The blessing often comes quite by surprise, when you don't expect it and don't deserve it. Two funerals in as many days, a full day tomorrow preaching twenty miles away in Sherman, driving another twenty to East Randolph for a church conference, then School of the Arts at Park church, I didn't much feel like going anywhere today. But Linda had told our friend Kelly that we would show up for the small group ministries scavenger hunt, and even though Linda told me it would be OK if I stayed home and rested, I wasn't about to be the killjoy in it all. So dutifully and a slight bit reluctantly, I joined her and headed to church.
I can be a slow learner, but once the lesson gets into my head, it usually sticks. Some years ago, I learned that even though staying home might be appealing to the hermit in me, missing out on the camaraderie and fellowship wasn't worth the trade. It wasn't tonight, either. It took me a couple stops on the scavenger hunt, but I soon got into the swing of it all, and the four of us sixty-something adults were like goofy kids, singing at a lighthouse, saying the pledge of allegiance in a dollar store, and taking selfies of ourselves with Ugly Lucy.
The dinner group our sons are in got their instructions mixed up and ended up singing Amazing Grace to the residents of a nursing home. As the residents teared up, so did our daughter in law Jeanine. Maybe it wasn't such of a mixup after all. After all, those blessings often come by surprise, where and when you least expect them. And now at the end of it all, I am home, feeling much more fulfilled than had I stayed home to prepare for tomorrow's preaching. Lesson reinforced: When you make the effort to be with other Christians even when you don't feel like it, they bless you, and you go home thankful.
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