NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

In my blog a few weeks ago I started with the quote from The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss ‘Today you are you, that is truer than true.There is no one alive, who is you-er than you.' I did some research on Dr. Seuss and found that he started life out as a cartoonist and illustrator, only beginning to write on 1937 when he published “And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street”  my first encounter with his writings at the age of 6 or 7.  This was to be followed by all his books that I could get my hands on.  It is really only recently that I have realized that these books that I read and loved as a child are also theological in nature - but then again what isn’t!      I remember being so taken in ‘And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street’ with the imagination of the little boy telling the story. I, too, had imaginary friends who played with me.  However I now see a deeper meaning in the story. Dr. Seuss, through this small boy was pointing out to all who read it, the

‘ Better is open rebuke than hidden love.Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.’ Proverbs 27:5-6 We had company one Sunday afternoon. Not company that we saw very often, but casual friends nevertheless. As I was clearing up after their departure and emptying out the tea cups, I found that both cups had sludge at the bottom. Yuck!!!! As a good hostess should, I had asked if the tea was OK when I noticed that they were only sipping at the liquid. They had assured me that it was just fine. It felt like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party where things obviously has not been what they seemed! This is just one example of a ‘little white lie’. It was meant as a gesture of politeness but what it really did was destroy any chance of that casual friendship ripening into something more in the future. Despite assurances that they would be getting in touch with us when they returned from an upcoming trip, a year later we have heard nothing. And frankly, I’m not

I am an only child. And when people find that out about me, they often ask ‘Were you lonely growing up?’ To which my answer is, ’Not at all!’ And truly, I wasn’t lonely. First and foremost probably because I didn’t know any differently. But I had the company of my imagination which turned dolls, stuffed toys, and even the cat, into playmates who joined enthusiastically into any adventure. It was only as an adult that that I discovered my loneliness, and at the 50th reunion of my high school graduating class, at that. It had been busy weekend filled with conversations not only about what was happening in our lives right then but also a lot of ‘do you remembers’ being thrown into the conversation. On the Sunday, as we were leaving the church service at which one of our classmates had preached, we gathered at the top of the stairs. That was when someone said to me, “Lynn, I remember your dad. He always was……….. “ And that moment I discovered that I was lonely. I was near tears as

I went to the gym this past Easter Saturday. Nothing new there. But what was new [at least  to me] was what I found there. The girls at the reception desk had grown bunny ears. A weekend hockey tournament was in its first day. The gym was crowded with the Parent and Tot Drop-in. In the foyer, twisty balloon animals were being made and passed out. And in the midst of all this hubbub, the Easter bunny in a bright yellow suit, with a red cape was posing for pictures with his little, and not so little, fans. As I walked back toward my my car, I was wondering just what those little ones, and even their parents saw as the reason for Easter.   This same gym had been closed for Good Friday as a statutory holiday but open for usual hours the rest of the weekend. What was actually being celebrated, of course, was the first long weekend of the spring. And why not, the winter is long and cold in Canada. This long   weekend lets us celebrate the growing warmth of the sun and the promise