My Take
DiVoran Lites
As I write, my soup heats on the stove. A banner blows from the porch over bright red poinsettias in sunshine. A shiny whirly-gig spins on the back fence. Red tallow tree leaves flutter in the breeze. I’ve had two days of being down with a cold, but today I’m feeling myself again and everything looks better and brighter.
I just had a rest listening to Dino’s incredible piano hymns on my new Pandora radio station coming from Bill’s iPhone. The cat lay on my chest purring the whole time.
Before that Bill and I cleaned house so it would be fur-free when, tomorrow, one of our grown children’s friends brings his family for a rare visit. They live in the Atlanta area and we live in Florida, so we don’t see them often, but we do talk on the phone.
Bill vacuumed and I dusted. It was cool on the porch, but not too cold to water the plants and run a dust rag over the shelf where we keep them. Oh, yes, some hot-pink Christmas cactus is in bloom there, too. I filled the birdbath and the painted buntings came to bathe, to drink, and to eat the seed Bill put out for them.
As I was lying down to rest, just before the cat got comfortable, while the music was playing softly, Bill brought in a vintage book he’s reading: Strange Scriptures. It was written by a missionary by the name of Barbara M. Bowen who lived in Palestine and published her book with Wm. B. Eerdman in 1945. It explains many of the things we read in the Bible by telling how the people of Bible lands have lived since the days of Abraham.
He read about coals of fire, Romans 12:20. Mrs. Bowen explained that where she and her husband lived people kept a brazier of fire going in their homes at all times. If the coals went out they sent someone to a neighbor’s house for fresh ones. If the neighbor was loving and generous she filled the container for the coals full and it was carried on the head back to the fireless home. Paul said that if we give our enemies food and drink, we are heaping coals of fire on their heads. In that day and time it meant to forgive fully and generously. Such love and forgiveness can only be experienced through the Spirit of God and those who love and trust Him.
It had been one year since Bill’s heart attack. As he read to me, he had his ball cap on, ready to run an errand. My bed was the right mix of firm and soft. The house was neither too warm nor too cold. Our work was done, our house was clean. The radio played softly, “It is Well with My Soul,” and it truly was well with our souls. Sometimes such moments arrive and we treasure them fleetingly. I wanted to share this one with you and wish you a New Year full of them.
Old Things R New 