I am sitting here weeping, after just having viewed some of the photos and reports coming out of Peru. The devastation is total, and the United States, Canada, and Japan, have already stepped up to the plate to offer millions of dollars in aid.
This has been a “bad week,” on the news front. The suicide-bombers/genocide in northern Iraq, the trapped coal miners and the loss and injury of would-be rescuers, and the severe decline of the stock market – (a harbinger of another recession?)
With all of those horrible things happening, even the most avid needleworker has to sit up and take notice, and perhaps, ponder the totality of LIFE, not just our own little interests. Of course, quilting and embroidery are huge preoccupations, but as we scramble to find “just the right color,” or to sign up for “just the right class,” we all need to stop for a moment and think about what I call “The Big Picture.”
If you spend some time alone with yourself, without the intrusion of a cell phone, interruptions, and demands of other people, you will have the chance to begin to listen to your soul. You will have the opportunity to try to make sense of your time on earth, and what it means, and what might or might not be in store for you, “after.”
Now, I’m not a preacher, nor ever make the pretense of being one. However, I do have the time to be alone, quite a lot, and looking beyond the sadness of life, I have come to believe that we have to attempt to overcome and transcend all that is so consummately painful that it is unfathomable, like loss, and like death.
In Peru, hundreds of people were killed when the roof of a church fell in. Amazingly, a statue of Christ stands unscathed among the rubble, and a painting of Him is complete, in another spot. To me, a believer, this seems to be a sign. To others, it would be just a fluke of fate. Whatever you believe, no tragedy on earth will make sense to you, until you couch it within the terms of faith, whichever faith that may be.
I am frightened that something could have happened to my friend in Peru. No doubt, all the lines of communication are out, as he lives in the area that was discombobulated by the earthquake. I pray that Pedro is safe. In the meantime, tears continue to stream from my eyes, thinking of all the tiny coffins lined up, the homeless people sleeping on the street, and the dogs searching for people. The thought of all of this is overwhelming. To save my own sanity, I think I’ll go find something creative to work on.
Pat
