Sep 21, 2025

 Living in Unconditional Love (235)

 

“Love flows from God to humans without effort:

As a bird glides through the air without moving its wings-

Thus, they go wherever they wish united in body and soul,

Yet separate in form.”

–Mechtild of Magdeburg

 

My wife Eileen died from esophageal cancer in February 2020 one year after being diagnosed, 60 years after we met on Long Island. Then my brother Tom became ill (not COVID), and I spent a total of six weeks being with him in Ohio, but he died in October 2020. My sister-in-law Sue Mahoney died from Covid-19 in January 2021. On top of it all stood the pandemic, locking everyone down almost two years. Covid has proved to be a persistent problem, and many of the long-term effects are quite serious, and it has proven much more serious than flu.

09/21/2025                             Fall! Time does move along. The weather has been warm (70s) during the day and in then 40s at night. No rain, and it is considered a drought by many as there has been little rain since July in much of the east coast. The gladiolus still looks great but winding down with only a few left. I will stop at the grave to see if the gladiolas are finished. It they are I will remove them to clean up the space. With no rain there are few weeds, so things have been quiet for now. They are predicting the possibility of rain for several days next week, but even that possibility is less than 50%.

I did not mow the lawn this past week and may wait another week before mowing again. Much of the grass is showing signs of the drought and is growing very slowly if at all.

The week has been quiet except that my daughter Karen spent some time in the hospital with pneumonia but is home now feeling a little better. She has been battling a chest cold for months; hopefully now they can help her get better.

I will often watch the random short videos (reels) on FB in the evening, and last evening they showed many Spiritual songs from black churches which proved to be very moving. We must remember that they have suffered slavery, rejection and more ever (yes, now) since they were forcibly brought here. But their music belied that history and projects hope, faith, and joy just for being alive. I consider that time spent listening to the beautiful and joyful music filled with such hope and faith a beacon of hope in this sad time for our country at this point in time. It was also interesting that many black preachers were not afraid to state both their disgust of murder, but the full recognition of the hatred spoken by the young man, and continuing to be spoken by his wife, and their disgust of the R party extolling the “virtues” of that man, covering themselves by the same dirt he preached.

Our nation is 

Gentle One, I weep inside as I read the hatred being expressed by so many in our great nation, one that proclaims itself Christian but preaches evil in its wake, led by the leaders elected by the nation. I ask for our forgiveness, for indeed, we know not what we do. At this point in my life, I understand that life is short and we are responsible for what we do, and I beg Your forgiveness and love to aid in our recovery.