![]() For some this may be a daunting task and a great ask, but here goes: what companion will you choose of your Summer of 2013? Hope it’s not seen as a pressure, but instead as an invitation. Without asking, I can guess my partner, Linda’s. It will involve building something, restoring something, painting something (I just hope it’s NOT “inviting something” ~ we have enough barnyard animals for this farm). My image for Linda is a hammer and nail (and just a few other necessities). Last weekend (even with half of it handicapped by a completely closed black eye), Linda and Gamma covered our kitchen island with a tin counter top (although at some point she referred to zinc – you say “tomato…”). What about you? What will you choose? A pottery wheel? A sketch book? A library card? A plot of ground and some seeds? A kayak? What will be your summer, this summer? These old shoes have taken me from here to there and back again. Walking around the neighborhood, walking to Saturday breakfasts, walking with the dogs, with family and with friends and with the Braves. Walking. It is so often my best times for prayer…for recollecting…for letting go and holding on. Dusk is the best. But dawn is pretty darn good. From the age of 7 through 17 I spent at least two weeks each summer at Na-Wa-Kwa. At this Girl Scout camp in central Indiana, I learned to play the guitar. I heard the beauty of a cappella voices while on long walks through the woods. I learned to swim and canoe there. I learned to build a fire and pitch a tent. (I never really got the lanyard thing down. Sorry Mom). I learned about being outside. A lot. And walking everywhere. I learned to love summer with all my heart there. So I’ll put on these old sneakers every chance I get and walk around as often as I can. It clears my head and lifts my heart. It sets me free and brings me home. Each time. Blessings to you and this Summer of 2013. May God’s grace be with you and your summer companioning.
Jim Belcher
6/2/2013 06:54:07 am
Here is a wonderful, gentle way to approach summer. It reads like a breath of fresh, morning air before the welter of commercial consumerism resumes.
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Lesley BroganWorking in Family Experience at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Lesley is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. A Candler School of Theology graduate, Lesley has just published her second book, Grief and the Psalms: Companioning the Moon for 29 Days (available on this website). She and her partner, Linda Ellis are raising their two sons, Brogan and Sam in Decatur, GA. Archives
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