Thankfulness, awareness, and being "made whole"

My parents are here! My parents are here! Thanks be to God, my parents are here!!!!

 

Last week, they moved here from Tennessee.

It has been a move, long in process (or, it felt long in process to me)…full of mixed emotions for them and for all of us, at various levels (the high school I went to was in that small town, as was the church that was so foundational to my understanding of faith/Jesus/pastor-ing); but also, so welcomed.

They got here a week ago today (or tonight).

 

My brother and his wife; my nephew (my brother’s son) and his wife; my sister; and my own family were all awaiting their arrival.

Cliff (my husband and the household chef) had prepared a wonderful pot roast for dinner. It started cooking at noon. The house smelled WONDERFUL (I can’t think of a better “family together” meal!). We had hoped to gather at 6:00 or 6:30 for dinner either at our place or theirs (we were ready to pack up and head to their “temporary” apartment at a moment’s notice…whatever would be easiest for them!).

 

My sister was traveling with them from Tennessee – following in her car. She had been with them for the final couple weeks of packing, house-closing, and “good-bye-ing.”

We called her at about 4:30 or 5:00 to check on their progress. “We are stuck on I-40. There was apparently a terrible accident. We’re looking at a couple hours delay – at least.”

 

The accident ended up being the one in which 8 people were killed – most of them members of Front Street Baptist Church. Many of them my parents’ age. I think we knew details of the accident before my parents and sister did.

My father and sister took two different detours and got separated.

Leslie, my sister, got to our house first.

When she got there, we called to check on Mom and Dad. My father had taken a detour that put him on two-lane roads (he was driving his truck and towing another car). He sounded so exhausted and stressed.

We all just looked around at each other. It would probably be more like 8:30 or 9:00 or 9:30 before they arrived.

Their coming to our house was “off the table.”

 

We determined that we would go meet them at their new place. “No.”

“Okay…Then let’s…hmmm….let’s…hmmm…what should we do?”

“Okay…let’s time it so that Ken (my brother) can meet them at the gate, so that he can help Dad get the car off of the towing thing. Donna (Ken’s wife) can take them some food. The rest of us will wait till tomorrow to see them.”

“I don’t know…it will look kind of creepy if Donna and Ken just sit outside the gate in their  truck and wait for them!”

 

We ended up letting Dad be Dad – we asked him…So wise, so good, so loving and compassionate. So focused on “first things”…what is best for mom. That night…Rest...No company.

 

So there we were – a houseful of siblings waiting for our mission to start – nothing to do…our plans all shot.

So, we sat around and talked about Mom and Dad and how blessed we are.

We sat and cried and laughed and told stories about each other and lessons learned and life and models of love and courage and faithfulness.

Don’t get me wrong…we have, in our family, known death and divorce and tragedy.

Inevitably we have said things we wish we could take back. And not been as patient with each other as times sometimes called for.

We don’t all agree on politics or even religion.

But, we have learned to recognize blessings when we see them!

 

Last year at Christmas, we were – almost all of us – grandkids, too – at my folks’ house in Tennessee (the one they just sold)…We were all sitting on top of each other watching a football game or something, when Mom came in and told us that “she had some things to say…And who knew whether or not she’d be around for another year to tell us (she, right now…today, is on the “outer limit” of her prognosed (?) length of survival for the type of cancer she has…Apparently, no one has told her, though!)”. She proceeded to tell us how thankful and blessed she has been with the love that has surrounded her, that each of us is a gift to her life, and that what we do and who we are matters, and that she is proud of us.

We were all silent and tear-filled in our throats and eyes. She put into words what none of the rest of us could – but which we all wanted to.

 

It was one of the most “whole” moments of my life. I see them everywhere now. Whole moments.

 

It used to drive my sister and me crazy…We’d be traveling somewhere (just about anywhere) and Mom would say, “Make this a memory!” And then she’d start singing (which is a HOOT) the old Seals & Crofts song “We may never pass this way again.” I doubt that she knew that she was doing so – but she taught us to see blessings…To notice…To be aware.

 

I saw them that night, a week ago, as we (all of us minus Mom and Dad) put into words the blessings of love and life and lessons learned.

 

The gospel lesson for this week (Luke 17:11-19) is the story of the 10 lepers.

They are all “made clean” or healed (17:14, 17) – it’s the same word in Greek. But only one of the lepers is “made well” or “made whole” (vs. 19) – which is an entirely different word from the one used for being healed or made clean (it’s the word for “saved,” “liberated,” “freed.” And that makes all the difference!

 

Mom’s cancer has been “in check” for a while (more than a year!). But there are so many other things going on physically with her right now.

Hard to tell whether the cancer is getting “squirrely” and causing problems, or if the new things are entirely different.

In any case, she most likely will not finally be “healed,” but already she is living in wholeness. And so am I – because even as death comes (for her or the folks from Front Street Baptist Church or any of us) we (or I) will walk into it in wholeness, having been “made well” - aware of how blessed I am and so, doubly blessed in gratitude and praise.

 

Thank you all for the way you bless me – I want you to know I appreciate you and thank God for you every day!