Last Saturday, Gay, Matthew, and I were invited to help celebrate the 93rd birthday of our dear friend and Trinity Church member Velma Bradshaw Leavell at her home in Galveston. Velma put on her party hat for the small gathering of her family (4 generations) and close friends,which included her wonderful miniature wonder horse Cisco. Cisco was invited inside "as a member of the family," Velma said, and he really enjoyed the cake, which he removed from several plates.
We don't often have the opportunity to help celebrate 93 years of life. When you encounter someone who has lived so long, you naturally want to gain some wisdom from them. In Velma's case, I think life has always been understood as NEW life and a gift from God. In fact, I've decided to erase my old mental image of the face of God and replace it with Velma's face. If God has to have a face, I suspect Velma's would be just about the best kind of face to convey love, acceptance, generosity, kindness, and every other divine attribute one would expect to see.
Happy Birthday, Velma! What an epiphany of God's gracious love you are. May you enjoy many more happy, healthy years of NEW life!
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