It has been a peaceful, enriching and blessed time for me.
They moved here in June as Miranda began a new position as a supervisor in the park service. Audrey is now a high school math teacher and they are beginning a new chapter in their life. This week has been time off for Audrey who is in a year round school and Miranda took time off so that we could explore this area together.
I will go away with so many wonderful memories of the places we have gone. I have learned a LOT about the southwest and how much more there is to learn.
* Sunday we went to the Desert Museum which was a great beginning to the week. I learned about cactus, rocks, water, fish, bird, creatures that live in the desert. They even had a Labyrinth.
*Tuesday we took a trip to Tombstone which was so much fun and still very educational. We prepared for it by watching the movie Monday night so we had the story down of the hero's and the villains. In Tombstone we saw two gunfight reenactments (one comedy and one "historical") took a tour and had a good and entertaining time at "Big Nose Kate's" saloon. I learned more than the movie showed - about the trial that followed the killings, about the terrible life of women at that time, and about the "bust" that followed in Tombstone. It was a city that went from over 100,000 People to 150 in a couple of years.
* Wednesday we went to Sabino Canyon on a trolley and were awed by the beauty of the rocks and cacti. It is a different kind of beauty from the green hills and mountains of Ohio.
* Thursday Audrey and I found the House of Prayer retreat center in west Tucson. We came late and were graciously guided throughout this holy place which values silence and offers retreats and spiritual direction. It was a gift to be there.
* Friday Audrey and I went to Saguaro East National Park where Miranda works. We watched a video and learned more about the history of the area and then drove the 8 mile loop which was constructed by the CCC in then1930's. It was wonderful to leisurely stop and take pictures and just enjoy the beauty together. I came away from this proud of our country that over the years leaders have recognized our responsibility to keep these natural wonders protected and available to all.
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| I had audrey look like this |
I began every morning on their patio in prayer. My morning view was blue skies, a Mexican bird of paradise, hummingbirds, butterflies and mountains in the background. I now start my time reflecting on the day before and awed always by God's presence in my life. I am in the beginning of the 30 week "retreat in daily life" and it has been a wonderful backdrop to my time here.
Yesterday I read these words by Larry S. Gallick :
Love must be expressed in words and gestures that the beloved can understand. The lover must reverence the beloved so much that he or she adapts the expression of love to the way the beloved can receive it. If I love a blind person, I do not speak to them in sign language. If I love a German-speaking person, I don’t speak any other language to that person except German. The lover adapts to the person and personality of the beloved.
In praying these next weeks, we watch how the loving God reveals that love through gestures of revelation. We also consider how this God adapts that same love to our ways of reception. We pray with God’s courtship of us, constantly attracting us through acts of gentle yet persistent love
And so I feel like God is expressing God's love to me this week in so many ways - through the beauty of the desert, through the love of Audrey and Miranda, through a deep friendship with Susan, and the gift of time here.
As always I say - but in a deeper way of awe and wonder - God is Good, All the Time.
Amen
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