I had been looking forward to the day for some time. I’d never been to the Lutheran World Relief Midwest Warehouse in Saint Paul and we had seven boxes of Personal Care Kits from Joy to deliver.
It’s an ordinary building, and as I recall the sign outside looked kind of like it had been hand-painted. Inside, there was so much love! There were boxes that looked a lot like ours, as well as bundled up pallets that I knew contained quilts that had come from all over the Midwest. Some of them contained quilts made here at Joy.
Towels and soap and combs, toothbrushes and nail clippers just like ours were wrapped up in love. Colorful scraps of fabric and batting, thread and the handiwork of many were squished together with love, ready to be sent to the ends of the earth. Ordinary things made extraordinary because of love.
That’s the way God works. Jesus took bread and wine and made them a meal of forgiveness and love; God created water to quench our thirst, to bathe the earth and then the Spirit made it a sign of Holy Baptism, the birth waters of faith. Yes, fancy stuff can carry love too, but I think it’s the ordinary things that do it best.
Notice the photo of a Thrivent Live Generously t-shirt on the warehouse steward standing next to Tom with the boxes from Joy. Living generously is also living with love. Thank you all for living generously and participating in this project of love for folks we’ll probably never meet. And thanks for donating funds to defray shipping costs. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
~ Pastor Carol