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Monday, June 15, 2020

We interrupt 2020 to bring you a reminder of JOY: Abby Myhre

One year ago today, Abby Myhre officially became Abby Myhre as she celebrated her birthday, and her wedding to Luke, on the beach in Nantucket.

Which means that no matter how stressful any year is, every June 15th we get a double reason to thank God for creating Abby, bringing her through the first two decades of life in a loving family with a heart of faith, a great education, and a zest for life, intersecting her path with Luke's and therefore our family's, enabling them to persevere through further training and times apart and then to envision and pull off a fabulous feast to celebrate their vows.






And in 2020, we truly need this little glimpse of grace not-long-past, grace still reaching us.

A year into their as-long-as-we-both-shall-live: a new apartment, a new puppy, a new job for Abby post-fellowship, new friends and church, new opportunities to lead and serve, new strength as Abby is training for a triathlon. The delayed reception happened in November, the delayed honeymoon planned for a simultaneous vacation week in April is still on hold because travel was shutting down and they both knew the responsible thing to do at that moment was to be all-hands-on-deck as the first wave of COVID hit. We don't know when we will see each other again, when we can be on the same continent. But in these lonely and uncertain times we are glad that Luke and Abby have each other. We would gladly give up our visit certainty just to see them together.

Today is a picture of life on this earth. So many things are broken and wrong, hateful and unjust, sick and sorrowful. As I ran this morning, I was thinking of how 2020 started off as such a hopeful year at CSB, how our momentum was going to open a new chapter. How we were going to build things, welcome people, have meaningful gatherings. Instead I was passing the garden where a court case drags on and precious lumber was just stolen, past houses where kids are missing out on a year of school life. To prepare to say goodbye to two team mates who have been a huge boost and blessing to all of us. To go to a hospital where tiny kids are dwindling with TB and AIDS and a host of other terrible things, where there's not power to run the machines, where we just lost an adult with "acute bronchitis" but didn't get a coronavirus test in time. But in spite of all that, all day today I am thinking, but Abby. We have a daughter-in-law. We had a wedding. Grace drops good things in from the unseen realm where all is healing, justice, beauty and voila we receive better than any of us deserve.

So Happy Birthday to Abby! Happy 1rst Anniversary to Luke and Abby!

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