God’s Country

Have you read any of William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor books? If not, I hope you do. Twice I’ve met the author at book signings in Bloomington, IN, and St. Paul, MN. A very personable person. The Cork O'Connor mystery/thriller series, follows Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor, a part-Irish, part-Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) former Chicago police officer and former sheriff of Tamarack County, Minnesota where the books take place in the deep Northwoods of Minnesota (Aurora, Tamarack County, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness), Beautiful setting. Characters that draw me in. Hard to put down.

The books also have ideas to contemplate. This last one “God’s Country” was more graphic than the others. At times I had to put it down. Yet I needed to finish it. One quote towards the end by Henry Meloux, a spiritual First Nation medicine man over 100 years old and oh so wise, said: “In every moment, the world becomes a different place. We can never go back to the moment before.”

I’ve always realized that events can never be the same - this Christmas can never be like last Christmas or a Christmas when my kids were at home or when I was a child; however, I never thought of condensing that to moments. “We can never go back to the moment before.” Oh, so true. Every moment is different so we make the most of each of them - or at least we try to. Sometimes moments just go by. Other times each one is so very special and important.

I think of the moment my child was born. I’d never, ever want to go back to the moment before that, before them. I think of the moment my sister died, and I wish I could go back to the moment before that so I could hear her voice again and tell her I love her. As we think about the important moments in our lives - a birth, a death, a laugh with a friend - we often cherish them and lift them up.

That’s why I scrapbook - to hold those moments close to my heart. In all those moments, I know that God is with me, but never micro-managing my life. God is simply there in all those moments loving me along the way. God is there with you as well. Thanks be to God.

My daughter-in-law Erin and me at William Kent Krueger’s St. Paul, MN, book signing September 1, 2026