Even the hard parts

Daily Devotion - May 8

I will send a brief message each day
while we are pausing gathering in person.
- Kara

Good evening friends!

Today got away from me. I realized at noon I was still in pajamas, and hadn't yet brushed my teeth. I sat down at my computer at 8 am and didn't do all the things on my well-thought-out list, but did other things instead. Mostly stupid, pointless things.

But, as NVC (compassionate communication) teaches us, every No is a Yes to something else, so it's a chance to be curious about what I was saying Yes to. What was I needing? Spontaneity?  Freedom?  Rest?  Mourning? 

My daughter went outside (in the 30 degree weather) this morning to eat breakfast in the driveway so she could talk to the neighbors eating breakfast in their front yard.  They wore mittens and hats and wrapped their legs in blankets.  I just called her in at 4 pm.  Her seven hour breakfast tells me she may have been needing Connection. Freedom.  Hope.  Rest.  (Schoolwork is so secondary to those things right now).

It was a session (church council) member who helped me make a mental shift.  She issued a gentle invitation in a session email that maybe NVC can help us through this - feelings and needs, we're back at feelings and needs. She was not wrong. It is helping me.

I am grateful for you, today, Church. I got an envelope with the mail from church - a couple of lovely cards and notes.  I had several email messages this week from church folks.  Session is praying for each other.  We are all reminding each other we are here for each other when things get hard. We are all helping each other through this. We are being Church.  

Next week I will be taking a few days off.  One of you will lead coffee hour. Another will preach next weekend (I'll be there).  I am so grateful.  This meets my needs for rest and care, for freedom and space.

Today our our country's brokenness feels close at hand. Our deep sins of racism, self-righteousness, division, hatred and judgment are plastered all over social media today.  They're tangled up with our deep needs for mourning, and justice, for wrongs to be right, for humanity to be upheld, for our belonging to feel real and palpable, for ease, for hope.  Come to think of it, that crazy cocktail of high intensity might be part of what had me pinned to my chair in my pajamas til noon.  

But this day - like every day - had beauty and gifts too. The persistent sunshine. World's easiest peanut butter cookies.* A preschool moving forward into the future in our church basement.  Us - you -  praying for each other.  A youth group zoom meeting and a confirmation kick-off.   A child who remembers her belonging.  

Life is a gift- even the hard parts. God is with us - all the time. This is grace.

No matter what, we belong to God and we belong to each other. 

What are the feelings you've had today? What are you needing?

What beauty do you notice in your day as you look back? What gifts?

What do you need to mourn?  

What is giving you hope? 

*( 1 c peanut butter, 1 c brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 c chocolate chips, 1/2 tsp vanilla  - optional little handful of oats - Bake 350 for 10 minutes)

CONNECTING RITUAL:

Perhaps tonight before bed, whatever time that is in each of our homes, we and so join our souls with each other and the people of the whole earth:

We are singing this on Sunday, and it's a blessing for us all - read it through a couple times. 

We are held in God's grace.

Only Grace, by Hannah and Lenora Rand
Things are broken here
things are shared
things are carried here
hearts bowed in prayer
            It is grace, only grace
            that brings us here, holds us together here
            it is grace, only grace
            that brings us here, holds us all together here
            all together here
Things are dying here
things are torn
things are growing here
and burdens born
            It is grace, only grace
            that brings us here, holds us together here
            it is grace, only grace
            that brings us here, holds us all together here
            all together here
Amazing grace
hear the sound
here is where
hope is found
            It is grace, only grace
            that brings us here, holds us together here
            it is grace, only grace
            that brings us here, holds us all together here