A satisfying Sunday

It's been a pretty good day here in Trixie-land. It's one of those increasingly rare Sundays in which I find my true Sabbath. Today has been a great day for fellowship, learning and rest.

This morning I served breakfast to my Sunday school class. We had a ham and cheese quiche I made last night, along with cantaloupe and red grapes. Normally the class tends to ignore the sugary treats we usually have -- donuts and the like -- because everyone is "on diets." Yeah, OK, whatever. I can't have them anyway because of my blood sugar levels. So there wasn't much left of this morning's breakfast when we ended class.

There were several visitors at church this morning with whom I've had some sort of previous connection, so there was lots of hugging and "good to see you, I need to call you and talk to you about ..." moments.

Some of my friends just returned from a two-week mission trip to Kenya. It was good to see most of them at church this morning, though some were too exhausted from the trip to be with us today. One of them brought me back some loose-leaf tea. I can't wait to hear more about their trip. Their work project on this trip was completing the building of a library.

A couple of our ministries are unique. As I've posted before, (see here: Cuddling up in the pews.) we supply the Oklahoma Highway Patrol with "Comfort Critters" -- teddy bears and the like to help comfort children in distress that the OHP comes across in the course of its work. We dedicated another "herd" of between 90 and 100 critters and sent them out on their mission today. We'll introduce a new crop next Sunday so they can soak up the lovin' and the songs and the sermons and the prayers too and then go out to do their job in March.

Our prayer shawl ministry also gives tactile comfort, to some of our most ill members. The shawls are either knitted or crocheted; we've added some simpler fleece lap blankets with fringes because we can create enough of them in short order to meet the demand. During the service, these shawls and blankets are placed on the altar rail; at the end of the service, members of the congregation are invited to come say a prayer over them and tie a knot representing that prayer in the fringe.

Last week I delivered one of the knitted shawls to an elderly friend of mine who has been in the hospital for several weeks now. I told him about how it was made and that everyone at the church had prayed for him, and showed him the knots and told him each knot represented a prayer for his comfort and health. And I explained it was something soft that he could just have nearby to touch, sort of like a teddy bear, and it could wrap him in warmth if he needed it. Also it could be tossed to the side if he wished, until he wanted it close by again. We included a note with the prayer shawls too. He had a hard time expressing his appreciation as he tried to keep from crying. It was a good ministry, and will continue to be a good ministry.

I came home and enjoyed a delicious nap, something I've missed dearly lately. There's not a lot that is pressing for attention tonight, so I can enjoy some leisure time without guilt, something that is truly a blessing. I hope you have this kind of rest today, too.