Blog Bits

We are converting a spare room to make a small chapel. We've wanted to do this for many years but God wanted to celebrate "space" in our life by filling it with people, usually people who needed a place to sleep. This has diminshed and the room is empty. So we talk about what we will put into the space; how we will fill it. Today a friend of ours is bringing over a sewing machine on which his wife, recently deceased, used to sew. JoAnne used to sew and wants to take it up again. But first she wants to put the sewing machine in the chapel, with a candle and a picture or statue. A juxtaposition of faith and utility. To me it seems very Franciscan. When it arrives (and when I can find a camera) I will make a picture of it so you can see...

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Today is February 23. It is time for Spring to begin. Spring is late. Usually by the 16th we can all feel the change. It draws the heart out of the house to go walking, miles upon miles, through the blustery nights. But not this year. We are cold and wet and grey and very un-Arizona-like. And I'm complaining, like I have not right to do, since everywhere else in the country Winter is a real experience whereas ours is only make-believe...

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Do Franciscans get heartburn? I do. It wakes me up at night. I know the doctor has pills for this, but I'm tired of taking pills. I could make necklaces out of all the pills I take every day. Economically I could take steps to reduce the cost and complexity of this issue, but it means entering into a new partnership with my insurance company, which, strangely, I am reluctant to do. Anyone out there who works in the insurance industry may understand this problem. We are changing as a cultural economy and it doesn't happen easilly. Insurance is now part of our daily healthcare. There are always three people in the doctor's office, and we who have the sore throat or aching back no longer seem to play a major role. The Doctors must form relationship with the Insurers, and both of them must at least be on speaking terms with the Employers. People, these days, are mere baskets of physical complaints. They dump out the goods on a table, sort through them, argue about who gets what, and the bag gets tossed aside. If you don't believe me, try talking to your physician. If he doesn't flee the room at the sound of a voice coming from the examining table, you've found a rare relationship...

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Nurses, however, have souls. And perhaps because of their daily ministry, I sense souls growing among doctors and insurance companies. Employers, by my reckoning, remain unmoved.

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If you would like to forward this blog to others, please feel free. That's what it's here for. Like planting a seed, I hope it will grow and bear fruit.

Tom