"What Do We Mean When We Say GOD?"

I awoke at 4:30 this morning, having awakened only once during the night.  Then I realized that I had slept for 8 hours!  I reached for my prayer book.....during the very slow process of restoring order after falling down the stairs and subsequently being hospitalized for leukemia I attempted to rearrange some of my books.  I collected my Books of Common Prayer and stacked them together and placed them on my desk and later moved them to the headboard in my bedroom.  I do not now know where they all came from but I know that I never found a red leather bound copy that was mine--easily identified by the scribbles on the first page made by one of my children when they were very young!  Being very fond of books I was adamant about the proper way of caring for them!  It was placed in my new end table that was a display case for treasured
items.  

I have searched and searched and all of my adult children who have visited me have also searched but the Book of Common Prayer that was mine during my marriage has never shown up.   Strange, that scribbles which disturbed me mightily when they occurred could become so precious in later years!

I have decided to rearrange my collection of prayer books.  My small red leather book was published by the Oxford University Press in 1952 and is certified that "this edition of the Book of Common Prayer conforms to the Standard book of 1928, as amended by subsequent actions of General Conventions.  A Morning Resolve and For Today is pasted on the cover and first page of the book so I know that I was using it in 1980.  It is small and is written in out dated language and different categories.  I read from it this morning and decided to carry it in my purse.  

I have a larger version which is black and all of the services are separated by tabs and favorite prayers are marked with red ink underlining!  I am keeping it here at my computer along with my dictionaries and a Book of Common Prayer that is book size with a normal hard back covering published by Oxford University Press
in February 1990.

I went for my walk at 7 o'clock.  It was very pleasant and cool and the Lemillin workers greeted me along the way.  They are making good progress.  I saw the other greyhound who lives in the complex! He is tan and beautiful.  Greyhounds are so elegant.  

Among the books I found a small book that I had read several years ago called "WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY GOD?" compiled by Deidre Sullivan, published in 1990.  It is 125 pages of
a random sample of people from all walks of life who answered the question.  I think that it would make a good format for St. John's Newsletter which I have agreed to write this month.  "I believe in the sun even when it isn't shining.  I believe in love even when I am alone.  I believe in God even when He is silent."  Writen by a Jewish refugee, World War II, Poland.