Counting

When we record the contributions, tithes and offerings in our church, we call it "counting."

Two of us go into the depths of the church, in a well-secured room, and through a vetted process record what people lovingly offer to the church in monetary formats.

I missed counting last week as I had a migraine and didn't attend church at all. So this was my first weekend to do it since Bob's death in June. A lovely lady who is part of another team assisted me today in Bob's place.

She is one of the most cheerful and lovely persons I am privileged to know. In fact, when we received our church photo directory in 2000, I remember telling my girls that we should get to know her as she looked so pleasant in her photo and always had a smile. Her smile reflects a heart of gratitude and an attitude of joy in all she does. I counted myself fortunate not only for her friendship today and in the past, but for her gentle demeanor and her patience with me as I struggled through the familiar process that reminds me so much of my friend, Bob.

Much of what we recorded today were memorials for Bob and each time one came up it seemed to me a testimony of the man whose time was so well spent here on earth. Adding them up we could ascertain how beloved he was! The outpouring has been impressive (not so much in dollar amounts, although that is true, but in the fact that these memorials are coming from so many from all facets of his life!)

It seemed to me that Bob's life has truly counted, and touched so many!

I already know who my new partner is going to be. She is the mother of someone I attended high school with. Even in high school I always thought she was just the coolest mom! I am looking forward to partnering with her. She hasn't had the easiest of life circumstances to weather, but through it all she has leaned on her faith and tended toward the positive attitude I described in the other lady above. I am so fortunate to count this lady as my friend and now my co-laborer.

There have been times when our family has considered going to another parish. This was for two reasons mostly, the most prominent being that there are very few teenagers or young adults in our church. We have worried about our girls lacking peers, especially because theologically they differ so much from the homeschool community which is basically reformed and non-denominational. I know other Lutheran mommies who face this same struggle. But today, I think rather emphatically, I realized that it isn't the number of "peers" that counts, but the faithful community and witness that our congregation provides for all of my family, including the teenagers.

In the end, when you add it all up, you can see what really counts. Praise be to God for surrounding our family with the richness of friends who have added so much to our life!