Rooted

I sat in church yesterday, and as we sang songs of hope and belief in God's eternal presence and provision, I looked around the room. I wiped tears away with a handkerchief that once belonged to one of my beloved friends and mentors. I looked around that room and was strengthened as I watched a young woman sing, "oh, no, you never let go through the calm and through the storm..." knowing that she is in the storm of a lifetime with a precious child battling a rare condition, and still she sings.

I watched a husband place his arm around his wife as they sang together, "I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on, and there will be an end to these troubles but until that day comes, still I will praise you..."knowing their son had his last chemo treatment for cancer on Monday, and still they raise holy hands to God, and they sing.

I saw a mother sing, "I will rise up, rise up, and bow down, and lay my crown at His wounded feet," knowing her heart is broken over a son's pain and struggle and it feels there was no beginning and there will be no end to the pain, and still she sings.

A precious woman, slowly fading from us because of that wicked disease, Alzheimer's sits with her devoted husband singing, "as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so The Lord surrounds His people....surround us oh, Lord...we need to be in your presence."  They know not what the future holds. She will eventually not know of her past, and still they sing.

A young couple I love so dearly, and pray for daily. The longing of their hearts is eluding them. They could rail and toss it all in, but instead, hand in hand they sing, "My Jesus, as thou wilt, oh, may thy will be mine....Through sorrow, or through joy.....help me still to say, "my Lord, Thy will be done." They know not what the future may hold, and still they sing.

I see two women sitting together, one recently widowed, one divorced through no choice of her own. They find solace as they sing, "all shall be well with for me; each changing future scene I gladly trust with thee; straight to my home above I travel calmly on...."  Their lives are not as they dreamed. They have, and continue to, live with the sadness of great and unexpected loss, and still they sing.

Rooted. Rooted in faith. Rooted in a church family. A church family that is trying, with all the messiness of family to live out that faith. I have a most grateful heart for this group of wounded, fatigued, messed up, hopeful, joyful warriors, of which I am only one, who remain deeply rooted.

For today, I wish you deep roots, the ability to sing in spite of the pain, and I wish you

Blessings