From The Innkeepers

April 2021 Blog 

We are born to raise each other up

Spring has had a few starts and stops here in mid-state west Michigan.  We have been blessed with numerous sunny days in the past month, some temperatures occasionally reaching the fifty to sixty-degree range.  But alas we seem to be backtracking a bit, but a cold week promises to lead to a warmer Easter weekend in our forecast.  With the nights dropping below freezing still and the days consistently above 40, the maple syrup is running freely, which bodes well for future French Toast and Pancake Sunday mornings. 

I ran across a quote the other day that fit into my spring anticipatory mood.  It is by Kate Morton: “It was such a pleasure to sink one’s hands into the warmth of earth, to feel at one’s fingertips the possibilities of the new season.”  When our crocuses and tulips and daffodils began to poke some of their green leaves through the earth, I knelt down and ran my hands through the soil.  It was warmer to be sure, but yet not the luxuriating and pleasurable warmth of a sunbaked soil.  That time is yet to come.  But still, the hope of seeing that little bit of existing warmth was enough to feed the new growth, made me ask myself the question “where do I feel the possibilities coming to light in this new season”?  As the plants begin to inch their way up out of the earth, we too see ourselves as inching our way up out of Covid isolation once everyone in our household is fully vaccinated.  We plan on first spending time with our families and friends that we have not seen in over a year.  So, I see the possibility of many hugs, much laughter, and shared conversations across a dinner table with long awaited guests in our not too distant future. 

The other thing I was thinking about for the month of April is the season of Easter.  A quote from a Jan Phillips poem set the tone: 

“Easter arrives every day when the sun breaks through the dark and flowers tilt upward.  The rock rolls away when the eyelids open.”

It made me think about how resurrections happen when we can love someone back to life.  It made me think about how Easter is more than new outfits, ham and Polish sausage for dinner, and the gospel stories of the empty tomb.  All of that is lovely to experience and ponder, but it rings hollow if we do not become instruments of resurrection in our own lives.  We were, at the very core of our humanity, born to raise each other up.  We raise each other up when we reach out to one another, when we help feed those who are hungry, when we visit those whose health is failing, even if it is only over Zoom.  We raise each other up, when we drop a card in the mail saying, “I’m thinking of you and missing you.”  We raise each other up when we provide something that is totally unexpected and brings someone joy.  We raise each up when we speak up for those whose voices have been too long ignored.  We raise each other up when we provide rides to vaccination clinics for those who have no other means of transportation.  We raise each other up when we vocalize gratitude for all that has been and answer the call to be present for all that is yet to come.  So, this month as I listen, especially in the morning, to the newly returned birds to our land, the red winged blackbird, the trumpeter swans, the geese, and sand hill cranes, I think about how we are each and everyone one of us called to live a life of resurrections.  Ours is only to wake up and answer the call every day.  May it be so for you.

PS

We are looking forward to once again being able to welcome you into our home.  We are making progress toward that goal.  Everyone in our household will be vaccinated and reach maximum immunity by early May.  We then intend to invite family and friends that we have not seen in over a year.  Also, during the month of May, we will be in the process of renewing our food service certification license and our fire protection certification.  We have already accomplished a huge step toward re-opening which was the installation of an environmental purification technology system on each of our three furnaces that both serve to heat and cool the ambient air in the common areas of the Inn.  We will be in touch with each of the groups as we get closer to re-opening.  Thank you so much for standing by us.

 Marcia, Pat and Sharon