Extending Grace

... and receiving it.

Tonight I "volunteered" (meaning that you could call it that, but it wasn't really) at Hope Lodge, which is a place for people with cancer to stay while in Grand Rapids for treatments. Tonight I helped make a really yummy "breakfast for dinner" meal of waffles, eggs, sausage and fruit and then ate with the residents and their caregivers. After that, a bunch of us played a hilarious game of euchre. It went so well, a couple of us are going back on Saturday night to play more games. It is "easy" for me to go and "serve" in this way, but really it's a gift for me to be able to hang out with people talking about chemo, radiation, good days vs. bad days, and to reconnect with that part of my life when my dad was sick.

Not that I really want to remember that pain, but I know that I did not give my dad much grace during those years. It was hard on all of us, yes, but as a teenager struggling to forge my own identity, I didn't really take advantage of my dad's last years. So, in a way, it's healing for me to play cards with these people with cancer, because as a more mature young woman, I can offer the company that was so hard for me to give to my dad when he was sick. It makes me miss my dad, yes. But not so much that I can't go to Hope Lodge and have a good time. :)


Betsy