Some people say I'm sentimental. I tear up often in conversations with others. I cry when I read books. It happens in movies too. In fact Kelsey watches movies with me and keeps one eye on the TV and the other on me to wait for the tears. I even teared up once listening to Adventures in Odyssey (I'm embarrassed about that one). OK so after all these years I know that is who I am and I don't fight it. Except in 1992 I was in a job interview and the woman interviewing me asked if I had a cold!! She hired me!
I guess I express my joy, shock, sadness, gratefulness with my tears much more than my words.
I'm in a place of gratefulness again. It's connected to receiving. We spent most of our "sabbatical rest" with Neal and Kathy Gaalswyk. Just writing that sentence triggered the tears...and the loss of words to express my gratefulness to them. I've thought alot about God's grace this summer. I once heard a simple description of grace: receiving something underserved or without working or compensating for it. That pretty much describes my summer experience. They were tickled we were with them. We laughed, teased, played, talked, and enjoyed many steak dinners together. They have loved us and enjoyed us for who we are. Just the way God does. Most days I embraced it, lived in it, and rested in it. Once in a while I was overwhelmed by it. There is just way too much of God to ever experience or understand. That's one thing I am taking from my sabbatical rest.
Now after 2 weeks back in Poland I want to stay in the center of God's grace and extend it towards others.
