We had a changing of the guard yesterday. My mom left and Eric's mom arrived in town. It's going well, but I realized as I was preparing for Mary that my life has become a veritable cornucopia of minutiae. What I can and can't do, what pills I take, how long I can be up before I get tired- it's all important. Then add Nora's routine on top of that and it is a lot of information. And it has to be overwhelming to someone dropped into the middle of it. For Pete's sake, I'm overwhelmed and my chief occupation is laying around and sleeping.
One thing that has made things tenable is that people have been very generous with us. Our friends and family have brought meals and offered help and support beyond what I ever would have expected.
My friend Rachel presented our situation to the community at her church and they have provided the majority of the meals that we have eaten for the last three weeks. These are busy people that I have, at most, met briefly. And they have made casseroles and shared the vegetables from last summer's garden and baked cookies for us, virtual strangers.
I have never been on the receiving end of such a beautiful gesture. And I have composed a thank you note many times in my head and have been unable to fully express just how much this has meant to us. It's not even the food that even now fills our fridge and freezer as much as the love and well-wishes behind it that has propped me up when I've felt demoralized.
And it's been a wonderful lesson for me as well. Living in the Deep South as long as I did, I've had a lot of frustrating experience with the type of Christian who goes to church on Sunday and thinks that that is enough. I have long held that meeting Rachel and her husband, Peter, was a turning point in my life, because they showed me, through the little daily actions that make up how they live, that there are people out there who believe in living life in a Christian way, seven days a week. It sounds sort of trite to say it, but it was a revelation for me. They are mindful of how the things they do affect their neighbors, locally and globally. And it changes the way they shop, eat, work and raise their children. It's not about proselytizing- it's about living in a way that is loving to others. It's been inspiring me for five years now.
It shouldn't have surprised me that her church responded they way they did. After all, I've been there. They, like Rachel and Peter, are welcoming, caring people (who are Mennonite and thus respond to crises with food). Still, it did surprise me. It saddens me a little to realize that I've become so jaded to the idea of community that such an outpouring comes as a shock. And saying "thank you" falls so flat in the face of that (very pleasant) shock. I am astounded, bowled over and overjoyed. My heart is so full of gratitude I can't imagine being able to express it.
I only hope that I have the opportunity to astound someone like that someday. I know that I will be looking for opportunities, now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment