Friday, April 30, 2010

I see the moon and the moon sees me.

I gasped out loud when I caught site of it. How can that be? I wondered. I am almost 60 years old. How can it be that catching sight of the moon can make me gasp out loud? and yet - I did.. The huge yellow globe was so close to the horizon it looked like it was resting on the earth waiting for it's time to rise. We played hide and seek for fifteen miles. Each time I passed a clearing my heart raced. You would think that I had never seen it before though in fact I have looked out at the night sky more than 21,000 times in my life. 21000 times and I am still in awe. That is how amazing God's creation is. 21000 times and I never tire of it. 21000 times and no two night moons seem the same.

Awe. Wonder. Joy.

I see the moon. Does the moon see me?

Monday, April 26, 2010

I am so glad for His company.

He is "mine" for such a short period of time. 24 hours. A Sunday.
I pick him up at his house. He is showered except for the top of his head - a place that rarely
meets the spray of shower water much less shampoo, yet he is sparklingly clean to me.
He smiles a bagel and cream cheese smile and we head down the steps together.
We are going north to my mother's to do spring yard work on this cool and drizzly day.
I am glad for his company.

Billy greets us. My oldest son, forty years old and "Uncle Bill" to this
boy at my side.
Uncle Bill cooks breakfast; bacon, one of Axel's few favorite foods, and we
chat with my mother and my Aunt Nancy, both in their 80's, hard of
hearing and easily riled with the mis-perceived comments, but fun too.
Natalie Bird, 2, and Elizabeth her mother, my daughter, arrive just as
the eggs are put on the table. My cousin and his daughter are there
also- it is a full house.

A full morning of yard work behind us, we head back south, stopping
along the way to try to find a few needed items without much success.
Except for Oreo's and coffee, we find those and so we are all happy on
the ride home.
Once settled in the door, Axel plays with Legos and I iron. A few hours later we
head out again, this time for a movie and a few groceries.
Approaching the video store we look to our left and there is a cloud of
fog hovering just above the bright green spring grass. it is like a
cookie sheet of thin white smoke resting on nothing; not touching the
sky or the earth.
We glance up and Axel says - "Gramma Bevy, look at the children's
moon." A 3/4 full muted yellow disc shining down on the clouds, floats just inches
above the horizon.

When we come out of the store, movie in hand, the parking lot is
shrouded in fog. Dusk has settled, the moon is hidden in cloud
casting a silvery grey light all around us. We are alone in our own
little bubble of it. I am so very glad for his company.

The words of God are sure and that which is holy and true becomes wind
at my back. The Lord governs all things. From all time without
measure, He reigns. He reigns over all - even the waters that rise,
the waves that storm. The Lord rules over the song of many waters and
is more powerful than the mighty waves of the sea. Psalm 93 1-3 paraPhrase by mary anne radmacher

And us. He reigns over us. In sunshine and in shadow. He reigns.
He reigns in the fog, and in the smile of this young man, He reigns.
I am so glad we have His company.



Monday, April 19, 2010

The many faces of writing.

I had the privilege of being the guest speaker at a Reformed Church Womens conference on Saturday. It was wonderful.
These are my reflections of gratitude at day's end.


I was so excited. The conference had gone very well. " they liked me, they really liked me" came to mind and I was riding that wave. I had stayed up all night to prepare, and as usual, once I got out of my own way, The Lord sent the words. The topic was "Getting to the Therefore", about all the therefores in the Bible. About reading all the way to the therefores. As I prepared it occurred to me, this time it wasn't a sermon, I was a guest speaker, and so I would tell the story of my own faith journey. And I did.

I started with my late husband's eulogy, moved quickly into my first article published in the Church Herald neither of which led me to claim writer as a part of who I am. Then I shared the story of my " bulletin board nervous breakdown." a collage of pieces stuck up with push pins that let me know that I needed help healing and determining who I would be as a widow - black and heavy, or bright and joy filled. Next I shared my mountain top experience when mary anne, my writing coach, very gently yet so boldly made me see that there was no battle in my life. God had sent me a gift and I could use it or not. And so the declaration I had made in my bio had become a prayer of gratitude.
"I am a writer.. " I whispered into the microphone, "I am a writer". God sent the gift not to glorify me, but, so that I might glorify HIM. THEREFORE, I must write. Ah, a personal therefore.

The applause when I finished was quick and genuine.

There is more written, more to say, but for now, I will leave it there.
Today I declared my God given gift as a writer in a different way.
Today I went to Poughkeepsie, NY to the County Seat and filed a DBA.

Today my dream to have a retreat house has taken a giant step forward.
The DBA proclaims that I have registered the name

The Quest House
a place for Inspiration and Healing

as my own.

Tonight I had Ice Cream for dinner. It seemed a great way to celebrate.
Thank you to all of you who have shed light on the path along the way.

With a joy filled heart,
beverly a kipp

Thursday, April 8, 2010

after a long absence, inspiration to write happens

Today is a work day at my house. I have my son and son in law and a
friend who is a horticulturalist all coming to work in my yard on
this beautiful spring day in April that feels like a summers day in
June. The sun wakes me and my attention recalls the phrase I read
before sleep.

occupy your attention with these things…that which is accurate and
known first hand… phil. 4:8

accurate as in correct? or accurate as in certain?

Well, there is a God, a divine spirit who brings order from chaos and
insures that the sun will rise each day, feels accurate and personally
known to me, but could, and would, be argued by many. Is it correct?
Can't win that one, but am I certain of it? Yes, I am.

I rise and greet the day, popped Popovers in the oven, cooked bacon,
scrambled eggs and greeted first one and then another of my expected
assistants. Then Nattie B arrived. This precious two year old, fresh
from sleep herself, more exuberant than any of us, took my cheeks in
her pudgy little pink hands, kissed my wrinkled lips with her full
rosebud, wet ones and said " Good morning Grandma Bevy, I'm gonna
play at your house today!!!!!!!!!!" and I was more certain than ever
that, not only is there a God, I knew him first hand, and today his
name is L O V E.