Thursday, February 13, 2025

Dear God,

You frequently ask us questions:  Which story do you want to be part of?  A story of conquer, triumph and victory at all costs or something else?  Do you want your story to be all about you or something else?  Do you want to align yourself with someone or something else in order to be seen a particular way?  Do you want your story to be one of evil or something else?  Whose story do you want to step inside?  What story do you want told at your memorial service?

For decades I didn't give much thought to the story of my life.  I lived one day at a time, accumulating stories of fear and faith, love and hatred, sorrow and joy.  Yes, I knew it would all fit together like puzzle pieces and have a title but I really didn't reflect a good deal upon the content of it.  Until now.

As I witness what is happening at home and abroad, I am enraged, filled with pain and terrorized by what is happening to people in other nations and in my own country.  On a regular basis, I weep for people, strangers I do not even know.  That is finally what alerted me to the story of my life.

I ask myself:  So whose story do you want your life to tell?  That's when my head drops and my heart is filled with sadness.  Although my life has had many good paragraphs, I realize there is only one story I want told at my service.  More than anything, I want to be part of your story, Lord, your story.  My story can only offer a first-time read but your story gets better every time it is shared.

Yours is a story of love, inclusion, mercy, challenge and hope.  It is one where any person is invited to join.  It is a story larger than any single chapter.  It is one worthy to be told over and over again.  Its beauty reminds us we can be beautiful like that as well when we love well, offer grace well and accept well.  It is a story that transforms for good, offers a different way and brings courage, strength and resiliency.  It is one that connects us with our stranger neighbor, our broken family and any and all who are falling through or being pushed into cracks.  Your story is one where strength is not about power but working together for good with and for others.  It is bringing hope to the hopeless, acceptance to the tossed aside and peace to all those forgotten, rejected and neglected.  Your story can be difficult to read sometimes because it challenges us to the core of our being about who we want to become and who we want to follow but it always has an ending that uplifts, offers joy and gives peace.

Thank you,

Loving God,

for inviting us

into your story.

May our story

be your story.

And may we

sing it,

dance it

and live it.

Yours, Andrea