Yesterday, my friend Susan and I loaded up my purple walker and headed out to join over a thousand other Weight Watcher members for a 5K walk. It was a beautiful morning, a bit humid perhaps, moisture left over from a night of thunderstorms. I LOVE the air after a thunderstorm, clean and charged with all of those wonderful ions. Refreshing, energizing. We headed out early, so I could find a close in parking space. Susan's husband thought that was ridiculous seeing as we were going there to walk. But, he has no idea how I suffer, so I forgive him! I managed to walk almost a mile I think, my friend did the whole 5K. I am so proud of her!
I am proud of me too. No one expects me to participate in these things. If you know me, you know that I am only able to stand or walk for a few minutes without my pain level rising to excruciating heights. But, as I explained to someone yesterday, even though it required extra medication, and I would need to rest today, doing these things is the difference in living life on my own terms or allowing life to live me. I choose to live life to the best of my ability, planning for these days when I expend everything I have to do something out of the ordinary.Something that would be merely ordinary for someone else.
So, as I was resting yesterday afternoon with my legs up, listening to my son watch the Nascar Nationwide race, all of my problems became small as we watched the weather in our region turn severe. The death and destruction took place a couple of hours south of us. I waited to hear if my friends there were safe-they are-but so many lost their lives to the sudden chaos that is a tornado.
Tornadoes are one of the things you fear living here in the Midwest. They happen mostly in the spring and early summer. Although they can happen anytime of year. The tornadoes that I was chasing the morning I broke my back were on December 2. The tornado that touched my neighborhood last year while we were off vacationing to our heart's content was in September. Tornadoes strike fear into your heart no matter when or where you are. As well it should.
You don't see a black banner headline on the newspaper very often. It takes a major catastrophe, and the pictures of our neighbors to the south are frightening and sobering. There but for the grace of God kinds of pictures. Look, isn't that mound of rubble the restaurant where we had lunch with our friend? kind of pictures. And we shake our heads, wondering, why?
Why did so many people who were doing noting more than minding their own business, just coming home from church, or even sitting in a hospital room with their grandmother. Why did they have lose their homes, their friends or neighbors, or family members? There are no answers to the questions. Why them and not me? Why me and not them? No answers.
In the sacred Literature of the Hebrew Scriptures God says ..
So, as I was resting yesterday afternoon with my legs up, listening to my son watch the Nascar Nationwide race, all of my problems became small as we watched the weather in our region turn severe. The death and destruction took place a couple of hours south of us. I waited to hear if my friends there were safe-they are-but so many lost their lives to the sudden chaos that is a tornado.
Tornadoes are one of the things you fear living here in the Midwest. They happen mostly in the spring and early summer. Although they can happen anytime of year. The tornadoes that I was chasing the morning I broke my back were on December 2. The tornado that touched my neighborhood last year while we were off vacationing to our heart's content was in September. Tornadoes strike fear into your heart no matter when or where you are. As well it should.
You don't see a black banner headline on the newspaper very often. It takes a major catastrophe, and the pictures of our neighbors to the south are frightening and sobering. There but for the grace of God kinds of pictures. Look, isn't that mound of rubble the restaurant where we had lunch with our friend? kind of pictures. And we shake our heads, wondering, why?
Why did so many people who were doing noting more than minding their own business, just coming home from church, or even sitting in a hospital room with their grandmother. Why did they have lose their homes, their friends or neighbors, or family members? There are no answers to the questions. Why them and not me? Why me and not them? No answers.
In the sacred Literature of the Hebrew Scriptures God says ..
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.
So, not knowing why, we thank our Creator for creating order and chaos, and for knowing why it has to be this way. It has been told in ages past that all Power is supposed to be in balance and harmony. That there are two kinds of Power-one is the power of order, peace, serenity, contemplation, happiness and security;it's counterpart is the power of chaos,war, creativity, lust, ambition, and desire and that sometimes one Power is in ascendancy over another, until the balance is tipped.I do not know.
I think about these kinds of things constantly, but I do not know the answers. I know what I believe, I do not need anyone else to believe what I believe. All people believe things that someone else would consider crazy. So there it is, here we are, another Monday...
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