Back Porch Break

St. Patty’s Day

March 17, 2021 by Nancy 14 Comments

This is the week we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! This year it may be without the green river in Chicago or the festive parade in New York City due to the ongoing pandemic, but there may still be some green beer consumed and at least a few people will be pinched for not wearing green.

I don’t know of a drop of Irish blood in me, but everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, right? I enjoy the celebratory mood and have always been fascinated by the history of the man celebrated.

Interestingly enough, St. Patrick was neither named Patrick at birth nor Irish! Maewyn Succat was born about 387 AD to a wealthy Roman family in Britain. When he was 16 he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and was a slave in Ireland for six years before he escaped. Instead of being bitter, however, he found God while in captivity and God planted in his heart a desire to share his joy in the Christian faith with the Irish—the very people who captured him.

After years in the Catholic Church back in England he was dubbed St. Patrick in his fifties and was commissioned bishop to Ireland. He faced many obstacles when he returned to Ireland, but eventually his messages of God’s love won over kings, chiefs, and whole clans. He won the hearts of the Irish people through his missionary efforts to rid Ireland of slavery and human sacrifice. The grateful people mourned his death on March 17, 460 AD.

That’s the true story, but the myths abound as well, don’t they? It’s said that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland, but since snakes weren’t native to Ireland those may have been metaphorical “snakes” representing the pagan religions that practiced human sacrifice. The three-leafed shamrock is Ireland’s national flower and it’s said that St. Patrick used it to illustrate the Trinity to his listeners. Then there’s the wearing of the green—maybe just a tip o’ the hat to spring, the shamrock and the old Irish flag.

I’ve always loved The Breastplate Prayer of St. Patrick, one version of which reads in part:
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Certainly St. Patrick’s prayer is as applicable in our day as it was in his. So it is well and good to celebrate his faithful life with all the divine joy in which he believed.

I Was There

February 9, 2021 by Nancy 66 Comments

It was an overcast, chilly morning in Washington, D.C., on January 6th. My roommate and I awoke early and began layering up against the cold. A sense of excitement mixed with a touch of trepidation accompanied us to the metro stop a couple of blocks from our hotel. Once on the train we were greeted by other sleepy, coffee-deprived pilgrims on the same journey.

Just the day before we had walked the 1.2 miles to the National Mall to scope out the site for the Save America March to be held the next day. The crowd was sparse but we bought some patriotic hats from a vendor, attended a pre-event rally in Freedom Plaza, and sat on some cold concrete steps sipping soup from a fancy hotel offering Covid-friendly takeout as we watched the people stroll by—many decked out in red, white, and blue and carrying American flags. We eagerly anticipated the day to come.

The next day as we approached The Ellipse, the circular park just behind the White House, arriving at 7:45 AM for the event scheduled for 11 AM, we saw a line miles long. We soon learned that those were the people who were waiting for admittance to get into the park where the stage was. They had to go through security, and it was obvious many had been there all night.

Realizing we were too late to make it into that inner circle, we joined thousands of other warmly dressed patriots in the field between the White House and The Washington Monument. We were able to position ourselves within sight of a big screen but never saw any of the speakers live. By the time the rally began, I could see people clear to the horizon in every direction. Every road leading into the area was packed with people who obviously stood in the cold for three to four hours without being able to hear or see anything. The media estimated 30,000 in attendance, but as Trump often said at his rallies, if only they would turn their cameras around to show how many people were really there. Maybe 30,000 were in the inner circle, but I’ve heard the total estimated as high as two million. I feel more than safe settling on a million plus.

The hours went by fast even though we were stomping our feet to stay warm. We chatted with the people closest to us and found out they were from California, Wyoming, Ohio, New Jersey, and many other states. It was a crowd of all ages, all races, and all socio-economic groups. I saw an old woman on a walker and more than a few babies in strollers. A young man on crutches was right in front of me. A dad handed his cell phone up to the young daughter he’d hoisted onto his shoulders and then turned slowly so she could capture the scope of the crowd on video. “Wow! Wow!” she kept saying over and over. Teenage boys climbed some of the tall trees near us in order to see better. Our section of the crowd laughed together when one of them with a bullhorn kept repeating, “Jason, come to the big tree!” Jason didn’t have a prayer of finding his friends. There were a lot of big trees!

Finally the event began. I wish I could tell you what it felt like to be in a crowd of a million patriotic Americans saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing all the words to the National Anthem. When a pastor began the invocation I bowed my head and looked down at my feet amazed that I was really there, standing on that one square foot of earth in my nation’s capital. Standing up for freedom of speech and the electoral process. Standing up for my country.

All I can tell you is that this was the most peaceful, polite, respectful crowd I’ve ever been in. Not once was I so much as jostled or bumped. At one point my friend’s back was hurting because we’d been standing for so long, so she went down on one knee. A woman near us handed over a bottle of ibuprofen and a young man behind me passed up a bottle of unopened water. That’s the kind of people we were with. We had sacrificed time and money to be there, yes, but gazing across that crowd I realized many of them had sacrificed much more—possibly driving for days. These were all good people concerned for the future of their country.

As the strains of Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to be an American” filled the air we focused on the screen and saw President Trump take the stage. He didn’t wear a MAGA hat, just a long black overcoat and red tie. His mood was subdued, and he was visibly moved as he looked out over what he said was the largest crowd he’d ever seen. Like each of us, he was encouraged to know that so many Americans still believed in truth, justice and the American way! We collectively breathed in courage, and breathed out hope.

You can read the transcript of Trump’s speech for yourself. In no way did we feel that we were being incited to riot. Those who take such expressions from the President as “we must fight like hell” for the truth and call it insurrection must have been absent from school the day they taught the lesson on metaphors. He enumerated the facts proving the election was fraudulent, yes, but he encouraged the crowd to go to the Capitol by saying we should, “peacefully and patriotically walk to the Capitol and make our voices heard.”

In case you don’t know, Jan. 6 was the day Congress was to certify the Electoral College votes. Several key swing states had asked for time to re-certify their votes because they discovered irregularities that would change the election results. Vice President Pence could have granted that permission to those states but opted not to for what he said were constitutional reasons, which was his prerogative.

Many say Trump’s speech and Pence’s decision combined to incite the riot that caused the storming of the Capitol building that afternoon, but even the FBI has confirmed that the riot was planned far in advance and included instigators previously arrested at some of the riots of last summer. The riot would have happened regardless of what was said by any of the speakers at the rally we attended. Besides, it started well before the President finished his speech.

My strongest testimony that we were not incited to riot comes from the fact that after the rally my friend and I began walking up Constitution Avenue toward the Capitol. At 68 and 72 there is NO way we would have moved in that direction if we thought we were walking into a violent mob. We walked about a quarter of a mile surrounded by other happy, celebratory rally attenders, but she was very cold. I convinced her we wouldn’t be able to hear what went on inside from outside the building anyway, so we popped into the nearest metro station and went back to our hotel to warm up. When we turned on the TV we couldn’t believe our eyes, because in our two days in D.C. we hadn’t seen a single agitator nor been afraid for one second.

By any account, the attack on the Capitol was horrible, incorrigible, and disgusting. It was surreal to see that was happening less than two miles from where we were, but we couldn’t watch the news for long because the commentators were all talking about “the rally that incited the riot.” We knew that wasn’t true, and we didn’t want to be robbed of our experience.

The next day, my friend and I still wanted to do some sightseeing before heading to the airport. Our Uber driver took us to the Jefferson Memorial where we encountered only a few other people, no security guards and no park service employees. He waited to take us to the Lincoln Memorial where we saw more people but still no security of any kind. It was a crisp, blue sky day, and our nation’s capital city was as awe-inspiring and inviting as ever.

It’s taken over a month for me to be able to write about my experience in D.C. I guess I wanted to hold it close to my heart. I couldn’t take the chance that people would tell me I didn’t experience what I knew I did. Besides, the Lord has told me He’s more concerned about my being LIGHT than being right, and I didn’t want to stir up controversy. But when a friend told me she heard someone say, “You mean there were other people in D.C. that day besides the rioters?” I knew I had to share my eyewitness account.

Yes, there were other people there. So in the days to come as the media spin swirls around you, remember that there are still millions of Americans who seek and hold fast to the truth. Peaceful, law-abiding Americans. I know. I was there.

A Word for 2021

January 11, 2021 by Nancy 18 Comments

Years ago author Debbie Macomber wrote a book titled One Perfect Word detailing her experiences of choosing one word to focus on for each New Year—a word that could guide her as she reflected on it. Like so many of us I was weary of making New Year’s Resolutions that felt more like chastisements than goals. After all, how many times can we clean out the garage or lose the same eight pounds? So I decided to give the idea of choosing just one word a chance.

That first year my word hit me like a ton of bricks. I was on a walk in my neighborhood in early January. I must have been watching the sidewalk for icy spots because it wasn’t until the second time I passed by a neighbor’s yard that I noticed a leftover Christmas display spelling out the word JOY in three-foot high red letters! Yes, I had almost missed the joy, but at that moment I knew it would be my word for the year. I would focus on all the joy I found around me.

Another year I chose the word LISTEN, or rather it chose me. It seemed everything I read or experienced was reminding me of the importance of listening—to those I love, to the wisdom around me, to the birds and other sounds of nature, and even to my own heart. Simply to listen.

You’ll notice I said the word chose me, and that’s truly the only way this exercise works. You can’t force your word choice. In the years a word did not choose me, I didn’t have a word for that year! Simple as that.

I’ve been given a word for 2021 however, and that word is RESTORE. After the year we have all experienced, we need some restoration. Those who’ve been sick want to restore their health. It may take more than a year to restore my optimism about our country, but I can stop watching the news and focus on whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…(Phil. 4:8). That should restore my hope.

I surely need to restore my enthusiasm for planning dinners at home by digging out some inspirational cookbooks. I need to replenish my creativity by taking on a new writing project—one that will take me into that writing zone that restores. And I need to restore my passion for ministering to older adults.

As I ponder the word restore, a favorite praise song comes to mind. “Restore to Me,” sung by Zach Williams, beautifully brings to life these words from Psalm 51:10-12: Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. And so RESTORE becomes more than my word for the year. It becomes my prayer. Open your heart and let a word choose you. Happy New Year.

Annie’s Antics

December 15, 2020 by Nancy 19 Comments

"Look! I'm a present." — “Look! I’m a present.”

I started to title this post “How to Kitten-proof Your House,” but then I realized I would have to leave the page blank. Try as we might to deter her, our little rescue kitten, Annie, can get into anything. At seven months she’s beginning to look more like a full-grown cat, but her energy and curiosity levels are kitten-like to the max! She’s part angel in fur, part domestic terrorist. Like a toddler, Annie has two speeds: full throttle and off. When she’s in the speed mode we call “the rips,” she can race up and down the stairs, across all the furniture and countertops, and up and down two bookcases all in about 17 seconds.

"What tissue paper?" — “What tissue paper?”

Decorating for Christmas has been challenging this year. We put up two trees but only hung non-breakable ornaments, and none on the bottom third of each tree. Still the little darling leaps for the lowest hanging ones, pulls tissue paper out of the gift bags, and chews on ribbons. We aren’t sure how the advent wreath full of candles came crashing to the floor one day, but we have our suspicions. After all, someone said if the earth were flat, cats would have knocked everything off of it by now!

"Just a few days before that horrible incident." — “Just a few days before that horrible incident.”

Annie has been shut up more times than Alcatraz escapees. She’s been in the pantry a few times, in the bedroom closet, the storage room, the office…just any room into which she has followed one of us unobserved. We did buy her a collar with a bell so we could locate her, but she managed to shed that and hasn’t told us where. It would have been helpful the day she jumped in the dryer and I slammed the door and started it without knowing she was in there! Gratefully I heard a few “ka-thunks,” so I stopped the dryer and opened the door to see what was wrong. She came jetting out with eyes as big as saucers. Now when I’m switching the laundry she stays at least five feet away. (Who says cats can’t be trained?)

"Maybe I can reach the keyboard this way." — “Maybe I can reach the keyboard this way.”

So why put ourselves through this agony you non-cat lovers may ask? Because of the pure joy! She makes us laugh several times a day, valuable during these trying times, and we get to experience her wonder as she discovers everything in her small world for the first time. Who knew water dripping down the back of the shower door could be so fascinating? Or gazing out the window at magpies? Or snow?

There are many mental and emotional benefits to having a cat in the house. In Professor John Gray’s Wall Street Journal article “Cats are the Best Philosophers” he says, “Cats have no need for instruction from humans. They already know how to live. Their default state is contentment, to which they return whenever they are not hunting, mating, or playing.”

"I need to digest this research article." — “I need to digest this research article.”

Annie’s contentment blesses me when she curls up on my lap during early morning devotions, or stretches out between my husband and me while we watch TV. And like a toddler, she looks perfectly innocent when she’s asleep!

Gray goes on to say about cats, “In a time of pandemic and pervasive uncertainty, they have become necessary for the health of the soul.” He concludes the article with, “Just by giving us their presence, our feline companions lighten the burden of being human.”

Don’t like cats? Might I suggest you’ve never really spent time with one. If you do, you may find yourself saying, “Well, I still don’t like cats—except for this one.” No two are alike, but all have a lot to offer us humans. So we put up with Annie’s antics, and know she’ll make our Christmas more joyful!

Readers, may you have a safe and Merry Christmas! At least temporarily, try to put aside the sadness of these times and celebrate the Savior who came to earth to be God with us. Look for the joy!

A Dose of Holiday Healing

November 9, 2020 by Nancy 24 Comments

It’s been a tough year. A pandemic, demonstrations, violence, elections, all with varying effects on each of us. But we need a break from all that. The holidays are upon us—Thanksgiving and Christmas with all their joys and traditions. This year as never before we need to open our hearts and minds to all the healing that can come when we concentrate on gratitude, giving, and God coming down to earth in the form of a tiny babe in a manger. The gifts of the holidays can heal us deep down, where we need it most.

So what should we prescribe for Thanksgiving? Maybe an acceptance that it probably won’t be as it’s always been. My daughter-in-law’s family traditionally gathers at their family farm in Pennsylvania. Most years around 22 people congregate from several states. This year due to travel and health concerns that won’t be happening. But she’ll host a smaller gathering in their home and make new memories for her husband and kids.

The location will be different, but the aroma of a turkey roasting in the oven, the table set with the best tablecloth and silverware, the excitement that builds as hungry diners come in and out of the kitchen to sample this or that favorite dish, will be much the same. There will even still be a couple of dogs circling around in hopes of finding a morsel or two on the floor. And as those in attendance bow their heads to pray around the table, the love and gratitude that encircles this precious gathering will deliver a dose of healing to all.

And what’s the recommended dosage for Christmas? Usually we talk about “paring down” the Christmas trappings in order to concentrate on the true meaning of Christmas, but this year maybe it’s an overabundance of everything Christmas, everything celebratory, that will nourish our souls. Time to increase the number of twinkly lights, candles, large red bows, and tins of fudge and cookies! Time to send more cards, not less, in order to tell those you care about that they are in your thoughts and prayers. And yes, time to spend more time than in years past in front of our own hearths, circling our own trees, and thanking God for the miracle that is Christmas.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). As we celebrate this timeless truth may we feel healed—and ready to face whatever 2021 brings.

All Things Pumpkin

September 29, 2020 by Nancy 18 Comments

It’s coming! The season when mango-flavored everything gives way to pumpkin-flavored everything, and I’m not just talking about the pumpkin spice latte at the corner coffee shop—although I will indulge in at least one of those.

Just walking into a grocery store this time of year lets you know pumpkin season is upon us. Outside the door are miniature pumpkins and gourds to nestle into fall arrangements with mums and colorful corn. Inside are pumpkins for carving and pumpkins for baking—and anyone willing to remove the slimy pulp inside of the pumpkin, separate and toast the pumpkin seeds, and use the pulp in a recipe is certainly deserving of the richest pumpkin flavor imaginable.

For the rest of us, it’s Libby’s canned pumpkin to the rescue. Pumpkin pie—it’s not just for Thanksgiving anymore—and pumpkin bread are always welcome treats. Then there are pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pancakes. No wonder we fall for all things pumpkin!

Yet not everything is enhanced by pumpkin flavor. Who would want pumpkin Jell-O? And while pumpkin beer may seem seasonally appropriate, do beer drinkers really drink it? I probably won’t choose a pumpkin ice cream cone or milkshake either, even if it is the flavor of the month. (Not even pumpkin can lure me away from chocolate.) And a recipe I saw for pumpkin chai tea didn’t appeal at all.

Nothing says fall like a precariously perched pile of pumpkins, however! I even saw a whole house made out of pumpkins in Nashville last year. And not all pumpkins are orange. Decorators have discovered white pumpkins and mix them with all shapes and sizes of smaller pumpkins and gourds.

Choosing the perfect pumpkin for a jack-o-lantern is a fall tradition kids look forward to, and visiting a local pumpkin patch can be especially fun when a hayride and hot apple cider are a part of the experience.

Nope, you can’t fight it this time of year so get “pumpkined.” Put some pumpkin spice creamer in your coffee, light a pumpkin-scented candle, and pay homage to the flavor and scent of pumpkin season. It will be gone before we know it.