Need Sunshine!

We have had day after day of fog and grayness. The snow is all gone due to days of above-freezing temps, but it still feels cold due to LACK OF SUN. Need some sunshine to sparkle up the world a bit. Have I mentioned that I'm tired of winter??

I was up and out fairly early this morning, walking at the Rec. Center with two of my retired friends. I only did a mile. Have to build back up from my slacking off for the holidays. Am still getting over some congestion from a cold/sinus deal I picked up at Christmas, so I was hoping I wouldn't be totally out of breath. I wasn't! (THIS time.)

I went to a different church service yesterday than I normally attend. The 11:00 AM service at my church changed a couple of years ago to a come-as-you-are "praise" service with guitars and drums and piano, and contemporary Christian music. I mean, I like that stuff, but I don't know the songs. (Being old, I am a bit more of a traditionalist, as you might guess, so I go to the earlier services.) And...I hate to say it...but the songs go on and on. They keep repeating verses and choruses. Good stuff, but not my style. I stayed for that service after Sunday School because I had put a prayer blanket on the Communion rail for my friends who are going through a tough time right now, and I realized that I would have to collect it after the service and deliver it to the people for whom it was intended.

The folks who were to receive the prayer blanket are pretty special. Bill was the school principal that hired me on at Hall Elementary way back when, as I realized that I would soon be getting a divorce--a new resident of Indiana with no idea where to go or how to support myself and my daughter. (Bill didn't know any of this at the time.) After I moved on to the high school in that district, I became friends with Bill's son Jeff who taught auto shop, and Jeff's wife Wilma who was an office secretary. Jeff and Wilma's jobs were RIFed a few years back, so they went on to other things. A couple of years ago, after my brain aneurysm deal, Bill (who has been retired for years and now lives just down the road from me...and attends my church) stopped in to see me. I thanked him then...and will be forever grateful to him for giving me that job! Jeff had a stroke a few months ago and has given up driving. Wilma just recently had a massive heart attack and has been in a coma for weeks. She will be removed from life support shortly. Bill and his wife have been transporting Jeff to the hospital and, I'm sure, are worried about him. When one person in a family is deathly ill, the whole family is sick.

This is getting complicated to explain. Suffice it to say that I wanted to do SOMETHING to support these people in a tough time, so I ordered a prayer blanket at church. The blanket is a small fleecy/flannel sort of thing, embroidered with the name of the recipient(s) and a Bible verse. The prayer request is pinned to it, and congregants are invited to come up and pray on it. Then it is delivered. Judy and Phil Heffelman did one for me for my aneurysm. It has provided no end of comfort. At the end of the service, Bill--who had ushered that day--was still there, so I decided to give it to him then. We were alone in the pews when I said, "I wanted you to have this because you will need the comfort of prayer. Wilma is in God's hands, but you still have Jeff..." God bless him, Bill broke down. He puts on a brave face, but in that moment, he and I both knew what an awful trial this has been for him and his wife. We hugged. No words were needed. In retrospect, I had been somewhat worried about how the blanket would be received, not knowing what Wilma's status would be when the blanket actually made it to the service. As it turned out, the timing was perfect, and it made my heart feel good that Bill and Martha Fisher could receive the prayers of their church in a very tough time.

I know, I know...I get emotional over this stuff...but I'm at a time in my life when I understand pain and loss. If I can do one little thing that will help someone else feel better, then my own pain is diminished. I keep working at it!