decoration

emily says

and i agree

remembrance is holy

decoration day

it was called

when i was

a child

my mama

always wanted

to go to concord

up near new market

not far from mint springs

to concord

and that little

presbyterian church

where the bodies of

her parents

and grandparents

had been laid

to rest many years ago

mama knew the value

of pausing and

calling to memory

the lives of those

who have given us ours

she held them in

her heart always

and on this day

she would put

action to her love

flowers softening

the granite stone

there is a pink rose bush

still growing by

grandmother christie's name

cuttings from that bush

bloom in several places

where family live

my cousin ralph told me

just the other day

that our grandmother's

pink rose is bright

and beautiful at his house

she died in 1936

and yet her rose is

present in our lives today

these many years later

i never met her

physically but

her spirit speaks to me

from the field

from the farm

from the spring

from the rose

she and my mama

both believed

that death is not

the end of life

life cannot be

contained in bodies

it flies into the starlit night

and swings on the crescent moon

for those who have eyes to see

and hearts to receive

the pink rose blooms

in the red dirt of alabama

and in the heart of

my mama's daughter

and my grandmother's

granddaughter

mama gave me her name

so that i would never forget

the grandmother who sent

me from heaven

to her arms

emily is right

one more time

remembrance is holy

i remember . . .

christie smith stephens

memorial day

decoration day, 2011

for my grandmother

and my mother

who art in heaven

A Day Among Friends

   St. Mark Catholic Church  in Richmond, Kentucky presented a " A Day Among Friends" featuring former First Lady Laura Bush.     Today's event was a charity event for  St. Mark Catholic School.  Reverend James W. Sichko Pastor of St. Mark Church introduced Mrs. Bush sharing that literacy and education are not linked to one political party.

 Mrs. Bush shared her guiding passion in life is  literacy.    Reading her autobiography Spoken from the Heart, I have discovered a new appreciation for our former first lady.  

Mrs. Laura Bush

At the luncheon, a short video was presented where parents, teachers, and Father Sichko talked about the importance of Catholic education.  This evening, I talked with a family member (my husband's cousin) from Meridian, Mississippi.  As a wife, mother, grandmother, and former principal, Martha reflected on the value of her Catholic education. As an educator, she enrolled her children in Catholic school.  Now, her grandson attends a Catholic pre school.  Whether in Kentucky or Mississippi, Catholic Schools continue to shape and mold the lives of children.   I am smiling. Just think, the little girls who were Baptists grew up to appreciate all the lessons taught by the nuns.

Our Table

keeping the lights on

keeping the lights on

they didn’t know it

they couldn’t see it

perhaps they hoped it

if they could dream that far

when they put on the miner’s lamp

went down into the coal mines

of pennsylvania

deep into the earth

breathed the dust heavy air

that blackened their lungs

they didn’t know

they were lighting the way

for his path

preparing the climb out of the mines

beyond the factories

for their grandson/son

so that he could

walk the ivied halls

mine the treasures of academe

wearing the robes they laid out for him

lifting the lamp

they placed in his hand

lamp light

he has faithfully tended

it has not gone out on his watch

flame around which

he has carefully cupped his hands

torch he has passed

to the next generations

faithful to the memory of the mines

the ancestors lives/gifts

he has labored joyfully in the classroom

lifting the lamp of learning

putting light in the eyes

fire in the minds

of cherished students

who now shine like the

morning stars

all around the world

christie for stan, my best friend,

upon reading the letters from his students

sent on the occasion of his retirement

after 40 years of teaching mathematics

and chairing the department of mathematics

at anderson university, anderson, indiana

april, 2011

new day

and then comes monday

after the celebrations

the back to normal day

when the questions

of what will you do now

begin to be answered

we awoke amazed

at the grace of this day

the perils that had

not enveloped us

the what had not happened

that allowed us

the joy of the

closing of the circle

of these 40 specific years

we walked in together

we walked out together

hand in hand

after tears

and laughter

the morning did come

as promised

so here's

the answer so far

coffee newspaper

a three mile walk

around aqua gardens

quiet waters

turtles sunning

on fallen logs

the peace of still being

side by side after all

these years

i would call it luck

but presbyterians

would squirm and protest

it's a new day

in our lives

ordinary so far

but extraordinary

in its gifts

beyond measure

it's not so much

about the doing

as it is the being

what was is

what is is

what will be

will be

great is the faithfulness

morning by morning

new mercies

all we have needed

thanks be

thanks be

christie and stan

may 9, 2011

Change

Pam asked me, if I could live my life over what would I change?

Nothing.

It's like Maya says, "Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now!"

The journey now is greater than the sum of the parts of this thing called my life. Ah, sweet mystery.

If I were able to change any part how would the other parts be impacted? How would the dominos fall? I can't know. Better or not? Unknowable.

There is a Bible verse, Psalm 16:6, that says, "The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me." And I have found it so.

Does this mean that there has been no pain, no suffering? No, certainly not. In the big picture, dare I mention the particulars of my story when they cannot compare to, as Emily Dickinson says, "the larger pain?" And yet it is these parts of my life that allow for the degree of compassion/connection for/to others that I do have. Up close these events have been at times overwhelming, but they have shaped my soul so I would not change them. There are lessons to be learned in the university of life and some of mine, like the lessons of others, have been difficult. Thank goodness for those who have held my hand.

It is important to say that I know there are things that seem to me to be unbearable. The suffering of our children, others whom we love, the innocents of this world, losses that are unspeakable that never end but must be integrated into our lives. This is sacred ground. I kneel here in silence letting the Spirit intercede for I do not know how to kiss and make well or how to pray.

As for the blessings of love, treasured family, precious friends, I certainly would not change these. I am spiritually rich! All I have needed has been provided. And compared to the economics of most in this world I am blessed beyond any justification! Such bountiful gifts! My cup overflows . . .

I'm not sure that with Paul once Saul I always count it all joy, but I get what he felt and meant. This is, as they used to say on that TV program hosted by Ralph Edwards, "This Is Your Life." This is my life. I don't wish to trade it for any other. I am enormously grateful for it. The poet Shakespeare says "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds." I love my life and would not alter it. I am human with faults, failings, gifts, joys, but life, all life, and my life, is holy! Quite divine!

For such abundance, thanks be!

Christie, 3/18/11