Fractured: 1

Here's what's on my wall now, five blocks from finished. It is mostly Australian aboriginal fabrics with some Kaffes and some other odds and ends thrown in. I'm loving how it is turning out. Not all of the blocks are in their final positions yet, but the two focal points are. 

Do me a favor, please: Click to enlarge it. Now tell me (again, please) if the five blocks with the pink in them should stay or go. I really don't know. Either the pink is the zinger OR it is the inappropriate distraction. I just can't tell yet. If they stay, I'll add some more in a couple of the remaining five-to-be-made blocks and move things around. If they go, I've got more blocks to make.

Help me, please!

Menagerie

Our daughter asked me to make a quilt for her neighbors who were expecting a little boy. She wanted animals on it.

I've shown this quilt before as a flimsy. My machinist quilted paw prints all over it. So I thought I'd show you the finished product.

Oh, and the little boy has been born. His name is Rhett!

The Need to Do the Same

Not quite six months ago, a friend attacked me verbally. She is a very bright woman, and her vitriolic words were carefully chosen to reach my most vulnerable place. Her main assertion -- among other terrible insults -- was that my spirituality was a sham. Her aim seemed to be as hurtful to me as she possibly could.

My initial response was to dismiss her words. "I know who I am," I thought. And said. I wasn't hurt, but rather stunned.

Then began a period of doubting and questioning. Was there any truth at all in the accusations she had made?

This is a woman who I had ministered to -- many times -- during the course of my work as a hospital chaplain. A woman who asked her husband to call me each time she entered the hospital. A woman who clutched at my hand and asked, tearfully, "Will you pray with me?"

And then, suddenly, all of that was dismissed as "fake."

My period of introspection and conversations with others who have known me a long time allayed my fears. I do know who I am.

Some have suggested that she is mentally ill. Others have pointed to a lengthy pattern of becoming close to someone and then lashing out in a horrible way. There are other theories. But it doesn't really matter now what is going on for her.

What matters is what happens next for me. I haven't seen her for more than six months. But it is inevitable that our paths will cross again. To know how to move forward, I've been reading and studying about forgiveness, gathering a collection of insights from minds far better than mine:

• Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.
• Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.
• Everyone makes mistakes. If you can't forgive others, don't expect others to forgive you.
• Never forget the three powerful resources you have available to you: Love, prayer, and forgiveness.
• Forgiving people isn't always about giving them another chance. It's for closure, so that you can move on.
• When you choose to forgive those who have hurt you, you take away their power.
• Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

All good thoughts. Some better than others. And then, of course, there's the real reason: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

I'm working on it.