At the age of fourteen, I met God. I had always known about God since I had been going to church off and on since I was a little girl. My grandparents and my parents made sure that I had a foundation for faith by attending Sunday School, VBS, and worship. But, when I was fourteen, I think I first recognized that God was an active part of my life. God saw fit to place our little family in a wonderful church, Bedford Presbyterian where I became a part of a bigger family who has loved and supported me ever since. At the center of that very engaging congregation at the time were two wonderful pastors, Joseph Gaston and Bill Buchanan, and their amazing families who I love as though we are blood related. And at the core of that sweet Buchanan family, which was still growing at the time I met them, was Aimee. I think one of my earliest memories of Aimee is her standing outside the door of the nursery at BPC with little Elli peeking at me from behind Aimee's legs.
I have been blessed in my life to have incredible women to look up to, especially in my family. Mother, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, mother-in-law, sister--in-law, women who each deserve a blog post of their own!
And then there is Aimee. When I was younger I thought that my relationship with Aimee was so amazing because she loved me when she didn't have to. Now, I know that she loved me and everyone she encountered, because she did have to. At the core of her very being I think was her living the gospel message to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Aimee loved me because I was a child of God and her love for me was indicative of God's love.
Aimee and Bill taught me a very important lesson about love, that part about loving yourself. As a teenager, your parents tell you they love you, want what is best for you, and they are proud of you but you just think, "you are my parents you are supposed to say that." I think it is important for that message to come from someone else who is just as invested in you. Aimee and Bill encouraged me to embrace the person who was blooming inside of me. Even when I was still trying to figure that out, they encouraged me to love the individual who was and is Loren: Child of God. So they fostered ME, the poetic me, the silly me, the Hanson fan me... all of it. They inspired me to dream dreams and ask questions and to see God at work in the world. Of all the people our children idolize today, I pray above all else they would encounter an Aimee in their lives!
So my first order of business on this day, Aimee's birthday, was to take some time to let all of the teens and college students in my congregation know that they are amazing. That I recognize their gifts, that I acknowledge their struggles, that they inspire me! They are scattered all over the place but I just wanted them to know that they have a home to come back to in the church. That there are many people who love them and are proud of them, including myself. What is seemingly a small effort actually can have big impact. I know that it did for me.
This afternoon I went and volunteered for a few hours at Gleaning For The World. GFTW was noted in Forbes Magazine as being America's most efficient charity. You wouldn't expect that from a place located in rural VA, but there it is. GFTW is usually one of the first organizations on site for any major disaster in the United States, mostly because they are so very efficient. GFTW collects items from companies that are overstocked and then sends those goods to places both locally and globally that need them. For example, they may send out band-aids or medical supplies for first aid kits. They collect blankets and toys for children. Gleaning is an organization that works locally, nationally, and globally. Today when I arrived at the warehouse there were at least three workers there and also three college students from Liberty University's volleyball team. We sorted through many boxes of juice, water, food items, diapers and even pet food, dividing them out not only by expiration date but also type of item (i.e. food that needs some sort of preparation or other ingredients and food that does not). Working at GFTW is not an experience where you can see immediate results, such as building a house or working at a soup kitchen, but it is just as important. It is all of those volunteer hours that makes it possible for GFTW to send trucks immediately to where they are needed most. In this way, I was able to make a small ripple, both locally and globally.
On my grocery trip late this afternoon I gathered the coins from our spare change jar and cashed it in to purchase canned goods for our local food bank which is run by St. Anne's Episcopal Church. Again, a small thing, but something I so often neglect to do, even when my congregation members are so faithful in doing so. It wasn't much, maybe three grocery bags worth, but someone in this community who is desperate for some vegetables for dinner will have some. There are many families in Appomattox who are struggling in this economy. Many have lost jobs or find it difficult to commute to bigger cities such as Lynchburg to find work. St. Anne's, a smaller church than ACHPC, does a fantastic job at meeting the needs of this community, and I am thankful to be able to help.
There are days when I come home cranky and tired, like tonight by dinner time. But then, my husband grills us steaks for dinner. And as I sit on the front porch and enjoy the breeze and the birds chattering about their day, I am humbled to be so very fortunate in this life. We have good jobs, a roof over our heads and food for our table. We have family and friends who love us and help us along the way. And I have this amazing inspiration in my friend Aimee, who loved me as I am. A woman who changed the lives of so many people with whom she shared her smile and her faith in Christ through her words and her actions. I am humbled to have been a part of this service day in her honor with countless others across the country. What a joy that we can all share a little piece of her as well as the love of God.
