Home > Work > Mary & Me: A Lasting Link Through Ink
1 " Loss will gut-punch you no matter the age of the deceased. It drops you to your knees. It shatters the dreams of your families...It brings tears, anger, shock and a rejection of faith--or the complete opposite: a reliance on faith. It creates the walking wounded. "
― Mary Potter Kenyon , Mary & Me: A Lasting Link Through Ink
2 " We put on a pot of tea, a necessity between these two writing friends. Wecould no more imagine writing without this hot sustenance than we couldwithout pen and paper. We sat at the table to talk shop, sort through ournotes, and make plans for the book. Then we settled down in the sunroom,giggling a little at the unexpected absurdity of our activity, editingwithin arm’s reach of each other, like toddlers at parallel play. "
3 " The length of the friendship never brought astonishment. After all, themajority of Baby Boomers could likely claim a long-standing friendship in their lives. No, it was always the letters: the-pen-on-paper, inside a-stamped-envelope, mailed-in-a-mailbox letter that was awe inspiring.“You’ve been writing a letter every week for almost thirty years?”The question always evokes disbelief, particularly since the dawn of theInternet and email. We quickly correct the misconception.“Well, at least one letter, but usually more. We write each other three or four letters a week. And we never wait for a return letter before beginning another.”Conservatively speaking, at just three letters a week since 1987, thatwould equal 4,368 letters each, but we’d both agree that estimate is muchtoo low. We have, on occasion, written each other two letters in a singleday. "
4 " Why had I failed to realize the depth of Mary’s faith despite all thoseletters? She’d certainly done her best to share it. The answer came to me inthe midst of my own faith journey, one that seemed to begin the night mymother died and was jump-started when I lost David seventeen months later.Why hadn’t I seen it?Simple. I wasn’t looking.According to Jeremiah 29:13 in the Bible, “You will seek me and findme when you seek me with all your heart” (NIV). It wasn’t about Mary at all. It was about me. It wasn’t until my mother’s death that I began activelyseeking God. I didn’t see Mary’s Christian example because I hadn’t yetdeveloped spiritually. I wasn’t “there” yet. I didn’t recognize true faithbecause I didn’t have my own. "