Feeling Connected
I celebrated a birthday this week!
Today I bask in the warm glow of feeling connected…connected to so many people in so many ways!
Cards have flooded my mailbox this week, over a hundred posts were added to my Facebook wall, and my phone rang off the hook ALL day (from 7:30 in the morning to 11:30 that night) with well wishes and thoughts of love from so many friends and family. I am truly blessed! I frequently write on the topic of perspective, and birthdays are no exception to that theme. While some may look at birthdays with dread for their marking of time and addition of numbers to our years, I look at them as a way to measure love.
Sam Miller recently celebrated his first birthday in our fellowship hall. I was away at camp, but looked through the many pictures of this joyous event and could see a beautiful child fully surrounded by the love and support of so many wonderful people ready and open to loving this baby so fully. I am privileged to watch this child grow and l see how fully he is loved by so many people and how he is so open and trusting of that love. He greets us always with a huge smile and has learned to give the sweetest hugs—so tight, and yet so tender. He knows this because he was shown this!
My birthday was my 43rd and the day was filled with love and connections. I mused as I readied myself for bed how this lost and rootless girl could now feel found and connected with so many wonderful people. Memories of my early years are swirls of chaos and disconnectedness—rootless wanderings through years of moving from town to town and painful shyness and fear of others. I doubt anyone can believe that now!
The transition happened gradually, and yet completely miraculously! The more I opened myself to knowing God fully, the more I opened myself to being known fully by others. This opening of myself to others exposed me to more chances to experience pain and sorrow, but also to experience more love and joy. The pain and sorrows made me more open to experiencing God’s love and grace in my life…and knowing God’s love and grace has allowed me to show those attributes to others. Which, in turn, has led to more love and grace from others…and more connections to more people and more connection to God…
Feeling Blessed,
Tracy