May 3, 2024
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: garage sale season! Signs have started popping up in my neighborhood, and I can't wait to start dropping in on them. I usually just do 5-10 minutes here and there on my way to somewhere or something else, but those are 5-10 minutes I look forward to. One never knows what one might encounter: the good, the bad, the funny, the wanted, needed, and the no thanks all turn an ordinary 5-10 minutes into an adventure.
My favorite part about garage sales is hearing stories from the sellers. When my kids were babies, I would often find clothing and books for them at garage sales and I would hear, “Oh, my daughter wore that the summer she turned two” or “My son loved this book!” The items were more than a pair or shorts or a book, they were pieces of a story, often little bits of joy, passed along. Knickknacks and old doilies and glassware usually come with special memories. Garage Sale Truth is that even when it's time to pass them on, our things are often more than things. They tell a piece of our story.
In a way, Garage Sale Truth is also God Truth: we are all connected to one another and to something bigger than ourselves. Every conversation we share with on another, every candle we light together or prayer we pray together, every shared experience, is way to join pieces of our stories with the stories of others, and with our bigger story. And it's all held together with love. Branches and vines. Kickknacks and doilies. What if all God dreams for us is to go through life sharing with one another in this way. Could it be that simple?
My prayer for you this week is that you find a sacred sense of shared story in the good, bad, funny, wanted, needed, and even in the no thanks that you encounter. May these encounters bring you little bits of joy and remind you that you are always held in love - always connected to the stories that came before you and will come after you. Always connected to God's Great Story. And may you, too, pass it along when the time is right.