Barbara Swander Miller
Honoring the journey in everyday life
Category: Faith
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Oh, Mary, Undoer of Knots, Heavenly Mother of us all, counsel me. Share with me your maternal and holy wisdom. Help me discern the tools I need to pull apart this tangled mess: The watchmaker’s loupe to closely examine the damage to such intricate workings. The dressmaker’s pin that gently teases apart threads so delicately,…
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Dusky, dark blue sky hovers over the wide, tree-edged lawns. Brown, dusty fields fade into the horizon. Honking geese drown out distant city traffic as they fly in packs southward, from where I came. Abbey bells peal across the way, calling the monks to prayer. I step from concrete onto the short-trimmed grass path. It…
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“Who are you?” an elderly woman demands as she peers up into my face. I have never met her. A middle-aged man shrugs apologetically, “I should know you, but I forget your name.” I’ve never met him, either. Barely making eye contact, a young person nods at me and shoves a folded paper my way,…
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“Do your best. Keep trying until you can do no more. Did you do your best? Then that’s all you can do.” ~Sigh~ The words do more than echo. They are the threads that stitch together my daily life. But I’m getting better at asking for help. Covid did that: Made me stress more, doubt…
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Ants have been harassing me. For a week or so before our big trip west, a couple of times when I sat on the couch in the evenings, I felt a little tickle on my arm or leg. When I glanced down, I saw a big, fat black carpenter ant moseying along my bare skin.…
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But Do You Have to Be? Remember Popeye? The 1920s sailor cartoon character that Robin Williams brought to life from the comic strips and cartoons for a new audience? With a can of spinach in hand, he often delivered his trademark phrase, “I Yam What I Yam.” In the feature film, Popeye sang about his…
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At the Abbey A Rough Night I heard the bells call the monks at Vigils and briefly considered rousing myself to join them. I didn’t. I prayed instead, requesting comfort for my loved ones. At Lauds, the bells clanged again. I counted, but lost track. Were they fainter, or was I exhausted from fretting and…
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This week, I’ve been in Kentucky on a silent, unprogrammed retreat at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani. Trappist monks have lived here in silence since 1848, their charge to worship God and welcome visitors in the Benedictine tradition. Gethsemani Abbey is well known as the former home of the contemplative monk and writer…
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A tooth from the Buddha, taken from his funeral pyre and reputedly still growing? The crown of thorns worn by Jesus during his crucifixion, housed in the cathedral of Notre Dame and miraculously saved from engulfing flames by a human chain of first responders? The head of John the Baptist, retrieved by a French crusader…
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Suffering from too much noise these days? Hip hop and rap versions of Christmas standards deafening you in all the department stores? Children incessantly whining and driving you nuts for this year’s must-have, the Tikduck Flying Orb Ball? Or lists of baking and shopping and decorating tasks rattling inside your head? Maybe we need a…
