bits of sunshine

women at wells in scripture

We just talked about the Samaritan woman at the well in the Bible study I attend. I realized that there is a pattern of women at wells in Biblical stories, so I pulled what I knew together and did a little more study about Photina - the Samaritan woman at the well, and other women at wells.

 

Hagar is found by the angel of the Lord by a well. (She is an Egyptian - a stranger to Abraham's people - she has been rejected by her husband, but God found her by a well and sees her and hears her and makes her a promise).

 

Keturah who will become one of Abraham's wives is found at the Well of Sheba. (Her son, Midian, is Zipporah's ancestor.)

 

Rebekah, who will become Isaac's wife is found for him as she draws water from a well. (Her father, Bethuel, is Abraham's nephew.)

 

Rachel, who will become Jacob's wife, is found for him as she brings her flock to a well and Jacob removes the stone covering the well, so she can draw water. (Her son Joseph marries Asenath.)

 

Asenath, who will become Joseph's wife, served at a shrine with a well (She is also an Egyptian - a stranger to Abraham's people - brought into the people of God). (Her son Ephriam is Jesus' ancestor.)

 

Tamar who will bear Judah's children, is met by him at a well. (Her son Perez is Jesus' ancestor.)

 

Zipporah, who will become Moses' wife, is at the well to draw water, but Moses draws for her. (She is a Midianite - considered a stranger.) (Her son Eliezer is Jesus' ancestor.)

 

Achsah, Caleb's daughter, is given land by her father, and as a wedding gift, he also gives her two springs (wells) - the upper and the lower adjacent to her land. (A woman who is given an inheritance including springs of water.)

 

Photina is met by Jesus at a well - at Jacob's Well to be exact. And here are some more things I found interesting -

 

The tribe of Ephraim (the same Ephriam who is Jesus' ancestor) is the tribe the Samaritans descended from.

 

Photina has had five husbands and is now with a sixth man. The tribe of Ephriam adopted false gods from six nations.

 

Now Jesus - who always redeems, and who is the true Bridegroom, offers her living water. He is the seventh man. The one who brings completion and rest (on the seventh day, God rested). He is offering Photina redemption - and is also offering Ephriam's decendents redemption - because she runs to tell them that she has met the Messiah!

 

And Jesus sits on the well as he talks with Photina. This was not done. But there is a tie back to Jacob and Rachel. Jacob, before removing the stone covering the well, makes the comment "Behold it is high day; it is not time for the [miqneh] to be gathered." The word miqneh refers to livestock (or flocks) and literally means "the purchased". Jesus (our cornerstone, our foundation) is sitting on the well at noon (high day) and he tells his disciples that the field is white for harvest (which means people are ready to believe on him - and in believing, are purchased by his gift of salvation). When Jacob looked out, while the well was covered with a stone, it was not time for the purchased ones to be gathered. When Jesus looked out, siting on the well as the Stone - the Cornerstone, it was now time for the purchased ones to be gathered.

 

Jesus found Photina at the well - she is a picture of the church - the Bride of Christ comprised of relatives and strangers rejected by some, but found by God, seen and heard by God, and brought into His promise. We are purchased and given an inheritance, springs of living water, and true rest.

 

Sources:

Genesis 16:7-15 (Hagar at the well)

Genesis 24:11-67 (Rebekah at the well)

Genesis 29:1-14 (Jacob and Rachel at the well)

Genesis 38:13-30 (Tamar at the shrine - shrines had wells)

Genesis 41:45 (Asenath daughter of the priest who served at a shrine - with a well)

Genesis 25:1, 22:19 (Keturah is Abraham's wife, Abraham stayed in Beersheba [Beer=well, so Well of Sheba] with her)

Exodus 2:16-22 (Zipporah at the well)

Judges 1:12-15 (Achsah is given two springs)

I Kings 12:25-33 and II Kings 17:30-31 (The six nations that Ephriam adopted false gods from)

Genesis 25:1-2 (Midian is Keturah and Abraham's son)

Exodus 2:16, 18, & 21 (Zipporah is daughter of Reuel, a descendent and priest of Midian)

Genesis 24:15 (Rebekah's father is Abraham's nephew)

Genesis 35:24 (Rachel is Joseph's mother) Genesis 41:45 (Joseph marries Asenath)

Genesis 46:20 (Asenath is Ephraim's mother) (Ephraim is Joseph’s son; Joseph is Judah’s brother; Jesus is of the line of Judah)

The Samaritans occupied the land that was allotted to Ephraim and there is historical and DNA evidence that they descended from Ephraim.

Photina is not named in the Bible - but historical church records name her Photina or Photini. And from Alice Linsley, a Biblical Anthropologist, The Samaritan woman who Jesus spoke to at Jacob's well is known as Photini (enlightened one). She is esteemed among Christians. In the Eastern Church, she is regarded as "equal to the Apostles." She is the first evangelist in the New Testament since she ran to tell everyone about Messiah's appearing, and tradition holds that she and her children were martyred in Carthage.

I Peter 2:4 (Christ is the Living Stone)

Isaiah 28:16 and I Peter 2:6 (Christ is the Cornerstone)

The comparisons of Jesus at the well and Jacob at the well are drawn from Genesis 29:1-14 and John 4:6-42.

 

Much of the Old Testament is pictures and foretelling of what is to be fulfilled in Jesus. I love to find these connections. God is an amazing storyteller - telling the best story - the good news - the Gospel.

 

I also learned from: 

Just Genesis: A Woman at a Well by Alice Linsley and The Ecclesiology of Wells by Remy Wilkins

a special occasion

don't save something for a special occasion.  

every day of your life is a special occasion.

~thomas monson 

 

love your people.  

hug your people.  

set out the good dishes.  

use the favorite blanket.  

make a special cup of coffee for your best friend.  

buy an ice cream cone for your kiddo.    

sit and talk.  

hold hands.  

do what your heart is telling you to do for the people in your life.  

because every day of your life truly is a special occasion.

1 november 2021

november first

sitting in the living room at number six twelve, finding coziness on a cool fall evening

thinking about making some lists this month

november and a focus on gratitude seem to go hand in hand -
so, this morning, i wrote on a post-it write a gratitude list every day this mornth

here is a list for the first day of novebmer:

* i have been doing my job at miles community college for a whole year

* i have been a city council person for a whole year

* we have had the cozy furniture and rug and our favorite artwork hung on the walls in our living room for a whole year now {and i am thinking about what little projects i might want to do next . . . maybe with some black paint . . . we'll see . . . adding little touches and doing projects to keep making this house our home is a joy to me}

* good, good news for ben today

* madi and isaac together downstairs watching a movie - and i can hear the low runble of isaac's voice and the lilt of madi's laugh - hearing my kids talk together is one of my very favorite things

* the beauty of changing leaves and a changing season

* a full november calendar - there are many things to celebrate this month {that list is coming tomorrow}

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happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed.
happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.
–denis waitley

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"do not be anxious about anything,
but in every situation,
by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
and the peace of God,
which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
philippians 4:6-7

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and on into november we go. 
go gently, love fiercely, and be wonderful, my friends.

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also - you are welcome to join me this month, if you wish, in listing your gratitudes - in the comments here on my blog, on facebook, on instagram, in your journal . . . however you choose. 

one option for naming your gratitude this month is to join a community of gratitude listers here, with michelle, who is a gracious and welcoming facilitator - i always love the prompts that michelle offers and the connections that she fosters. click on over and join gratitude week {november 8 - 14} as michelle's gift to any of us who would like to turn our attention to gratitude. i just signed up. 

 

maybe he will calm the raging sea

the other night i pulled mary oliver's new and selected poems off my shelf.  i was looking for a poem to send to a friend, and as i found the one i was looking for, this one caught my eye as well

Maybe

Sweet Jesus, talking
    his melancholy madness,
        stood up in the boat
            and the sea lay down,

silky and sorry,
    So everybody was saved
        that night.
            But you know how it is

when something
    different crosses
        the threshold — the uncles
          mutter together,

the women walk away,
    the young brother begins
        to sharpen his knife.
            Nobody knows what the soul is.

It comes and goes
    like the wind over the water —
        sometimes, for days,
            you don’t think of it.

Maybe, after the sermon,
    after the multitude was fed,
        one or two of them felt
            the soul slip forth

like a tremor of pure sunlight
    before exhaustion,
        that wants to swallow everything,
            gripped their bones and left them

miserable and sleepy,
    as they are now, forgetting
        how the wind tore at the sails
            before he rose and talked to it —

tender and luminous and demanding
    as he always was —
        a thousand times more frightening
            than the killer sea.

i savored the tremor of pure sunlight; i felt the wind tearing at the sails and retreating to a sleepy silence; i see Jesus, fearful and tender and luminous, demanding that the sea and the people listen to him. i wanted to find the scripture that mary took her inspiration from, Matthew 8:23-27, reads

 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.  And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”  And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

last night, i picked up my copy of god speaks through wombs by drew jackson. the third poem i read tonight is titled 

The Raging Sea

and the accompanying scripture reference is Luke 8:22-25

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out,  and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger.  And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm.  He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

next to this passage in my Bible, i had penned Psalm 65:7-8, so of course i turned there, and, because i had underlined 5-8, that is what i read

By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
    O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas;
the one who by his strength established the mountains,
    being girded with might;
who stills the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples,
so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

so here, in one of the psalms of david, we have God stilling the roaring of the sea, the roaring of the waves, and the tumult of people.

then i read drew's poem:

The Raging Sea

Growing up, I heard tales of sea monsters.
Some called them whales,
some said Leviathan --
giants, 

the size of empires.
Untamable, chaotic, overwhelming.
No one could tell what their next move would be.

We never stood a chance,
like minnows,
in the ocean of great powers.

The only thing more potent
than the monsters who cause storms
is the one who can calm them. But I guess
he's sleeping, because the beasts rage on.

the ending of drew's poem is the ending of david's psalm create a dissonance. joy and rage. the ending of mary's poem and the ending of david's psalm also create a dissonance. awesome and frightening. 

there is one more telling of the story in scripture. and it is of interest to note that, because of roman imperial occumpation and the temple's destruction and desecration, the atmosphere of the disciples' world was full of fear, grief, lamentation, and dread. the storm that overtakes their boat and the boats around them, is one more monster that threatens to overtake them, to take their very lives. and Jesus has laid down on a cushion and fallen asleep. we find a third telling in Mark 4:35-41

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”  And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”  And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

the disciples would have heard david's psalm read in synagogue. they would have known that it is God who stills the raging wind, the raging sea, the tumult within the people. and here was Jesus in the midst of the storm, demanding that the sea lay down, fearlessly commanding the wind and waves to still. who is this man? the wind and waves obey him. what sort of a man is he? is       he even             a man?       . . . the relief from fear, the absence of wind, the almost eerie calm, leaves them unnerved.  

our lives sometimes fill with fear, grief, lamentation, and dread. we are threatened by storms that break over us. there are monsters that rage on for days, weeks, months, years, and even lifetimes. in our distress, tossed in the untamable sea, though we cry out in unbelief, he may yet calm the storm, he may yet bring joy, he may yet remain with us, girded with might, awesome and terrible, beautiful and more powerful than any other force we have ever known. unsettling even as he brings peace. 

 

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if you want to hear me read aloud and talk about this, you can listen at my vimeo site

 

2 august 2021 :: dirty august

and this is how my mind works

i was thinking about the term dirty august 

i first heard it from another wildland fire wife - august is often long and dry and hot and filled with fire and fire assignments - dirty on so many levels

so, today, i googled the term . . . maybe don't do that?

but one wonderful thing i found - there is a poetry collection by Edip Cansever titled Dirty August 
originally written in Turkish and translated by Richard Tillinghast and Julia Clare Tillinghast-Akalin

the poem that was shared on the website from the collection is simply beautiful

Table

A man filled with the gladness of living
Put his keys on the table,
Put flowers in a copper bowl there.
He put his eggs and milk on the table.
He put there the light that came in through the window,
Sounds of a bicycle, sound of a spinning wheel.
The softness of bread and weather he put there.
On the table the man put
Things that happened in his mind.
What he wanted to do in life,
He put that there.
Those he loved, those he didn't love,
The man put them on the table too.
Three times three make nine:
The man put nine on the table.
He was next to the window next to the sky;
He reached out and placed on the table endlessness.
So many days he had wanted to drink a beer!
He put on the table the pouring of that beer.
He placed there his sleep and his wakefulness;
His hunger and his fullness he placed there.
Now that's what I call a table!
It didn't complain at all about the load.
It wobbled once or twice, then stood firm.
The man kept piling things on.

 

this resonates with me.  so much.  if i scroll back through this blog, if i scroll through my instagram, if i look back at my old flickr account . . . so much of my life is held on my table.  

 

on my table

my bible and my journal 
sun rays 
darkness
candlelight 
letters to be read and letters to be written 
meals 
bills and the checkbook 
uno 
settlers of catan 
mexican train dominos 
christmas cookies 
homeschool work 
college coursework 
presents 
balloons 
birthday cakes 
communion - the bread and the wine
flowers cut from my gardens 
flowers gifted by friends 
elbows 
tests 
tears stifled and tears that overflow
plenty 
barely enough 
cups of coffee and sometimes tea
glasses of cool water and sometimes soda
bowls of soup 
plates of food fresh off the grill 
stroopwaffles 
crumbs 
bowls of fruit
lists 
registration forms
immunization records
maps
drawings 
plans 
papers scribed with hopes and dreams and how will any of this ever work out 
paint 
crayons 
markers 
love notes 
legos - sets built following the directions and amazing original creations 
hand-drawn cartoons
pictures
easy laughter and hard truth 
sometimes questions, sometimes answers
books and more books - storybooks, picture books, books for research, and books full of good words
boxes and tape 
piles to be packed 
piles unpacked, waiting to be put away   
scratches and water marks 
table runners and table cloths - each with a story about a shop or one of my grandmas or my mom 
surprises 
rocks 
collections of bugs and fossils and feathers  
a bright light, a vise, tweezers, bobbins, whips, and flies
fabric, scissors, and pins
the sewing machine
homework 
essays, math, science experiments, spanish worksheets, and report cards 
laptops 
telework 
beads and string 
invitations 
boundaries 
words poured out 
fists pounded 
palms flat 
fingers entwined 
forgiveness 
hospitality 
and grace

grace piled on grace

grace for the clearest days of may
and grace for the dirtiest days of august

grace offered
on my table

hope

 

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for the next two weeks, i have joined michelle and a lovely group of women to focus on hope and to make daily lists with hope as our theme.  i am looking forward to the prompts that michelle has crafted to invite our minds and hearts to hope.  

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also - the poem here is by lori hetten - you can see lots more of her beautiful words on instagram on facebook and in her etsy store 

12.5.19

tonight, remembering the feeling of room temperature fluid running cold into my arm through an iv.  feeling so very grateful that that was long ago, that i am home, in my own house, that i get to sleep in my own bed.  praying peace and healing for my friends who are in hospital beds, who don’t know when next they will sleep in their own beds.  
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i will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone O Lord make me to dwell in safety  ..... psalm 4:8

12.3.19

Sometimes you need to sit lonely on the floor in a quiet room in order to hear your own voice and not let it drown in the noise of others.~ Charlotte Eriksson ~

some days are like that.  time to sit on the floor.  with moments for quiet, for alone. 

and sometimes i sit in the living room, on the couch, while my family sits at the table, my son making crazy music - sort of a hum, sort of a trumpet, sort of an elk call . . .my daughter laughing and laughing . . . my husband tying flies and finding his own quiet in the midst of the joyful cacophony of teenage music and talking and laughing and riotous story telling.  

yesterday, i took about ten minutes for myself, in the sunlight, in my backyard, just me.  breathing and feeling the warmth through my jacket, sitting quietly and listing gratitudes.  

today, i did not take time for listing.  but i did take time for tea with a lovely girl.  and i took time to sit at the table and eat supper with my husband.  and i am writing this post, here on the couch, with my family bumping all around me. 

tomorrow, i will look for some moments to take for myself, for quiet, just a few.  

 

 

this morning

this morning i got up at 6:20 and turned on the lamp in the den, walked up the stairs, turned on one lamp in the living room, and turned the thermostat up so the heat would kick in.  i thumped back down the stairs, and crawled back into bed for fifteen more minutes.  

at 6:45, i got up for good, pulled on wool socks and a sweatshirt, and went to say good morning to isaac.  as he headed for the shower, i headed to the kitchen to start the oven and cook up some hashbrown squares topped with cheese and ham for the kiddos for breakfast.  i poked my head into maddie's room (even though last night she said i didn't need to check on her in the mornings . . . i just didn't want her to be late . . . ).

i watched this sweet little short, just because, and then answered a few comments on my instagram and facebook posts from yesterday.  

isaac came up and ate his breakfast while i made a sandwich for him to put in his lunch bag.  as the kids finished getting ready, maddie asked if she could drive her and isaac to school - i checked the weather, it looked like it should be fine weather for a walk to the library mid-morning, so i let her take the car.   

after they headed out, i got myself ready for the day.  then i made my bed, then isaac's bed, then looked at maddie's bed - but it is covered in blankets and clothes and random things . . . so i just picked up some things i could see needed to be washed, left the bed, and took my pile to the laundry room.  

at this point, it was raining/sleeting/snowing - so much heavy wet - and i realized that walking to the library was not what i wanted to do.  so i sat down at my desk and made some notes for the work i need to do.  then i answered some text messages before i began to sort out a few items on my desk.  

i went though a notebook and an old Bible study book and took the few things i wanted to save and glued them into my journal right then.  i added a few bits of washi tape, because washi tape makes me happy.  i threw the excess and edges away.  then i pulled out another Bible study book that i had been working through last spring.  i had missed filling in a few days of the work one week and three days of the last week of study, so i decided that i would work on finishing the book.  

i love having prompts for digging into the Word, and catalysts for thought processes and connections.  the first section i chose to work on today speaks directly to my situation, my moments, my right-now.  and this does not surprise me.  God is good like that.  His Word is living and active and does not return void.  it is milk and honey and bread and meat.  ever and always, He sustains and gives good gifts.  His timing is perfect.  i worked a good way into the lesson i picked up, wrote notes in the margins, read the scriptures, let God speak to my heart, conversed with Him, filled my mind with thoughts to mull over and be encouraged by as i continue this day and the work of this day.

at noon, maddie called to say she and some friends were on the way to our house for lunch.  i stepped out to the kitchen to tidy up a bit and made buttered toast while maddie warmed up soup.  as the three kids ate, i did the dishes and wiped down counter and stovetop.  each kiddo put their dishes into the dishwasher as they finished, so we have a clean kitchen to make supper in this evening.  everybody ate a few oatmeal raisin cookies (so glad i baked them last night!), then i grabbed what i needed, drove them back to school, and headed to the library.

the afternoon will be filled with writing.  and hopefully, the writing i do this afternoon will bear fruit that will nourish me, my family, and many, many others.  

two benedictions for the afternoon:

the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.                   
                                                                                            Numbers 6:24-26

and

go gently, love fiercely, and be wonderful.

with love, e

actually, scratch that

the timeline's different for each of us,
but at some point you have to stop fighting
your parents or [a form of] religion 
or the no-good [person who hurt you] 
or quite possibly even yourself.  yes, yourself. 
signify this truce by beating your sword
into a plowshare.  actually, scratch that. 
i propose beating it into wind chimes. 
that way, you'll be gently recalled to the
forgiveness when subsequent winds blow. 
those notes will be a charmer's tune
easing the air around you, an alarming
remembrance that by no means did you give up,
but that by choice, you gave in to an older song.

from the jubilee by john blase
via @notes_from_an_urban_cabin on instagram

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these words resonated so deeply with me.  i love the word picture of beating the sword i would have used to strike back, to defend myself, to twist into my own heart and mind, beating and that sword into a wind chime - something beautiful.  there is, in this poem, the acknowledgement that though forgiven, there may be (there will be) murmurs and winds that re-call the hurt, the misunderstanding, the cruelty, the self-loathing.  and when these are recalled, the chime will be a gentle reminder that you chose forgiveness.  and the line that begins with easing and ends with alarming, you guys, this forgiveness stuff isn't easy.  it is hard, so hard.  that sword you choose to heat and hammer and mold and bend, this chime you make, this thing of beauty you fight for, it is hard-won, a visceral choice you made and make again and again, to not allow the hurt or self-loathing to become an ugly bitterness, but to create a graceful song of forgiveness. 

make a wind chime.  keep making wind chimes.  do not give up.  sing the ancient song of grace and triumphant forgiveness.

go gently, love fiercely, and be wonderful, my friends.

love, e