‘All my life you have been faithful’—and God’s not the only one!
Dear Katie (and Byron) . . .
Only several days after you filled our freezer with homemade dinners have I begun to really appreciate what you gave us.
Just a sample of the goodness filling our freezer!
Of course, I was grateful when you arrived in our driveway with five—count ‘em, five!—Styrofoam coolers full of frozen food. The individual meals in TV-dinner-style containers nicely filled one side of the chest freezer in our garage, with just enough room left over for eight containers of soup—four different kinds! Meanwhile, the peanut butter cookies came inside. I think that container was open before your car left the driveway!
But only later, as we started thawing and enjoying the food, has it dawned on me what it took for you to create such a gift.
What a gift!
First, those containers! Each is divided into three sections, one for meat, and the others for vegetable and potato or pasta. We have four each of five different menu choices among the stack—meatloaf, roast beef, spaghetti, chicken casserole, and turkey with dressing. I can only imagine the planning and hours of work it took to cook so many meals and then lovingly divide them among the containers—not to mention the expense of the containers themselves. What you spent on packaging was a generous gift before you even began to fill it!
But, of course, the joy comes in the eating. We’ve only just begun, but we can attest to the five-star quality of the vegetable beef soup, the chicken and noodles, and the meatloaf with macaroni and cheese and mixed vegetables. I will, I really will, do some cooking in the next month. But I wouldn’t need to, and having all this food to choose from will be a relief as well as a delight.
What a memory!
I’m going public with all of this not to embarrass you and not, I repeat not, with the notion that maybe some others will want to likewise bless us. (Honestly, there’s no more room in our freezer!) I have other motives.
Choices—and instructions!—to keep on our refrigerator door.
First, I want to remember. One reason for this website is to create for myself a volume of memories. In one or five or 10 years, this post like so many others will remind me of all the blessings that have accompanied our challenges.
Second, I want to thank God. God has used you to bring smiles to our faces—as well as pleasure to our taste buds, relief to my schedule, and a lift to my occasionally weary soul. The encouragement is worth even more than the meals themselves.
What a life!
After reading my post last week about the several days we’d just enjoyed with lifelong friends (including you two), a long-distance encourager wrote to say, “I hope this weekend reminded you how rich your life has been and how rich many of the days ahead will still be.”
It all came back to me as we worshipped Sunday. “All my life You have been faithful,” we sang. “All my life You have been so, so good.” I had my arm around Evelyn’s shoulder and felt her lungs filling and emptying as she sang, too. “Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me.”
The contemporary song echoes truth from an ancient prophet: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,” Jeremiah wrote. Perhaps his grief and weariness compared with the weight a caregiver can feel. But he helps us see with clear perspective: “We are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning.”
And many evenings, too, Katie and Byron, because of you. Each time we thaw another meal you gave us, our hearts will warm along with dinner. Thoughts of you will combine with gratitude to God, and “Thanks” will only begin to express all we feel.