"Kindness" poem

KINDNESS
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness...

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread
only kindness that raised its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

~ Naomi Shihab Nye

Quotable Quotes: Ulysses

"I am part of all that I have met."

~Tennyson

I saw what I saw...and I can't forget it

There is a song that has been on repeat in my car for days now. It accurately describes my feelings these days. The artist is a young woman by the name of Sara Groves.

I have seen the ugliness of humanity - the effects of civil war, displaced people groups due to corruption or natural disaster, death and dying, abandonment, exploitation, violence, isolation, insatiable greed, destructive arrogance, struggle and oppression.

I have also seen the beauty of humanity - deep relationship, abounding kindness, love and generosity, unwaivering hope, joy in spite of circumstance, peace that surpasses understanding, inspiring compassion and undying faith.

These experiences changed my life. Along the road, they changed me. I don't know what I left behind that is of value, but I hope to pass on what I have learned from those I met on the road.



just Sheri, witness to humanity

Surprise...a familiar face.

Sunday morning Kenyon and I walked in to the church we have been visiting. It seemed like a typical Sunday morning. Then what do I see on stage? It was Pastor Reggie. He was our pastor when we were living in Boone, NC.

He had his mom with him. She had served us Thanksgiving dinner our first year in North Carolina. She came over after service and gave us the friendliest greeting. It was good to see a familiar face in our neck of the woods.

I was once again reminded that it is a small world after all.

Pastor Reggie was on fire and his message fit perfectly in to the sermons that had been delivered recently by the Senior Pastor of the church we are attending. I thought I might share a bit of that here...

There are two timelines:

Chronos: that is chronological time, you are born on a certain date, then month-by-month and year-by-year things happen to us. We are all very familiar with this timeline, but it is not the ONLY timeline in life.

Kairos: divine appointments orchestrated by God for a divine purpose.

Pastor Reggie said, "The purpose God created for you, kairos, is greater than the chronos timeline of your life." 

How do we get there? 

One word...SURRENDER.

We surrender by enduring the interruption of our plans, dealing with root issues, and waiting on the Lord.

These are all things I am struggling with presently. It was a timely message for our church. It was a timely message for me. My kairos timeline isn't finished, there are things happening that I cannot see. I will hold to that truth in this time of uncertainty.

just Sheri, the grateful recipient of a surprise visitor

bits of my weekend: visitor from Brazil

I think I am really going to like being so close to our nations capital. We are in close proximity to so much beauty - cherry blossoms and the Lincoln Memorial as well as other national monuments.

The other reason this is a good location...lots of folks pass through for work purposes. This weekend was one such example. Vanessa was in town from Brazil for meetings at the World Bank. We got together on Saturday to catch up as it had been a few years since we'd been in the same place at the same time.

I picked her up at a metro stop and we went to a little town on the Potomac river for breakfast. We ate, we talked, we talked, and we talked some more. We talked until the lunch crowd showed up and I started to worry that the restaurant would need the table we were occupying. When I brought this up, Vanessa pointed out to me that this was an American cultural norm. In Brazil, we could occupy a table all day and no one would care. In America, people will start to get upset because they are thinking about their revenue and turning over tables is important to reaching that goal. Since we are in America we decided to walk up the street and occupy a table at the coffee shop that wasn't so busy.

What did you do this weekend?

just Sheri, realizing perks of our new location