Half Empty but Very Full


He must have been one of the first ones there that morning. When I arrived he was shouting friendly greetings at employees, asking questions about produce, warning me about bad lettuce.
We crossed paths several times, me with baby in tow, cart slowly filling.
He tells me of a wife lost to Alzheimers, grandchildren and great grandchildren, of blessings in disguise. All this through joyful eyes covered in cataracts.
Each time I see him, there's a smile and a story.
As we check out, he allows a lady to go in front of him, even though he only has about 5 items: 2 pounds of sugar, some wafer cookies, a slab of meat, and a few other items. She insists she is okay.
"Oh, I've got nowhere to go all day. I'm sure you're busy. Go on ahead."
She reluctantly goes ahead and he remarks that all he's got to do today is go home to an empty house and make some cole slaw. He says this all with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.
I had entered the store with my list of items to buy and my list of things I needed to do that day. With a birthday coming up, two sets of company coming in to town, various children's activities going on, I was feeling excited but a bit stressed.
But as I left I felt only thankful: for the people in my life who need me, those who don't need me but serve me, and for all the various jobs and duties I am blessed to be able to do.
This man was a gentle reminder that life goes by quickly and one day I may really long to be busy and have people in my life who need me. That all things God gives us are gifts to be stewarded, not burdens to begrudge.
I often feel like an empty nester, because it sure does feel at times like my nest is half empty. Joseph is missed and loved and it feels there is a giant hole in my heart where he belongs.
But on the other hand, my nest is very full: full of three beautiful blessings who have my heart and a husband who loves me and blesses me with his partnership.
What a blessing and a privilege to be called this man's wife and these children's mommy.
There's a Bible verse that says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain." I pray that God will continue to remind this wandering heart how blessed I am, to be called His child and to get to shepherd these children he's entrusted to me.

Comments

  1. Lynn TApril 26, 2013 at 2:59 PM

    Gilly, I love this. I love the story about the man...reminds me a little of Uncle Billy...so content and joyful. Love you and love these gorgeous photosxx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Miracle

A few weekends ago, the good doctor and I headed to a grieving couples retreat led by Nancy and David Guthrie. I must say that when we initially heard about it we thought, "We need this. Yes! Let's do it." Then, the week before the retreat both of us were thinking, "What are we doing? Can we get out of this??" Not really knowing what to expect, we showed up Friday night to a room full of couples who had also experienced the same devastating loss we had: losing a beloved child. Looking around at each couple, it was hard to believe each of them had felt or was feeling the same sadness we had felt. As we shared stories that night and Saturday morning, my heart was burdened for each of them as I listened and saw the courage they had, the pain the carried, and the hope that drew them forward. Each story was different, yet out of ten couples, one thing was the same: an unswerving faith and trust in God. To be perfectly honest, this absolutely shocked me. I think I...
Read more

Freedom from Formulas

Recently, I was in two different situations where my children reminded me of a powerful truth that I had forgotten in the moment, but had, by Gods grace, taught them along the way. One was while helping my son search for a beloved lost toy. I was giving instructions on where to look, how to look and why he needs to keep track of his things—and he looked at me and said, “Can we just pray?!” Then just this morning another child was feeling anxious about a big test and I was trying to give her encouragement and she quietly asked, “Will you pray for me?” It gave me so much joy that despite my flawed and lacking parenting, the Lord had preserved this message we have taught them: that God cares about every detail of our lives and so we can and should talk to him about everything.  We did not find the toy and I’m not sure how the test will turn out but we do know our loving Father sees, cares and wants to hear what’s on our hearts—regardless of outcomes. A lot of times I’ll...
Read more

Rain and growth

One of the hard things for me about where we live is that once we pass winter and I'm eager to get outside in the springtime, my allergies hit! So the one thing I'd love to do after a long cold winter actually makes me feel horrible (allergy medicine definitely helps!). I was out walking recently after it had rained a lot and my allergies were not acting up. I thought to myself, "The rain must have covered up the pollen or something because I'm not reacting to anything." Then my next thought was, "But I know what rain does--feeds those flowers and trees and eventually will cause even greater growth!" It made me think about seasons in our life--sometimes we look around and all we see is gray and cold and rainy weather. It can be hard to imagine it will ever change. Then, out of nowhere, this beautiful new growth appears, stronger and more beautiful than we could even fathom. I think in the Christian life, the Lord consistently sends trials (or rain) to H...
Read more