September Open Spaces

 

Open Spaces

Vol.: 21.9

By John W. Vander Velden

 

The year seems to be rushing past without pausing for a breath. And in the rush of days we hurry to keep up.

We all long for days to become normal, or at least resemble what we would consider normal. Yet the Delta variant of COVID is stirring things up once again. I continue to take precautions, and some ways have stepped back to my pre-vaccination self. I keep my mask handy and avoid large gatherings. Thus far Jackie and I have avoided this dreaded virus. We will do our best to keep healthy. So please take care of yourself and your loved ones. And we pray that one day our lives beneath the shadow of COVID-19 will be no more than a story we tell our grandchildren.

Our September has been dry. That has not been the case for everyone. News of weather disasters around the country break our hearts. Especially the Gulf Coast that has been hit time and again. Their lives upended is surely a difficult situation to endure again. Yet all the while the western part of our country burns. Thousands of acres and countless structures have become no more than ash. So I feel the problems I face minuscule in comparison.

For we have escaped the worse storms, have been spared earthquakes, floods, and fires. Yet we pray for all those that have been less fortunate. That the aid they need to rebuild comes and with it the hope that rebuilding requires.

It takes courage to live, even during ordinary circumstances, doesn’t it? So today I hope that you too have the courage to stride out and attack each day God gives. To step forward and make a difference. Whether you believe your actions are minor or magnificent in unimportant. Know any move in the correct direction is positive. I say be bold!

Now for a bit of writing news:

When it comes to this editorial revise that has consumed me (not literally it just feels like it), I can see the light at the end of a very long tunnel. And more, I see it clear enough to know it is much more than headlights approaching in the blackness. I am hoping to complete this step in the next six weeks.

I thank you for your patience.

Am I completely pleased at what the story has become? Won’t be able to make that distinction until after I have finished and read through the NEW version. But pleased or not completing this step will be a very ah-ha moment.

So I will leave you with this thought. Once I doubted I could ever write a book. To craft pages others might want to read. But I remember a motivational speaker I saw on a news program years ago. He stated, and I paraphrase, if you write only one page a day, in a year you CAN write a 365 page book. I took that to heart and began this journey, page by page. I remind others that feel overwhelmed one word, one step, one act of kindness, one positive ANYTHING, adds to the whole. It is one more than existed before. Do that ONE thing and upon that ONE thing you will be able to stand. And from that new place you will be able to add another and another.

Never forget...no matter where you find yourself on your own life’s journey...you do not stand alone. For even in your darkest time, during those moments you feel most alone, when fear does its best to make the future seem impossible, or when you feel your weary bones cannot carry you even one step further, God, Master of the Universe, is nearer than your next breath. God will never abandon...NEVER!

Blessings,

John W. Vander Velden