Women of Faith

“A clutch of women’s the most tender, most tough place on Earth.”  Excerpt From “Where the Crawdads Sing,”   by Delia Owens.

I am living that quote today.

I am at a women’s retreat at South Padre Island Baptist church, my home church for the winter.

 I’m a bit down, frustrated by a myriad of life’s little whammies. (Nothing serious at all, just too many of them at once.) 

So I square my shoulders (because I AM STRONG!)  and seek a table to join.  I find one, with green ribbons, white lilies and a big happy balloon. And sit down, all the while pulling on a mask of contentment (remember, hurting inside), and introduce myself. 

Thanks to a know-all God, I find myself at a table peopled with people like me, church kitchen ladies. They are my doppelgängers. They love serving coffee as much as serving God. Their hearty laughs define their outgoing natures. 

And they immediately see through my pretense. With genuine love and concern, they gang up on me, drill down into my soul and help me wrestle free from my worries all the while holding my heart. 

Then we do it for each other, one by one, so each of us sheds a bit of the day’ worries.

We are just like the author said, a tough and tender clutch of women. No place else like it on Earth.