The first day of November and the 30 days of being thankful challenge begins! On this All Saints’ Day, I am so grateful for all of those people who have been “saints” to me. We are molded and shaped by people with whom we come in contact. I am grateful for parents who loved God and taught me to do the same. I am thankful for the faith legacy in my family. Both sets of my grandparents belonged to the same church as us. In fact the small country church in which I first found Jesus was filled with relation – all who understood that it takes a whole church to raise a child in Christ.
So I am grateful for my nursery school teachers, Ms. Mildred and Ms. Thelma who began to tell me stories of Jesus, for Miss Lilly and Irene who taught me not only in Sunday school, but also in regular school showing me the connection between church and the world. I am grateful for Doris, Joyce, and Ruth who all helped me to love to sing praise to God. I am grateful for Rev. Peterson (we didn’t dare call our pastors by their first name! so much has changed!) who shepherded me for the first 20 years of my life and to his wife who was always welcoming me into their home to play with their children. I don’t mean to leave anyone out. Each and every person in that St. Paul Holland church had an impact on my life and on my faith, bringing me to the point where I am now.
The influx of saints wasn’t contained to just that church, but this space is too short for me to begin to name all of the saints in my life. Perhaps on another day, I will reflect on some of them! God has always blessed me with the presence of faithful men and women in my life. So I am grateful for people who gave of their time, their faith, their life to teach me how loving and good God is.
My prayer is that we don’t become too busy in our lives or too concerned about other things that we forget that God wants to use each of us to bless someone else’s life – to teach others about God’s love and grace. Our faith is about relationship first with God through Jesus, then with one another. Being a saint is following God the best we can and sharing God’s love with others. Thank you to all of those who are stepping up to make a difference in the lives of others. May we all strive to live as God's saints