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Cloudy Windows
My windows are covered with salt spray, especially those that look on the ocean. When I peer out, what I see is clouded and spotted, distorted by the deposits made in each tiny drop. My life is sometimes like that. I am distracted by tiny ‘things’ that leave their mark on my vision, distorting […]
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We’re Not an Island
When I drive over the bridge to the mainland, I am reminded that island life makes it easy to see ourselves as separate, remote from the “mainland of humanity”. Sometimes it’s tempting to make the bridge an ideological divide and not a way of joining land to land. Forgive me my arrogance in thinking I […]
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Sharing the Island
I began my walk this morning when a neighbor waved to me. She is going through a very difficult time; she confessed that her life seems without value and meaning. As we walked and talked, I could feel her despair and pain. It would be wonderful to think my words or my company “cured” […]
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Salt Spray
An eastern wind blew against my face as I walked on the beach today. My glasses quickly covered with salt spray and I couldn’t see the markers that usually determine the length of my walk. I was cold and huddled inside my jacket, trying to draw breath against the wind. And all the time […]
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Crushed Shells
During this afternoon’s beach walk, I noticed footprints that attempted to crush each intact shell in their path. Remnants of shattered shells lay in the pattern this person had left behind. I wondered by someone would knowingly crush the whole shells, but then realized sometimes I do the same thing. I see people’s success or […]
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Sharing
A new house is being built on the lot beside me. The men work and call to one another, play their loud music, and operate their noisy machines. I miss the peace and quiet I once knew, and feel cranky at the intrusion. Then I realize I share this world and this island. Perhaps in […]
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God’s Constancy
When I stood on the deck this morning, I heard a pinecone fall from the tree and thud against the deck floor. I was startled at first, but them pleased too. As I go about my daily affairs, you dear Father, continue to operate the world around me, timing the release of seeds in […]
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Soft Rain
This morning the fog dripped from the leaves of the pines, making soft sounds against the sand. Sometimes when we need rain badly, I wait for thunderclouds and torrents of water. Yet, this gentle fog serves the same purpose. Quietly, softly, it provides moisture to the dry island sand, refreshing my limp flowers, renewing […]
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Broken Starfish
Today I found three wounded starfish on the beach, each missing a leg. They were touching one another. I couldn’t determine if they had been one another’s victims or were tending to the pain of one another. In either case, I was reminded that too often I mean to care for people but inadvertently end […]
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Cry of Gulls
This morning I went to visit a friend and heard the gulls crying near her porch, wheeling and shrieking with their loud, raucous laughter. “They’re upset,” I said. “No, they’re in love,” she responded. I felt foolish, but then realized how often I mistake the actions of others. I assume because they appear happy, they […]