Farmington Presbyterian Manor
OCTOBER 2021
Editor’s note: This month’s guest chaplain is Greg Schmidt, chaplain for Heart & Soul Hospice of Wichita and Newton Presbyterian Manor. In a nod to our Presbyterian heritage, we will be periodically sharing columns from our community chaplains in your Community Matters newsletter.
Chaplain’s Corner What birds can teach us about faith
Addressing my life
By Greg Schmidt, Chaplain
Rewriting an old address book reveals how connections and relationships have changed By Marcia Byalick I spent a bittersweet and humbling afternoon doing a job most people born after 1970 have never done. It was a task familiar to people who buy stamps and send anniversary cards. The kind of person who still writes checks and leaves voice messages. It was a quiet, tech-free activity where I communed with some of the characters who’ve drifted in and out of my life. Like weeding the garden or cleaning out the junk drawer, the task wound up more daunting than I anticipated. For three hours last Thursday, I rewrote my address book.
I can hear a few birds talking to one another outside my office window. Grackles squawk and beg for peanutflavored suet. Sparrows chirp about how greedy the grackles are any time any food is available. And the Baltimore Orioles are sharing that they discovered a well of Welch’s® grape jelly! How do I know what they’re saying? Because I sit for hours on my deck … and listen! (I’m secretly hoping the birds will come and sit on my shoulder or perch on my hand!) Trust me, birds live in a never-ending search for food!
Marcia Byalick's address book Credit: Marcia Byalick
For those who grew up with all their contact information stored on their phone, an address book (which for my first 40 years I called a phone book), is a handwritten paper directory with A-Z tabs along the edge. It caught me off guard, those hours spent retracing my past. Who do I choose to not transcribe again? Mine was decades-old, a bulging mess of business cards and outdated details held together with a rubber band. It was a practical document full of how to get in touch with plumbers and doctors and neighbors and hairdressers. And cousins and lawyers and colleagues and friends. And a repository of lives lived and lost. Restaurants, and people “out of
Addresses – continued on page 2
Interestingly, the Bible says God provides for the needs of the sparrow. But that doesn’t mean those little chirpers can just sit back and have it delivered! Sure, the food is there. Available. But they have to go in search of it! By the way, it’s the same for you and I. Only our never-ending search is for love! It’s there. Available. Jesus said, “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8). In this case, love is
Chaplain – continued on page 4
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