Susan LaffertyUntracked land. Most vivid on days marked by change. Upheaval.
When planned schedules sit. Unattended. Calendars, set aside.
And we enter unknown spaces.
On such a day, I remember the quote. Handwritten on a scrap of paper years ago. Placed on my desk.
Amy Carmichael’s words.
Simple shelter. Close quarters with eclectic decor. Spare furnishings.
She welcomes us in. And starts the fire on a small charcoal stove. Takes her sauce pan and pours in the green coffee beans, newly washed.
And so it begins.
The slow, deliberate way of an Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
Traditional hospitality. With laughter. And conversation about life.
Daily and eternal.
The words of Isaiah resonate.
“Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off.
For truth has stumbled in the public square,
and honesty cannot enter.
Truth is missing,
and whoever turns from evil is plundered.”
Isaiah 59:14f
It sounds like a reading of our day.
