Chapter 1: First Impressions
Weary and slightly ill, May was escorted by friendly smiles pushing luggage filled wheelbarrows, to house number ten. It was there she was greeted with a cordial embrace by her petite roommate, McCain. The light reflected off the stark white walls onto McCain’s dark brown, curly hair that covered her shoulders and perfectly contrasted her fair complexion and bottomless blue eyes. In less of a whisper and more of an inner groan, May asked the Father to protect her from jealousy. She recognized He had given her “the pretty” roommate and she knew the ugliness of her own heart was always brought to the front when she was around pretty people. This wrinkled heart failing, she hoped, one day would be ironed out completely. Among their first conversations she found McCain wore her genuine beauty deep inside. This internal beauty, more exquisite and honest than physical beauty, was found true and unfading, a gift opened when a child decides devotedness to the Father. A whisper had been answered and the Father had provided for her a faithful sister for the journey.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Chapter .5
Chapter .5:
May was one of the last to enter through the Centre gates that fateful day in February. The cold iron arm opened to accept her in, as she pondered the lengthy trip and the tedious days that proceeded the present. She began reflecting on time that slipped away in the previous weeks. She became teary. May knew the nature of dying had taken residency in her heart. It had finished. There were no more loose ends to wrap up and there was no one else to bid farewell.
The parting was so beautiful that it was a bit absurd. It was as though she had died and was looking down at the gathering at her own wake. Comrades stood one by one sharing magnificent memories, mixed with humorous stories of their times spent together. Thick sweetness was felt when the glory for those relationships truly was given back to the Father. She knew everyone deserved a farewell of such splendor and that no one (including herself) deserved a farewell at all.
As the vehicle slowly advanced through the iron arms, May bit her tongue, as if that would control her eyes from filling with watery emotion. She remembered the grace extended and the whispers up to the Father that had gotten her here. She knew she was leaving a community of friends and about to enter one of acquaintances and she recognized that moment to be a ballet of bitterness and sweetness. She glanced over her shoulder to see the arms tightening shut, she allowed herself one last moment to savor the past seven years. May closed her eyes and silently asked the father to grant her a heart similar to the heart of those friend’s who had loved her, that she could love and encourage those she were to encounter in the same way her life had been touched. She opened her eyes knowing He had ended one chapter in order that He may continue the chronicles of her life, a life of attempted obedience.
May was one of the last to enter through the Centre gates that fateful day in February. The cold iron arm opened to accept her in, as she pondered the lengthy trip and the tedious days that proceeded the present. She began reflecting on time that slipped away in the previous weeks. She became teary. May knew the nature of dying had taken residency in her heart. It had finished. There were no more loose ends to wrap up and there was no one else to bid farewell.
The parting was so beautiful that it was a bit absurd. It was as though she had died and was looking down at the gathering at her own wake. Comrades stood one by one sharing magnificent memories, mixed with humorous stories of their times spent together. Thick sweetness was felt when the glory for those relationships truly was given back to the Father. She knew everyone deserved a farewell of such splendor and that no one (including herself) deserved a farewell at all.
As the vehicle slowly advanced through the iron arms, May bit her tongue, as if that would control her eyes from filling with watery emotion. She remembered the grace extended and the whispers up to the Father that had gotten her here. She knew she was leaving a community of friends and about to enter one of acquaintances and she recognized that moment to be a ballet of bitterness and sweetness. She glanced over her shoulder to see the arms tightening shut, she allowed herself one last moment to savor the past seven years. May closed her eyes and silently asked the father to grant her a heart similar to the heart of those friend’s who had loved her, that she could love and encourage those she were to encounter in the same way her life had been touched. She opened her eyes knowing He had ended one chapter in order that He may continue the chronicles of her life, a life of attempted obedience.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Note from the Author:
The point of my blog is to openly journal the account of a two year sojourn to northern Africa. I will attempt to put into writing the deeper, hmm and maybe not so deep, memories and thoughts from this journey. This narrative is written through my own account of circumstances that have happened and thus the reader must realize the tint of my own lenses when interpreting any of its contents. All names are changed, of course, to protect identity. There are 4-7 main characters to begin with-that may change as the chapters carry on (but hopefully it will not).
Preface:
The Centre is surrounded by vast, hilly terrain, and covered with rigid shards of firm grass sticking out of the earth, frozen in unwavering place. It is a land in itself secluded from the outside. Thick patches of trees adequately isolate it from the frozen exterior scenery. The Father has intricately refined each of the sojourners in his perfect way to bring them here. The refining, even though it continues, has brought each of them to this place at this exact time to serve his purpose and to bring glory to his name. While each has their own account of the beauty and pain that has been revealed during his purification process, they can be seen as one in the same, brothers and sisters in the family of grace.
Stay tuned from Chapter 1: “First Impressions”
The point of my blog is to openly journal the account of a two year sojourn to northern Africa. I will attempt to put into writing the deeper, hmm and maybe not so deep, memories and thoughts from this journey. This narrative is written through my own account of circumstances that have happened and thus the reader must realize the tint of my own lenses when interpreting any of its contents. All names are changed, of course, to protect identity. There are 4-7 main characters to begin with-that may change as the chapters carry on (but hopefully it will not).
Preface:
The Centre is surrounded by vast, hilly terrain, and covered with rigid shards of firm grass sticking out of the earth, frozen in unwavering place. It is a land in itself secluded from the outside. Thick patches of trees adequately isolate it from the frozen exterior scenery. The Father has intricately refined each of the sojourners in his perfect way to bring them here. The refining, even though it continues, has brought each of them to this place at this exact time to serve his purpose and to bring glory to his name. While each has their own account of the beauty and pain that has been revealed during his purification process, they can be seen as one in the same, brothers and sisters in the family of grace.
Stay tuned from Chapter 1: “First Impressions”
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