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Upper Room Disciplines - February 21, Pastor Sandra Stogsdill Brown- First Presbyterian Church Topeka Kansas
"It's astonishing how easy it is to forget the amazing things God does for us. Not long ago I was doing some reorganizing and came across a shoe box filled to the brim with beautiful greeting cards. People had sent them to me during the first year of the pandemic when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The messages of those cards boils down to- ' WE love you and we are praying for you.' I had already forgotten the outpouring of support I had recieved during my treatment."
And there it was- details different but the story resonates deeply. I read this devotion two days after the calendar marked six months after my daughter's passing. At first, I had put the cards on display on top of my grandmother's desk, then when more came to a small round table that belonged to my parents. Next when that overflowed, and cards kept falling off, I went to Fred Meyer for a basket and placed them there in the extra bedroom. We moved through days, then months, then her memorial service and Christmas. Each held memories, gratitude,love and grief. I remembered the cards.
Pastor Brown goes on, "Praise reminds us that we do not generate our own blessings or engineer our own rescue. It is God who works through doctors, nurses, first responders. teachers, clleagues, neighbors and friends who will help us."
Gratitude for community that upholds us.
As Henri Nouwen reminds us -" When I reflect on my own life, I realize that the moments of greatest comfort and consolation were moments when someone said: "I can not take your pain away, I can not offer you a solution for your problem, but I can promise you that I won't leave you alone and I will hold on to you as long and as well as I can." There is much pain in our lives , but what a blessing it is when we do not have to live our grief and pain alone. That is the gift of compassion".
Just now I am grateful for the words on each of these cards as well as for the thoughts and acts of compassion that come from community. We journey onward together.
Agape, Susan Jackson
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