You may assume they were tears of sadness. But in reality, the tears were from overwhelming gratitude.
Our Facebook connections know that about three weeks ago I posted asking friends for advice on a ramp for our house. The comments, personal messages and texts showed us once again how much people care and want to help. About this same time, a longstanding pillar of our community passed away. People had mentioned that there had been a ramp at his home since he had been wheel chair bound. However, I certainly didn't feel like I knew the family well enough to ever feel comfortable asking about their ramp. No worries. It didn't take long before I had two different messages from the family offering their ramp.
So that "leaky" Saturday morning I was overwhelmed that two people who had just recently lost their father were not only willing to give us their ramp, but also deliver it to our house. Definitely small town goodness shining through. Every time I tried to process what people are willing to do for us, the tears started again. One would have thought I was watching non-stop Hallmark commercials.
Sunday's message in our missal was "Live in awareness of God's gifts!" and just reinforced my thoughts from the previous day. Sr. Koellhoffer wrote: "When our children are young, we school them in saying 'thank you' for any courtesy, gift, or praise given them. What we're really teaching them is awareness, the ability to recognize and name what they've received as grace. And so it goes for us for the rest of our lives. Before we can say thank you, we have to live in awareness of what comes to us as gifts large and small... Loving God, lead me into awareness of your gracious gifts to me today."
When Keaton called to tell us about his weekend, he mentioned the message the priest had delivered that Sunday morning. To paraphrase, we should not attend church and expect to be entertained. Instead, we should attend church to give thanks. To quote my colleagues who teach English, "I concur." Well, I do like to be entertained too, but I've always felt it was important to start every prayer with a thank you.
All of this reminded me of a book I had read where the author said when she got up in the morning, she said "thank" as one foot touched the floor and "you" as the other foot joined the first. What a great way to start the day.Today, our ramp project is closer to completion. Another good friend made some phone calls and found us another segment of aluminum ramp. My Dad and Uncle worked hard to build a platform and safely connect the two pieces together. Tonight we came home and a railing had magically appeared on the lower ramp. Okay, so the two guys who worked on it today probably didn't just snap their fingers and probably wouldn't appreciate my making light of their labor. However, Kevin can now safely enter our house unassisted. And when the time comes, our entrance is now wheelchair accessible.
Today we are thankful for:
- The caring and giving people of our small town who continually show their generosity and goodness.
- Those willing to help us with the tasks that require the physical labor which Kevin can no longer do
- The many gifts that God has blessed us with
- The time we have to be together
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
*Truth be told, Google says there is no such thing as L.E.S. Thankfully I'm not making light of someone's real ailment.
