Author: Alana Cruse

​A moment of friendship

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Some friends play at friendship but a true friend sticks closer than one’s nearest kin.  Proverbs 18:24

 

Friend,

There is a place in my heart where you live,

Like a warm ember,

Lighting the darkness,

Warming the winter,

Soothing my spirit,

Reminding me, I am not alone.

There is a place in my heart,

In which time, distance and details are lost.

Flashes of memory

Brighten my thoughts,

Turn the corners of my mouth,

And ease my day,

There is a place in my life where you live,

Like a blazing fire,

Filled with crackling laughter,

And bright flickering smiles.

Darkness as a backdrop

only makes the joy brighter.

And when we part.

The ember,

A bit larger,

A bit brighter,

A bit warmer,

Glows.

Until next time…

Alana

 

A moment of doubt

 

…but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.”  Luke 22:31-34 (NRSV)

There are times when our faith may fail.  What then?   In this scripture, Peter is puffed up and telling Jesus he will not have doubt.  Jesus says “Oh, you will, but when you come back you will be strong enough to strengthen others.”

In John chapter 14 verse 6, “Jesus says I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”   This statement infers a lot, and we often use it as an exclusionary device for who is in and who is out.   This is a statement that causes me a good deal of doubt.  What if Jesus is not THE Way?  What if Christians are wrong?

I am currently reading The Book of JOY.  As I read,  I can’t help but think that the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, in their spiritual life, are in conversation with the same creator and the same God.   This opens a whole can of worms in the small box of faith I am at times most comfortable in.  My thoughts start swimming around, and I start questioning lots of scriptures.  This is good.  When my thoughts begin to settle again, I remember what I really know for sure.  God is Love.  Love with us and in us translates across cultures and religions.

Personally I am a Buddhist, and I consider faith very important.  but at the same time the reality is that out of seven billion people, over one billion people on the planet are nonbelievers.  So we cannot exclude them.  One billion is quite a large number.  They are also our human brothers and sisters.  They also have the right to become happier human beings and to be good members of the human family.   The Dalai Lama

Jesus’ teachings focus a great deal on unity.  We need to be unified with God and each other  This learning is simpler, narrowed down by the claiming of Christ as the only way to God.  Being united in love is much more difficult because we get uncomfortable with our differences.  Jesus, in the Gospels, shows us the way to love each other and the way to love God.  We love by serving and putting others ahead of ourselves.  In following Christ, my faith has a focus and a purpose.   The way to unity is love.  My doubts are transformed when I look outside myself and offer love to someone in need.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.Philippians 4:8NRSV

Personally, I am a Christian, and when I think about these things, I think of Christ.  What do you think of?

A moment of laughter

 

Give me a sense of humor, Lord, give me the grace to see a joke.
To get some humor out of life, and pass it on to other folk. Bob Hope

Some days are just heavy, and the weight of them is almost too much to bear.  We need laughter to help release the emotions that we have been well practiced in holding back.  Reading Bob Hope’s words today brought a memory back so strongly…

My mother died 21 years ago, and my heart still breaks from missing her.  My Grannie passed almost three years ago, but the memory of attending her service in New Orleans recently came to me like it was yesterday.   I not only mourned my grannie again, but the loss of my mother returned to the surface.  My grannie had taken care of my mother through her cancer.   I witnessed as she lovingly walked my mother, her child, to the end of her life.

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In New Orleans, LA most burial plots are above ground, and my mother was buried in a mausoleum.  Her plot belonged to my grandparents, and my understanding is there was room for three bodies, but not three coffins.   When my grandmother passed, and her body was to join her husband’s and their child’s.   My mother’s body was removed, wrapped and returned to the plot without her coffin.  Even I, as a grown woman, had a great deal of curiosity about this whole process.  So, I tried to peek into the curtain covered space.  When I did, I whispered, too loudly (there is quite an echo in the corridors),  “I want to see my mummy.”  As you can imagine some laughed with me and others did not.  But my quiet laugh turned into a fit of quiet giggles and my giggles to tears, and I felt so much better for the emotional release.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
 Ecclesiastes 3 (NRSV)

Has there been a time in your life when the seasons mingle together?  Spend time in the memory.  It is a moment of grace.

A moment of correction

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Whoever heeds life-giving correction will be at home among the wise.  Proverbs: 15:31

I remember many years back a moment in a college English class. I had written a paper on Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  On the day our papers were to be handed back to us, my instructor stood in front of the class and told this story…

“This past weekend I walked into a bar to meet some friends, and  I noticed sitting at the bar a beautiful woman.  She had beautiful skin, long silky hair, and a captivating smile.  I was mesmerized.  I had forgotten who I came in to meet and just watched her as she talked, smiled and laughed.  Then, as I was about to approach her and introduce myself,  she reached up, and picked her nose.” He then held up a paper and said: “This paper is a nose-picker!”

He placed the paper back into the stack and proceded to use the opportunity to explain the use of an apostrophe and its importance.  As he explained I felt my face grow hotter and hotter.  I knew the paper was mine.  All these years later, I don’t remember him handing the papers back or if the rest of the class knew it was me.  What I do remember is looking at that big fat “A”.  I made an “A”!  My paper was equated to a “beautiful woman”.  As I thumbed through the rest of my paper, the 11 (yes 11) red circles stood out, and I was once again embarrassed by the boogers in my paper.  However, other than those apostrophe issues there we no other marks.  I had a warm fuzzy moment and I smiled!  I made an “A”!

Today, I still struggle with those issues of apostrophes, commas, and my spelling leaves much to be desired.  But, I have had so many more moments that have encouraged me to keep writing, so I write.  Today, I thank my friend Bill for checking for the boogers in my writing.   But even more so, I thank all those who have encouraged me to put myself out there.

Getting past criticism can be difficult, but there is so much more to see.  Sister Mary Clarence in Sister Act 2 says “if you wake up every day and think about singing you are a singer.”  What do you wake up thinking about?  I encourage you to listen to criticism but more importantly follow your heart and your encouragers.

 

 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,  encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17