h2odevos encores 033012 The Promise of Today

"We gather round as family to send you on your way

That you greet each tomorrow with the

Promise of today

Whatever road your hearts may find

Share your gifts that they may shine

The handiwork of God's design

Formed in the hands of love"

The Hands of Love by Peter Mayer

[Six] years ago, Sue Ann and I stopped in at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam during a layover on our way to Jordan. The museum was more than I could have hoped for. I am a big Van Gogh fan. For years I've read his letters to his brother Theo. For years I've studied books about his life, work, problems, faith and struggles. There were many paintings that caught my eye on that day at the museum. Here is a link to one:  THE RAISING of LAZARUS.

Van Gogh painted this while he was in the hospital. It is probably diplomatic to say that Van Gogh was either so far ahead of everyone else that coping with the issues of daily life often caught up with him as he dealt with his past and future. Who knows what, if any, diagnosis he would have today if he would have been able to be "worked" up for a full physiological and psychiatric consult.

Many of you responded to the great picture of my grandfather and his big fish. A couple of dear family members responded to me that the reason why our grandfather was in Florida in 1938 is that he had experienced a nervous breakdown while serving as a parish pastor.  This news didn't really come as a shock or surprise to me because I had caught or heard some information that were like "pieces of a puzzle," but the whole picture was never revealed to me. In my family of origin it just "wasn't something we talked about."

Peter sings,

"We gather round as family to send you on

your way

That you greet each tomorrow with the

Promise of today"

What a lovely image, isn't it?

To welcome tomorrow with the "promise of today."

For Lazarus, or more appropriately for Martha and Mary, it seemed like the end. And yet, as Jesus reminds us again and again, "It ain't over until it's over and then...because of Jesus, it's a NEW BEGINNING."

That's a promise of today, for tomorrow and even for yesterday.

STILL IN ONE PEACE,

rtg