The Spirit Rumble with Home Cooked Dining....
“When love takes you by the hand and leaves you better,
that is home.
That's the place to stake your claim and build your life.”
It has been quite the dry stretch from writing but for the past two days words have been flying through my head so fast I find I can hardly speak in coherent sentences....that's how many of us introverts handle the world---words flying in our head, bombarding, emotional overload--some days, i think it would be nice to be one of those thinking out loud kind of people and vomit all over who ever the hell it is that is sitting around me--but that rarely ever happens for me.
Yesterday...was a combination of memory lane, home cooked dining and wonderment.
The church I have joined---yes you heard me right---I have agreed to give God and humanity one more chance
to prove that I'm not crazy to believe that
there is more goodness in the world than bad
that us humans--we were meant to share in life
and somehow all of our sharing , our grinding, our being
it leads us to fuller versions of our authentic self
and that I'm crazy enough to believe we can prove
that
in the end
after a long hard day
after a shower has been had and you sit down on the couch with the dishwasher rumbling...
in the end
just as darkness is saying goodnight to the sun....
LOVE WINS...
so long story shorter...
I joined a church
and
that will be a topic for another day.
Yesterday Big Daddy and I loaded up the green alien
with chairs,
his macaroni and cheese and baked beans and
one of those big ass jars of pickled peppers
and
we drove to what the pastor called
"church out of the box"--
Big Daddy and I arrived
marriage still intact after
him riding for a few miles with me
I think underneath his breath I did hear him
say
"thank you Jesus" after I'd just hit that last speed bump going way too fast....
when we finally pulled up to the shelter and the emergency brake of the car was pulled I immediately felt his tension go down.
I don't know why...
We only suffered one wrong turn, a U-turn, an almost missed exit that caused the pickled peppers to fall over into
Big Daddy's baked beans--which caused me to have to pull over on the side of the interstate while Big Daddy
fixed his baked bean creation and dropped the "f" bomb.
(I also add--I get why he was upset--because I had actually sat on the couch and watched him prepare
his food...
and I swear
Big daddy should have been a chef
cause when I watch him cook
it's like watching
his greatest joy meet the world right where it is hungry---
he cooks and moves and
"pitter pats around"
smoothing things with spoons
and
smelling and tasting
...
watching him cook is like a taste of pure joy...so i get why the pickled peppers in the beans
upset his mood.
Anyway...
we got there
almost everything as we left home with
and
safe--all limbs still intact...
and
I did what I do best
I stood back
and
I watched...
and
in a field of dreams
kind of moment
"they came"
....
first people sweeping and setting up a microphone and piano
hymnals and xerox copies
people sweeping up
others sponging tables
all in preparation of guests and friends and family
....
the tablecloths were spread
and
people
they started coming
in a steady stream
and in a
moment
that could have been from a
Dr. Seuss book
they each brought their
best
kind of dish
and
placed it
on the communal table
in preparation
of
a feast of all feasts.....
we sang and laughed
and
ate and ate and ate
but
the wonder of the day
for me
was
just standing still
moving my eyes
smelling with my nose
experiencing something
so much bigger
that a little bit of home cooked food....
HERE
underneath a shelter
people--they converged--gathered if you will
We'd all come from different roadways, pathways, and highways
that
all converged
at
a feasting table
spread at a local campground
underneath the canopy usually the home to an array of birds
...
and
they came
carrying spoons and aluminum covered pans
crock pots and fried chicken
and deserts
of all shapes and sizes
....
prepared by hands
that had worked
and
loved
and
nursed
...
all
converging
all placing their love
offering
on the common table
to be shared
....
I watched hands
watched feet walk
heard voices with different accents
saw colors
felt the wind
heard the birds sing
saw a butterfly
fly to the beat of the hymn we sang
and
I felt
it
under my feet
heard it
in my head
felt the tiny electric
spirit bumps rise
on my arms
and
felt tears
well up in my eyes...
and
as they sang
the old hymn
:when the roll"
I felt for a brief moment
like for a slight moment
in this day
with sunlight on my back
and cold air hitting my face
like
I'd journeyed back
I closed my eyes
and
there sitting beside me was
my fatma (my great grandmother)
and
I could hear her voice join in
crackled and off key
and
I felt myself
smile...realizing that somekind of way
I guess
someway
somehow
there are parts of us that live forever
...
I watched some more and
I wondered...
how long
had this
"thing" we church folks
call God
been trying to nudge us all together
wondered
"what" this "thing"
was about to do with us all
had a vision
of
our little roads
all twisted and turning
overgrown and bumpy
all converging
all coming to this one
time
at this one place in this one moment and it was almost so big I had to step back and take a breath
for
just for a moment
I felt like Moses
standing in front of the burning bush
with such holiness present
I could barely breathe
I could barely breathe
there was me
underneath
God's canopy...
and
home cooked food
hands sampling the taste the spice of anothers world
and
it hit me
I was home
and I pulled up a plate
went straight to the
desert table
and
had myself
a
slice of six layer rainbow colored
pick pickin' cake (look it up--I had to!)
and
I sat down
and stopped watching
and started eating
and
the Spirit
she continued to blow on through...and I still get
those electric bumps
just thinkin'
about how all of it happened....
but it sure is nice
to be
Loved
and
HOME.
Happy Monday to all of you......
Be a great day!
the radical rambler.....
posted by pleemiller @ 5:51 AM
3 Comments
