Wednesday, September 10, 2008

A Pensive Kind of Day

This morning was just one of those kind of days. I awoke to a glimpse of sunny blue sky and clouds--and to prolonged, insistent meyowling from the cat. Yawn...where is the coffee...oh, no coffee creamer. Well, it's a beautiful day outside.I decided to stop off at church and check the phone and the email and then drive to the town that is three miles away for a cup of McDonald's coffee. I like Ronald's coffee. I dressed and stepped out back to decide if the day called for a sweater. Fall is most definitely arriving in Wisconsin, but no sweater today. Long sleeves will do.


I gave the flowers a quick drink from the hose. Some look all right, but the petunias are getting scraggly. Well, look what popped up right in the middle of them! Where did he come from?
I drove the short distance to the church building.


The sky was wonderful. These are the kind of days that make Cheeseheads glad they live here. It was about 62 degrees or so.
This photo, snapped from my church's back driveway, shows the cornfield across the street, and a corner of the high school. We are as far west as it is possible to be and still be in town. I instantly decided, there was no way I'd stay inside today. I went in the building and checked my messages, took a call from the district superintendent, and grabbed my Bible, a notebook and a pen.



Here is a closer view of the cornfield. I really wasn't taking pictures of the corn stalks. I was trying to get a picture of the sky.




Hopping back in my van, I kicked up a bit of dust exiting our dirt parking lot. Truth be told, I didn't want to see anyone. It was that kind of day.

I drove around McDonald's in the drive-thru circle and then on to a nearby park. I sipped my coffee and sat at the park for a long time, trying to make sense of my life. And failing. And also working on some letters and my sermon, and partly succeeding.

There are roadblocks in front of me that I do not even begin to know how to overcome.
I'm feeling uncertain and a bit powerless. There is so much more I want to do, and time is short.

It seems I am much more aware of time passing, of changes in my face and my body, and my life and those in it, of lost opportunities....that sort of thing...than usual. I don't know if that is good or bad. I suppose it depends on what I do about it.

4 comments:

Auntie Knickers said...

Ah, Wisconsin in the fall! When I was little and had never been to either place, I always thought "Wisconsin" sounded nice and lush, and "Minnesota" sounded bare and dry. Then I went to live in Minnesota and frequently visit in western Wisconsin, and found that both are equally fine. My all-too-brief trips to Iowa suggest that it's pretty nice too.
Watching Seabiscuit last night, the thought came to me, I will never learn to ride a horse now. (And don't send me stories about 60 year olds who get on for the first time...trust me on this.) So, I am having some of the same feelings you are, and you are so right, it's what we do with them or about them that matters. We may not have the power to do everything, but we have the power to do some things!

Truth said...

Love the picture. Pensive is a good thing, not having creamer is not. Well, unless it allows you the opportunity to get some of Ronald's coffee. I need to go grab my bible, a pen, a cup of coffee and do the same.

P.S. I hope I can post this comment. I tried a couple of times on anothe post and I was met with errors.

Iris Godfrey said...

Thank you for sharing. I too like Ronald's coffee and there is a "Mickey-do's" just across the street from my office! Makes it so nice.

Love the pictures -- NY is getting cooler too and some leaves are changing. Being overwhelmed is pretty normal for me right now -- new residence in almost total disarray as we paint, ministry activities to prepare for, beginning many things -- last half of the Exposition of Hebrew's to finish for students -- on and on it goes. Think I'll grab a cup of java and be pensive for a spell too! Thanks for the encouragement!

Sally said...

... thinking that a bit of pensiveness 9 is that a word) is good now and then...
Peace be with you sister!