Faith, Folklore, and Friends

It's here. After a long, nasty winter, spring has arrived, just like we knew it would if we could survive to see it. We did, and I am thankful. Winter is reluctant to give up her power, and lurks in shadows and in the shade of newborn leaves, waiting to take over again. It may have a few weak comebacks, during the time we call dogwood winter and blackberry winter, but they are pitiful, dying gasps to regain what once was. Winter, you are so yesterday! See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in the land. Song of Songs 2:11-12 NIV

I was hungry and you formed a humanities club to discuss my hunger. Thank You. I was imprisoned and you crept off quietly to your chapel to pray for my release. Nice. I was naked and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance. What good did that do? I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health. But I needed you. I was homeless and you preached to me of the shelter of the love of God. I wish you'd taken me home. I was lonely and you left me alone to pray for me. Why didn't you stay? You seem so holy, so close to God; but I'm still very hungry, lonely, cold, and still in pain. Does it matter? -----Anonymous Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

I know you have heard them. They are widespread in Alabama and the rest of the southern states. They sing from treetops, power lines, and rooftops. The mockingbird's scientific name is Mimus ployglottos, which means 'many-tongued mimic'. The naturalist John Borroughs called it "the lark and the nightingale in one". The mockingbird can imitate other birds' song so accurately that only electronic analysis can detect the difference. They can have hundreds of songs or noises that they imitate, in addition to songs of their own. They have been heard imitating gate hinges, dogs barking, whistles, calls of frogs and insects in addition to various bird songs. It is rather plain-looking, this mockingbird, this most remarkable songbird. Perhaps he mimics the songs of other to make up for the fact that he is plain, gray and white with no splashes of blue, yellow, or deep red to brighten the landscape. Maybe he just doesn't like his own song, thinking it inadequate wh...

Get ready. A hush is over everything Silent as women wait for love; The world is waiting for the spring. Sara Teasdale

There comes a time when we must rest. Physically, we have no problem understanding this. Surely, we have all been to the place where the effort of putting one foot in front of the other seemed impossible, when we fall asleep as soon as we sit down. So tired that we can feel every bone with their individual aches. Rest is the only thing that will help us, restore us. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done. Genesis 2:2-3. Emotionally, it's a little harder. The things that drain us emotionally--stress related to family, finances, whatever--is not so easily shut off, lingering with us during what should be our restful times. What should I do? How can I manage that? Will I ever get this done? These questions and others torment us even during our sleep. Come to me, all you who are weary and bu...