This will be the first of many blog postings from me as part of a new format for our monthly “Source.” The good thing is that you can respond immediately to what you read. Comments will be filtered before they are published.
JOY TO THE WORLD
About this time two years ago, on a night when the temperature was in the low teens, our son Daniel suffered a heart attack and subsequently underwent a triple heart bypass. The cause, we were told, was probably long term hypertension due to an undiagnosed constriction in his renal artery. In March of last year, his kidney function ceased and he went on dialysis three times a week. We are hopeful that soon he will be the recipient of a transplanted kidney. It has been a hard journey for our family. Daniel has faced it with a sense of determination and hope, plus a sort of emergency room sense of humor. When I told him that my 2012 resolution was that I not spend any all nighters at Grady Hospital wondering if he would survive the night, Daniel countered, “Dad, not to worry. I’m an Emory patient now. You can worry at Emory Hospital Midtown.” Joy. Well, yes, joy is what I said. Joy is so much better than just happiness. There is a tinge of the divine in feeling joy. Buying a new sweater can make me happy. Driving my truck makes me happy. Listening to a Paul Thorne song makes me happy. Joy has something to with my relationship to God; it’s about being connected to something larger than me, something so full of goodness and creativity and generativity that I can’t help but feel it. So I joyfully anticipate seeing our first born receive a kidney and get on with a life that is full of potential and love. I joyfully anticipate the birth of our first grandchild in May and I pray daily for our daughter Jessica’s and Baby Boy Ammons’ health and well being. When I see our youngest child, Rachel, working with the children at Oak Grove UMC school where she is employed, I wonder if God is calling to her through their laughter and warm embraces. She has that sort of Earth Mother quality with kids and that fills her with joy and so lights up my day. I am full of joy and thanksgiving for Karen, another gift from God, and the only woman on earth willing to be married to me for forty years come April Fools’ Day this year. And lastly, I am finding that even in a difficult year of moving to a new appointment, a new residence, dealing with family illness, and struggling with a sick economy, I am the beneficiary of joy in serving the Embry Hills UMC congregation. As I said in my end of year report to the congregation, I anticipate being in ministry with you, laughing, having fun, sharing our burdens and sorrows but also giving thanks for the good times and particularly for the joy of our life together. So ends my first blog post. Blessings.
Lee
