A view from the outside in

This month's blog post is by Carol

A few weeks ago, I succumbed to “The Cold” that had been going around.  Sunday Night is the time of our weekly community gathering, but that week found me bolted into my room, lest I share the nastiness all ‘round.  As I gathered a novel and ensured that water and a tissue box were nearby, I glanced outside. There in the golden dusk, two familiar cars had already pulled up in front of our home, and friendly voices drifted toward me.  Gentle laughs, and the murmur of comfortable conversation. 

I felt a sense of warm inclusion.  I had been in this place before.  The previous year, same scenario (another story for another time). I knew what to expect, and I was not disappointed.

Snuggling under covers to rest, the group downstairs feasted on delicious potluck fare (we have amazing cooks in our group!)  Soon, sweet strains of guitar and voice, first one, then many, filled the room under mine: it was a song long-loved and locally written years ago. (By Josh Young, in case you know him.) The voices were unified and lovely. I didn’t sing, I listened and felt wrapped in the beauty and the worship. Another song, and then a new feature in the sonic undulation of the evening: childish prattle mixed with the clatter of many little feet on the stairs.  The children and their guide were running upstairs to “Narnia,” our 3rd floor playroom filled with donated toys of all sorts, but most importantly, large enough to run in.  The next sound, of course, was of a mini herd of elephants just above my room. (We have all boys, but for one spunky girl.)

Then after a while the herd spilled back downstairs, the conversational rumble swirled around finished thoughts and parting blessings given.  I released myself from confinement, to find a friend had left me a week’s portion of my favorite cabbage dish (especially thoughtful as my food choices are limited: that other story for that other time…).

Need I say it? I hadn’t been absent, or missed out on the evening.  I had missed the dear faces, and the specifics of the conversation and study. But I had been wrapped in their presence, and in the love of Christ, who is present “whenever two or three gather in my name.” (Matthew 18:20)