Good All The Way Through

So let’s start with the back story: I was blessed last semester by the introduction of a new coworker to my store. She was only with us for 8 months, but in that time she became a very big, positive part of our Starbucks family. She transferred away last week and her absence was instantly felt, but one coworker formed the perfect description of her while discussing how we missed her:  “She’s the ‘goodest’ person I know. Everything in her is good, all the way through.”

This idea of being ‘good all the way through’ has been on my mind a lot lately. Especially in this time of Lent when we’ve been talking about this 180 turn. Turning 180 degrees, looking to God, and looking at ourselves. Examining who we are, who we strive to be, or what’s getting in the way of us being that person we want to be? What can we siphon out or factor into our lives to help us live out that good person inside us?

Well…tonight at Pause when everybody  broke into stations and music began, my contemplation on this ‘good all the way through’ thing took a turn. As I picked up a matchbook to light a candle,I realized that  Take Oh Take Me As I Am, was being played on the piano. It hit me with memories of LCM friends that are now, maybe forever, far away. So I lit my candle, the thought of blessed friends on my mind, and I looked around. I looked at all the people around me that have come to mean so much. The group of students that has grown so much- full of people that are willing to love from the inside- out, be vulnerable, be honest. Students, new and old, making honest and brave attempts to form intentional relationships with new people….this is where I see God. I was struck, sitting there, as I realized that I was surrounded by GOOD. So. Much. Good. All the way through.

So this is one of the best things I’ve seen in this 180 Lenten turn around- my immense gratitude for the group of people around me, for the space that has been created for us in this church, and for the realization of all the goodness that lives in the people around me.

-Emily