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Jul. 27, 2007
Subtle Lessons and Coincedental Timing
Do you ever have those days where life unfolds in ways too coincidental? Related phenomena, but no clear purpose? Where you find yourself expecting to "get it"... to learn the lesson... but find yourself unsure of the whole picture?
It brings to mind those times when I have walked by a table with puzzle pieces strewn about on it, picked up several pieces, and fit them together in a nearly "automatic" way, without working to figure it out.
One example. The last three times I have gone "Outside" (meaning I left the state of Alaska), I went to Arizona in April 2005, then Texas in July 2006, then California in January 2007. In April, I went to St. Anthony's - a Greek Orthodox monastery in Arizona - I met a woman, about my age, from Ukraine named Eugenia who was visiting and staying at the women's quarters where I was. In Texas, my husband and I had one Sunday that we visited the Antiochian church in El Paso. She, too, happened to be visiting that day. Then in California, my daughter and I stopped at the ROCOR Joy-of-All-Who-Sorrow cathedral in San Francisco because we wanted to see St. John on the way from Sacramento to Yuma (yes, certainly not a direct route). And yes, she was there, visiting as well. We have never been in touch at any other time... although we exchanged addresses each time.
When my daughter and I went to Sacramento in January, it just happened to coincide to when the Marine moms were doing a mini "extreme home makeover" to help a Gold Star mom fix her home. She had terminal cancer, her son had been killed, and her home was in need of repairs. I had the privilege of going and visiting with everyone, and got her son's photo so we could have Angel Tags made for his mom and sister.
Now, as we get ready to go to Phoenix next week, I receive an email announcing that a little girl I'd learned about from my Marine mom friends last year - Deja Cleveland - passed away on my Saint's feast day... which happens to be the Dormition of St. Anna, also known as "the falling asleep". Deja's funeral will be the day after we arrive there. Deja died of a brain tumor, one that I learned about when I was dealing with my brain tumor... the very same kind that I had thanked God I didn't have.
Lord have mercy on little Deja and her beloved family. May the Lord comfort and keep them. He knows that her mother is working hard to understand the incomprehensible. |
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Jul. 27, 2007 - Southern Baptist friend....