The Noontimes

This is the story of The Noontimes.

At a time when a friend of mine and I were each going through a thorny patch and were both searching for answers to significant questions, I felt compelled to go to the closet and pull down my mother’s Bible.  I have a number of Bibles both in my home and workplace but for some reason I felt drawn to my mother’s.  It was noon as I opened her Bible – a time when Mother would have been preparing lunch in her kitchen – and suddenly I felt her presence as words came off the page toward me.  In what seemed a random motion, my friend and I had stumbled upon verses that brought us insight, understanding, and comfort.  We agreed that we would continue to open Mother’s Bible each day as close to noon as possible until we had bridged this difficult spot in our lives.

Days passed, and the readings continued to guide and console us.  We were amazed.  When my friend said she needed more time to reflect on the meaning of these readings, I began to record and save the ideas in an electronic faith journal so that the two of us could spend time discussing some of these messages; and even though the difficulties eventually eased, we continued to look for inspiration and wisdom daily at noon.

One day, another friend joined our conversation and asked to receive The Noontimes.  She also experienced the same sensation of connection and support as she opened the daily email messages.  Over time, The Noontime Circle expanded to a distribution list with an occasional email discussion.  Eventually, a number of readers began to ask that we share these faith reflections in a broader way . . . so today we share ideas on this blog.

If you are a longtime reader of The Noontimes, I hope you are comfortable with this format.  If you are new to this circle of friends, we welcome you to The Noontimes.   If you are open to change and want to join us as in the search of wisdom from this safe place, please leave a comment here or on any of the posts.