sanctuary. not.

so, in addition to preachers urging me to bestow my good cheer upon my next-seat neighbor and telling the unsuspecting soul God loves you! i'm so glad to see you! i realize some new things to shudder at in church.

first off, there are all these people one has known for years who have taken to shaking my hand in order to wish me good morning! peace to you! please, can i just nod and smile? some of us function at a subsistence level of arousal.

here's the other thing. people have taken to ambushing old friends in order to sell cookies to/ raise funds through/ solicit help-support-attention-whatever from, all in the name of fellowship. it is enough to make a girl want to scuttle away from church.

to J2, from a proud mother

can a woman forget her nursing child,

and not have compassion on the [child] of her womb?

surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.

- isaiah 49:15

more than anything else, i give thanks that you are his, and that he holds you in the hollow of his hand. may you have the assurance of his abiding presence and know the glorious fulness of his calling in your life. may you grow in grace and wisdom, and in time, in all comfort as he leads you. may you be richly blessed, and bless richly.