Lessons and Blessings from a Simple Weekend

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Good morning, mamas, from beautiful Jackson County, Tennessee. Ray and I joyfully pulled into our driveway around 3:00 Friday afternoon. My godly husband parked and then led me in a prayer of thanksgiving for our safe and wonderful trip of a lifetime. We took our last trip picture in the yard. “Tennessee October 24, 2025” would have shown up better on the white pad I took on our trip than it did on this paper napkin, but we used up all of its pages!

This morning I want to share some thoughts inspired by our first 24 hours back home.

Soon after we arrived, our neighbor and church friend Forrest came over to get our luggage out of the car for us. These four suitcases are the largest ones Amtrak allows. It took all that space for us to pack for both Hawaii and Alaska! When Forrest put them in our car back on September 14, he told us, “Let me know if you need anything while you’re gone. I’ll come to Alaska if you need me to.” A friend and neighbor like Forrest makes home feel wonderful. Forrest understands what Jesus meant by:

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:39

A couple of hours after we got home, we were off again to another blessing. Mary Evelyn and her family were hosting longtime friends overnight, and they invited us to join them for dinner. After a great visit with our son and his family from Sunday night to Thursday morning, we got to be with six more grandchildren Friday night. Grandparents often tell expecting grandparents, “There’s nothing like grandchildren.” They are right about that. After supper, we played Poetry for Neanderthals. The name is weird, but the game is a blast, even if our nine-year-old grandson did enjoy bopping me on the head with the inflatable club because I inadvertently said a two-syllable word.

Though our 14-year-old granddaughter’s 8:30 a.m. soccer game came early on Saturday morning, it was fun to be there and to remember the Saturday mornings we watched our own kids play soccer. It felt exactly like a fall morning in Tennessee. We arrived all wrapped up; and before the game was over, we were peeling off the layers. Praise God for seasons.

He made the moon for the seasons;
The sun knows the place of its setting.
Psalm 104:19

A dear 90-year-old member of church passed away early in our trip, but her family kindly waited these many days for Ray to get home for him to do her graveside memorial, as he had done for her husband three or four years ago. Late Saturday morning, we joined her family and friends for lunch at Helen’s, the local restaurant where locals and former locals come for comfort food. Afterward, we and more family and friends gathered by Patty’s gravesite a few miles away. Funeral and graveside remarks come easier when they are for such a fun, interesting, loving, remarkable, and dearly loved woman like Patty. Ray read love poems from her to her husband and from her husband to her. He talked of her precious past, our present time of grief and remembering, and of her secure and joyful future that Jesus made possible in the resurrection.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His great mercy
has caused us to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled
and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
who are protected by the power of God
through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5

On Saturday I asked an older woman whom I had not seen regularly in many years if I could give her a hug. With honesty and no trace of bitterness, she replied, “You can have two. I don’t have anyone to hug anymore.” Let’s give and receive those hugs while we can!

I recently hugged someone whom I have not seen as a hugger. I was hesitant but decided to go for it. I’m glad I did. It was received with a smile. We do need to respect people’s boundaries and comfort zones, and I never want what I mean as good to make someone else uncomfortable. I believe that part of obeying the Golden Rule Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount is being sensitive to how each individual wants to be treated.

“In everything, therefore, treat people
the same way you want them to treat you,
for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:12

In doing that though, we don’t need to size others up too quickly. We may think they want distance when what they really want is a hug.

I once heard about a conversation between a young man and Chik-fil-A founder Truett Cathy. Mr. Cathy asked him, “Do you know how to tell if someone needs encouragement?” Then, Mr. Cathy told him, “If they’re breathing.”

There’s a needed lesson for children and for adults, too. Ray and I were certainly grateful for the encouragements family and friends gave us when we got home.

Therefore encourage one another
and build up one another,
just as you also are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11

 

 

 

 

 

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