It's been a sad season in my little town.
We just learned over the weekend that a young man whose grandparents live here was hit and killed by a drunk driver in his college town. Their Thanksgiving may be a little hard to celebrate.
My heart is very sad....and I admit I have had to try a little bit harder lately to have a heart filled with joy.
But it occurred to me that we don't always get to have a heart filled with joy because that is not how life works. We can only hope and try to feel that joy as much as possible.
So has it been evidenced in the words I have to say on this blog and even in my letters to Chuckwa. It seems like there is only so much a person can do or say or write...like eating a cracker...kind of dry.
I have been talking a lot lately with my little brother who seems to also be going through a down time and as I talk to him I think maybe I should take my own big sister advice and fill the well.
There is only one way to do that...but it is important to remember that we just don't always get to feel happy and that's ok.
As we approach Thanksgiving, I looked back at one of my early letters to Chuckwa.
This is an excerpt from November 2013....
I started the day off in kind of a sad state 'cause I called home and talked to my youngest boy. He was sad and missing me so I got sad, then I got off the phone and went to writing and all I could think of was sad thoughts and cried a little so I took a break from writing. Then I decided to get up and go talk to a man who just recently moved in here who was a Christian man. He had his bible sittin' on table with the intention of talking to me and so we talked and then I thought of you and told him the story about you and the letter you wrote me one time that directed me to Hebrews 12. Your letter became the topic of our discussion. The cool thing is that he had that chapter in mind for me before we seen your letter. We read for 5 hours and I walked away feeling a whole lot better and now I'm sitting here and reading that letter and realizing what a big difference it made in my life. I will be forever grateful for the gift I received the day I received my first letter from you.
sing anyway
Ephesians 4:29
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
