I am fortunate enough to have four well-read grandparents who have excellent taste. Last night, Memaw sent me a Wendell Berry poem we love, that hangs framed in her kitchen, to read again during this intense season. Just in case you need to read it once more, or you haven’t had the fortune to stumble upon it before now, here you go:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
by Wendell Berry
Book News!
In other news, a book I contributed to is available for preorder! Gracie is such a talented artist and it was fun to write about one of my favorite saints, St. John the Baptist.
It is also available to order on Amazon.
Bar-Side Chats
One of our most requested Bar-Side Chats topics has been the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon). It will finally happen October 19th! My dear friend Laura and her husband will join us to give a brief overview and answer questions.
Select International Tours
Join Michael and Alexandra Foley next year on a private yacht cruise on the Adriatic! I am not sure there can be a dreamier location, and the Foley’s are tons of fun. Fr. Red Blevins will also be joining them.
Something Good
A couple from our new parish invited us over for pizza two Sundays ago and I was reminded how powerful hospitality is. We didn’t even know both of their names before knocking on the door, but soon we were sharing conversion stories, parenting struggles, and making plans to hang out again. If you have been thinking about inviting someone new over- do it! It absolutely made our week, and both you and I could do the same for someone else.
As Anne said, “I am so glad I live in a world there are Octobers.”
Happy October,
Bond
I pre-ordered The Modern Saints in July and look forward to receiving it! I love the Wendell Berry poem. I was walking along the Clinch River yesterday and saw a Blue Heron. It was so graceful and quite as it walked along the river. I marveled as it caught and ate a fish before resuming his walk. It calmed my soul! Looking forward to attending BarSide Chats in October.