I don't know your personal circumstances or the details of what's keeping you up nights right now. But I almost certainly know something that's true about you, in this season. Your hands are too empty. It may not feel that way, because you've probably said, more than once in recent weeks, "I've got my hands full," with this decision or that one, or hammering out some strategy that you hope will get you through this time, or trying to homeschool and work and keep yourself sober. But in a time of no answersno certaintyno controlnot enough of some things (toilet paper, PPE, groceries … [Read more...] about For a Time of Empty Hands
Communion
The Uneasy Empty Chair
For 25 years, there's been an empty chair at the Thanksgiving table, my friend said (I'll call her Carol). Perhaps not literally. No one expected Carol's nephew to show up, so perhaps there wasn’t actually a place set, knowing it would stay empty, at the big dining table where the family would gather. But Peter's absence diminished those feasts. The chair he should have occupied was empty. No one would lovingly prepare that odd corn relish that, for years, Peter had said was his favorite. He was definitely missed. For the first few of those years, there was some story. He had to be … [Read more...] about The Uneasy Empty Chair