Blessings abound in this life.  Some blessings we notice right away and we rejoice and give thanks.  Or maybe we just smile and keep on keeping on.  Some of the blessings we receive are quiet.  They sit off on the horizon waiting for the right time to be revealed.  And yet others are silent forever.  We never notice them.  We never realize they have come to us.  The Calvary congregation makes me proud.  Without fanfare you do many things that become blessings for members and strangers alike.  Every time I am privileged to give a Purple Heart blanket to someone in need, I am humbled.  I give them away even though I don't make them.  I receive the thanks of the recipient without putting in any of the work.  Make no mistake, I like giving them away.  I also make sure those who receive them are aware of the Purple Heart Women.  In a few days I will give another blanket to a person in need.  And the blessings it brings to that family have their source in the love of women who worship God at Calvary UMC.  The ripples in history the blankets create are blessings.  They surely do abound and for them we give thanks to God.

These weekly offerings do not always come to mind easily.  I try to write something interesting.  Sometimes, off beat.  Other times, focused on current events.  Lately the current events pool has been more than sad.  The last week's news has our nation on edge.  I almost feel as if I'm running out of words to address yet one more tragedy.  But words are often times the only thing most of us have when met with such trauma as we have witnessed of late.  We scream them at politicians and policemen and television sets.  We scramble to post something relevant on social media.  We wring our hands and say our prayers and hope it all ends.  These hot July days may get hotter; in more ways than one.  I hope our passions cool, if only that we may find a just and peaceful resolution to what divides us.  May our cities and towns know safe streets.  May our leaders find ways to unite us.  And may God bless us all.

Today I'm a bit nostalgic.  It was just a year ago on the 10th when I fell in the office and broke my right hip.  Believe me when I say I was laughing as I sat there on the floor.  Lori was so concerned she kept asking "Are you OK?"  I just kept laughing.  Well, about an hour later, after I'd wheeled myself into my office to finish a few things for Sunday, I still couldn't stand and that's when Lori called an ambulance and I was on my way to the hospital.  A year later and lots of help and support and visits and prayers and food and laughter, I'm happy to report things are well with my hip.  My orthopedist, and every nurse, aide, volunteer, food service attendant...the staff at the rehab center in Ligonier...the physical and occupational therapists... I was in good hands and I am able to amble and walk and hustle along because they did their jobs in magnificent fashion.  I am thankful to them and to my church family (about whom I cannot say enough) and to my sons who watched over me and "prodded" me firmly (if you know what I mean) to be a good patient.  And Julia.  "In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish..." and not for the first time.  My undying love.

Life doesn't always provide smooth sailing for human beings.  Never has the life we live been accident free or calamity free or misery free.  No one lives a life that does not contain its own measure of, shall we say, "discomfort."  Life comes with very few guarantees.  Among the two that come immediately to mind are "death and taxes."  I wonder if we, in the Western World, have entered into a new and unhealthy cultural age?  Let's call it  "The Age of Political Grievance."  I find it astounding there are so many who find every personal slight cause for political action or a law suit.  Have we grown so tender and insensitive that we can tolerate no slight?  Is every mistake or accident to be taken as a personal attack such to warrant a court case?  I'm all for appropriate justice.  But whatever happened to "turn the other cheek?"  I hesitate to quote the late Rodney King, but "Why can't we all just get along?"  I wonder what generations far in the future will think of how we have personalized and politicized every little thing?