The past couple of days, I’ve been rather in a desert when I think of writing. Oh, I’ve done some technical writing because I have a lot of that to work through, but in the interior landscape, it seems to be a desert.
Which reminds me of a retreat weekend some 8 years ago – it was supposed to be a “Desert Retreat” – but due to a typo it became a “Dessert Retreat.” And as it is with these sorts of things, while the Desert theme was carried through, we had a grand time teasing the person who added the extra “s” and harassed him about not bringing enough desserts.
I remember that retreat quite vividly. We were led through The Cloud of Unknowing. We were presented with Julian of Norwich and “All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” Good concepts to ponder that weekend as it turned out. When I returned home on Sunday morning atthe end of the retreat I found that my house had burned – not quite to the ground, but in a way that might not have been any worse.
All shall be well. Nobody was injured in the fire. Even the cats escaped the house.
All shall be well. I discovered that most of what was lost was “just stuff.” And, the closets were cleaned out without the pain of making a choice.
All shall be well. We survived it.
All shall be well. There are still times now when I am aware that there may still be people to be forgiven — or people who need to understand that they are forgiven. But, it will come to pass, I am sure
All shall be well. Many months later, after we were back in the “new” house, my neighbor across the street brought me a gift: a package of very nice fat-quarters (fabric for quilting). I had lost my entire fabric stash in the fire. We both stood in the street and cried. I’ve not gotten back into quilting in the last 8 years — I think something broke inside me — but the gift touched me so deeply.
All shall be well. All manner of things shall be well.