Twilight Twitches

Dear Family,
I write amid thunder and lightning (last Monday), and it feels like the kind of storm we were supposed to have and didn’t last weekend. Go figure.

Now I’m praying for the folks on the east coast, especially for my sister Cathy who lives outside Raleigh. By the time you read this whatever will happen will have happened. So weird.

Time is a mysterious phenomenon. Our pasts, presents, and futures can become so entangled. Nothing more reminds me of that every time I write one of these Twitches.

Dear Family,
Here I am on a Tuesday, (last Tuesday for you,) thinking about next weekend, (today for you,) and wondering what will be happening... COVID-19... deeper discussions on racial injustice... tropical depression that could be here by next weekend in some sort of storm configuration...

Then I looked again at the scripture readings for this weekend, and out pops Romans 8. Please let me quote it here.

Dear Family,
After you heard today’s gospel, did you wonder what the treasure was?

After all, one man’s treasure might be another man’s tax burden.

Treasures come in various sizes and shapes. The more I think about it, the more I think Jesus was asking, “What’s important to you?” And then the next question follows right away: “What are you willing to do, to achieve, to keep, to use, to spend, to protect, – whatever – that treasure?”

Focusing on the treasure, though, is not really the most important issue. Jesus was using the example of the treasure in the field and what a man does about that treasure to really describe the kingdom of heaven.

Dear Family,
Kimberly Hope Belcher wrote the following reflection, which appears in the July edition of Give Us This Day, the little daily prayer book published by Liturgical Press. I’ve “stolen” it from them, hoping that it’s still easier to get forgiveness than permission.