The invitation came.
A friend and classmate of Elijah’s had bought a house.
A house warming.
Another example of life marching on.
Such a good thing for this young man.
What an accomplishment.
How proud.
I resist the urge to wallow.
They ask for Christmas Ornaments to hang on his tree.
I think back to that time years ago.
My first apartment.
My first tree.
The realization that I had not one ornament.
Oh such a sweet memory.
Tying bows from ribbon onto the branches.
No lights.
Tin foil over cardboard for a star on the top.
Mine.
Here I am decades later.
In need of a gift for a young man.
An idea forms.
Sort of floats into my thoughts.
Gentle.
The way of the Holy Spirit.
A tree full of Ornaments from my parents to my children.
16 years of Ornaments.
One should now hang on this young man’s tree.
I breath deep the living.
Because we are living.
The days are still calling.
I choose one off the tree.
I cradle the Ornament.
I pray that it will hang for years to come.
That each year it will be held and a red headed young man will be remembered.
I carefully wrap it in tissue paper and place it in a gift bag.
I write the story of the Ornament.
I send a little piece of my son to another.
The Act of giving.
That first Sunday in Advent.
A symbol of hope.
A sense of peace washed over me.
When we do the hard thing.
When we’re obedient to the Spirit He reaches down and gives overwhelming peace.
I gathered the gift and card and walked to the car.
This journey is beyond me.
I can’t do it alone.
The holy reached down and touched the ache.
Today is 40 months since my red head met Jesus.
3 years and 4 months.
How can it be?
It feels like yesterday.
Each of those days has been intentionally given over to the One who has called me by name.
Each day a deep surrender to keep walking the walk.
I am grateful for the loving kindness show continually by our Savior and by those that journey with us.
I am thankful for:
Grace through this journey
Young men stepping forward on their life journey
time to celebrate their accomplishments
spending time with friends and laughing
hearing the stories we each experience
Remembering Elijah
Hope
Learning to live in a new way
the college girl and her time home
the two farm girls and their willingness to milk
a warm house as the wind howls outside
a God who reaches down into humanity
a slow day to process the hard moments
friends who text to check in
I will spend this day attempting to live for the Holy One.
Stepping into Advent.
Pushing aside the me. . . and living for Him.
Crowding out the worlds shouts that I need something from this place to satisfy my longings.
All I need, I have found wrapped in swaddling cloth; lying in a manger.
He is all I need.
