Prayer
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Similar
Happy Daughter’s Day. Obviously love and miss Maggie Lee more than can begin to be expressed. Here’s a song she wrote for me entitled “Similar”
We look alike
We sound alike,
let’s just face it, since I was a tike, we’re similar
Some people say like father like son, but this battle we have won together.
The color of our hair,
The clothes we like 2 wear,
We’re similar.
You don’t look like your Mother,
We, we are like no other,
We’re similar.
You’re a comedianne,
When you drive you hit the median.
You have ADHD,
We can never find your keys,
Together.
We laugh at all the wrong times,
We’re not picky we like all kinds…..of things.
You feel the same bump in our noses,
Wr both have such long toes-es,
We both cry when we watch E.T.,
We also love to freely sing,
We often wear bling-bling
Together.
We’re similar
And sometimes we disagree,
But can’t you please see,
I love you,
We’re similar,
Together,
My Mother.
-Maggie Lee Henson, 2009
Jay Greenleaf
I cannot vacuum without thinking about Jay Greenleaf.
He popped by our Gladstone home some time in 2010 to cook something up with John. Probably to discuss the launch of Church for the Highlands of which he was a huge part.
With three dogs there was more than just love in our Dutch Colonial there was an abundance of dog hair. Embarrassed, I whipped out the vacuum while John and Jay continued their serious conversation.
Sitting facing each other with a rug and coffee table between them, I began my approach on the outer edge of the carpet, working my way closer. I guided the Kenmore Pop & Go in the direction of John’s feet. He reflexively lifted his legs without missing a beat.
The sight of a housewife in panic mode while the husband carried on a discussion must have tickled him greatly. I wasn’t sure if he thought John a Neanderthal or thought me completely nuerotic but when I turned and saw Jay’s rosy, laughing face he said, “Kinda like a sit-com, huh John?”
Over the roar of the machine I heard him and bellowed back, “Jay- you have no idea!”
It turns out that friends either don’t notice or look past things like dog hair and zany married couple dynamics. And give you credit for a tidy house even if it was not so when they arrived 30 minutes ago.
I sometimes think of Jay when the Saints or Tigers play or when a sassy Blue Jay bathes on our fountain or when I drive by Centenary. But I always think of him on the days I vacuum.
#jaygreenleaf
#truefriends
#housework
The Way We Were
I am endeavoring to collect as many childhood photos of our Garden Park residents and staff as possible for the September / October newsletter. Here’s my 1995 self: seminary graduation with Gina.
Some of the childhood photographs I have gotten are shocking: a mischievous looking 6-year-old who is now a puzzle fanatic who curses non-stop. You can just tell she has always stirred things up in the best way.
The glance of a teenager in sepia tones posing with a telephone in the 50’s is the exact look I get within a nano second of my phone being held in her direction for a snap. She has graced many SB Magazine ads because of her ability to instantly pose.
My co-worker in the kindergarten graduation gown and white mortar board may have a perfectly straight smile now but is still as joyful and wide-eyed as she was back then.
Ms. Mary celebrates her 99th birthday today. She has brunette hair and a better memory than I do. Today when asked if she feels 99, she replied, “Some days I feel 25, some days I feel 70”
Maybe Gertrude Stein was right, we are always the same age inside.
Go Small
The young professional’s car door swung open as he sprinted toward the object in the road. Grabbing it, he swung around and took off for the duck pond. This could only mean one thing; a turtle’s entire week’s work had been erased in 30 seconds. Oh, and the turtle would live to make risky decisions another day.
From the life of Christ and his passion for the seemingly tiny things like giving a cup of cold water, sharing a single lunch and mustard seed-sized faith sounds this recurring theme: small is beautiful.
Perhaps God is most impressed when we as Mother Teresa phrased it “Do small things with great love“ Maybe the heavenly crowd of witnesses rejoice most loudly when we walk away from gossip, hold the door for a stranger or congratulate someone when they receive the thing we most wanted. I imagine each tiny kindness a pearl God strings together.
Perhaps God is also elated when we notice His tiny acts of grace and beauty. The perfect sky, daily bread, the bluest eyes in an octogenarian. The symphony of our concurrent noticing and imagining we are being noticed by our creator is just about the most beautiful way to spend a day.
#humankindness #faith #meaningoflife #turtlerescuer
#dosmallthingswithgreatlove #motherteresa
Fayetteville First
I am beyond excited about speaking at Fayetteville First UMC in Georgia this Saturday!
It’s their annual Let’s Do Lunch Women’s Event and Nancy Dennis, my mom’s bestie for 80 years and the “third Bass Twin” reached out to me about it. Here’s a pic of these three hysterical gals in Pioneer Woman wigs for their trip to Pawhuska, OK. Yes those are crock pot head bands.
We’ll be talking back to school, my prankster husband, Atlanta Braves and of course God’s redemption.
The most amazing fact of life to me is that we are granted the ability to decide how happy we will be. How wonderful is that?
My day one ride or die Colleen Doucet still keeps my comedy calendar, just email me if you ever need a speaker.
Love,
Jinny
jinnyhenson@gmail.com
Dear Maggie Lee:
Oh, ML, it’s that time of year again when the distant rear view mirror of loss turns into a compact in our hands.
The 15th anniversary of the church bus accident that divided us from you. Memories both light and dark like swirl art blended; both joy and devastation.
How could something so grave result in brightest grace in other people? How could a moment so unthinkable prompt such thoughtful kindness human souls?
How is your singular teeny, tiny life so ripple-ish? One little note reverberating longer in absentia than your 12 years on earth?
God’s economy is a mystery. God is complete mystery and anyone who claims certainty about why things happen is just shooting in the dark.
We’re all shooting in the dark for that matter.
But God is light. And you know this all too well.
Each day I consider your view from the other side of the clouds. I am jealous that your faith is sight because I see through glass darkly down here no matter how I squint.
Peace is born of faith and we are simply not privy to some information. Often I consider that even if I had the plan it would not change the plan.
I ponder what all you’ve got going on in eternity. Just spit balling here but I imagine you dragging Ellie everywhere while trying to high-five someone completely inappropriately but it’s Heaven so they’re totally down with it and don’t leave you hanging. (St. Peter perhaps?)
I thank you for the joy of being your mom. How I was ever entrusted with you I will never, ever, ever understand. I pray and fully believe that you’ll see these little people get their school uniforms at Khaki Fair in two weeks and be totally pumped about it. I have to trust that you’re allowed that view.
I pray that I have in some small measure stewarded your message of God’s love in the world.
Elle Woods Henson
Maggie Lee begged for months for a chihuahua. Finally her father broke down, “Since we already have two dogs, I’m considering this a cat.”
Little could we know the therapy dog straight from Heaven our Ellie would prove to be. When the church bus accident which would eventually claim ML’s life occurred in 2009, Ellie accompanied Jack in the car ride with church members. Having no grasp of the severity of ML’s injuries, we decided that she should come to help Maggie Lee recover. Little did we know that she would serve as a key to our recovery.
We snuck Ellie into the Batson Children’s ICU when the end was near. My Mom was nervous that we would be discovered. I figured that there was no fear of them throwing us all out at that point. Jack stowed Ellie away in a gym bag as Mom and I blocked the nurses’s view into her room. In one stealth motion, Jack unzipped the bag and placed Ellie near her mommy’s artificially ventilated chest. We wanted her to at least know that ML had not abandoned her. Whether the coin dropped in her doggy mind or not one cannot say but like so many plot twists in life we gave it our best.
To call Ellie the most important therapy dog a family could ever have is an understatement. I used to joke about my future grandchildren and she would indignantly state, “You already have a grandchild.” That is how much she adored her dog. A most un-chihuahua-like chihuahua, she was not a yippy little dog, rather a settled and beautiful soul. She was God’s comfort with fur on; comfort I could carry in a purse yet that 5 pound little person carried me.
Present at all the big charity events for the non-profit for which she was the mascot (Maggie Lee for Good) she opened Maggie Lee’s Closet, watched the Maggie Lee for Good Little League invitational and was featured prominently in all 15 MLFG T-shirts. One of ML’s favorite sayings was “Stop Dog Nudity” and one of my favorite photos is a Texas A & M Vet School Class with a huge banner stating just that. Maggie Lee for Good is a day in which people perform a good deed in our daughter’s memory. Because of the iconic photo of ML and Ellie on the MLFG Book, literally hundreds of kindnesses have been bestowed upon pet shelters, pet-fostering organizations and rescues.
Our hilarious daughter named her long-awaited puppy for Reese Witherspoon’s character in the movie Legally Blonde then proceeded to clothe her every day. I already began shopping for Ellie’s Quincenera dress. And as dearly as I wanted Ellie to have her Quincenera this September 30th, I cannot argue with God’s timing. I would rather hold on loosely in gratitude than strangle that which I feel I am owed.
I am incredibly thankful that John gave in to Maggie Lee’s fervent desire for a Chihuahua. You don’t often think of that breed as a purveyor of peace or curator of comfort but she was nothing less than the ultimate friend. She softened the brutal blow and for that we are eternally in her debt. Rest in peace & Joy, Ellie. We love and miss you.
Super Natural
I am sitting at my desk stacked with pink mailing bags; the final t-shirt orders for Maggie Lee for Good 2022. Next Saturday will be the 14th year we have celebrated our child’s birthday long-distance.
The list of good deeds performed and non-profits helped continues to grow as any healthy entity does. We walk with a limp as any parent in this lane does but would be fools to ignore how beautiful our lives are.
I glanced at the photo on my desk. The one of Ms. Evelyn Adams and me at The Scoggin’s church pool party. I prominently display her likeness to remind me to study my Bible more. She was the most caring, Christ-like woman I have ever met. She loved reading books to the Lighthouse kids.
Those of you who have your faves in Heaven will get this, those of you who don’t could think I’m insane and help yourself to that impression. No worries. I looked at Evelyn with this big Christmas toy drive coming up next Saturday for MLFG Day and just asked her for some help.
I have no clue what is heard on the other side and no desire to change anyone’s mind about it. But, I went into the kitchen to open the Amazon boxes John brought in and unpacked this:
These books for our Christmas toy drive came from my friend Jennifer Jolin in Ft. Worth. She lost her husband just months ago. I thought how generous and precious of her, texted a photo and thanked her and then I returned to my desk. And once more saw Evelyn who reminds me to read my Bible. And once more saw Evelyn and remembered I just asked her to do me a solid, send a little help.
The dropped and I literally LOL’ed. I do not pretend to know the back story of how the after life works, just what I read in scripture and there is a lot left to the imagination. But, I do know that God is kind and shows off when we are feeling overwhelmed. I do know that people who live unto God and lean into life with passionate purpose have spirits which reverberate forever.
I am just a mom celebrating a birthday with an eternal 12-year-old on October 29th. Trusted too short a time with that treasure. A mom grateful for the thousands who have done a good deed in her memory on Maggie Lee for Good Day. Not for us or even the memory of her but because God is perpetually bringing beauty from the tough breaks, sending waves of mercy to help us hang on; sometimes through us and sometimes to us.
You’re invited to join the wave. I’d love to highlight whatever kindness you portray because we can never have enough good examples of love. 🤍
jinny henson
shreveport, la
#maggieleeforgood #kindnessmatters #humankindness #mariashriver #dogood
Zelenskyy: Why You Want a Comu in a Crisis
How ironic that an individual like Putin, breast-fed on KGB strategy for decades is being thwarted militarily by a comic. A comic. Even an anonymous open-mic’er for decades like myself is not shocked in the least. Here’s why:
“Dying is easy, comedy is hard.” So pithy a summation, I swear it could have come from Lincoln himself. A stand-up bares observations of their soul in an attempt to squeeze laughter out of other humans. The connection is immediate. So is the shame. A seasoned comic reads the room (or world stage in this instance) and adjusts their set list accordingly. Zelenskyy didn’t want a ride out of Kiyev when offered but wittily quipped that what he needed was ammo. Don’t think for a second he did not know exactly where that brilliant line would land the second he launched it.
It takes guts to be a comic. A staggering 75% of adults listed public speaking as their greatest fear. This trepidation even caused Warren Buffett to drop speech in college. Zelenskyy had no doubt weathered the awkward performances on the way to his critical acclaim in “Servant of The People,” the Ukrainian show which iit would seem predicted the future. He “stood with himself” the practice of still believing in yourself even when you fail without giving up. This bravery in leadership is no fluke.
It takes special vision to be a comic. It requires the brilliance to notice and ability to cleverly articulate those observations of common experiences. Bo Burnham’s “White Woman’s Instagram” is a brilliant example of women like myself and the propensity toward predictable posts:
“Some random quote from Lord of the Rings
Incorrectly attributed to Martin Luther King.
A goat cheese salad (goat cheese salad)
A backlit hammock (backlit hammock)
A simple glass of wine
Incredibly derivative political street art
A dreamcatcher bought from Urban Outfitters
A vintage neon sign”
The song is hysterical because it is true. What the masses might glance over, a comic eye like Burnham SEES then fashions observations into an irresistible message he calculates will connect with the world. Zelenskyy did not ask for this horrific affront. The consequences are actual life and death of actual people, not just a career or a gig. But he has seen with brilliant eye the power of the moment and articulated through social media some tremendous truths.
My prayers are fervently with Ukraine and my money is absolutely on the comic.
#jinnyhenson #Ukraine #zelensky #russia #comedy #whyyouwantacomicinacrisis #boburnham #whitewomansinstagram #warrenbuffet #prayingforukraine #standingwithzelensky #today #usatoday #cnn #latestonzelensky #kiyiv
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