Home again, home again...

Wow, I have some serious catching up to do! Today isn't a day I feel like catching up, though, so just  a few thoughts to share this afternoon. Garry is at his cousin Everett's funeral this afternoon.... loss and pain, the suffering of living in a world that is bound by sin. I had so hoped to be there, but I couldn't go. So I am home while my heart is with them. 

It has struck me again since Everett's passing that God weaves so many colors into the tapestry of our lives. And so often simultaneously... joy and pain co-exist. The heaviness of Everett's passing.  An amazing weekend sharing stories of what God has done among unreached people groups. The remembered pain of Mom going to heaven last year. New friends and unexpected opportunities. Goodbyes in Arizona. Gorgeous scenery. Heart connections that draw us deep into what God is doing. 

And at the end of the day, the joy and the pain are both grace. Unexplained gifts of God that draw us to know Him more, that pull us out of the temporal and into the eternal. Some of the gifts are more pleasant, some we'd rather return. But each one is lovingly given by an omnipotent Father. Today I want to embrace each gift, savor each moment. Live, truly live!