Models of grandparenting

Do you hold special memories of your days spent with your grandparents? I was not fortunate enough to know my grandfathers or my materal grandmother. However, I have heard some wonderful stories, so the image of their gentleness and love are etched on my heart. I look forward to meeting them someday. Although grandmothers and granddads are a cherished treasure in our unfolding, each has their own specialness. My trips to spend the day with Grandmammy, my dad's mother, fell on Sunday afternoon as we packed into the car and travel about 45 mintues to her home. It was always peaceful and elegant, and the routine was so predictable. Gathering apples, climbing in the apple tree when no one was looking. The visit concluded the same every time. Just before we said our good-byes, Grandmammy would gather the kids and pass out cookies or candy or both. What a treat!

Now, I am sure Saints Anne and Joachum had a family routine of interacting with Jesus as well. I can imagine it was also very memorable. Definitely, they were people who loved and nurtured the Christ Child in their role as grandparents. Today as the Church remembers these special saints, I encourage you to call to mind your own formative years and the role your grandparents played in your life. What do you cherish as you recall their marks of love and unique touch that cemented your family together?

Let them grow together until harvest.--Matthew 13:30

"When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well." Now being a farm girl I know that weeds are never welcome. They distract from the process of growth. They interfere with the plan. They can become destructive and overpower the fruit. Get them out before too much damage is caused.

However, upon reflecting upon my own weeds, I can see that they might serve a valuable purpose. I think the important thing is to do my own inner work and determine what is "wheat" and what is "weed". They can be confusing you know. Perhaps the uprooting is necessary but as Jesus declares in time, all will be harvested and the destructive weeds will be eliminated. In the meantime, can I learn something from my own weeds? It is possible that in yanking out the weed some wheat would be eliminated as well.

Obviously, Jesus is much better than I am at determining wheat from weeds. He alone knows what is inside my heart and is full of compassion and mercy rather than harsh judgment. Today's gospel causes me to reflect on what my weeds are teaching me. I have been about doing damage control these past few days because of a public statement I made that sounded judgmental and even unkind. After reflecting on what I said, I realized that I left out a very important sentence. My spirit was killed because of comments I heard during a presentation not because of the presenter or the content of the report but rather the uncharitable comments I heard around me as the report was being given. The wheat and weeds were confused. And I came across to some as judging, rude, unkind, unchristian. My heart knows what I meant and Jesus does too, and hopefully the harvest will be worth the pain of misunderstanding.

I ask for the grace to safeguard the gifts of wheat and to let go of the weeds in my own heart that I might contribute to a just and fruitful harvest.

IN-BETWEEN TIMES

Sometimes it's strange to be in an in-between place. I heard them described as "Holy Saturday" moments--a place between the end of one part of life and the beginning of another. But perhaps an even better description would be as the "Day After the Ascension" time; the previous focus of your life is not visible any more, and the Holy Spirit has not enlightened you yet! I think a lot about how the disciples must have felt the day after Jesus ascended...lost? confused? empty?

As I search for my next ministry, it feels rather like that. On the one hand, I'm restless and eager to get on with the next thing in my life, and on the other hand I'm enjoying the extra time to read, pray and think in this theoretically unstructured time.

I say "theoretically" because there seems to be a law of nature that says "work expands to fill the time available!" According to my calendar from the past week, it looks like I am doing a full-time environmental ministry. Testing the water at Panther Creek, checking the beehives, participating in "Agriculture Day" at Saint Mary's Elementary School in Whitesville (teaching about water, water testing, and beekeeping to K-7 grades), meeting with the Parks Department in preparation for Rally for the River on June 25, writing a talk, and going to Bee School this coming weekend--not bad for an old unemployed lady, huh? And of course it was my cook week at home. The other three sisters are happy to have a fourth in the cooking rotation. I will let you know how it feels to be bored if it ever happens to me.