Arc in the making

 

Various issues have arisen over my Mom’s care, all made more challenging because of the distance between us and the fact I am ‘abroad’. I love having Mom still here, still able to converse and laugh, remember things from the past, tell me she loves me. What a blessing.

Sometimes, though, I flag. I feel alone, and it’s almost too much. Elijah moment.

I took a walk last night, trying to follow the trails we have walked round here for years, but which I’ve not tramped for awhile. Thought I’d go down the path to the ‘fort’, but discovered it has overgrown with tall grasses and weeds and is totally obscured. A game keeper used to drive his jeep down there regularly, and others perhaps walked it besides us. No longer is there a ‘gamey’; the trees either side of the path all broke and fell during Storm Arwen, and have been logged and removed. It’s nothing like the way it used to be.

So I carried on, deciding to go through the Forest of Endor instead. Across the raised ground, then I encountered the deep gouges left by the logging machines a year or two ago. They are so deep, and filled, after yesterday’s rains, with such rank-looking water. I managed to skirt them but after a few more steps this former well-loved walk petered out, lost in the long grass. With ticks a problem in this area, even in wellies I’m reluctant to dive into the long grass.

I turned back, continuing along the semicircular route we have often taken, but two huge trees have fallen and blocked the path totally. When we tried to get round them a few months ago, my foot went into a hole and I twisted my ankle.

Again I turned back, and as I re-emerged onto the paved road, I saw the broken rainbow over Aberdeen. It was vibrant, glorious, but only half an arc.

In every teardrop, a rainbow, God once said to me as I dealt with difficult things. May I rejoice today in the glory of even half a rainbow. May I view it as an arc in the making rather than an arc broken.