Issue 300 - Marking Milestones
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August 2023
As you can see above, this is the 300th issue of this newsletter. Thank you, readers, for your support and encouragement that has helped us reach this milestone!
And that’s not the only milestone the two of us are marking these days. July 28 was the twentieth anniversary of the day we met. In this issue, we reflect on these two milestones – and encourage you to reflect on important milestones in your own life.
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One day in July 2003, I was looking in the display window of an antique bookstore, when Jan Davis walked up and asked, “Have you had dinner?” I hadn’t, so we ate dinner that evening together. I’m happy to say we’ve eaten most dinners together ever since.
What is remarkable here is not just Jan’s boldness to invite a man she’d hardly met to dinner. What is truly remarkable is where this took place. At that time, I was pastor of a church in Rutherford, New Jersey. Jan was a spiritual director in San Antonio, Texas. That bookstore – and the restaurant (pictured above) where we dined that evening – was in Cluny, France.
What are the chances we would ever meet? True, we were drawn to France by a common interest: We had both signed up a for a trip visiting the Taizé Community, an ecumenical religious order near Cluny. Still, the odds were against us; I learned about the trip only because my predecessor at the church was on the mailing list for the group organizing the trip. That mail didn’t get forwarded, so the brochure offering the trip came across my desk.
What are the chances? How high the odds? We feel we were truly led to each other by God’s grace. So, last month, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of that first surprising dinner together.
Marking that milestone has been more than a celebration. It’s been a reminder of how blessed we are to have found each other. It has renewed my wondrous gratitude for our life together.
Look back at your life. Pick out some milestones that are worth remembering: the times you were led in unexpected ways; the apparent disaster that surprisingly turned out for the good; the joyous gift you never expected. Look for, and celebrate, moments of wonder and grace.
As Frederick Buechner encouraged us long ago: “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.” Marking milestones helps me remember that.
--by Bill
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Dreams come and go. Nighttime dreams usually evaporate as soon as we awaken. Daydreams, for many, are only fantasies.
When Bill and I first met in France in 2003, our dream began: to be married and “share discipleship in love.” A year later, that dream began to blossom into reality. Since each of us had so many longtime friends from our many lifetime experiences, we decided to create a newsletter (4 pages, glossy) updating our friends and relatives of the exciting changes in our lives, focusing on our wedding. To our surprise, the feedback was so positive, that it then led to fulfilling the dream of writing and publishing a free online newsletter of inspirational value.
Today we celebrate our 300th issue of Soul Windows Reflection! Thanks to the encouragement and support of our faithful subscribers, we recognize this as a ministry and we welcome God’s grace issue by issue. Well, there was that one time we wrote about Okra for no particular reason at all.
Our mission is to call us to reflection: In each issue, we share our personal reflections on matters of faith and spirit. Our theme will be the ways God's mystery and grace are reflected in the world: in nature, in a work of art, in a child's face, in memories or in recent headlines.
The masthead and logo photo of the reflected light on the distant door under the archways is a photo we took on our 2004 honeymoon trip back to France. It shows the right side aisle of the Basilica of St. Magdalene in Vezelay, France. There is curiously not a window to be seen. The bright light is the light from a side window, reflecting. Similarly, the light of God is usually seen only as it is reflected in the soul. Soul windows. In that Basilica, light shines directly on each stone at least once a year.
We continue to be grateful for reflections – and Reflections; grateful for God’s steadfast love and your steadfast readership in our ministry. As we continue with our discipleship in love, we invite you to continue to journey along with us. Look to the light.
--by Jan
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Frederick Buechner on Grace
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Overview of Vezelay and the Basilica
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Copyright (c) 2023 Soul Windows Ministries
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Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
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