From the Treehouse


3.20.2022



An angelic visitation?  God knowing that such a moment would make an incredible difference? Just plain love?


It had been a tough week, for reasons I could not really file and jettison.  On top of the usual fractious schedule, I was feeling a low level malaise and thick, exhausted fog was creeping in around all of the edges. Tension was having a dance party on my neck and back, just to add another layer.  I knew it was temporary.  Surely rest would help! “I have given myself today to turn this ship around,” I told a dear friend. 


The truth is that it is very atypical to find myself feeling like Eeyore, and I really do not like it when I do.  My seminary nickname was Pollyanna, for heaven’s sake!  The other truth is that we are all just trying to figure out what the Pandemic has asked us to carry through this time, and how we will come out on the other side.  (This is assuming BA2 is not the threat here in the States that some fear.) 


But on Friday, I got a text asking me if I might be at home.  In a spritely rain, a dear young friend who attends my parish appeared with her mother, bearing handmade gingersnaps in a hand-decorated bag and with a handwritten note—and several hugs. All of this at age 6!  She had been sitting at home and apparently had asked her parents what she could bring to me.  They were kind enough to help her make it happen.  The gingersnaps are not long for this world, despite portioning them out.  But the note I will keep for ever. This sweet angel affirmed both my vocation and her affection for me.  


Do not underestimate the effect that a small, seemingly random action on your part might mean to someone else.   We have all been through so much, and mostly, we are managing remarkably well.  But we will all have hard moments like this for a while.   And allowing God to work through us as we minister to each other is what we were made to do.


The answer to my opening questions is ‘YES’.  All of the Above.










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