Birthday Week

Good morning,

I just got back from a birthday week in Colorado over MLK weekend. Something about the mountains and families. My friend Robin and I share birthday week and together we had a huge group of families out there, along with great friends from Minnesota and California. I think our group stretched to 40 people at our place for a Mexican fiesta night.

Our night started off with the caterer arriving three hours late. Mercy! I was in contact with her, so felt confident she would come, but her car was smashed into that morning and had obviously messed up her day! I kept calm, she kept calm, and the guests were served dinner two hours later than I planned, but no one seemed to care.

When people finally started to eat, I remembered about halfway through that I wanted to say grace and had forgotten. So, I grabbed a glass and spoon, clinking it like at a wedding when you want the bride and groom to kiss, and everyone stopped and gave me their attention. I told them I wanted to say a prayer and one of our friends said, “Let’s hold hands.” So, as I looked around behind me all the little ones had come up to the kitchen island and I could see their little eyes just above the counter. One of the gals was reaching across to connect them to the group. The caterer and her two helpers joined hands with our friends, on and on around the room, we all clasped hands. I am not sure exactly what I said but I know I started with, “Heavenly Father, thank you for crossing all of our paths and for giving us family so we could see what your love looks like. I ask you to keep us all safe and to bless the food to our bodies, all in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Now, we had all different faiths in the room but after the prayer, as I went back to eating and talking, several said to me, “I could never do that. I would be too intimidated,” or “I loved your prayer. Thank you for doing that.” I had a talk for five minutes at the most, about how one gal thought she always had to earn God’s love and I told her how she loves her child, is how God loves her. Not by what she does, but that she is His. You don’t check a report card before you rescue your child from a pond! You love them the minute they are born and spend countless amounts of money, sweat, and tears on them because they are yours, not anything they do. She said, “I get it. Thank you.”

Another friend has a child that needs prayers and she came up to me after the prayer and I asked her if her child loves Jesus? She said, “Oh yes, with all her heart.” I told her to tell her child about Psalm 37. I went over to my Bible with her and showed her that just that morning I had been reading it and had circled verse 3: Trust in the Lord and you shall be fed… verse 4: Delight in the Lord and you shall have the desires of your heart… verse 5: Commit your way to the Lord and he shall bring to pass what you need. It goes on but if you have a relationship to the Lord, he will give you desires like job, talents, family, etc… I said, those promises are hers! I told her I would pray for her child and she should show her this Psalm.

These conversations after the prayer came about because I didn’t preach at anyone. I just thanked God for bringing us together that evening, and we were so blessed to know one another, love one another, and have such fun playing in His beautiful mountains.

People need to share their faith. The best way is to pray for people. I never regret saying a prayer… I do regret forgetting to!

Love you, Teri