Skip to content
What's Your Story?
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Resources
Site Search
identity

“Spiritual Treasures” by Elsie Ramsey

  • April 5, 2021April 5, 2021

“God gave Noah the Rainbow sign, no more water – fire next time…”-Mary Don’t You Weep

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate. I have honored the day my whole life, from having no choice in the matter, to participating out of obligation, to opting in with my whole personhood. Young girlhood’s Easters were about my dress and whether the late Boston Spring would ruin the effect by necessitating a parka.

Do any children under ten possess the spiritual sophistication to perceive, even slightly, what kind of rainbow we celebrate, in all it’s blinding glory, this day?

Maybe those dresses were my first hint.

Reverend Phil preached his virtual sermon today amid floral arrangements beautiful enough to compete with the choir. Phil Jackson (who shares the name and mythical stature of the legendary Lakers coach), was coming off a Good Friday sermon that has been my personal raison d’etre for the last 48 hours.

Could today’s message compete, I wondered.

Just kidding. This man was made for back to back championships.

He spoke of how at a certain age everything begins to remind you of something that came before. For him, hearing the Carter Family’s ‘God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign’ tune recalled stumbling upon a James Baldwin celebration in college, in which the man himself was there! Reverend Phil crossed the literal and proverbial threshold to hear Baldwin bless the crowd with his knowledge pearls.

Listening to a hymn often sung by the congregation of the parish where he interned as a young Seminarian recalls God’s palpable presence in the room all those years ago.

We all have a salvation story made up of moments like these, Reverend Phil says.

As soon as I heard his “Amen”, I began jotting mine down.

I have a tattoo on my back of a pair of footprints that I got around the time my faith was coming into full bloom. People always ask if they are my child’s and I say no.

It’s a Jesus thing I say, and that usually shuts the conversation down.

If you’ve ever been depressed, the poem “Footprints” may resonate with you as well, though I advise against getting a tattoo.

In it, we hear of a dream in which Christ shows the dreamer proof of His abiding presence along life’s journey, displayed as a walk in the sand indicating two sets of footprints. Asked why there are passages showing the walker solo, Jesus simply says, that’s when I was carrying you.

Not abandoned in our darkness but cradled. Not dead, but alive.

That’s the treasure represented by Easter’s rainbow.

Despair is a Liar. It always was, always is, and always will be.


Share
You Needed A Raise To Pay For Therapy…Until Now by Elsie Ramsey
Elsie Ramsey
Elsie was born in California and moved all around the country growing up, including Palo Alto, Boston, San Diego and Houston. Subsequently, she travelled internationally as a model for seven years before landing in New York.

Related articles

You Needed A Raise To…
The Devil We Know by…
“The Past Is Never Dead.…
Are You Even Real? A…
About MDMA and Surrender by…
Putting Deacon King Kong on…
Films, Sanity and Black by…
The Golden Ticket by Daniel…
Fragile as a Child by…
The Road Out by Ben…

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • “Spiritual Treasures” by Elsie Ramsey
  • You Needed A Raise To Pay For Therapy…Until Now by Elsie Ramsey
  • The Devil We Know by Elsie Ramsey
  • “The Past Is Never Dead. It’s Not Even the Past” By Elsie Ramsey
  • Are You Even Real? A Chat with Eric West by Elsie Ramsey

Categories

Follow Me

Tweets by elsieoramsey

Recent Posts

  • “Spiritual Treasures” by Elsie Ramsey
  • You Needed A Raise To Pay For Therapy…Until Now by Elsie Ramsey
  • The Devil We Know by Elsie Ramsey
  • “The Past Is Never Dead. It’s Not Even the Past” By Elsie Ramsey
  • Are You Even Real? A Chat with Eric West by Elsie Ramsey

About Me

Elsie was born in California and moved all around the country growing up, including Palo Alto, Boston, San Diego and Houston.  Subsequently, she travelled internationally as a model for seven years before landing in New York.  Elsie has a BA in Political Science from Hunter College and is earning her MA in Communication from Johns Hopkins University. She’s worked in politics, non-profits focused on reducing unemployment, and behavioral health care technology.

Categories

Theme by Colorlib Powered by WordPress