Blessings from this week

This week has been busy, but has had its share of blessings already.  My schedule has been a little packed with activities that were planned and some that came about because, well, life happens.  In the midst of these activities, I have experienced some blessings that I thought I'd share this morning.

On Monday, for Halloween, Simpson UMC in Rossville, GA had their Trunk 'r Treat. Though we didn't advertise that a magician would be there, that was going to be part of our surprise for folks, if it could work out with him.  My day got a bit hectic with an unexpected ministry opportunity, so I never got around to calling him to double check that everything was lined up.  When I pulled into the church about 15 minutes before the official start time, there were several cars set up, some kids coming in, and the magician.  That entire scene made my heart smile.  All in all there were about 8 or 9 cars there to greet the kids and give out candy.  We had one group of folks from one of the other churches there.  Some folks were out of town and we had a death in one of the churches.  Otherwise, I imagine we would have had more cars for Trunk 'r Treat.  There were maybe 300-350 folks that came through that evening in the 2 hour span of daylight that we held the event.  It blessed me to see everyone interacting with one another.  Watching the magician interacting with the kids really blessed me.  This was the first time I have gotten to see Steve perform and I enjoyed watching both him and the kids.

Steve McDaniel, local magician and member of Simpson UMC

Yesterday, November 1, was All Saints Day.  Appropriate for All Saints Day, we celebrated and remembered one of the saints from one of the churches.  She had just recently celebrated her 100th birthday.  It was a blessing to celebrate her life.  A very unexpected blessing happened as we gathered with the family to pray prior to going into the chapel.  As I had come in the door, a woman's face had caught my attention. I said hello, recognizing her, but not exactly placing her.  When we circled up to pray, she was sharing that she had come into the family by marriage later.  As soon as I heard her voice, I knew her.  Annelle.  (Apologies for interrupting.)  When I spoke her name, she said mine.  Both of us had been trying to figure out how we knew each other.  She briefly shared with the family our connection, which is like family, because I grew up in my early years a couple of doors down from her.  She graduated high school with my Dad.  Her kids were about my brothers' age, but I grew up knowing them.  We spent lots of time in her house growing up.  It was a special moment of recognition.  I wish we had more time to catch up, but she and her husband had to leave after the service to go back to Dalton.  Hopefully another day we can catch up some.  In addition to seeing Annelle after so many years, the other thing that struck me significantly was that I knew it was her when I heard her voice.  [That reminded me of the Scripture about the sheep knowing their shepherd's voice. (John 10)]

Yesterday evening was week 2 for Flintstone's community meal.  I went out with some flyers prior to the meal to get them into some of the locations we hadn't yet posted them.  At one location I ran into a woman who called me by name.  We had met at her restaurant a while back.  She took some flyers to post at the restaurant.  She also offered to assist us if we have needs.

That's the 2nd restaurant in the local area that is helping us get the word out and coming along side us.  The Chattanooga Valley/Flintstone community is wonderful in helping one another.

I went on down the road and noticed that the Red Door antique store was open.  I haven't been there before because it's usually closed when I'm in town.  I pulled in and grabbed some flyers.  As I mentioned where I was from, the gentleman said he was planning to come by there later and I had saved him a trip.  He had some produce for us.  Would we like it?  Yes!  He had a flat box of potatoes and some crackers for us.  He said that he will have produce from time to time.  I gave him the contact number of the person in charge and headed back to the church.  As I brought the potatoes in and shared the story with the lead person, wouldn't you know it?!?!  She had planned to cook beef stew for next week.  She can definitely use those potatoes.

These are just a few of the blessings I've had already this week.  There are more. I am grateful for each of these. One of the things I've come to realize is that blessings abound daily.  In order to recognize them, I need to pay attention.  In order to be able to pay attention, I need to be able to slow down a little bit, spend time with people, listen, and simply "be".

What blessings have you recognized in the past day or two?

Blessings on your journey,

Debra

P.S. Here is a song about "Blessings"  by Laura Story