Being Missed (11/26/2024)

Yesterday, I met a friend at the local coffee shop. I haven’t been there for a long time. When I walked in the door, Hava welcomed me warmly and told me she’d missed me. That brief exchange was a gift I savored all day. I guess I needed to know that I’m “miss-able.” Don’t we all?

This month as I give thanks for the many loved ones who are no longer physically with us, I must admit how very much I do miss them. I miss their voices, I miss their loving ways, I miss their laughter, I miss the way I felt when I was with them. They are all very “miss-able,” and they are all missed.

Our gratitude in life is not restricted to gifts received, to the tangible things we have. In fact, I believe the greatest gratitude is recognition of love, which is a gift, but not a tangible one. Every day we receive the gift of our LORD’s power and presence at work in lives, manifestations of His love for us. And I realize this morning all over again just how much I have to be grateful for in my relationship with the LORD.

And my gratitude, I realize, needs to extend to those whose lives intersected with mine, whose presence were instrumental in my formation and in who I am today. And not just those who are in my family or among my best of friends; my gratitude should extend to all those whose lives of love lived well impact me and my life.

Yesterday, I had several instances where the loving kindness of another made a difference in my life. The greeting of Hava was one for sure, but so was the kindness of the parish secretary who graciously forgave my error and the clinic receptionist who patiently addressed my need for help with a form, and friend from a neighboring faith community who shared my concerns and listened.

This is the month of “thanksgiving.” But we are called to be people of gratitude daily. It is part of our walk. It is part of our vocation. It is the recognition of our need for loving relationships and our call to be people who love well, who love long, who love regardless of the behavior of others.

May this day be marked for all of us as a day of gratitude, one of many. May we on “the Way” recognize the necessity of gratitude on our journeys – the realization that we are not alone and that we are loved. It makes all the difference in how we go forward.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.