partially paid for trip to Mexico by and with a friend,  and on and on it went.   I still have that list.

Currently I just made a new one, and again the more I thought the longer it became.
Some but not all items on my current list are----
Being one of two speakers at a conference last month,  the on going
complimentary tickets plus my own free admission to an area theater in exchange for an hour of saying hello to people attending.  Numerous free art activities in exchange for my docketing at an art museum. Friends gifting me a container of Irises for the yard.  A friend who is using a picture that I had painted of her cat for the cover of her book that she is publishing.  Dinner at my daughters for Mothers day.  On and on it goes.  And how can I not include the friend who I was to take to lunch for her birthday and because of timing, she ended up serving me lunch instead!!!
The fab yoga instructor who always serves ginger tea and figs after yoga.
And the friend whose goodwill bag I intercepted and because of her great style ended up with many new to me items--OK I really didn't need them but---
The prayer beads given to me by a very special man.
The friend who paid for a live streaming conference and invited me and others to view it.---  On and on it goes.  And so grateful I am!!!!

It is a reciprocal world.  Giving comes back in many forms,  and sometimes not in the way we would expect it.   Be grateful and give and give,  and always be open to receive.

Just pondering on gifts and gratitude,

Rev Linda Patton  ENTC