The Caring Catalyst

Who Cares - What Matters

RECLAMATION PROJECT

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We used to play
ARMY
for hours on end
just about anywhere we were
The Beach
The Playground
The Living Room
The Basement
The Backyard
There was no place that was exempt
which means some 25 years later
we are still finding green plastic army men
with every landscaping change
flower planting
shrub/bush placements
that somehow make
THESE FINDINGS
much more than just turning some dirt over


which unearthed this in me
with the most recent finding.          .          .

Each shovel full of dirt
Was as uncovering
An archeological dig
That unearthed treasures
That could only be held in
Chests of sacred heartbeats
Made more holy by memories
And ones not yet made
No seed could ever yield
Such a harvest
No tilling or nurtured watering
Could produce such a bloom
And though once buried
Never left behind
No matter how deeply dark
The covering
which  uncovers the truth
That any reclamation
Begins an never ending season of joy
Not yet experienced
Or ever fadingly forgotten

There are some things that just will never grow in the richest of soils.          .          .
NOR DOES IT EVER HAVE TO
for the
Power of Reclamation
springs forth with no seeds necessary
because Memories
are all that’s needed
.          .          .no watering required

OFF THE TRACKS

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We always seem to be looking for the way.          .          .

or at least a new way,

A R E N ‘ T     W E ?

A path.          .          .

 In search of some wild and promiseful destinations.          .        .

And what do we find?

Just exactly  W H E R E   do our searches take us.          .          ?

What discoveries have we made when we set off for such a destination?

Could it be true

Is it even vastly possible

That maybe the greatest destinations

The greatest journeys

Are not those that we’ve set out for;

not those that we have tried to be in search of;

B                    U                    T

P E R H A P S

J U S T     M A Y B E

P O S S I B L Y

The ones that took us to a place

we absolutely had no idea

we had no way of knowing

we had no intention of going

And  yet  F O U N D

r       e       c       e       i       v       e       d

what we could’ve never gotten

 any other way

from any other place

or any other person.          .          .

Now that’s the

A          D          V          E          N          T          U          R          E

of life

and living

if it teaches us nothing else

it most surely must educate us to the possibility

that some of our best lessons

are those we never signed up

 and learned anyway just by going

O     F     F          T     R     A     C     K

C H O O  — C  H  O  O

AAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL     AAAAAAAA  —  B      O      A      R      D

The Sacred Search

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How   do   YOU   know.        .          .

How do you ever really know

It’s  a  most  Sacred  Search.          .          .

Maybe  it’s  when  you  don’t  find

A     W A Y

o r

T  H  E        W   A   Y

but  simply

Y     O     U     R           W     A     Y.          .          .

It would have never been a search I would have begun except my father said he really wanted to get a grave marker for his older brother who was born in 1918 and died five months, five days later from Whooping Cough.

I had never known of my Uncle until somewhat recently when he told me about him having an older brother and him dying; he said it was never discussed in ‘those days’ but he thought it fitting that he have a grave marker.

My niece, Katie Farrer Hall did some research on this a few years ago and had secured death certificates for my Grandfather and uncle as well as a wedding license for my grandparents; and though we suspected he was buried in the same cemetery we weren’t 100% sure just where until.        .        .

It was their 66th wedding anniversary this past Thursday on June, 7th and Erin and I thought it would be a good idea if we went to Washington, PA to pick up my mom and take her to see my dad at the nursing home by way of Wheeling, WV where Mt. Zion Cemetery happen to be.

Here’s where it got kind of spookily LAW OF ATTRACTION/EVERYTHING-FIT-TOGETHER-SEAMLESSLY-MIRACULOUS.          .          .

The Cemetery was in shambles and upkept by 4 volunteers.     .     . 2 of them JUST HAPPENED TO BE THERE THIS MORNING WHEN WE WERE THERE          .          .  

The lady who keeps records just happened to be there because her husband’s funeral was THAT AFTERNOON.      .     .

A guy (Stephen) who wasn’t suppose to be there to begin with, that morning,  stopped weed whacking and asked if he could help.  When we told him that we were looking for my grandparents grave.  He went to the record lady whose husband was to buried that afternoon, (Paula) who gave us the burial lot 2025 and when we were trying to find it he said, YOU  KNOW  THERE’S  a  JR. BURIED  WITH  ELLSWORTH. I was just looking for THEIR GRAVE at this point.            .          .

B                    A                    M   !

Our knees almost buckled when he shared THAT information before I even asked him; told him, that’s why we were really there.          .          .

And then I was blown away that the grave was in such good shape.       .        .

It’s severely hill, overgrown, sunken roads, fallen headstones mess.          .        .

with numerous toppled over tombstones because of landslides

It was like looking for a pin in a haystack and

F I N D I N G      A      D I A M O N D.           .          .

How do you ever really know

It’s  a  most  Sacred  Search.          .          .

Maybe  it’s  when  you  don’t  find

A     W A Y

o r

T  H  E        W   A   Y

but  simply

Y     O     U     R           W     A     Y.          .          .

 

Professional Speaker, Author, Assurance Man