Soup?

Summer lingers.
Love these days of lazy transition from summer to fall in New England.
Our book group gathered this past week for dinner and discussion of The Boys in the Boat. Really good book.
Bought it for Jud but he was too ill to read it last fall.
He’s better now.
All better.

Maggie and Kate spent the night. My sleep interrupted, first by an owl hooting and, then, by an eight year old granddaughter frightened at 2:30 in the morning by a bad dream with sound effects–probably the owl.

Sometimes blessings come disguised as interrupted sleep. Blessed by a grandchild who takes comfort from you, then leaves a goodly deposit of comfort in your arms after they’ve fallen asleep.

Humor comforts. Gloucester’s getting ready to elect a new mayor from four candidates. One of them has grabbed hold of a bit of the Bible to bolster his cause.
Not the first political candidate to employ such tactics.
His slogan reads: “Moses said, ‘Let my people go!’ I say, ‘Let my people fish!’”
That’s probably a new one, even for this fishing town and the home of Gorton’s Fish.

Surprised to see Dave Black in the parking lot at the market. He’s retired now but he made the soup at Gordon for decades. Soup’s comfort food. Jud loved Dave’s clam chowder. Dave hugged me and wanted to know how I was doing since Jud died. I smiled and said, ”OK,” the parking lot not being the place to linger and get too detailed. Then Dave added, “Jud always made me feel like a king. I liked talking to him.” Then he tossed in, “You, too.”

There’s more to comfort than food, I’ve been told more than once. This week I experienced God’s comfort through the beauty of these late summer days in New England, through a frightened grandchild’s trust, a laugh brought on by a campaign poster, and dinner with friends followed by a good book discussion. But seeing Dave in the parking lot reminded me of all the good folks at Gordon who’ve blessed us through the years and still do. They “do their jobs” and then some. And time and again they’ve come bearing words of comfort, perhaps never realizing how much their “soup” and faithfulness comforted Jud and how much they continue to serve soup to my soul, even to this day.

“God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 (NLT)
Thanks be to the God of all comfort and to all who faithfully serve “soup.”

This story has been viewed 2 times

4 people HEART this story