Notes from my Knapsack 7-6-23

Notes from my Knapsack 7-6-23
Jeff Gill

While the days are still long
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While I've not shied away from personal statements here in this space, I want to make a particularly personal plea. Or a number of them.

Yes, we've passed the summer solstice, and since June 24 days are getting shorter, first in seconds, then by minutes per day, to the shortest of all come December 21. Then from Christmas the days begin to lengthen again.

For now, though, the days are long. The sun rises around 6 am, our evenings still stretch with dusk past 9 pm. There are things we can do.

Friends, please, if you can at all, go take a walk. This is not a command to exercise, or a warning of losing muscle tone, though those all have their place. I'm just saying you need the air of the outdoors, the light of the sun (sure, hats, sunscreen, caution in exposure, but still…), the song of the birds. Please, take a walk. When it gets dark earlier, when the cold winds blow perhaps a bit too chill, you won't want to as much and I'll feel guilty about pushing you out the door. So do it now, please.

If you say "I'm not up to miles cross country" have no fear. Backpacking is a wonderful thing, but I've not done it for too long myself. This isn't about setting records. If you can walk around the block, but no more, do that. You're giving yourself a gift. Just to the mailbox and back? Good on you. Pause at the curb, breath it in, and back inside if you must.

And drink some water. Yes, hydration. No, not eight glasses or ninety-two liters or whatever the latest health craze is. Just drink some water instead of a bottle or can or jug of whatever. It's amazing, water is. I do put some lemon juice in my big bottle I take on the road, so I get wanting some flavor. But just consume a bit more water than you do now. Yes, you.

Finally, if you have someone you want to thank, or even more crucially, someone you have a grudge against, say something now. Maybe it has to be to a third party. But I'm in the middle too often of the sad situation of how a grudge can be one of the last things that leaves a failing mind. Sort it out, now, while you can both reason and perhaps be reasoned with. Do not wait.

Nor should you wait for that thank you; I am blessed to have been able to attend some special 90 and 95 birthdays and 40 or 50 and even 75th anniversaries. This summer, I'm missing the retirement celebrations for a number of friends and associates I'd really like to be present for, but pen and paper will have to do. And I have the memory of a thank you or two that I waited too long for, and now have to aim them at heaven for delivery.

One last such: Monsignor Paul Enke is retiring from Saint Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, and while I'm not one of his flock, I've been proud to count him as a colleague in ministry. He has built much in Granville, and I don't mean in architecture alone, but in human hearts turned towards heaven. Bless you, Paul, and thank you!


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's thinking about simple gifts and small wonders these days. Tell him what you're thinking at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.