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with Kathleen Gibson Taking Time for Stillness Stillness. This moment I�m surrounded by it, and I�m grateful. So much of the last year in the Preacher�s and my lives hasn�t allowed for stillness. What I�ve dubbed the �Pirates� of West Nile Neurological Disease saw to that. So when stillness lights on me these days, I welcome it�and thank God. One year ago, I hauled my husband of precisely thirty-two years into the emergency department of our local hospital. Barely able to walk, he leaned on me for support, his weight threatening to topple us both. A sign at the Emergency entry read, �If you have nausea and vomiting, report it immediately. �WE HAVE NAUSEA AND VOMITING,� I bellowed. Heads likely turned; I didn�t notice. But the volunteer taking numbers leapt up and ushered us into triage. Our battle with the Pirates had begun. In the next hours, as the disease overtook him, the Preacher would become paralyzed in three limbs. He didn�t return home for another six months. When he did, stillness didn�t meet us at the door. I began packing for a move the next day. Regular Sunny Side Up readers have followed our journey over the last year, responding with well wishes, thoughtful notes and extremely kind gestures. In Yorkton, the community we�ve called home for seventeen years, we�ve never felt more loved�or valued�than in the last year. We�ll never be able to repay our debt of gratitude�it seems, for one, we�ll never have time! But some have asked how things are now. God, who is, after all, the main character of this column (though often read between the lines) has continued to surprise us with his goodness�far greater than we deserve. After we returned from the medical exile into which the Pirates sent us, it took me three months (with the kind help of family, friends, even strangers) to move us from the old parsonage to the house God had arranged across town. We�ve filled it with guests; our beloved Beans, family and friends. Laughter has returned to us here. From the beginning, I dubbed this house �The Launch Pad�. We�ve always known we couldn�t stay, lovely as this collection of walls, wood and drywall may be. Sensing God�s direction, we�ll move later this year�just an hour away. A most surprising job (I�ll explain in another column) has been offered me there. Still taking therapy, the Preacher regularly talks about West Nile Disease, warning people to wear repellent. No longer confined to one church, God has widened our opportunities to share our faith. We�ve told our story in pulpits from Ontario to Vancouver Island�including in many in our own city. The book I�ve written along our journey will be released next year. What have we learned? To welcome stillness, for one. Inner stillness that alights within our chaos like an exotic bird and reminds us that God is much mightier than we knew, we�re far stronger than we thought, and beautiful things can emerge from devastating circumstances. August 27, 2008 �2008, Kathleen Gibson Respond Home |
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