For such a time as this

September 27, 2018

For such a time as this

I've been thinking about so many things today.

I began my day with the memory of one of the harder moments in Mom's last days

when we were unable for a short while to ease what seemed to be fear or distress. In texting with some of my siblings, it seems that all or most of us have had many thoughts about our parents today.

It is seven weeks today since Mom left us.

It was a good day to have some time with my niece and her baby daughter.

We spoke of many things, including the deaths of our mothers, and what grief is like, as well as what it's like to become a mother and finding support as a first time mom.

I used her visit as inspiration to make some pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

Warning: the rest of this will be more political than usual.

When I get up in the morning, one of the first things I do is check in with the news.

I know, I know, I should be starting with uplifting and centering thoughts,

and actually, today I did do some Ignatian prayer,

but then the news.

The major news story today is whether the accusations against Brett Kavanaugh are serious enough to make him lose the nomination to the Supreme Court of our nation. The news includes a third person disclosing having been assaulted by Kavanaugh. The news also includes information that the Senate has not been given access to thousands of documents they need in order to make a judgement about confirming this nomination. There is also information about the nominee having lied under oath about his access to significant emails during two other previous confirmation hearings.

But it seems to be the stories of the women who are accusing him that will tip the balance. It all feels very very hard, and so much like the hearings of Clarence Thomas years ago.

I've been thinking about adding a weekly devotional to this blog as a writing discipline,

so this evening I checked the revised common lectionary.

The Old Testament reading this week is from the book of Esther.

Esther was initially a woman without power.

She lived in a time when women had little power.

She became queen when the previous queen was deposed for being brave enough to refuse to parade her beauty before a room full of drunken men. So there was a call for young beautiful women to come for a selection of the next queen. One would be chosen. The rest would become concubines in a giant royal harem.

Esther had to hide her ethnicity in order to compete, so she had even less power than the others.

Even after she became queen, she knew her power was minimal. Displeasing the king would be enough to cause her death.

But a powerful man needed to be stopped before his evil plans caused a genocide, so she spoke out.

She was believed.

Of course, the story ends with a bloody battle, but just for the moment, let's pause.

Let's take heart in the juxtaposition of the lectionary story of Esther being believed,

of her exposing and stopping a powerful man,

with what is happening now.

* * * *

The rest of this post will be the photos from today that I took during my evening walk. It was a beautiful evening after a good day. And especially with hard thoughts and hard news stories, immersing myself in nature somehow helps.

Fall grasses