Epic France Trip – High Tides at Mont Saint-Michel! – Day 2

Travel 0

Day 2 of my 2026 trip to France began with a hotel breakfast at the Château Corneille. Lovely. I was ready to drive three hours to my hotel near Mont Saint-Michel. Their check-in time was 2:00, so I wasn’t in a hurry. I packed up my stuff and even had a quiet time before setting out.

Side note: I’m kind of proud of how I organized my packing. I’m staying one night at the first place, four nights at the next place, then three nights, then two nights. Well, I bought a set of vacuum bags for traveling. Okay, originally I got some off a Facebook ad, but they are too big for my little carry-ons. So I got a cheap set with multiple sizes on Amazon – and a portable vacuum pump that’s USB-powered. (That part’s important!) The two smallest sizes work great. I packed one set of clothes in one bag, then four sets, three, and two. I’ve got one extra bag for my nightwear and a few spare items.

Another side note: I brought an extra pair of shorts, and wish I’d brought more. The weather has betrayed me. A few days before my trip the forecast said the hottest the weather would get on my trip was low 80s. Well, a few days in – and now the forecast says it’s going to pass 100! Yikes! (Oh good. I just checked, and my next hotel – where I’ll be for the hottest days – has air conditioning. The first two have not.)

Anyway, Wednesday morning, I put the set of clothes that I’d worn on the airplane in the bag I’d emptied with clothes for the second day’s trip. Vacuumed it back up and repacked. Next stop, I opened the four-sets container.

I was more accustomed to driving the Autoroute on the second day. Didn’t linger behind trucks at slower speeds. It helped that the first Autoroute I traveled on for about the first hour had three lanes, so I could hang out in the middle lane and get used to driving fast. Most Autoroutes in Paris have a speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour. That’s 80.78 miles per hour. (I just checked. I’d been thinking 65!) So it’s much, much more like driving on the Autobahn than it is driving in the U.S. Good thing I have lots of experience driving on the Autobahn! (So much so that I remember seeing the speed limit in Luxembourg was 120 kph, and I knew I’d really have to be careful to keep from speeding.) There are large portions of the Autobahn where the speed limit is 130 kph, so this wasn’t a surprise.

But remember, my car beeps at me every time I start speeding, including when I didn’t notice that the speed limit just got reduced. So I was pretty good at keeping to the speed limit. I stopped at a rest area at about exactly halfway and ate the second half of the enormous sandwich I’d bought in Giverny.

Okay, that’s the boring part. I checked in at 2:00 pm at Manoir de la Roche Torin. Settled in. Was a little disappointed I don’t have a view of Mont Saint-Michel. I’m guessing the rooms with the view were already booked when I made my reservation, so I didn’t realize I was missing out. There’s no elevator, and I was up two flights of stairs. After two trips with my two small suitcases plus other stuff, I was HOT. And the room was hot. On a cool night. The second night, just before going to bed, I realized the window has Rolladen! (Heavy German shutters). So I slept the second night with the Rolladen cracked to let in air but no bugs, and again during the day when I was out and about so the sun wouldn’t heat up the room. But I’m glad the next place has air conditioning.

The hotel grounds did have a view of Mont Saint-Michel, though.

Then – I drove to the parking for Mont Saint-Michel. About 20 minutes away. I had a ticket to do the High Tides Tour down in the Bay starting at 6:15 and lasting to 8:30.

I parked in lot 11C. I walked all the way across the footbridge to Mont St. Michel, taking pictures all the way! It took close to an hour from the lot.

Once I arrived, I didn’t have a lot of time to browse and was worried about finding the meeting place, but I walked out on the sand a little, climbed on the ramparts a little, and enjoyed being there. I’d scorned the people who took the shuttle bus to the Mont, but the bottoms of my feet were already hurting.

I did find the meeting place, and a nice lady from Chemins de la Baie took about fifteen of us in hand. She led us around the bay and talked about the tides. She did speak English, but the tour was in French. But she used her hands to talk, and I got a good idea of what was going on. Plus I was pretty busy taking pictures!

One of the coolest things was experiencing quicksand and learning how to get out of it. If you’re in as far as your ankles, use a circular motion to loosen the sound around your foot. But if it’s deeper, and you’re up to your thighs (I did NOT try this), climb one leg at a time, using your knees.

The tour lasted a couple hours, and we walked through little streams and in different consistencies of sand and mud. There was one place with lots of quicksand that we all got the earth making waves! Quicksand reminds me of cornstarch-and-water. If you push on it directly, it feels firm – but then turns to goo.

She had told us that the “Grand Maree” in September is a much bigger tide. And just when I thought that maybe I’d misunderstood and this was a safe low-tide tour to talk about the tides – then all the various groups we’d seen walking around the bay gathered in a particular place. We fifteen lined up facing the water. It was ankle deep when we lined up. And then, suddenly, the tide came up. A wave came that was up past my knees. The bottoms of my shorts got wet. I didn’t keep standing there – I didn’t want my camera to get wet. I walked to sand I could see that was still dry.

But oh my goodness, it was AMAZING!!!

It was sudden and fast. And the bay began filling up. Before we left, the guide told me to watch for the two sides of the water coming around the Mont and they’d meet under the footbridge. Sure enough, by the time I finished crossing the footbridge, it was all water under the bridge.

And then was the long walk back to the parking lot. I still scorned the shuttle bus, still glowing from the amazing experience.

I remembered 11C. It took a little work to find the parking lots, but when I got there, I remembered coming that way.

And my car was not there.

We’re talking at least 9:00 at night by now, but it was not dark. I looked at what I thought were all the cars in lots 9, 10, 11, and 12 – which were all on the same side of the path. There were not many cars left, so this wasn’t too hard. I couldn’t find my car. What was I going to do? I checked lots 7 and 8. Definitely not where I parked. I checked lots 9, 10, 11, and 12 again. What was I going to do? How could I get back to my hotel?

Then two ladies with a little girl (possibly three generations of one family) walked into the lot. I asked if they spoke English (They said “A little” – Ha! They were really good.) And I said I needed help and couldn’t find my car. We looked at the four parking lots. The older lady looked at my rental car tag to get the model and the license plate. They were going to drive around the big lots and tell me if they found it.

And then – they found it, right across from their car.

Here’s the thing: Lots 9, 10, 11, and 12 were all in two parts, with a hedge between the parts. They were lettered A, B, C, and D on each part, with nothing to say which side of the hedge you parked on. So – It turned out I’d only checked half of lots 9, 10, 11, and 12.

I was SO relieved! And it turns out there are nice people all over the world. I did feel like an idiot. And the grandma lectured me kindly to always take a picture of where I park. But the little girl waved to me, and I was just so thankful I did NOT have to deal with a stolen rental car!

I got back to the hotel around 10:00 – and that’s why I didn’t post pictures that day. But I was treated to a beautiful sunset and went to bed with a sense of awe.

Epic France Trip – Musée des Impressionnismes – Day 1

Travel 0

I’m in France!

I write this having made it to my first hotel, the Château Corneille. [It’s more than 100 years old! It has a name! I’m calling it my Castle #176. It’s not fortified, so more of a palace than most castles in my Castle Count, but it’s good enough for this American!]

I’m not sure if I’ll get around to actually posting this and adding pictures while on the road. But I thought that writing the text while it’s fresh, would be good. [Edited to add: These posts were written during the trip, but I’m adding in pictures and posting later.]

My flight yesterday went really smoothly. I’d decided to give in and download the United app. I’d purchased the tickets with miles – had to purchase additional miles, but it was still cheaper – and that came with an included checked bag. I’ve resisted the trend of checking in before you even get to the airport – what if you don’t make it? But I gave in and checked in and checked my bag – and everything went super quickly from there. Dropped off my bag at the curb and then headed to the gate. That is a couple miles away at Dulles, but I still got there with almost two hours to spare. Which is all good.

There were some glitches on the plane. Turns out, wearing both a mask and hearing aids isn’t a great idea. I’d take the mask off one ear to get a drink or something – and my hearing aids would come off. I didn’t wear the mask the whole flight, but at least in the busy coming and going parts. Then the new travel pillow I got didn’t work out too great. The good side – I was very well cushioned, and I did have a window seat. But it was almost too big and I was drooping inside the pillow. But the scary part – I leaned against the window to start – and got vicious pain in my neck exactly where my right vertebral artery dissection happened.

This is scary because fifteen years ago I had a stroke caused by a right vertebral artery dissection – that happened when I slept on a plane. That time, I didn’t have a neck pillow at all, so I’d always blamed it on that and that we hit turbulence while I was sleeping. So to get some bad pain in my neck just from leaning that way on a plane – that was scary. And it continued long enough for me to worry.

But the good news is that I started leaning the other way and eventually, at least after I stopped trying to sleep, the pain went away. I didn’t get much sleep, though, but I did get some rest. And I did get some good reading done. I’m reading Old Bones, by Aaron Elkins – a mystery set at Mont St-Michel, that a friend told me about. Almost finished it on the plane. And hearing aids are fantastic for listening to an audiobook on the plane, so I did that when I needed to watch what was happening and while I was eating. I discovered this evening that hearing aids are also great for dining alone and listening to an audiobook. I’ve been known to bring a physical book when dining alone – this is much subtler.

It did turn out, though that the excitement of being in France, plus coffee on the plane, had me wide awake as we got off the plane, went through customs and I found the rental car office. I was in a different terminal than my reservation said (I booked it through the airline, why would they do that?) – but he had a car a little bit larger than what I’d reserved, so that worked out. (It’s still small.)

I landed at 7:30 am, so I was sitting in the rental car around 8:30. But it went really smoothly. In the garage, I hooked up my phone to it right away and chose “Android Auto” – and the directions are seamlessly integrated with the car, so I had a map on the dashboard and a highlight right behind the steering wheel telling me how much further before the next turn. I was happy that traffic was completely fine – I’d worried a little about rush hour – despite mostly being on roads with only two lanes on each side. I had an hour and a half drive to Giverny to the Impressionists Museum, but I took more like two hours. That might have been because my first time out with this car, I stayed in the slow lane behind a truck who almost led me all the way to Giverny. I figured I wasn’t in a hurry.

Early on, though, the car started beeping at me! It was very startling, and I didn’t want to look too hard at the dashboard to figure out what was going wrong. I didn’t see anything flashing that I was out of oil or gas or had a flat tire, anyway.

It took me a while – after I noticed that the current speed limit was displayed behind the steering wheel, and, yes, changed when I passed a sign that changed it – to realize that the beeping was when I exceeded the speed limit! Okay, it was really annoying, but ultimately I’m thankful for it. Because if there’s one thing I don’t want to do in a foreign country, it’s get pulled over for speeding. However, later when the roads changed to two-lane roads, with one in each direction, some cars behind me seemed kind of impatient when I scrupulously followed the speed limit. I don’t think their cars were beeping at them.

But oh my goodness, the countryside was beautiful! It made me feel like I was in a painting. And that got me thinking: Did I feel like I was in a painting because I’ve seen so many of Monet’s paintings? Or was Monet compelled to paint it because it is a quintessential painting-worthy landscape? Or both? And then I wondered, if Monet had lived during the time of color photography, would he have been as compelled to paint? I mean, this beauty begs to be captured. Would he have chosen a different method for capturing it in a different time?

Anyway, I arrived in Giverny and the GPS was asking me to go down some sketchy roads, so I just parked at a great big lot designed for tourists and joined the other tourists walking into town. And Giverny is in bloom! Walking through it was a treat. I had been envious of a Facebook friend who visited Giverny during tulip time, and I still think that would be amazing – but it is still amazing.

And then the museum! I purchased an audiotour and listened to every single stop (seventeen of them) and delighted that I didn’t have anyone with me who would get impatient with me. And read every sign by every painting. It’s not a big museum, so I could do all that in a couple hours. Right now, they’re featuring an exhibit about Monet in Giverny before his Water Lilies paintings. It told about how he moved to Giverny, became more successful, and then was able to buy a home and make the garden what he wanted it to be. The paintings were mostly of landscapes around Giverny, and they were truly wonderful.

I also walked in the Museum Gardens after that. They’ve got a haystack in a field with poppies in front of it and a big hill behind it – and I felt like I’d stepped into one of the paintings I’d just seen.

Then I grabbed a sandwich and iced tea at a café. By the way, the gray morning had turned into an incredibly lovely day with blue skies and white, puffy clouds and gentle breezes. I was starting to get tired after that, so it was good I only had another half-hour to drive to my hotel.

And my hotel is a castle! Well, it’s more of a manor, but by my old criteria – It’s more than 100 years old and has a name – I’m going to count it as the 176th castle I’ve touched – Château Corneille.

They did let me check in a tiny bit early. Then I took a nap for a couple hours and even woke up before the alarm I’d set went off. Next up was dinner in the hotel restaurant. And oh my goodness – It was a three-course meal, and each course was exquisite. I ate outside, and it was idyllic – breezes blowing and birds enthusiastically singing. (Had I mentioned? Giverny was loud with happy birds, too. I think it’s all the flowers.)

Now, some swarms of gnats showed up, and a man eating near me started smoking. But those blew over and it was lovely. I did listen to my (wonderful) audiobook after I’d soaked up all that birdsong.

So that was my first day in France for 2026. It’s now 9:25 pm and the sun isn’t nearly down. So this makes for a nice time to reflect on the day and simply be thankful.

Tomorrow: Mont Saint-Michel!

A Psalm of Praise

Praying with the Psalmists, Psalms of Praise 0

Is anyone happy?
Let them sing songs of praise.

— James 5:13

It’s happening! I’ve almost finished making all twelve pages for my website, PrayingwiththePsalmists.com!

This is a website to go with my not-yet-published book, Praying with the Psalmists, with one page for each chapter. But the goal of the book is to get people experiencing the joy of writing their own psalms. And I think you can pick up tips from the website even if you haven’t read the book. I’ve got a page for each of the ten types of Psalms in the Bible, so on each page I link to this blog so you can see examples I’ve written, and use the comments to post your own examples when you try it out. (It’s much easier to use the moderation in WordPress for comments, plus with blog posts I can continue to add examples.)

But I was all set to post the page for Psalms of Praise – only to discover I haven’t posted any such example psalms yet.

I was honestly surprised to discover this. But when I looked back over my Praying with the Psalmists category, it turned out that every time I’d thought about writing an example psalm of Praise, it turned into a Thanksgiving psalm or a Salvation History psalm or a Creation hymn or a Blessing psalm. The fact is that all the types of Psalm include praise, but the ones I put into the category of Psalms of Praise (Psalms 29, 47, 48, 92, 93, 97, 98, 100, 103, 113, 117, 145, 147, 149, and 150) are the ones I was left with, where the whole point is Praise.

My very favorite Psalm, Psalm 103, is a Psalm of Praise. (Here’s the story of why it’s my favorite.)

I think part of me is leery of praising too loudly when my life is going great and my dreams are coming true – when there are serious issues in the world around me. I don’t want to fall into hash tag #blessed and casually imply that if you were spiritual like me, you’d have a great life, too. Or maybe it’s an aspect of “foreboding joy” that Brene Brown talks about. Sometimes we don’t dare relish our joys, because we’re afraid they’ll stop.

But, on the other hand, there’s that verse in James I quoted above. I am happy! God is granting me some desires of my heart! If this is not a good time to write a psalm of Praise, what is?

Psalms of Praise, unlike Thanksgiving Psalms, are more about God’s character and attributes than specific things God has done. But I’m especially happy today because I recently got an agent for that book I mentioned, Praying with the Psalmists – and this week an editor asked to see the full manuscript! What’s more, the editor who asked edited not one but two of my Sonderbooks Stand-outs in Christian Nonfiction from last year!

As if that weren’t enough, I’m going on a dream vacation to France in about a week, to see Mont Saint-Michel and Giverny, places I’ve always wanted to see but we never quite got to when I lived in Europe. (You will hear about my trip on this blog, I promise!) And I still love my job and have dear friends around me, and my small group has a habit of noticing joys – and they’re just piling up!

So yes, this is a good time to write an example psalm of Praise.

The key concepts found in the Psalms of Praise in general (not every concept in every Psalm, but some of them in every Psalm) are:
Praise
Joy
Music
Majesty
Goodness
Faithfulness
Love

I’m honestly not sure where to start, so I’m going to play off my favorite, Psalm 103:

Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise God’s holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all God’s benefits –
who redeems all my mistakes
and comforts all my sorrows,
who doesn’t give up on me,
who is faithful when I am faithless or flighty,
who fills my life with good things
and crowns me with love and compassion,
who pops joys into my life
until I can’t help but notice,
who blesses me with gifts
I never dreamed to ask for,
and grants above and beyond
the things I do ask for.

Father, my life hasn’t turned out
anything like I thought it would or should,
but through every detour,
You were faithful.
Through every hardship,
You compassionately pulled me through.

And now you’ve led me to
a vocation doing what you made me to do –
buying great books for children
to read freely,
singing your praises in the choir,
meeting with friends in a life group
to pray and study your Word,
even playing games with friends,
doing puzzles,
walking in nature,
traveling to beautiful places,
and even writing books.
Truly my cup overflows.

You let humans mess things up in this world –
yet you teach us and guide us,
you love us and walk with us.
Let us sing to you in grateful praise!
Praise the Lord!

Okay, the disclaimer: Part of the reason I write these example psalms is to show readers that they do not have to be very good! I don’t claim to be inspired by God, but sitting down to write them does me good and lifts my spirits – and that’s what I want for you.

Try it yourself! Paste a psalm of Praise into the comments.

A Salvation History Psalm for Memorial Day

Praying with the Psalmists, Salvation History Psalms 0

I only have two more types of Psalms to cover on my prayingwiththepsalmists.com website!

One of those types is Salvation History Psalms, so I want to write another example. [You have to click on the Examples link to go from a page on prayingwiththepsalmists.com to see example psalms, but I’m hoping the number of examples will continue to grow. I’m also hoping that more and more readers will post their own examples in the comments on this blog. I’m using the Sonderjourneys blog for comments rather than try to put them on the main webpage, because WordPress already has moderation and spam filters.]

Salvation History Psalms in the Bible go over God’s history with Israel and make application today. I’m currently looking at Psalm 78 in my personal quiet times, and the psalmist goes over the story of the Exodus and how God’s people kept letting God down, but God was patient with them and never gave up on them completely. And it winds up by praying that God will, once again, have mercy and help them.

In my previous Salvation History psalm examples, I’ve used my personal history with God. But today is Memorial Day, so it seems fitting to talk about what I know about the history of the United States. And we could use some help.

A Prayer for Our Nation

Father, hundreds of years ago, some of my ancestors
came across an ocean
to be able to worship you
in the way they thought was right.

They founded a nation on the principle
that all are created equal –
though our nation’s talk
was better than its walk.

Over the years, our nation
perpetrated injustices
against Native Americans
against African Americans
against Hispanics
against Asian Americans
against women
against anyone who wasn’t white and wealthy.

But over two hundred and fifty years,
people worked for justice and freedom.
We fought a Civil War and ended slavery –
at least for those who could stay out of prison.
We erected a statue proclaiming welcome
to the world’s tired and poor immigrants.
In a time of financial ruin,
we passed laws promising a New Deal
– giving hope to those in poverty.
We fought a war in Europe
to conquer fascism
and rescue folks wrongly and cruelly imprisoned.
We passed civil rights legislation
through the hard work of persistent activists.
People began to realize the evils of racism.
And then we extended more rights to same-sex couples,
rights they should have had all along.
We loosened immigration restrictions,
getting closer to the promise on the Statue of Liberty.
Immigrants made our country
stronger and prouder.

Lord God, we’re getting some things right,
but so many things wrong.
We want to be a land of the free,
but new laws are pulling back freedoms.
We want to be a welcoming place,
and instead secret police are arresting hard-working immigrants
who had wanted to become part of us.
We want this to be a land of freedom,
and instead tell trans people what bathroom they can use.

Almighty God, so much good has come out of America,
but also so much evil.
We pray on this Memorial Day
for peace – that more servicemembers will not join the fallen.
And we pray that this would again
or for the first time truly
be a land of welcome,
a land of freedom,
a land of justice for the oppressed.

May the greedy plans of the wicked
be frustrated and fail.
May the racist plans of the evil
fall apart under the light of the truth
that all, indeed, are created equal.

May you make this nation
grow closer to
living up to its promise.
And bless America
as a land of opportunity, equality,
justice, and freedom.

Blessings for Those We Love

Blessing Psalms, Praying with the Psalmists 0

At my church, our much-loved pastor is getting transferred, and her last Sunday is in a few weeks. So the choir director brought out a song we’re going to sing to her on her last Sunday.

I was blown away by this song, because it’s essentially a Blessing Psalm. I plan to memorize it and sing it in my heart for so many people I love, though the first one will be Pastor Gina.

Let me talk about Blessing Psalms for a moment. The ones in Psalms are Psalms 20, 67, 128, and 134, though there are other poems of blessing in other books of the Bible, such as the one the priests were to pray for the people. The blessings offered aren’t specific prayers, but they’re full of love and goodwill. Psalm 20 is my favorite, with passages like this:

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you….
May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
May we shout for joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.

You’ll see how the song we’ll be singing fits right in with that. So instead of writing my own example psalm, here’s a Song of Blessing composed by a professional.

I brought the music home to copy the words. Of course, it hits your heart more deeply when sung.

A Blessing of Music

Words and Music by Joseph M. Martin

May your days be filled with music.
May your path be paved with song.
May the sounds of forever lift you up and keep you strong.
May your heart resound with laughter.
May your life be tuned for praise.
May the hymns of faith bring you hope.
May the rhythm of your life bring you joy.
May the harmony of friendship bring you love.
May the Maker bless and keep you.
May God’s music guide your ways.
May God’s gentle whisper always comfort you with grace.
May the voices of angels sing you peace.
Amen

I am going to have trouble singing this without crying on the day – it will be sung with much love!

May you, reader, also receive this blessing of music.

A Thanksgiving Psalm for Wonderful News

Praying with the Psalmists, Thanksgiving Psalms 0

TODAY I SIGNED WITH A LITERARY AGENCY FOR MY PSALMS BOOK!!!!

Just in case you’re wondering, I’m excited about this.

I wrote Praying with the Psalmists as my pandemic project. In the past, I’ve written two middle grade fantasy novels, one children’s nonfiction book, and one picture book, but never found a publisher for any of them, and I stopped trying back in 2018 when I got on the Newbery committee. That experience was amazing, but made me feel inadequate writing for children by the end of it, and besides that, I wanted to shift gears.

So I wrote a book about Psalms. The point of the book is to show people that you can use patterns from Psalms to deepen your own prayer life. And I feel passionately that laments – and complaining to God – are okay. In fact, there’s a type of Psalm that fits almost any human emotion – and in the book I demonstrate that by telling my own story, especially my difficult divorce.

I took my time with the book, and when I started co-leading a church small group, I brought the group through the manuscript. I think it’s just right for church small groups, because although my story gives a background – it’s a format for your own prayers and your own stories, and is a good vehicle for sharing with each other. I hope that people will try it out.

I’ve been trying to find an agent or a publisher for a few years now. As a librarian, I’ve seen a lot of terrible self-published books, so that’s slowed me down from going that route. Besides, I see and value the work that publishers do. There are good self-published books out there, but most don’t have nearly as wide a reach, and libraries rarely buy them. It’s okay if my book doesn’t get published – but I honestly do think that people can benefit from learning to write their own psalms. So I did want to give it a decent try.

And during the process, I learned that authors need to build their platform. So I decided not to wait until after the book is published to build a website for the book. I’ve made prayingwiththepsalmists.com – it’s a subset of my Sonderbooks website, but a simple redirect and registering the domain name give me a website for the book. I’ve got a page for each chapter of the book, giving the basics of writing each type of psalm. It’s missing my story to go with it, but each page has a link to example psalms I’ve posted on this blog. (I’ve finished all but four pages.) And I’m hoping that people will start posting their own examples (when they try it) in the comments. I’ve also made a free substack, Sondermusings, so people can subscribe to my Christian writing and hear about my book. (Substack has a good subscription system.)

I’m now to the point of daring to actually speak in person about it. In January, I did two sessions at my church’s women’s conference on writing laments, and people wrote some beautiful laments. And I’ve signed up to do an “experience” at Wild Goose Festival in September – though I don’t know if I’ll be selected.

Despite all that, I had some near misses but no acceptances from agents or publishers. Was getting discouraged. But a little over a year ago, author Maureen Wise found my website and asked me to review her book, said we sounded like kindred spirits. Well, fortunately, I loved her book and did review it. And she subscribed to Sondermusings. And long story short, she did a six-month internship at a literary agency, then a job search, and is now officially a literary agent with Metamorphosis Literary Agency, and as of today, she is representing my book!

So I am HAPPY about this!

And yes, I know that this doesn’t guarantee she’ll find a publisher for it. But I’ve got someone doing the hard work, someone who’s read my book and believes in me – and it just feels awfully good.

And I fully believe in celebrating every milestone.

And how do I celebrate when I’m feeling strong emotion? I write a psalm! A Thanksgiving psalm seems like the thing in this case.

And as soon as I thought that, I started minimizing my situation. Thanksgiving Psalms in the Bible are about someone in who’s in deep trouble, and they cry out to God and God saves them. Besides, I don’t want to imply that somehow God gave me this blessing because I’m so spiritual.

But then I was looking at today’s Facebook memories – and on this day precisely fourteen years ago, I signed the last legal paperwork from my divorce. (The divorce was done, but we had to file again to get him to fully comply with the agreement.) So signing a contract with a literary agency fourteen years later reminds me that, yes, I was in deep trouble at that time – and look how God has brought me through!

So after all that explanation, let me write a short Thanksgiving psalm:

Thanks for a Joyful Surprise

Father God, Lover of my Soul,
the God Who Sees,
thank you for the gift today
of a dream come true.

I actually signed with a literary agency!
This is something I’ve dreamed of
since long before I wrote this particular book.

And I think back to fourteen years ago,
and especially twenty years ago,
when my life was falling apart,
when I was heavily in debt,
when the vision I’d had of my future life
had evaporated like a phantom,
never to be.

Lord, I didn’t understand
how you could let my marriage fall apart.
I didn’t understand why you didn’t
give my husband some kind of Damascus Road experience,
make him see sense,
bring him back.

Yes, okay, I needed to learn a lot!
And in the years that followed,
you taught me,
ever so gently.
You showed me
that I was still lovable,
that I still had a future,
that I could still feel joy,
and I could take on new dreams.

And that big one? Getting published?
I’ve dreamed it so long,
I just thought it a fantasy.
Thank you for this joyful step in that direction.

Thank you that you never abandoned me
and have brought me into a spacious place.

***

Friends, thanks for reading! If you want to support me and help me build a platform, subscribe to my free Sondermusings substack! And comment on my blog posts. And thank you, thank you, to all of you who find value in my writing, from Sonderbooks to my blogs. It just means so much.

The Precious Gift of Life – A Wisdom Psalm

Praying with the Psalmists, Wisdom Psalms 2

Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

— Psalm 90:12

I’ve been thinking about my mortality lately – and that calls for a wisdom psalm.

Wisdom Psalms in Scripture, like the one quoted above, like to look at the big picture and our place in it. When I try to write one, I like to think of them as Pep Talk Psalms, reminding me of what I know and believe. (Because I don’t like to claim to have wisdom – I don’t necessarily live out these things after all.)

I have many reasons to think about mortality, but instead of explaining first, I’ll try to put them in the example psalm. As always, I post these psalms I’ve written as encouragement to try writing psalms yourself. Check my website, prayingwiththepsalmists.com, for tips as to how to do this – and eventually my book, which I still hope to get published: Praying with the Psalmists: Ten Patterns to Deepen Your Prayers. (If you want to hear about progress on getting my book published, or just to follow my Christian writing, subscribe to my free substack, Sondermusings.)

And where I want to go with that is being thankful for the life I have. So that’s how I’m going to name my psalm.

The Precious Gift of Life

Creator who formed me in my mother’s womb,
Shepherd who has guided my life,
I’m thinking about mortality.

This year, I’m the same age my mother was – 61 –
when she had her heart attack.
She was never the same after that,
and we started seeing signs of the Alzheimer’s
that destroyed her brain
and took her life when she was 78
and had nothing left she could do –
not even smile.

Then in the Fall, my childhood friend,
in the same grade as me,
part of our foursome,
died of a stroke.
She’d had a past stroke,
so maybe it wasn’t a surprise –
but I’ve had a past stroke, too.

Next, the husband of a friend from church
died of cancer.
I saw in his obituary
that he was six months younger than me.

Then a college friend,
the roommate of my ex-husband,
precisely four days younger than me,
had a massive heart attack.
Yes, he survived, miraculously –
without even any damage to his heart.
But it was a near thing,
and, yes, a miracle.

And a few weeks ago,
my best friend’s husband,
whom I’ve known for the 44 years they’ve been married,
died of a heart attack,
and a miracle didn’t happen for him this time,
though he’d had miracles before.

With all of this,
I’m reminded that there are no guarantees.
We aren’t promised even the 70 years,
or 80 “if our strength endures”
mentioned in the Wisdom Psalm, Psalm 90.

But, Father, that reminds me
what a good life you’ve given me.
And my heart fills with thanks.

(I don’t know why anyone is granted more time
than anyone else –
but I do know that for all of us,
our time on this earth will someday end.)

I’ve loved deeply; I’ve been betrayed.
But you brought me through and beyond.
I’ve got an abundance of family
and two wonderful children,
turning out to be fine adults.
I’m so incredibly rich in my friends
who care about me
and who enrich my life.
I’ve got a job that feels like
exactly the right job for me.
I get to sing in the choir
and co-lead a small group.
I shine light on good books
with my website and serving on award committees.
I’ve even written a book
and a website about praying
using patterns from Psalms.

And simple joys!
I’ve gotten to travel
all over the U.S. and Europe.
I’ve got a lake out my window
and am easily delighted by flowers and birds
and yarn and books and games.

Whenever my life ends,
it’s been a heartily good one.
And you’ve promised that in heaven
we will be like you
and see you as you are
and our joys will be even deeper.

It’s not that I want this to happen soon!
I am enjoying this life so much.
But may I keep perspective,
and remember that people are important.
May I notice Joys
and spread joy to others.
May I love deeply
and let my friends and family know
how valued they are.

And thank you for the gift of each day.
Walk with me in it,
carry me close to your heart.
And help me to shine the light of your love
on the people you’ve blessed me to know.

***

I’d still love to see your example psalms in the comments! Want to try your own Wisdom psalm (Pep Talk psalm)?

Laments for Lent – Good Friday

Laments, Laments for Lent, Praying with the Psalmists 0

It’s Good Friday. Today I walked among the bluebells in the biggest stand of bluebells on the East Coast at Bull Run Regional Park. And I sang in an amazing Good Friday cantata. My heart is full.

It’s late, but I did want to finish off my Laments for Lent blog series with a post for Good Friday.

Instead of writing my own example lament today, let’s look at the Lament that Jesus quoted on the cross, Psalm 22.

To mix things up, I’m going to quote Wilda C. Gafney’s translation in A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W, where she includes it in the reading for today.

First let me comment that I got some feedback from early readers of my book, Praying with the Psalmists because I included Psalm 22 in the chapter on Laments and not in the chapter on Messianic Psalms. Yes, Psalm 22 is Messianic – Jesus quoted it on the cross and the gospel writers quoted it as being fulfilled by Jesus’ suffering. And people have often made the point that the description fits crucifixion. But I suspect that the psalmist who wrote it was simply writing a lament. It doesn’t come across as trying to predict anything – just someone expressing their pain. And then Jesus cried out with that very Lament.

To me, this reminds us that Jesus was fully human and entered into human suffering. And I do believe God inspired the psalmist so that their words were wiser than they knew.

Psalm 22 has all the parts of a Lament, but doesn’t follow the order strictly.

It starts with one of those Addresses to God that’s a question – which slides immediately into the Complaint:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from my deliverance, from the words of my groaning?

Here’s the beginning of the Complaint:

My God, I cry out by day, and you do not answer;
and by night, and there is found no rest for me.

Then it slips into the Confession of Trust:

Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our mothers and fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you rescued them.
To you they cried, and were freed:
in you they trusted, and they were not put to shame.

But the psalmist wasn’t done with the Complaint:

But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by humankind, and despised by people.
All who see me mock me;
they flap their lips at me, they shake their heads:
“Commit yourself to the SAVING ONE: let God rescue
and deliver the one in whom God delights!”

Back to the Confession of Trust – instead of finishing one and going on to the next part, this Psalm weaves them back and forth together.

Yet it was you who drew me from the womb;
keeping me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you was I cast from birth,
and since my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Back to the Complaint:

Be not far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is none to help.
Many bulls surround me,
mighty bulls of Bashan encompass me,
like a lion, ravaging and roaring.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are disjointed.
My heart is like wax;
it is melted within my being.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
in the dust of death you lay me down.
For dogs are all around me;
a conclave of evildoers encircles me.
Like a lion they ravage my hands and feet.
I can count all my bones.
They gloat and stare at me.
They divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

And then! We get to the Entreaty. (Notice how much shorter it is than the Complaint.)

SAVING GOD, be not far away!
My strength, hasten to help me!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the clutch of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!

And in this translation, the next line is Sureness of Help:

For on the horns of the wild oxen you have responded to me.

From here on out there’s more back-and-forth, this time between Sureness of Help and Subsequent Praise. This next part is Subsequent Praise:

I will tell of your name to my sisters and brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who revere the FOUNT OF LIFE, praise her!
all the offspring of Leah and Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah glorify her.
Stand in awe of her all you of Rebekah’s line.

I’m calling this Sureness of Help:

For she did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
she did not hide her face from me,
and when I cried to her, she heard.

And really, the rest is Subsequent Praise, though it kind of merges with Sureness of Help. And, in fact, this part talks about a future where God makes things right – and this is the part that makes the strongest case for calling it a Messianic Psalm, even though this part isn’t quoted in the New Testament.

On your account is my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who revere her.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek her shall praise the MOTHER OF ALL.
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the WELLSPRING OF LIFE;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before her.
For sovereignty belongs to the SHE WHO IS HOLY,
and she rules over the nations.
They consume and they bow down, all the fat ones of the earth before her,
they bend their knees, all who go down to the dust,
and cannot save their soul.
Later descendants will serve her;
future generations will be told about our God;
they will go and proclaim her deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that she has done it.

And looking at the Cross from centuries later – we are even more certain that the end result is triumph and praise. Christ’s living the suffering of this Psalm foreshadows that he will also live the triumph of this Psalm, when the poor shall eat and be satisfied and all the families of the nations will worship God with joy, proclaiming God’s deliverance.

Amen. May it be so.

Laments for Lent – Palm Sunday – A Lament for my Friend

Laments, Laments for Lent, Praying with the Psalmists 0

Cherry blossoms against a blue sky

This week in the email newsletter from Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation, they listed this testimony:

I was once invited by a visiting professor at Boston College to write my own psalm of lament. It was an amazing experience as I was going through a very difficult time in my personal life. I often suggest trying it to others who are struggling. The basic structure is to cry out to God, complain, ask for help, express trust, and end with praise and thanksgiving. It can bring great peace.
—Eileen M.

Yes! This is my whole reason for writing this Laments for Lent blog series and my Praying with the Psalmists book and website, prayingwiththepsalmists.com. Praying your own lament, writing your own psalms – those things do your heart so much good! I use the same basic structure she gives, but put it into an acrostic to make it easy to remember:

  1. Address to God
  2. Complaint
  3. Confession of Trust
  4. Entreaty
  5. Sureness of Help
  6. Subsequent Praise

Each week of Lent, we’ve looked at one of the parts of the Lament.

Today is Palm Sunday, the day we celebrate the start of Holy Week – the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds shouted “Hosanna!” It’s the perfect time to discuss the sixth part of a Lament – Subsequent Praise. Because in so many ways the joy and the cries of “Hosanna!” are looking forward to the day when Christ will indeed be the Ruler of All and make all things right.

This part, I admit, I struggled to make fit the acronym. My Psalms professor’s name for it was “Vow to Praise.” The lovely thing about it is that at the end of most Laments in Psalms, the psalmist takes a moment to talk about how they’re going to praise the Lord after God comes through.

Here are some examples:

Psalm 54:6—

I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good.

 
Psalm 61:8—

Then I will ever sing in praise of your name
and fulfill my vows day after day.

 
Psalm 13:6—

I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.

Psalm 79:13—

Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you forever;
from generation to generation
we will proclaim your praise.

I love this part of writing a lament, because it nudges me to turn toward hope. Taking a moment to visualize how much joy I’ll have when God answers my prayer puts a shot of joy into a tough situation.

Each week I’m also writing an example lament to show you how easy it is to use the form to pray your own lament. This week, I’ll be praying for my best friend Kathe who lost her husband Joe to a heart attack this week.

A Lament for my Friend

Father, I come before you for Kathe and her kids,
holding my friend in your light.

She and Joe married so young –
she was 18, he was 20 –
they’ve shared their whole lives together.

Theirs wasn’t a perfect marriage;
they had their bumpy spots and their annoyances with each other –
but it was a committed marriage –
they stuck it out –
and were there for each other for 44 years.

Looking at the pictures of Joe
as they grew and changed over the years –
I realize how much I’m going to miss him, too.
He saw the funny side of everything,
that came from keen insight.
He pointed out things to think about,
always with humor.

And he was kind.
He cared about people.
A steady presence in my friend’s life
who always made me smile.

Even moments before his last heart attack,
he phoned Kathe that he’d be fine,
that the store personnel called 911 just as a precaution,
and she shouldn’t worry about him.

But for Kathe and their young adult kids
there’s going to be a tremendous gap in their lives.

But Father, you spared Joe’s life many times;
His first heart attack happened decades before.
We’re so thankful for the many years they had together
helping and nurturing their kids to adulthood.

And we are sure Joe is now in heaven with you,
making the angels laugh.
On earth we’ll miss him,
but thank you for the way he brightened the world
while he was here.

Now I ask you to hold Kathe and their kids
close to your heart.
Gently lead them like a shepherd.
Comfort and sustain them
through the valley of the shadow of death.
May they know
you are with them.

And Glory of the Heavens,
there will be a time of unimaginable joy
when Kathe and Joe are reunited
and the best parts of their souls,
the parts that reflect you most,
are what will remain and endure
for an eternity of joy.

***

As every other week, let me urge you to try writing a lament, too.

[Who will be the first in this series to paste their own example into the comments to let me know somebody’s trying it out? You won’t be the very first reader psalm in the comments, but the first in this series. Try it!]

Laments for Lent – Week 5 – A Prayer for my Daughter

Laments, Laments for Lent, Praying with the Psalmists 0

Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent, so I’m going to talk about the fifth part of a Lament – Sureness of Help.

I’ve been praying example laments each week of Lent, trying to demonstrate that we can use the form of a Lament found in Psalms to pray our own prayers and bring our own requests before God.

This year, I’ve mostly been praying about current events, because I’m upset about the way things in our country are going. But this week, I finished up three months of my firstborn living with me after almost twenty years living on her own. She’s been out of work for years, pretty much since she came out as transgender, and is doing a reset, alternating time between her dad and me. I’m super hopeful that the reset time so far has been helpful and that she’s going to be able to land a job and save money to get out on her own again. I’m super hopeful, but she’s also very much on my heart.

To review, the parts of a Lament are:

  1. Address to God
  2. Complaint
  3. Confession of Trust
  4. Entreaty
  5. Sureness of Help
  6. Subsequent Praise

The “Sureness of Help” section is my attempt at an “S” name for the section where the psalmist expresses confidence that God is going to answer. Here are some examples from Psalms:

Psalm 54:7—

You have delivered me from all my troubles,
and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.

 
Psalm 85:12—

The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.

 
Psalm 59:17—

But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.

Psalm 3:8—

From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.

Sometimes, I’m not sure that God will actually answer my prayer precisely the way I want God to – so I try to focus on what I am sure about – at the very least, I’m sure that God hears my prayer and God cares. When I’m talking about big justice issues, I do believe that the arc of the universe tends toward justice – eventually. When it comes to my kid – well, you’ll see.

So here’s a Prayer for My Daughter

Lord, hear my prayer;
Shepherd, listen to my heart.
I come before you on behalf of my child,
whom you love even more than I do.

She’s been out of work for many years,
and you know the obstacles she’s faced.
You know the challenges
that get bigger with every month “empty” on a resume.

You know how our society isn’t kind
to anyone out of work for any length of time.
You know how we heap shame on the unemployed
in a way that makes it that much harder to change anything.

But Creator and Sustainer,
from birth she was a joy and delight.
Such a sunny spirit! A unique person
walking to the beat of her own drum,
brilliant, gifted, opinionated.

It was easy to remember how lovable
and clever and kind she is.
And how much joy to get to be around her again!
And I know and believe that You love her even more than I do
and crafted her with those unique gifts.

Now, Father and Mother of all,
I ask that you would make her way smooth.
She’s got a list of places she’s going to look for work
while staying with her dad.
My prayer is that the obstacles in her way would be softened,
that you would send your angels to lead her
to a job that’s right for her at this time.
I pray that you would encourage her heart
and help her efforts to bear fruit.

What am I sure of, Lord?
That you love her more than I do.
That you hear my prayer.
That you created her a masterpiece.
And that you will guide her in her next steps.

And some day, when I go to visit her in Portland,
in a place she’s paying for with her own earnings.
we will rejoice together.
And thank you for how far she’s come.

***

Do you have someone you want to pray for? Try writing a lament. If you paste your own example into the comments, I promise to pray with you.