Let me start by saying it was a very dark and stormy night last night.
First,I came home from work exhausted emotionally because we have another funeral on the books. I can't tell you how many we've had in the 5 years we've been here, but it feels like a hundred, and I don't think we're too far off from that. One of the things that makes me a good pastor (if I do say so myself) is my ability to engage with people and their families and connect emotionally, but it's also very hard on me in weeks like this, when there are surgeries and funerals and I feel torn about where I need to be. So that's the darkness part.
Second, because this is my blog and I get to butcher the numbering system, it was stormy. I know this because in my exhaustion, I sat in my recliner and lost a couple of hours to sleep, punctuated by occasional moments of awareness of the noise and light show outside.
Third, I woke up in a sweat because there was a very warm and velcro-like WonderMutt in my lap the whole time. He hates storms and they make him very clingy, so for last night we re-branded him Velcro Puppy.
Fourth, despite it all, today is a beautiful day in Beaufort. The sky is legitimately blue, not overcast or smoky the way it has been for most of the week. I can breathe again! This weekend is the Beaufort Homes and Gardens Tour, and our lovely and historic church is involved again. Our sanctuary is filled with volunteers and visitors, and our fair town is filled with tourists. While our tour guides conduct people in to see our beautiful old stained glass windows and lovely architecture, we are subversively also hoping to help them connect with God as we tell the stories of God's presence here at Ann Street.
And fifth, I feel better today. Not because my grief has lessened, but because I am connecting more closely with God as I think about the stories of God's presence in my deceased friend's life, in the history of the church, in the beauty of my surroundings, and in my much-lightened heart. It's a good day today...thanks be to God!
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