Day 22: Friday nights at the TH

At the end of a busy week, I look forward with unmixed anticipation to my regular Friday night date night.

With Costco and Superstore.

Unmixed anticipation because this is the most enervating time of my week. I drag myself and my cart around both places, grocery bags falling out of the small compartment, head down, hoping not to see anyone I know. I try to gauge which will be the fastest check-out line. I pray that I get a packer at Costco who knows that the roast beef should not be placed on top of the raspberries. In the parking lot I try to keep my cart from rolling away from me or from bashing into Josephine.  

And then when it's over, I drive home thinking about putting away the groceries and getting a start on Saturday morning. I think about how tired I am. I wonder how I'll get through the next two and a half days.

It's the only time of the week that I feel alone.

But even here, God shows me in gentle ways that, actually, I'm not.

On Friday evenings I have a small army of unofficial volunteers who lift me up in ways large and small. If I have a chance I stop at Deb's place for a china mug of fragrant tea, a few minutes of comforting conversation and some gift or other to get me on my way. Dad comes over almost every week to help me unload and put away the trunkload of groceries. Often Don and Norma join in, Norma with her hands in the sink getting all my prep dishes done and Don supervising. BA will drive by and pop in and quickly assess little things that can make a huge difference in my day, like writing the board, going to get ice, rushing to the store to buy a mixer to replace the one that has died in my hand. I get back to find that Allan has hung pictures, fixed plumbing, replaced lightbulbs earlier in the day. And Angie - there's a separate story about my Angela in the works ... 

And then this Friday, Brenda - my dear, treasured Brenda who is always quietly looking for ways to help me and the TH - came and made a start on my weekend baking, knowing that I had had an exhausting week of driving and appointments.

This is how I am able to go from utter depletion of mental and physical strength on Friday evening to the stamina I require to get through until Monday morning.

When Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," He wasn't kidding. He's not there just for the big, life-changing events like birth, sickness, death. He's also there for the quiet life-changing moments like putting away groceries and doing dishes and writing the menu board and changing a lightbulb.

When my body and my mind are too tired, He brings in people to be His hands and His strength for me, to bear me up on eagle's wings.

I'm never alone.