By five o’clock tomorrow afternoon my body will be working hard to digest the magnitude of food it’s just taken in. But emotionally, I’ve been in digestion mode for quite some time; here at the Ely household, there’s been a lot of hard stuff to take in lately and I’m starting to get that unpleasant “I cannot take one more bite,” feeling in my gut. As my Spanish friends would say, “No mas, no mas!”
Add to that the fact that there won’t be a crowd around my table this year, and well, I’m working extra hard to put on my party face. Let’s just say, I’m not exactly feeling like ‘the hostess with the mostess.’
You may go ahead and roll your eyes now because I’m about to quote yet another line from my favorite movie, “What About Bob?” In an effort to help his clingy, self-absorbed patient, Dr. Marvin takes out his Rx pad and writes Bob the following prescription:
TAKE A VACATION FROM YOUR PROBLEMS.
Good prescription, hard to follow.
It feels like denial, doesn’t it? It’s not – it’s faith. Faith that there’s a God that sees the mess we’re in, knows exactly how we got there and yet loves us enough to pull out a seat for us at his banqueting table, saying, “Welcome – now, dig in.” He invites us to drop our problems into His lap, provides us with food for our bodies and our souls and doesn’t even notice that we’re not dressed for the party. He’s the ultimate host. That is something to be thankful for.
So, I’m going to be a good girl and take my medicine, PRN, “as needed.” I’m going to start by praying this prayer by John Scott; I hope you will pray it along with me. Have an blessed and abundant Thanksgiving!
We respond to your invitation, O God. As we are, we come. We offer to you the hostilities that shape us, the hostilities we carry, the hostilities that carry us. In these matters, move us from hostility to hospitality. Be our guard, for we guard ourselves too much. Be our protector, that we need not overprotect ourselves. Create in us a space, a room, a place – a free and friendly space where the stranger may be welcomed
- that we may be at home in our own house.
- that we may be healed of the hurts we carry in the soul.
- that we may know brother and sisterhood.
- that we may know kindness.
- that we may laugh easily.
- that we may know beauty.
- Nudge, guide, entice, prod. Move us to live within your soul. To the end that within this flesh, within this house in which we live, we may be at home with you, with our neighbor, with ourselves.
Thus we pray, remembering Christ who says, “I stand at the door and knock.” Create in us a place of hospitality. Amen.
