Women of Faith

“A clutch of women’s the most tender, most tough place on Earth.”  Excerpt From “Where the Crawdads Sing,”   by Delia Owens.

I am living that quote today.

I am at a women’s retreat at South Padre Island Baptist church, my home church for the winter.

 I’m a bit down, frustrated by a myriad of life’s little whammies. (Nothing serious at all, just too many of them at once.) 

So I square my shoulders (because I AM STRONG!)  and seek a table to join.  I find one, with green ribbons, white lilies and a big happy balloon. And sit down, all the while pulling on a mask of contentment (remember, hurting inside), and introduce myself. 

Thanks to a know-all God, I find myself at a table peopled with people like me, church kitchen ladies. They are my doppelgängers. They love serving coffee as much as serving God. Their hearty laughs define their outgoing natures. 

And they immediately see through my pretense. With genuine love and concern, they gang up on me, drill down into my soul and help me wrestle free from my worries all the while holding my heart. 

Then we do it for each other, one by one, so each of us sheds a bit of the day’ worries.

We are just like the author said, a tough and tender clutch of women. No place else like it on Earth.

Lovely mission in trouble

La Lomita, the  church that gave Mission, Texas, its name

Be still. Listen. 

I’m standing outside La Lomita, a simple 12-by-40-foot chapel in Mission, Texas, that's ministered to people for 155 years.

 It stands on a small rise overlooking the Rio Grand. (Its name means "Little Hill" in Spanish.) If the trees weren’t there, I could see Reynosa, Mexico. 

Such a cute little girl

It’s a quiet little whitewashed sandstone structure steeped in history. 

And then I step inside. And I see and feel an explosion of life. And love. Weekly worshippers keep fluffy pillows in the pews and fresh notebooks and pens on a prayer table. (I write my name and a little note.)

A garden of fresh-cut flowers, newspaper items, pictures and rosaries crowd the altar. What personality! A little rosary-draped bear appears to giggle shyly, showing off her youthfulness. A flower pot grins at me, inspiring me to grin back.

This historic place of worship is the namesake of the town of Mission.

 And I didn’t know until I started my research for this little blog that it is in trouble.

 The U.S. government wants to build its border wall here because of the hill it sits on and the sights it can see. 

Since 2018, the Catholic Church has fought the effort. So have the people in the community who feel this little chapel knits intricately into their history.

I never felt the turmoil while I was there. The walls spoke only of peace and love. And I was still when inside. And I listened. It spoke only of worship and the congregation who love it. 

Fresh flowers show a dedication to this chapel

A Lourdes Grotto

Almost all pews have pillows

Notebooks spill over the prayer table

Lovely flowers distract from crumbling walls

Lovin' that Can-Do attitude

Artist Connie Lovell is such an inspiration.

Litter-inspired art challenges the way I look at art. And I learned today, life. 

While walking to the beach, I see a great big blue something rising from a truck trailer parked at Andy Bowie beach on South Padre Island, Texas.

As I get closer, this blue behemoth takes on form. It's a dolphin (christened Dolly), frozen in a happy moment, leaping above lively, sparkling waves. As I get even closer, I see she’s born from a jumble of trash, litter, stuff people toss out on the beach and overboard boats. It’s all artistically juggled, magically creating Dolly.

Dolly. Photo by Al Fasoldt 

She’s beautiful. Mesmerizing. Intricate.

But the real story for me is the artist, Connie Lovell, 64, a tireless devotee of clean beaches and life. She began making these sculptures four years ago — age 60. She simultaneously built a successful Clean up The Beach campaign while upcycling thousands of pounds of tossed-out plastic into major art installations.

My life lesson? Age is no barrier to start something new. Attitude is.

Four years ago, at age 60, she hated the trash littering the Texas beaches so much, she didn’t complain. She sought a solution. And became that solution.

 Her age was no barrier. She just got up and did.

Bravo, Connie.

To find out more about Connie and her creations — Humberto the Great Blue Heron, Miguel the MahiMahi, Josie the Green Sea Turtle, Rusty the Red Snapper, Chloe the Clown Fish, Calli the BlueCrab. There are more — visit her personal website and the one for her project.

Excellent photographer Al Fasoldt and Rusty the Red Snapper

Dolly's tongue is a pink flipflop. Her teeth a transformed laundry basket.

This is how I can help.