Personal notes bring legacy of love
I've been working on a small publishing project (Shhh…it's a surprise). My illustrious illustrator and designated designer (this is getting out of hand) told me I needed to write some engaging text for the back of the . . . um . . . thing. That was weeks ago. No engaging text emerged.
Feeling desperate, I wrote a large handful of friends and asked them if they would write a sentence or phrase that said something nice about me (blush) or my writing. I warned them that this was dicey; they might say something terrific, and then find it on the back of a terrible work that they hated. No, I didn't want them to look at the work first. It is a surprise.
In the ensuing 48 hours, my inbox filled with words and phrases that left me gobstoppingly thunderstruck. I wandered about aimlessly with a bemused smile flitting across my face. It reminded me of a story that I read years ago: A school teacher had asked her students to write something that they liked about each person in the class. She then compiled the responses and gave each child a page with what the others had written about them.
The kids grew up. One went to war and came back dead. In his wallet they found a tattered, folded and refolded piece of paper, with what his classmates had written about him. They read it at his funeral. After the service, several people gathered who had also been students in that longago classroom. They also still had their lists. They talked about where they kept them and how they'd been impacted by the project.
I derive three things from this:
1) You are loved. I have attended a funeral where the love was so thick that it felt like we were walking through Jello. Never forget that you are loved, I said to myself.
2) Ask your friends for help. My second son once told me that he was developing a theory that those who have helped you, like you better than than those you have helped. That's because it really is more blessed to give than receive. Give your friends the opportunity to help you.
3) We may have here the antidote to all the nasty words and phrases that litter social media and clog the airwaves, polluting the space between us so that we scarcely can dare to breath. Maybe in our families, small groups, work, and play, we ought to occasionally make lists for each other. Here are some things we like about you…
On the air
A new program is in the works for KSCO. “Breakthrough Now” will discuss people's emotional needs from a biblical perspective. Growing out of the Healing Teams ministry at Santa Cruz Convergence, the program will focus on topics such as anger, fear, stress, mind control, abuse and codependence.
Karen Barton, the Healing Teams director, produced a local television show, Reality Church
LIVE for 15 years. There she met with many different people engaged in a variety of Christian Ministries. She is now focused on developing a radio program, which she hopes will be a stepping stone toward another idea. Breakthrough Women's Housing Ministry is a vision of a safe place for women, that have been taken out of commercial sex and human trafficking, to grow into healing and wholeness.
The Breakthrough Now radio program, will encourage discussion of specific healing needs and victories in the light of the scriptures. By actively networking with other ministries for follow-up and alternative places to find help, the program will enrich the foundation of knowledge, discernment, and hope, both for individuals and for the community at large.
If you are interested in sponsoring a radio show or helping with this ministry in other ways, contact Karen Barton, warrior12@sbcglobal.net. You also can book a half hour for prayer with a Healing Team at the Convergence Ministry Hub. For information, visit HealingTeams.org.
Meanwhile
Receiving a plethora of loving complements is both humbling and encouraging at the same time. How can I possibly choose between them or edit them down to what might fit on a very small project? What if it doesn't live up to these high expectations?
Oh! Obviously it won't, doesn't, can't. Love will fill the cracks. Faith. Forward Ho.
“Gonna try with a little help from my friends.”
— Billy Sears
“In the Spirit” runs once a month in the Sentinel. Contact Aptos resident Alliee DeArmond at adbooks@aol.com.