Sunday blessings

Clockwise: Trinity prayer team; sermon notes; Jordan drawing; woman with big book.

Decades ago my spiritual director told me that life with God would always be an adventure. Today my sense of that was refreshed.

At Trinity Episcopal Cathedral there are prayer teams that will pray with you in the chapel after communion. It's a privilege to be prayed for by this couple. I asked for prayers for friends with grave health needs, and for the completion of my novel. Their prayers for me made me feel so encouraged and valued! When prayers touch me deeply I often don't remember their content, but there was something about passing on my gifts.

At lunch, I was putting the finishing touches on today's sermon drawing with my colored pens. I didn't realize I was being watched until this lovely young man, 24-year-old Jordan from Seattle, asked permission to look at what I was doing and we began to chat. He had a lot of questions about my art-making and I shared my journal with him. Since he seemed so interested, I asked about his involvement with art. He claimed not to have any.

I said, "Because you're so intrigued by my artwork, it's clear that you have some connection with art! So I'm going to lend you my pens and some paper (I gave him the Trinity bulletin and my little blue bag crammed with pens), and you're going to make some art right now. Just scribbling is fine. Use whatever colors you like. The important thing is to be playful and have fun." So he did. His dad was with him, and it was endearing to see how proud he was of his son—as well he should be. When Jordan was finished he showed me what he'd done, and I told him what I liked about it. He was quite pleased with himself, and his dad was beaming.

I said, "This is a fine drawing. You have two choices of what to do with it. The one I recommend is that you keep this drawing and put it up somewhere on a bulletin board to remind you that you have a connection to art and and can make something you have fun with and feel good about. Or, if you don't intend to keep it, I'd like to have it and I'll put it in my journal." Jordan said, "I photographed my drawing, so I'll print that and put it up, and I'll give the original to you." I made him sign it! (The last time I had an art exchange like this was with Bill the Dean's eight-year-old son.) Throughout our exchange I was aware that this encounter was undergirded by the prayers of the Trinity prayer team.

After they left, I noticed this woman engrossed in beginning a book she'd evidently just bought. It was a very thick book! I asked her how many pages it had. "587," she said. I explained that I was writing a novel, that it was over 500 pages, and that people were suggesting I should break it into two or three books because readers might be intimidated by such a big book. I said, "I'm reluctant to publish my work in a form where a reader might not have access to the entire story, and seeing you happily tackle such a lengthy work is encouraging to me." She spoke enthusiastically about her pleasure in reading (mainly nonfiction, often history), and urged me to follow my instincts. When she left, she stood beside me and put her hand on my shoulder—it certainly felt like a blessing—and wished me luck with my writing.

I often pray, Bless me to be a blessing.
That prayer was certainly answered today.

May the blessings with which I was blessed continue to bless others.