Waiting is never easy, I found my heart fluttering fast as I began to wait another day for the results of the tests. As I looked out to our backwoods, my heart fluttered with hope as I saw the bluebirds for the first time this spring. I then remembered my many conversations with Marylou about the nature and beauty of bluebirds.
Marylou was a master teacher for the arts of self-isolation due to health management reasons. We met together by phone for a long period of time, since her fragile health limited her exposure to others. People were always amazed by the ways she stayed in good spirits. Her joy-filled love of God was so authentic; her example continued to inspire many people as she sang God’s praises through her gifted poetry.
After one of our long conversations about bluebirds, I came home to my husband saying that we must figure out how to create a landscape for bluebirds to inhabit safely. My sweet husband took the task to heart by doing the research for building bluebird nesting boxes. The first year, I was sad that the bluebirds hadn’t found the homes for them. Marylou encouraged me by saying that we’ve done the work and they will find their way. The following year and now each year, the bluebirds return and I remember Marylou. As the Serbian monk Thaddeus of Vitnovnica wrote,
“If our thoughts are kind, peaceful, and quiet, turned toward good, then we also influence ourselves and radiate peace all around us—in our family, the whole country, everywhere.”
When I received the news that I was tested positive for the coronavirus, I felt crummy with this mild case of the virus. I told myself this virus will pass, I remembered my job was to completely focus and center my heart on God. To practice: inner vigilance, prayerful focus of letting go of fear, and remembering the facts; choosing to open myself continually to God’s overflowing love and goodness. This was not an easy task when the fever and other symptoms took hold.
