Iron Mountain ski jump

Iron Mountain ski jump

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

HOW WE LAUGH [W, 10-10-18]


CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith for the Years of Winter… 

About two hours into the six hour drive home, after the four days in Chicago culminating in Mary Beth’s and Bill’s wedding, I made some clever remark to Helen. She laughed and laughed. It wasn’t really that funny. I can’t even remember what I said now. Maybe she laughed so much just because we were tired from all the festivities--even though it was a delightful time with family and friends--and relieved to be going home. You laugh harder when you’re punchy.

Regardless of the reason, it wasn’t the sort of fake excess laughter that you do to show someone you are paying attention, or to ingratiate yourself. After 60 years of marriage, we’re way past that.

Helen has often said that we don’t remember what people say, but we remember how they make us feel. What I remember most about anyone is the way they laughed.

I can’t remember what I said to Helen on the way home, but I remember her laughter. Isn’t that what life is all about, bringing laughter to those you love?

JRMcF

“God’s forgiveness is more than a blessing; it’s a challenge.” Wm. Sloane Coffin

I started this blog several years ago, when we followed the grandchildren to the “place of winter,” Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [The UP]. I put that in the sub-title, Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter, where life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This phrase is explained in the post for March 20, 2014.] The grandchildren, though, are grown up, so in May, 2015 we moved “home,” to Bloomington, IN, where we met and married. It’s not a “place of winter,” but we are still in winter years of the life cycle, so I am still trying to understand what it means to be a follower of Christ in winter…

My new novel is VETS, about four homeless Iraqistan veterans accused of murdering a VA doctor, is available from your local independent book store, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BOKO, Books-A-Million, Black Opal Books, and almost any place else that sells books. It’s regularly $12.99 for paperback, and $3.99 for ebook, but only 99 cents for a limited time nw. Free if you can get your library to buy one.



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