God, faith and the like are serious subjects. One has to be careful when they are touched. But I liked the other day the reminder from Ted Remley, who has brought a university seminar to us for a number of years, of the Jewish saying, “Man plans, God laughs.” He shared this as he booked his groups through 2015.
We became Waldensians at the invitation of this small historical Reformed church of Italy. Just how disparate the Waldensians were in their search for persons to take over their new guest house adventure in the Tuscan countryside is confirmed by the invitation to Antoinette and to me, two foreigners who had not lived in Italy for 13 years. That’s already worth a laugh!
But just that ability to laugh, also at themselves, was one of the qualities that I learned to appreciate about the Waldensians. After all, you cannot take yourself too seriously when you number 40,000 in a country of 60,000,000! Other qualities I learned to appreciate were Bible scholarship and social commitment.
The ability of laugh, at least smile, however, has proven valuable in much that comes our way in managing Casa Cares as a meeting center and a guest house. First, the property is well beyond our control: huge, historical buildings and semi-abandoned farm land. That it feels like too much was already evident when the Waldensians at first refused the donation of the property in the early ‘80’s. I often tell visitors that it is like having a Ferrari without money for the gas. Nowadays it seems most persons understand and smile when they hear, “It is not a question of having something to do, the question is where to begin.”
Something to do, and soon, is get a roof on the chapel. It’s taking the usual longer-than-expected because the big support beams unexpectedly, but not totally surprisingly, have to be replaced. So the centuries-old chapel sits waiting without a cap and hoping for some more sunny days. It wouldn’t be bad, either, to find the funds to get beyond the new roof phase.
The grass gets too long; firewood needs to be cut; picking the olives only makes sense with volunteer labor; the park often looks unkempt; boars dig up the fields. Then in the villa something is always too old to carry on any longer; a good rain arrives through the roof tiles to a bedroom or two; water from the township can be in short supply; in winter we remember that the old windows are open even when closed. And so on. (Is this supposed to be a monthly note to attract guests?!)
By the way, the guests…. Now there’s a laugh. I mean, of course, with them. If it’s hard to understand each other in one language, try three or four. And if folks start relating their travel adventures and cultural false steps, it really gets to be fun.
Even the volunteers keep us laughing. There was the young German who, sent out to the garden to get a bit of parsley, came back with a huge bouquet of all of our basil. Or the American who doesn’t know what to do with his clothes that need to be hung out to dry.
All told, they say a good laugh is a pill of health. Lots of pills around here!
We became Waldensians at the invitation of this small historical Reformed church of Italy. Just how disparate the Waldensians were in their search for persons to take over their new guest house adventure in the Tuscan countryside is confirmed by the invitation to Antoinette and to me, two foreigners who had not lived in Italy for 13 years. That’s already worth a laugh!
But just that ability to laugh, also at themselves, was one of the qualities that I learned to appreciate about the Waldensians. After all, you cannot take yourself too seriously when you number 40,000 in a country of 60,000,000! Other qualities I learned to appreciate were Bible scholarship and social commitment.
The ability of laugh, at least smile, however, has proven valuable in much that comes our way in managing Casa Cares as a meeting center and a guest house. First, the property is well beyond our control: huge, historical buildings and semi-abandoned farm land. That it feels like too much was already evident when the Waldensians at first refused the donation of the property in the early ‘80’s. I often tell visitors that it is like having a Ferrari without money for the gas. Nowadays it seems most persons understand and smile when they hear, “It is not a question of having something to do, the question is where to begin.”
Something to do, and soon, is get a roof on the chapel. It’s taking the usual longer-than-expected because the big support beams unexpectedly, but not totally surprisingly, have to be replaced. So the centuries-old chapel sits waiting without a cap and hoping for some more sunny days. It wouldn’t be bad, either, to find the funds to get beyond the new roof phase.
The grass gets too long; firewood needs to be cut; picking the olives only makes sense with volunteer labor; the park often looks unkempt; boars dig up the fields. Then in the villa something is always too old to carry on any longer; a good rain arrives through the roof tiles to a bedroom or two; water from the township can be in short supply; in winter we remember that the old windows are open even when closed. And so on. (Is this supposed to be a monthly note to attract guests?!)
By the way, the guests…. Now there’s a laugh. I mean, of course, with them. If it’s hard to understand each other in one language, try three or four. And if folks start relating their travel adventures and cultural false steps, it really gets to be fun.
Even the volunteers keep us laughing. There was the young German who, sent out to the garden to get a bit of parsley, came back with a huge bouquet of all of our basil. Or the American who doesn’t know what to do with his clothes that need to be hung out to dry.
All told, they say a good laugh is a pill of health. Lots of pills around here!
I guess it would be hard to find new cars without the provision of keyless entry.
Posted by: keyless remotes | August 06, 2011 at 09:19 AM