The men that brought their tractors to haul manure when my dad was lying in bed for six long dark months. The women that would pull me aside after church to ask how mom and our family were doing and if there was any way at all that they could help. The friends who sat and listened without offering a word of advice, simply presence. The pastors and their wives who showed up with anointing oil. The ladies who made casseroles in their kitchens for our freezers. The board members that were always ready to help in whatever way possible. The people who became adopted family simply because they cared that much, and the souls of wisdom who saw and understood just enough to go home and pray.
And now I sit here in Belize with the showers of blessing raining once more. Meals with laughter, beds for the taking, excursions to new places, great conversations, and a lot of love all around. I am finding people that talk about the help my parents gave them years ago when they were newbies in our old province of Ontario. They talk about meals and babysitting and a lot of love passed around, and now they jump at the chance to pass that kindness on to me.
I see this beautiful cycle and am convinced that God's family is one of the best families on earth to belong to. It is one where we take turns to serve, and turns to receive. It is one where we show up for each other even when it is inconvenient. It is one where we get bumps and scratches and have misunderstandings just like any other family, and we must work them out in order to function. We talk things through, share ideas, live beside each others' shortcomings, and drink from the Fountain of Life together.
At the end of the day, there's no family I'd rather belong to - this glorious family made out of imperfect people from all kinds of nations, who are gathered together under the perfect umbrella of Love.
💞
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