Out at Cedarfield: Ouiser, fears, craziness, and bad moods

“I’m not crazy M’Lynn. I’ve just been in a very bad mood for forty years.”

Those words were spoken by Ouiser Boudreaux, the character portrayed by actress, Shirley MacLaine, in the movie Steel Magnolias.

In truth, Ouiser Boudreaux, reminds me of my mother’s sister, Mildred.

I loved Mildred because like Ouiser, Mildred was always honest. She never held back.

Robert Harling wrote the play, Steel Magnolias, and the screenplay that was made into a movie. The play was based upon Harling’s experience of his sister’s death.

I sense it would be fairly easy to take Ouiser’s observation about herself and apply it to our lives.
To the therapist: “I’m not crazy, Dr. Watson, I’ve just been living with my wife for the last fifty one years.”

To the superintendent of schools: “No m’am, I’m not crazy, I’ve just been trying to teach middle school students for the last thirty one years.”

To your doctor: “No sir, I’m not crazy, I know operating the television’s remote control for six hours a day isn’t a cardiovascular activity.”

I wonder if people ever felt that Jesus was crazy?

Think about Matthew Chapter 8 verses 23-27: “And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.  And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’  And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm.  They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’”

The collective question of the disciples says it all—“What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Maybe what they were really thinking was—“Is this man crazy?”

But in truth, the toughest question in this passage comes from Jesus: “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”
From the disciples perspective, their fear is grounded in the intensity of the storm that is battering their boat.

Think about it— no life preservers, no flares to fire off, no cell phone, no Coast Guard helicopter in route.

Nope all they have is this crazy guy Jesus.

I’ll be truthful with you, my faith and fear are grounded in this—I still struggle to always understand this crazy guy Jesus.

I will go to my grave wondering why prayers for one friend battling cancer are answered while prayers for another friend are not.

How can a woman with a longstanding health problem in Luke Chapter 8 barely touch Jesus’ clothing and her medical condition is immediately cured?

Talk about crazy, that story drives me nuts.

All this suffering in the world, even in this beautiful facility at Cedarfield, and that touch from Jesus seems so far away.

And yet, I don’t think Jesus is far away.

No, I think the problem is that I have continued to distance myself from him.

And that distance comes from my inability to see and understand Jesus’ craziness.

I think it would be very fair for God and Jesus to say: “We’re not crazy Bill. But because of all the challenges we see on earth everyday, we’ve just been in a very bad mood for a zillion years.”

You, me, we us know that God and Jesus have lots of reasons to be in a very bad mood when they look down upon us.

No doubt, the world can put us in a very bad mood.

But, if we let that very bad mood consume us, we will lose our hope.

A few years ago I received an email from Tommy Yow. A long, long time ago, Tommy was the Associate Pastor and Youth Director at Davis Street United Methodist Church in Burlington, North Carolina.

Tommy who now is retired in Alabama read an op-ed piece I wrote about the closing of Davis Street. The piece appeared in three North Carolina newspapers. Through one of those newspapers Tommy tracked me down.

I loved reconnecting with him.

Every week Tommy forwards to me thoughtful emails from Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar and ecumenical teacher, the retired Reverend Dr. Terry E. Walton from the North Georgia Conference, and Linda Henley at Lake Junaluska. I try to skim those writings. Occasionally, something in those posts will stick with me.

I have no idea who Jo Cato is but this quote from her was used in one of those postings: “Be brave. The unfamiliar will shape you more than the familiar ever could.”

It is tough to be brave when life becomes unfamiliar.

Yet, I think Jo Cato is correct. We have an opportunity to learn from these unfamiliar times.

I guess the real question is— are we willing to learn from these unfamiliar times?

The disciples were in unfamiliar territory with the storm pounding their boat. Fear gripped them.

For lots of different reasons, fear grips me today too.

I recently listened to an interview with Jane Fonda on the National Public Radio show Fresh Air.

Yes, I know people can still have strong feelings about Jane Fonda.

But this exchange about “fear” in the interview caught my attention.

JANE FONDA: And I wrote a book, and I lost my fear.

HOST TONYA MOSLEY: You wrote a book about aging.

JANE FONDA: Yeah. Yeah. The thing to do when you’re scared, at least for me, is I make what I’m afraid of my best friend. I learn all about it. I wrap my arms around it and squash it to death (laughter).

HOST TONYA MOSLEY: Why do you do that?

JANE FONDA: Because then I’m not afraid anymore.

There are things in life that can make us fearful, things in life that can make us crazy, and things in life that can put us in bad moods.

And in all that fear, craziness, and bad moods, and despite the impact these things have on us, God and Jesus are still hanging around.

They are ready to help us face our fears, craziness, and bad moods.

They want to help us answer Jesus’ questions: “why are you afraid, where is your faith?”

People who have known me for a long, long, long time know that I was a marginal student. I drove my parents crazy with my poor performance in school.

Yet, somehow, my parents stuck with me. They didn’t abandon me. Their deep faith anchored them in hope that some day their knucklehead of a son might land on his feet.

Though Jesus was aggravated with his disciples as the storm thrashed their boat, he did not abandon them.

At this very moment, if we have any chance of enduring this unfamiliar world, its fears, its craziness, and its bad moods, we can’t abandon the calmer of the sea.

And that requires you, me, we, us to be as honest with our hearts as Ouiser Boudreaux.

While it might be a stretch, our hearts want to say—we’re not crazy Jesus, but you know the truth.

Our hearts have been very bad at ignoring you when the unfamiliar storms of life hit us.

Don’t give up on us yet.

Toss us your life preserver of hope.

Maybe, we’ll get it right this time.

Author’s note: On the afternoon of Tuesday, September 16, 2025, I had the privilege of presenting a devotional at Cedarfield. Cedarfield is an United Methodist retirement community in Henrico County, Virginia. For eleven years, our church, Trinity United Methodist, has been presenting worship gatherings for Trinity members and Cedarfield residents. These gatherings take place four times a year.