The porch is my favorite part of almost any house. It is a place of welcome, where greetings are extended, goodbyes are given and “I love you’s” are spoken. Every porch is different. They all have their own flavor, but my favorite porches are the ones where meals are eaten, games are played, books are read, prayers are said and in the evening, lights and candles glow late into the night as family and friends gather and tell stories. Some of my fondest memories are of late summer nights at my family’s farm in Kentucky, sitting on the screened in porch telling stories that bubble up laughter, gasps and utterances of contentment. After nights like those I go to bed knowing all is right with the world, knowing that I am blessed. I am lucky to have a porch. In fact, I have two porches. I think this is a great gift. Right now, I’m lying on our back porch after my long run because I was trying to stretch but my body is aching and I don’t want to move. So I don’t. I just look up. Okay, the picture doesn’t do it justice. Some might say it’s the endorphins from my run, but I know that it is a gift, and it makes me think about God and how good He is and how much He loves me. It makes me think of all of the other trees I’ve looked up into and all of the other porches I’ve sat on and how many of those times I’ve been filled with joy. I’m convinced that thanksgiving brings us joy. I’m reading a book called A Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. In it, she talks about the meaning of the word Eucharist: thanksgiving. Charis: grace....gift. As a Catholic, I get to partake in the sacrifice of the mass. I get to partake in the Eucharist: thanksgiving. This sacrifice is perpetual, but how many times in the day am I ungrateful for my circumstances? The Eucharist is necessary for salvation. The Eucharist precedes the miracle. Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "this is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me" What?! Not all gifts are easy to give thanks for- especially not betrayal and death, but this is what He did and he asks us to do it too. The Israelites gave thanks for the Manna in the desert and they didn’t even know what the heck it was they were giving thanks for (manna means “what it is?”), but they knew it came from God. And that was enough. It’s easy for me to give thanks for the things I like: trees, good books, warm drinks, the smell of crisp fall air, people I naturally like and get along with, kind words, free time, success, positive change, abundance. It’s a lot harder for me to accept the things I don’t see as good: uncertainty, struggle, rejection, when people or things I like- even love- are taken from me, commitments that have grown difficult, people I don’t get along with, cold weather, illness, really long drives, busy days. It’s a lot harder to accept the gift when we don’t see the gift. Even as I write down these things that I don’t see as good, I look back on times when I’ve had those things and see such good that comes from each. The long car rides that have brought me joy, distance between loved ones that has given me room to love other people, rejection that has led me to where I am now. Then, I didn’t like it. I didn’t get what I wanted. Then, the good in these things were a mystery, the gift of “what is it?” Did I give thanks for these things then or as I saw them approaching? I don’t think so. Sometimes we need to be thankful even when we cannot see. I’m sitting on a porch thinking back on all of the good gifts in my life- even the ones I didn’t think were good and I see that God has been faithful in giving me what I need. Giving thanks recalls the faithfulness of God and makes me want to trust Him more, because I can see more clearly that He has given me EVERYTHING. “He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Thank you, God for porches and the way they make me thank you. Thank you for tired limbs, for late nights and little sleep, for uncertainty, for difficult conversations, for busy-ness, for the overwhelming flood of new people in my life. Thank you for birds and breakfasts, for the people I see and live with every day, thank you for little messes that need cleaned up and chores and work to do, and for good-smelling hand soaps. Thanks for you, for life, for everything.
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This Blog...I'm Emily: a mission leader with Saint Paul's Outreach. This is blog is here to keep you up to date with what is happening in the mission field at Ohio State! Archives
October 2016
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