Invitation

This is a picture that I received for my birthday from Kim Veatch. It is called "An Invitation to Love" And it is just so perfect - expressing the heart of our faith. God is continually offering us an invitation to love. And then it is up to us whether or not we want to accept it.

I write this as I prepare to go to church this morning. I sit in my living room and look out the window at some familiar and beautiful sights. I see the maginifcent tree in my front yard that is now green and inviting to birds and squirrels. I see our red bird feeder and birds that come and go throughout the day. I see the chain that connects to our porch swing - another invitation to me to come and rest and to the children - our grandchildren and children in our neighborhood to come and be with us. Our front porch is a very special place for Chuck and I. When we are home we frequently sit and read and drink and eat and be in this place of invitation. Yesterday I say there and eventually 10 children joined me - Addie and Reagan and 8 from the neighborhood. These children - originally from Sierra Leone - have found that "Mr. Chuck" is the one who will give them snacks and popsicles and help put air in their basketballs and even lend them a mower to mow their yard. And I got to do yesterday what I love - I devised a game and had all 10 kids running around the front yard looking for a ceramic rooster. (you had to be there.)

So a porch, a swing, a birdfeeder, a tree. A painting. There are so many forms of invitation. My hope on this Sunday morning is that I will continue to grow in my capacity to invite and to love. And that I will say YES to the invitations that come my way.