He Gives and Takes Away
Kathi Pelton
As most of my followers know— my husband and I recently relocated to California after spending twelve years in Oregon. California was home for decades but the past decade— Oregon had become home. It was there that we gained a daughter-in-law, a granddaughter and a whole lot of precious friends. And we made a home for ourselves that made my heart so happy.
Our move back to California has been so sweet in many ways; being reunited with thirty family members that all walk with Jesus, reunited with lifelong friends that knew us when we were young and raising our kids, and being back in a beautiful county that holds thousands of memories.
What most people don’t know is that when we left our home in Oregon we sold most of our furniture, many of our possessions and the things we kept went into storage. We moved into a tiny guest room in my husband’s dad’s home so that we can care for him as he grows less independent and needs more help— he’s 91.
I am a “nester” and wherever we live becomes my personal refuge and the place that my soul finds home. But now I am in someone else’s “nest” without the things that are familiar to me.
Yet, this is an opportunity to go much deeper in finding Jesus as my home and my refuge. Of course without him no house would have been home but this time there is no house of my own— so I must nest in HIM.
This morning I longed to wake up and snuggle up on my sofa, with my blankets, in my living room, with my special coffee mug and be able to look at all the things that made our house a home. But they are no more…yet they fully exist in my memories and my heart and I am learning that different seasons require different strengths and different ways of being grateful. It all has a kind of bittersweet feeling but the sweet outweighs the bitter…or the longings for comforts that are temporary anyway.
This season is about extended family. We are embracing the latter years of our Dad’s life and that can never be replaced or forgotten. It is bittersweet for him too because he loves having us but the price is his independence, his way of doing things, his personal space and all of the things that old age leave you with— like so many who have passed before him. I love talking to him about the past, about Mom, about being young and also about the blessing that this 91 year old has as he is surrounded by kids, grandkids and now ten great grandchildren with three on the way. His eyes fill with tears when he talks about how falling in love with Mom produced this big, wonderful family and they all love each other and love Jesus. That’s rare! His tears are tears of gratitude and tears of longing— that is just part of life’s journey.
So as I long for my “things” I find myself far more grateful for the people that I am “nesting with” and the God who brought us back home to find beauty in what he died for— family.
God gives and he takes away— but what he takes away always has the memories of what he gave. And he gives again. It’s different but in many ways it’s richer and I am richer for what he took away because I have gained family and making new memories with them every day.
Find gratitude in every season— in what he gave and what he allowed to be taken away…because to lose something or someone means that we had once loved them and had precious memories with those things or those people. Tears of longing accompany tears of gratitude for what God had given and a hope for what he still has to give. It may be different but it is no less beautiful.
So here’s to all that he gives because he is is good, good Father and always has more to give. A grateful heart is good medicine for the soul— blessed be the name of the Lord!
“…the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21b
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