Vultures and Unmarked Graves

I wrote this short essay for Good Letters, the blog of Image Journal:

https://imagejournal.org/2019/02/13/vultures/

* A week ago I wrote a different introductory paragraph here.  I've decided to change it to this instead:

My husband wants you to know that he didn't say he got "pooped" on. He said another word, a word I chose not to write in my piece for Good Letters and a word I decided to edit out of this blog post, primarily because I want my kids to not get mixed messages from me about what language we use and what language we don't use.  I've been working on a much longer piece on when, or why, or if we should use the words that we call curse words and I'm not done and I'm not sharing it right now, but that little paragraph has helped me get a little clarity. I experimented with cursing a lot in that earlier version of this paragraph, then I felt uneasy and took that unease as a cue to go back and change it.  An interesting fact about vulture droppings is that they have antiseptic qualities.  The vultures can eat a diseased animal but after it is digested there is no sign of disease in their droppings.  They also let their runny poop flow all over their legs to clean off any residue from standing in rotting flesh.  What it would be like if even the most vile things that we have experienced could be transformed so that even the most vile things to flow from us could have healing properties not destructive? What if our output was less toxic than our input?  Is that what the Holy Spirit can do for us and all the yuck we take in?

Another thing I wanted to add is a little poem my grandaddy, a dairy farmer, used to say:

When I looked up into the sky,
A bird dropped whitewash in my eye
Oh me oh me oh my oh my
How glad I am that cows don't fly


Here are some of the vultures, the tombstone, a piece of deer vertebrae and the dogs chewing it:

Also, click here to hear a recording of Rayna Gellert singing the song Sister Thou Wast Mild and Lovely, by Samuel Francis Smith.  I searched the verse on the side of the tombstone to find the song and full lyrics:

1. Sister, thou wast mild and lovely,
Gentle as the summer breeze;
Pleasant as the air of evening
When it floats among the trees.

2. Dearest sister, thou hast left us!
Here thy loss we deeply feel;
But 'tis God that hath berelf us,
He can all our sorrows heal.

3. Yet again we hope to meet thee,
When this mortal life is fled;
Then, in heav'n, with joy to greet thee,
Where no farewell tear is shed.

I also found it recorded to the more popular tune of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," but I much prefer this old-timy way of singing it.

And to end on a more cheerful note.  Look what the dog found today, the day after Valentine's Day.  If anyone lost their balloon near highway 22 I found it.

As always, thank you for reading. Walk in love.