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| Photo by Bri'Anca Jordan |
Accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior came late in my life. Although I was raised in a church it was a Unitarian church and we spoke of one God. The church was walking distance from our house, we did not even think of driving the few blocks. Being good neighbors and stewards of the earth, we always picked up any litter we found along the way. Our church was located next to our branch library and the first elementary school my sister and I attended. A large Catholic church was located practically across the street from the library, but in our household the trinity was a foreign concept. It remained foreign throughout the first half-century of my life.
The town where I was raised seemed to be predominantly Catholic and Jewish, or at least those were the kids easiest to identify because either they attended CCD classes and got confirmed at some point or they attended Hebrew School and had a bar or bat mitzvah celebration. For my sister and me, Sunday School was held on Sunday mornings for the little kids, and when we got older we graduated to choir practice on Thursday afternoons and then attended the adult worship services on Sundays (sitting in the choir loft, of course). As an adult I drifted away from church and organized religion, and for some years even away from God. But upon moving to the heart of the Bible Belt, on land that is truly in God's country, I could no longer deny the existence of a divine creator and I welcomed God back into my heart. What a relief!
These days I belong to an Interdenominational church located in Nashville, Tennessee. I attend fellowship suppers and Bible Study classes on Wednesdays and worship services on Sundays. We live about an hour away from the church, and for this reason I do not participate in Saturday activities including choir practice. When we first joined, I regretted that joining the choir would involve such inconvenience; now, I am content to sing along with the congregation. (Blessedly this congregation is light years away from the rigid New England traditions in which I was raised, wherein the congregation sat still and quiet, rising only to sing hymns on cue. At Metropolitan, congregants sing or speak whenever the Spirit moves us.)
Whenever becoming acquainted with a new culture or hobby, I have always turned to literature, in particular--fiction. When establishing a
hobby farm a few years back, I relied on nonfiction; however, I had spent enough of my formative years soaking in the wisdom of such authors as James Herriott and Mary O'Hara that the culture of farm life was familiar. Similarly, as I came to Christianity, I devoured the authors of Christian Fiction that line the shelves of my local library before discovering the Cokesbury store in downtown Nashville.
Today I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and converse regularly with God. In recent years I have also accepted responsibility for stewardship of my body as well as the earth. A decade ago, I was an unbeliever surviving on the Standard American Diet (which, admittedly, is S.A.D.), passionately teaching middle school English in a Boston suburb. Now I am blessed to be living on a rolling hillside in Middle Tennessee where the majority of my neighbors are bovine, where instead of pets we have livestock, and where we can eat locally and know the source of much of our food. My primary food incorporates spirituality, relationships, career and physical activity. What goes into my mouth is but secondary food. (And it is generally far more healthful than in years past.) For this outlook, I thank the teachings of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.
Welcome to the Faithful in Health blog where I imagine we'll be covering topics related to health (human and environmental), natural living, faith, contemporary literature and well being. I am glad to be beginning this journey with you.
Blessings.
A symphony of language, emotion and
movement, Cynthia Ruchti’s Song of
Silence is a must-read title due out in April, 2016. Lucy Tuttle has
devoted her life’s work to the children’s music program started by her father at
the Willowcrest School, a small K-8 public school, and is devastated when
budget cuts eliminate the town’s art and music programs. Still in her late
fifties, Lucy is not ready to join her devoted husband, Charlie, in retirement—a
venture he entered early and with which he is content—but job opportunities are
scarce. Empty-nesters at loose ends until the RIF brings Lucy home full time,
Lucy is not ready when Charlie wants to involve her in his new adventure in
vermiculture. An endearingly annoying character, Charlie is devoted to his marriage
to “LucyMyLight” and is clueless as to how a surprise
retirement party might not be the best after-school activity he could plan for her just now. Encouraged to seek counseling, Lucy works with a wise woman
weathering her own transitions and is lead to the HHATT book group, whose
members support her as she struggles with questions of faith and self-worth through
job loss, living with Charlie, learning of her son's impending marriage to a woman they have yet to meet and of her daughter's unexpected love interest. When an accident severely damages her vocal chords, God’s grace
and mercy shepherd Lucy and her family as each member enters a new phase of
life. Beautifully written and thoroughly engaging, Song of Silence is a gift for readers that belongs on library
shelves, in book groups and gift-wrapped packages and on wise women’s lists of Christian
fiction waiting to be read. 
