A Time to Love

 My favorite girl came to visit for the Fourth of July. The entire week before the holiday, she looked forward to wearing her red, white, and blue outfit with the sequined heart that could change colors from red to silver. 

She loved baking funfetti cupcakes, frosting them with white icing, and topping each one with red and blue sprinkles and an American flag.

She loved the shiny red and blue table decorations. She noticed that even her Skip Bo cards were patriotic colors—red and blue with white numbers.

 But I think this Grammy loved Fourth of July even more than her granddaughter did. The holiday week brought a refreshing respite from the heavy cloud of gloom and doom we’ve been under these past few months.

Daily I’ve felt bombarded by headlines such as “Spike in Coronavirus Deaths. How Bad Will It Be?” I’ve felt saddened by news articles peppered with words like “injustice,” “violence,” and “hate-speech,” and posts characterized by divisive and offensive language.

But this past week the clouds parted, and sunshine streamed in because my son, my beautiful daughter-in-law, and my precious granddaughter came to visit from Georgia.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."

Well, we’ve had our season to “refrain from embracing.” This was our time to embrace. While sometimes it is a time to weep and mourn, this was our time to laugh. And though it’s appropriate to hate injustice and ignorance, last week it was time to love.

So right now I'm feeling especially thankful for the love of family and friends. I'm appreciating the freedoms we enjoy in America. I'm letting my mind dwell on the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. (Phil. 4:8)

And I'm thanking God for this time to love.