Joys & Concerns

In my small church, we have a period before prayer time where the congregation is encouraged to express joy or concerns. Some weeks I think every person there is going to talk. I try to imagine them doing this in a huge church; they would all be there until Monday morning.

The joys are often:

A family member home safely after a trip
A new job
Successful surgery
A new baby or grandchild

The concerns are just as you would expect:

illness
death
financial woes
other tragedies

This part of the service always sticks with me. It reminds me to find joy when I'm having a crummy day. I spend a little more time counting blessings and less time feeling sorry for myself.

Airport Joy

My dad and I went to the airport today to pick up his sister. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. There's that moment when someone you love (and haven't seen in a while) comes into view ... it's bliss.

You always have to kill a little time wating for a plane. I'm anal so I kept checking on the flight and then when she called me, I started giving my dad little hand signals to start the car and get moving. I'm pretty sure he wanted to slap me back to reality but he didn't. (Seeing his sister was a great diversion.)

Tonight is their sibling time. Tomorrow her boyfriend will join us and the husband and I will dominate, even though we don't mean to do so.

With kisses and hugs, I sent my dad and his sister off to enjoy their evening. Then, I cried. But they were tears of great joy.