I walked into Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral on Christmas morning to prepare for Mass. When one of the choir members came up to thank me for a homily I had preached six months ago in the summer. She shared the gospel message was difficult for her to accept and practice. Jesus was teaching the need to forgive our enemies. Easy for Our Lord, but she had a falling out many years ago with her sister. She could not remember the details why they had not spoken to one another, but she had been really hurt by her sister’s remarks.
Then a God moment occurred. She prayed about forgiveness and struggled with how she was going to find a way to talk to her sister again. But a moment happened in which she had contacted her sister and she found to courage to share how she had been hurt in the past. To her relief, her sister did not explode with emotion, nor deny her past actions, but actually said that she was sorry. I shared that’s how the grace of the Holy Spirit works. When the moment comes, the Lord nudges us to let go of our past resentments and provides the grace to give courage and the words that bring healing and peace. Mass didn’t even start yet and I already received a Christmas gift.
Another grateful moment occurred when my next door neighbor’s water well starting working again. Yes, it took a well digger and plumber many attempts to get her water running back into her home. Once the new pumps were in place, there were several frantic calls to unplug the clogged lines loaded with mud, then a fearful call that there was no hot water but that got repaired and the final ironic call came that her shower faucet was leaking. A new shower head and handle took care of that problem. But there was this God moment when I asked the neighbor, “Maggie what’s it like to have water back in your home again. ”With a big grin on her face, she folded her hands, looked up with a twinkle in her eyes, and said, “it’s wonderful to take a shower again.”
Oh, yes, let me add that I am grateful that I have water coming into our home, but prayers are needed for the other 99 local residents whose wells have gone dry. My town has declared a state of emergency and a tanker with water from the state emergency department is on loan for people to pour into their dry wells. The town supervisor is working hard to reallocate funding to bring water to these families. However, the construction won’t start till August.
As we begin a new year, I might suggest that we take five minutes at the end of our day and pray: “what am grateful for today?” My green tea for breakfast, feeding Mittens our outdoor kitty in his igloos, nursing Carmella, a recused outdoor kitty recovering from a major illness in our patio converted into an ICU unit for sick kitties, for that well digger and plumber, for all my Sonshine Friend for 24 years sharing Jesus love for us.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we pause throughout this new year and express our prayerful gratitude for all the beautiful gifts You bring into our daily lives. We are truly grateful for being children of God.
