Fresh Air
The weather finally broke, I would say, for the
better. After the better part of a week
of late summer that felt more like mid-summer the wind switched around from the
northwest and chased all that heat and humidity eastward.
I have been feeling more and more confined the past
ten days. Surely part of it was that I
felt no urgent need to get out into 90 plus degree heat; not when the air
conditioner kept the inside of the house so comfortable. But the bigger challenge was that I had my
left knee replaced and that has a way of humbling one’s mobility.
But, this morning I decided to take a little walk,
test the new knee some and breathe fresh air.
I stepped onto the front porch and breathed deeply.
I love autumn, so it was easy to notice the foliage of
the red-twig dogwood along the old fence line was already deep burgundy, and
the first bunch of purple asters were already blooming at the edge of the
field. To the surprise of my wife, I
harkened the caution of my physical therapist, so I had used the help of a cane
and I kept the walk quite short – around a third of a mile. Surely there was more of a new autumn to be
discovered, but what caught my eye was two out-of-season sightings.
The first wasn’t too surprising. Five bluebirds, likely a family group, perched on the power lines about fifty yards ahead. They waited until I was just about even with
them and then they peeled off one by one to move about another one hundred yards
ahead. I knew from past experience that
I could chase them all the way to the end of the road like this. Although I would guess that most people would
envision sunnier and warmer weather as a backdrop to bluebirds, I usually don’t
see them on my walks until these early days of September.
I stopped to pick today’s ripened tomatoes from the
garden before going back in the house.
Finally with my hand on the door handle, I thought
about the sacrament of the anointing of the sick that Father Philip gave me the
day before my surgery. He invited others
at Mass that morning to stay and pray with us.
I appreciated how many of them did.
I remember the peace that enveloped me. It was like stepping into fresh
air.
I breathed deeply of this new autumn and stepped into the house. The knee held up just fine; I will walk a bit further tomorrow.
“Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.” James 5:13-15
His Peace,
Deacon Dan
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash
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