Difficult Seasons

An invitation to sit and visit

The first week I went to visit this patient, he thanked me for coming by, but made it clear that he didn’t want to visit that day.

When I walked in the second week, he asked me to sit down, and he and his wife talked to me about a tragic event that had happened at their home the previous week while they were here in the hospital. At the end of the visit, I offered to pray with them, but they politely declined.

Today, I received a message that they wanted me to come see them. He had been released from the hospital last week, but was back with an infection and in ICU. This time as I entered the room, prayer was their main agenda.

It’s a reminder that my role is to just show up — to be a representative of God and His people. How individuals react to my presence any given week depends on their circumstances and their needs. The polite rejection I received the first week was no more about me than the request today that I come and pray.

But it is a reminder that it’s all about Him, the God who offers hope and comfort when we need it most.

Light and Leaves

I haven’t posted on Difficult Seasons for a while.  It wasn’t something that was planned.  Rather it was something that just happened. Once it started, it continued.

I have been posting a lot of photos to my personal blog, and in truth, have been spending a lot more time working on my photography.  It’s part of my self care effort.  It helps me see. I find myself looking at things more closely, studying the light, looking for the beauty. I love the challenge of learning the skills. But even more, I enjoy the creative process of trying to capture an image, working to get it just right in the camera, and then fine-tuning it in Lightroom.

I’ve also continued to post frequently to Twitter and facebook.  Twitter keeps me connected to a fairly large group of folks, most of whom I’ve never met in person, but many of whom I’ve developed friendships with.  It also provides me a window into several of my interests (including photography), as well as exposure to a broader world than I encounter in my normal daily walk. Facebook is similar, except nearly all of the people I’m connected to are people that I’ve met face-to-face, including a large number from my church family.  I intentionally limit my facebook friends to people I know — it’s a more intimate forum than Twitter for me.  It allows us to keep up with what’s happening in each others’ lives and keep more connected than we otherwise could.

To be honest, though, I just haven’t felt like writing. There’s been a lot going on that would have provided material for this blog. I’ve attended four funerals for my friends’ parents or spouses, and there are stories that go with each. I have several good friends who are struggling against long odds with cancer, and there are lessons in how they are dealing with this part of life. My visits with patients at M.D. Anderson provides plenty to share. I just haven’t wanted to process all of this through writing.

But I think that’s changing. For the past week or so, I’ve felt the pull to begin again — as much for me as for those who drop by and read.

Maybe there are seasons to write, and seasons to be silent?