When You Need a Tagline

I got to go home to Canada last week. After 18 months of a closed border, I got to go home.

Currently, I am home in Iowa.

Home. Or home? Not sure.

So here I am, in Iowa, sitting outside on my patio surrounded by an absolutely gorgeous day and the savory smell of Sunday slow.

This morning I was listening to a "Modern Love" podcast. Jake Gyllenhaal was reading an essay written by a doctor who was dumped by his fiancée right before he started his first official doctor job. The essay tells the story of his heartbreak and how he found healing amidst the illnesses and struggles of the kids he served on the Pediatrics floor.

"Pain makes you less naïve," the doctor wrote.

His words got me thinking about pain and healing within the context of my own story. How does a not quite two-year old girl grapple and wrestle with the death of a parent? Have I ever been naïve in regards to pain? I feel like my soul, down to it's tippy-tippy-toes has always completely understood that bad things happen. People die. Tragedy hits. Parts of life can never be explained or understood.

Unexplained. Incomprehensible. So many questions. So much to fear. Always try to be careful.

Those are words and phrases that have made up taglines for parts of my life.

But I am right here. I am sitting outside, I am drinking tea, and I am basking in this absolutely gorgeous day. While I drink and bask I read the book of Philippians out of "The Message" translation of the Bible.

I find more taglines.

My prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much, but well.

Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends.

Go out into the world uncorrupted.

Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.

Our God and Father abounds in glory that pours out into eternity. Yes! 

I am still here, still in the middle of this slow Sunday sunshine. I am reading the words of Paul written to his dear friends from the depths of a prison cell and I realize that at this point in Paul's life he most certainly had an understanding of how pain makes you less naïve.

But now my tea is gone and my thoughts are settling. I want to wrap this up. What is the tagline for me in this time, in this place, in this moment?

I suppose it is simple: the presence of pain does not equal the absence of joy. Perhaps the presence of pain makes all things more triumphant. A trip home, a hug from your mom who holds you while you cry like a baby, time with your sisters, a night on your best friend's patio, a walk by the lake, and a good doughnut are much more than what they seem. Pain makes you less naïve but perhaps pain leads to gratitude, to humility, to a bended knee and a bowed head.

So sit with me inside this moment, right here, right now, and let us simply allow God's glory to abound and pour out over us.

Final tagline: Always home.