A Word About My Couch
Welcome to Word for the Week, the series in which I:
share my experience of hearing God’s Word in Mass last weekend,
explore what I believe the Lord is calling me to do about that Word, and
ask how this Word might impact your life, as well.
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We attended Mass together as a family last week. The kids were (surprisingly?!) super well-behaved during Mass. A very simple word stood out. “I will remember you upon my couch.”
Have you ever heard a Bible verse about your couch? It was a first for me, too.
The week proceeded to be the homiest week of ministry I’ve ever experienced! It was both simple and profound. David and I filmed the first four episodes of a new show with our friend Fr. Matt, right in the comfort of our own living room.
Fr. Matt is the Godfather of our third-born child, he’s my co-author, and my closest friend outside of our family. When Fr. Matt’s religious community first gave him permission to do ministry with me on an ongoing basis, we envisioned it would look like giving a parish mission once per month. Instead of traveling together, Fr. Matt was able to come down and meet me in Arizona.
I’m grinning to think how much more simple this way is. Fr. Matt stayed nearby with members of his congregation, I didn’t have to leave my family, and yet we still created something that has the potential to reach people around the world with the joy of Christ. I snapped a pic of Fr. Matt sitting on our couch as one example of my Word for the Week in action.
Yesterday, after Fr. Matt flew back to Indiana, a brand new couch was delivered to our home! I mean, we purchased it. The delivery date just so happened to line up with “I will remember you on my couch” as my Word for the Week. That same night, in the early hours of the morning, 4-yr-old Serra woke up in tears. She asked to cuddle me.
Normally, I would have put her back to bed. But I felt the Lord stirring my Word for the Week in my heart. So I went to the living room with Serra. As Serra and I drifted off to sleep on our new couch, I thought of the graciousness of the Lord, how He cares about the intricate details of our lives.
In the midst of writing this reflection today, I’m filled with awe and mirth to see the full verse from Psalm 63:7. When I looked it up in the Bible on the USCCB website, the verse said “upon my bed.” But “upon my couch” was the wording in the Mass readings. (Please note that I’ve specifically been praying for an increase in joy this week, too.) Check out this accuracy:
“I will remember you upon my couch, and through the night-watches I will meditate on you: You are my help, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.”
In conclusion, I’ll ask: what is one blessing you’ve received today? Maybe it’s something really simple, like a cup of coffee or a phone call from a loved one. Isn’t God in it all, speaking to us of His love? Sometimes those nudges are subtle, and sometimes He spells it out like He’s doing for me right now.
Amen.
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