Moving Forward: A Week in the Life

Lisa Allgood, Executive Presbyter

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

• Hebrews 13:8

There was a week recently where the all of the following happened amongst the friends in my neighborhood:

• The beautiful simple backyard wedding of a younger widow
• The unexpected death of a beloved husband and pillar of the medical community
• A really fun baby shower, and an announcement of 3 other pregnancies (all daughters of my friends)
• Two serious diagnoses
• The beautiful extravagant destination wedding of a son and now beloved daughter-in-law
• A brain surgery
• Three significant birthdays and the single party that went with them
• Four journeys to drop off college freshmen (the closest was Miami; the furthest was California) and the “last first day” for 3 rising seniors, and the laughter and tears that accompany those transitions

Although I was just a participant in most of this, and an observer for others, it was a bit of emotional whiplash, to be honest. The following week a number of us gathered in my backyard with a bottle of wine and a lot of cupcakes, and spent some time just processing it all – the joys and the sorrows that seem to come in pairs, that mingle and colored each event, especially as the week progressed.  Things we were all looking forward to, comparing notes, sobered by other news.  Things that were serious in nature, undefined for a time perhaps, brightened by the celebrations coming up. We all, sort of at the same time, came up with a summation along the lines of “This is what it’s going to be like now.  These are the changes we all face. This is now this season.”

It also made me realize that the hope I cling to – the changeless nature of our Triune God – is truly the rock in the storm, and in the celebration, and in the quiet.