I was handed a gift yesterday at church.  The woman who handed it to me shares my love of words and seems to have an uncanny sense of what will resonate with me.

The book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  I had heard someone else mention how good it was, but the title seemed too cute to make for an interesting read.  Plus, it was hardcover and I have pledged myself to only buying paperbacks if the wait at the library is too long.  Most times I stick to that pledge….

I read the book in one day.  It has a power hard to describe.  And for me on this day, it was just the sort of soul food I was hungry for.

The gift was given on Mother’s Day.  I received it after having led worship at two services where moms and children were sitting side by side on a Sunday morning worshipping God and giving thanks for the life of the other.  My mother on Mother’s Day was three hours north in Duluth.  My three children were off doing what they need to do on such a day:  studying for finals and working miles from their mother’s side.  I will admit to a bit of wistful loneliness.  I was missing my mom and I was missing being the mom of kids I could sit in a pew with.

And then I got a gift.  With an amazing card with a message I was graced to hear.  And suddenly, Mother’s Day became a celebration of the power of connection shared through the cords of love we weave in our lives.

The gift of life comes in ways sometimes visceral and sometimes ethereal and we who are reborn through the gifting are meant to give thanks.  And so I do.