Month: August 2012

Speaking Of Car Trips and Cakes

It’s time. Oh, yes, it’s time. Rather than wait (and wait and wait) for a positive pregnancy test or a birth mother’s phone call or an adoption referral, it’s time to live. You are God’s child. He has created you and redeemed you.

So go for it. Stop talking about it and act on it. Plan the trip you’ve been wanting to take. Register for that cake decorating class. Learn how to crochet. Train for a triathlon. What is it that you’ve been waiting to do? Now is the time, my friend. This life is God’s gift to you.

Comfort Food

When I’m going through an especially rough patch, I eat. You know those times – waiting for test results, receiving “the call” about a friend’s new baby, being bombarded with questions about your family life, wondering when or if you’ll ever add to your family. In those moments, I rummage through my snack cupboard. (Yes, I’ve upgraded from a drawer to a cupboard.) I’ve eaten my share of chips and popcorn. I’ve licked the ice cream bucket clean. Then I feel guilty about eating all that stuff and finish off with some yogurt and blueberries.

While those food items may make me feel better momentarily, they don’t satisfy completely. Do you know what helps me even more? There’s food that satisfies even more than the salty and the sweet. It’s the Body and Blood of Christ. In Him is full and complete satisfaction. He gives me my daily recommended allowance and more. He knows exactly what I need to remain balanced and healthy. His food cleanses my body of sin and makes me whole again. I can have seconds and thirds and fourths. The Lord’s Supper is an unlimited food buffet. Now that’s comfort food.

The Truth

My husband reminded me the other day that we, in our fallen state, may be barren of children in this world, but we are not barren of God’s good gifts.

Shame on me for ever thinking that God’s tender love, merciful goodness, and blessed favor could only come to me in the form of a child of my own! God has already loved me, been good to me, and perfectly shown me His favor in the gift of Jesus.

And, while we’re on the subject, there are so many other good gifts which God daily gives me like the Church, my husband, family, friends, godchildren, a home, a Honda Fit named “Sylvia,” bountiful food and plentiful water, peaceful times in which I can freely receive Christ’s gifts of Word and Sacrament in public, joy, music, kind editors, a working washer and dryer, forgiveness of my sins, health insurance, watermelon, an attached garage in urban Dallas, salvation, portable box fans, muscle cardio classes at the YMCA, and peace which surpasses all understanding, even in my childlessness.

I may be barren, but I am not barren.