Abide with Me

by Elizabeth Strout

“How did it go?” The minister didn’t answer. But when he met the eyes of his housekeeper, he had one of those surprising moments that occur sometimes, when there’s a fleeting sense of recognition, when, in less than half a second, there’s the sense of having glimpsed the other’s soul, some shred of real agreement being shared.

He thought of Bonhoeffer writing that it was not love that sustained a marriage but the marriage that would sustain the love.

That's an interesting spin on things.

“Isn’t it a characteristic of a grown man, in contrast to an immature person, that his center of gravity is always where he actually is?”

Reminds me of the remark Hirohito made to an aide: ‘The fruits of victory are tumbling into our mouths too quickly.’

Uuuuurrrrgggghhh - Hirohito!!

Was there not a time when cheerfully and without a care you were glad with the glad?

Glad is a great word. A word to describe contentment methinks!

This feeling could expand into a joyous thing, but then she’d soon become anxious, excited, no longer serene, and it would collapse within her, a bubble whose delicate skin, reflecting the shadows and lights of her thoughts, would simply disappear,

When other helpers fail and comforts flee . . . O Lord, abide with me.

“Belle, for—” “It’s true. And I’m sorry, Tyler, about what you’ve gone through, but you are—excuse me—an idiot. If you’re always thinking of the other person first, you don’t have to bother with what you’re feeling. Or thinking.”

I dont think he's an idiot at all

Tyler rubbed his shoulder. If Bonhoeffer could spend a year in a prison cell, only to find himself taken naked out into the woods to be hanged, then he, Tyler Caskey, could pay his debts, care for his children, and do his job.

His limbs seemed filled with wet sand, and he would not go to coffee hour.

I know that feeling EXACTLY!!!! I'll remember it when describing my fatigue to a doctor next time. But, I'll probably get it wrong, panic - and say "My limbs feel like they're full of wet sandwiches doctor". 🤒🤔

The wet footprints left on the floor after she bathed gave him a sense of sweet fortune.

She cried, and then they would have to climb and stumble their way through an argument before they made up. But these scenes left him queasy for days;

I know that feeling EXACTLY!!

“A Thief in the Night”

When Doris Austin’s desire for a new organ became known to him—the church treasurer, the board, even a deacon had spoken to him on her behalf—it seemed like an ant in the far corner of a room that people were pointing to, while for him the room was spinning.

I know that feeling...

His mother was right—men didn’t know how much it took to take care of a child;

Mmmmmmm................unfortunately, I think his mum got that right! Sadly.

By the end of the service, he felt he had been through a month at boot camp. Not the physical stress of running back and forth with a rifle and knapsack, but the dark pinch of being in the company of those with whom he had not one thing in common. In the car, his mother said quietly, “What ails you?”

Caskey. What do you have to say? Thou sapient

from Henri Nouwen: “My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.”

That is brilliant. I wish I had known, and understood this 30 years ago.

He was not a large man, but there was a corpulence to him, as though he had been inflated just slightly with a bicycle pump.

What a description

You have no idea, he thought, envisioning his congregation, how offensive it is to come into God’s house and soil it with your petty, unkind thoughts.

ANYONE WHO HAS EVER GRIEVED knows that grieving carries with it a tremendous wear and tear to the body itself, never mind the soul. Loss is an assault; a certain exhaustion, as strong as the pull of the moon on the tides, needs to be allowed for eventually.

You bet!