Linda Hoye's Blog, page 69

Autumn Mantra

Autumn’s finest has passed and it’s stick season now. There will be no more afternoon drives to capture images like this one until next year. We turn our clocks back and find ourselves in the dark. I think about putting up the lighted birch trees that take the place of Christmas trees around here. It

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The Gift of Vulnerability

“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.” C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain   Two weeks ago

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Hospital Time

It is shortly after 6:30am as I write this. The view outside the window is of the city, not the the ridge and the often-glorious sunrise I usually greet the day with. Instead I see the lights of a city waking up and two cranes in the construction area next to the hospital. I’ve been

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Wrestling

I read about a man of questionable character who wrestles with God. There’s trouble behind, and trouble ahead, and Jacob is caught in one of those back-against-the-wall places where there’s nowhere left to turn. He spends a long, dark, and sleepless night at the end of himself. Dawn breaks on a day he’s been dreading, and

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Active

I smile when I read the prompt for this week’s Five Minute Friday—active—because I’ve been anything but this month. October, so far, has been going to appointments, spending bad days on the couch with my heating pad and a Yorkie, tapping out words, reading good books, thinking deep thoughts, and good days in the kitchen

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Called to the Deck

With a soft blanket wrapped around my shoulders, I step barefoot out onto the deck where it’s wet, dark, and quiet. I need to connect with the Divine. I felt drawn from my bed where I lay sleepless and restless, trying to pray and not sure if the muddled thoughts in my mind were prayer

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Exceedingly Well

It’s been an unexpected whirlwind week. Yesterday afternoon, I sat in my wing chair, reading and highlighting, while beet pickles processed in the canner. Content,  I looked over at my open kitchen with its tidy counters and big blue Ball canner boiling on the stove. We picked the last of the beets the day prior

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Monday Mercy

It’s just after four when I stand at the microwave watching the red numbers count down from seventy-seven. The Keurig coughs and spurts out elixir behind me. Oh God, you have brought me in safety to this new day. That thing in my body that’s been causing me trouble still burns, that concern in my

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October, Easy and Gentle

“What’s that noise?” Even without my hearing aids the loud, low hum distracts me from our noontime chess game. I left them off this morning because I had an appointment with the optometrist. Concentrating on changes to one sense at a time seemed a good idea. Gerry rises from his chair, looks out the window,

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Listening

I stand on the sidewalk listening to the scrape of a crisp golden leaf skating across the driveway in the wind, feeling both delighted and dismayed. I wouldn’t have heard the sound a few days ago. My sixty-year-old memory had forgotten the song of fallen autumn leaves whirling in the wind. A few weeks ago,

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