>The Imperfect Peace

>It’s a busy Labor Day weekend and I haven’t read any more in Acedia and me.

It’s hard to sit down with a serious book when U.S. Open Tennis is on TV, and all our SEC football teams are getting their seasons started. I loved watching the 17-year-old Melanie Oudin from Marietta, Georgia, beat Maria Sharapova.

And I caught some of the Vols game yesterday and some of the Ole Miss game today. Since two of our kids went to UT (one is still there in grad school) and hubby and I went to Ole Miss, we have to cheer for both! And then today there was a wedding at our church, and tonight we’re going to a cookout at our next door neighbor’s house, so it hasn’t been a sit-around-the-house-and-read-a-book kind of weekend so far.

Oh, and yesterday we went granite shopping. We’re getting bids to have some renovations done to our house, including replacing the out-dated formica countertops with granite, and a big “farm sink.” Looking at tiny granite samples isn’t the same as seeing the big hunks from the quarries, so we drove down to Southaven, Mississippi to see ’em in person. Our favorite was one called “Peacock.” It’s hard to tell from this picture, but it’s black with green-gray in it. Since we’re going to paint the walls gray and the cabinets are white, we think this will look great. After granite shopping, we stopped at Interstate Bar B Q for a pulled pork sandwich. We’d heard about this place right on Stateline Road, which borders Tennessee and Memphis, and it was okay, but we don’t think Memphis’s barbeque greats are in any danger.

But even with all the activities of the weekend, I’ve been thinking about acedia a lot, and really appreciate the comments readers have left here and on my Facebook page and in emails. I feel encouraged that others share the struggle, not because I want other people to suffer, but because it reminds me that we’re all in this together. Thanks for reading and commenting…. I hope to post more about the book as I continue reading it soon.

Meanwhile I’d like to share a poem that I wrote a while back that is another reflection of personal struggles. It was just published in an online journal called Southern Stories. The editor, Beth Boswell Jacks, went to Millsaps College in my hometown, Jackson, Mississippi, and did her graduate work at Ole Miss, so I feel like we’re connected on several levels. She runs a great little e-zine, if you’re looking for some good Southern stories. She also used one of my icons, Christ the Bridegroom, to illustrate the poem.

So, whether or not you’re Southern or Christian, I hope you’ll enjoy “The Imperfect Peace.” (Click on the title to read the poem at USADEEPSOUTH.COM.) Happy Labor Day, everyone!