At lunch this week, as I sat around a table with my team and our host cook, Mariella, I was given the best mango I think I’ve ever eaten. Along with that mango, came testimonies to the miracles God has worked in our lives and sharing of some of our favorite verses.
My family has always been one for family dinners. We love to talk about our days, and laugh till our stomachs hurt, all over great home cooked food. (Miss you fam)
But since being on the race I’ve really learned the importance of communion, especially with strangers.
By Webster’s definition communion is “the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.”
But the easier, and my preferred, definition is from a book I read in AP Literature (thanks Mrs. Beard). The definition of communion from the novel How to Read Literature Like a Professor is “anytime people come together to share food and, in doing so, create a temporary community.”
So far on the race, communion for me has looked like:
- Scarfing down chicken nuggets at McDonalds with the treasurers before our next meeting during launch
- Sharing cookies and peanut butter with a friend late at night, and talking about our new home in Ecuador
- Having lunch at Camp Hope with my team and talking about how ministry was going so far that day
- Having traditional communion with my squad while affirming each other of the truths God has for us
- Having breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Mariella around the same table every day and translating her stories to English and our stories to Spanish
In all of these instances, I’ve seen how the Lord is working in the lives of my community, and have been reminded that we are all not so different.
Thanks God for communion in all it’s forms, for reminding me that you love my neighbor as much as you love me, and that telling my story can bring you glory.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read and keeping up with my journey this year! Love you all dearly.
Many Bendiciones,
Gracie J
