Cards, Comfort, & Community
“Comfort one another”
2 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)
I’ve been doing a lot of writing lately, but it hasn’t been my usual blog posts or Bible study lessons. Instead it’s been thank-you notes, dozens and dozens of thank you notes. People have been so kind and generous over the last four weeks since James Bruce’s death. We’ve received dozens of sympathy cards, gift cards, meals, and memorial gifts to both Big Oak Ranch and Rainbow Omega. An anonymous gift-giver even left me 100 postage stamps in my mailbox this week! Each kindness has brought us some measure of comfort or encouragement. One card, however, stood out among the rest, because it brought both unusual comfort AND encouragement.
From the outside, my friend’s sympathy card didn’t look particularly special, but on the inside Sandy had written the following “reminders” of things that she had learned in our Bible study during the last few months:
Do I see my need?
Do I trust His provision?
Love gives.
Take God at His Word.
She did all she could.
Gather up the pieces that nothing will be lost.
Jesus is MORE than enough.
God orders our steps and our stops.
“Abba” changes everything.
Our suffering is never for nothing.
Suffering precedes glory.
His heart was troubled so mine doesn’t have to be.
Every statement was a truth I had taught as we worked our way through the John’s Gospel this year. And every truth was one that I needed to be reminded of during this time of grief and loss. King Solomon was right: “How good is a timely word!” (Proverbs 15:23) especially from a friend!
Sympathy cards haven’t been the only tool in God’s comfort toolbox. He has also used thank you notes and community. Writing over 160 thank you notes has reminded me how connected our family is to so many different groups of people. Many folks have graciously said, “No note needed” and sincerely meant it. The truth is: writing a thank-you note is more for me, than for them! With each note written, I rehearse both the gift given and the giver who gave it. And rehearsing the givers reminds me of God’s gift of community and all the different ways that James Bruce connected us to so many groups of people: family, neighbors, church, Special Connections, the Vestavia Hills school system, United Ability, Rainbow Omega, and even high school and college friends.
My best definition of community is “reciprocal rootedness,” that longing to connect and belong that we all are wired to want. (I’ve written about it here and here). Our family continues to be richly blessed with community. Last weekend Robert was honored to throw out the first pitch of the 2022 Vestavia Hills Miracle League season in memory of James Bruce. It was God’s way of reminding me that while the James Bruce chapter of my life is now closed, his story is not over. God continues to use James Bruce in ways that I will never completely know or understand.
God has certainly used His Word and His people to bring us comfort, but He doesn’t bring comfort to make us comfortable! The Apostle Paul understood that God is “the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3) “who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort others with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4). God’s Divine Design is to use us to comfort those who need comfort. That means that when my friend’s dad died Saturday night, I recognized the importance of being a First Responder and bringing comfort (and food!!) to her family in a timely way. Somehow the process of keeping my hands busy helped, not only my friend, but also my heart.
When the Comforted comfort others, community is built.
“Comfort one another.” 2 Corinthians 13:11