Joy

Today, we light the candle of joy.

"Do not grieve, for the JOY of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

Those were the first words I read when I opened Facebook this morning.  They followed these words:

"Today, my beautiful, giving, loving mom went to be wth the Lord." These are the words of Kimberly Gilmore Bryant.  There is a beautiful photograph of Jean Gilmore, a friend and fellow servant of Christ whom I've known for more than 20 years.

My memories of Jean and her family are very dear to me.

I watched the way Jean and Nolan cared for their family and supported the ministries of the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour.  I always appreciated her sweet voice when she read the Scripture.  She and Nolan were such a great pair.

Once we worked on an event together.  I sent an email thanking the team.  For some reason, I did not copy her.  She saw me a couple of Sundays later and said she had not received a thank you.  She was looking for it in the US Mail. Since she had not receieved one, she feared I had not thanked anyone.  I learnd my lesson .

Jean often told me that she had a bag of clothes for me.  Once it was a red dress.  That dress did not work for me, but I had it shortened to become a blazer that I enjoyed for many years.

She kept hoping I was going to meet Mr Right, and when I introduced her to my boyfriend, her response was "I told you he was  out there".  

And now, Jean Gilmore has gone on to be with the Lord whom she so faithfully served.

She was truly a person of JOY - she practiced Jesus, Others, You!

I love what one of our friends wrote to Jean's family - "Bask in the love and care of your friends".  We will love and care for the Gilmores - because Jean was the epitome of doing just that.   

This is dedicated to Jean - with much love to Nolan, Kim and the rest of the Gilmore family.

May you have enough sunshine in your life to help you appreciate the shadows