{"id":154,"date":"2009-08-09T23:31:45","date_gmt":"2009-08-09T23:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/08\/god-is-like-my-mom-the-bag-lady-a-story-by-pam-heatley.html"},"modified":"2009-08-09T23:31:45","modified_gmt":"2009-08-09T23:31:45","slug":"god-is-like-my-mom-the-bag-lady-a-story-by-pam-heatley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/08\/god-is-like-my-mom-the-bag-lady-a-story-by-pam-heatley.html","title":{"rendered":"God is Like My Mom, The Bag Lady: A Story by Pam Heatley"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
I came across this great story by Pam Heatley,\u00a0Director of Ministry at\u00a0<\/span>Vision Community Church<\/a>\u00a0and blogger at Steel-Spined Soul<\/a>. It made me think of my mother who, before she passed away a little over a year ago, was always one to hand me a bag of goodies (and sometimes not so goodies) on the way out the door.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Pam writes… \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

My mother has this obsession with bags.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Not just nice bags, any bags.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>She’s been saving bags my whole life.\u00a0<\/span>She folds them into tiny little squares and shoves them in her pantry between some box and the wall waiting for when she needed one.\u00a0<\/span>These bags didn’t have to be particularly pretty or even<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

sturdy.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>They were all used, and sometimes marked up, crinkled, water marked, food stained. But that doesn’t matter, she says, since\u00a0<\/span>“You never know when you need one.”\u00a0And when I visit she always needs one. S<\/span>he can’t bear to send me home without giving me something in one of those bags.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I say this in complete love and affection. It’s quite sweet and a little weird.\u00a0<\/span>You see, the things she chooses to give me can sometimes be a little odd. I mean, i<\/span>ts not like I can’t go to the corner convenience store and pick up my own bag of barbeque potato chips or one can of Diet Coke.\u00a0Sometimes the bag is so full of things that I don’t even get to look through it all the way to see what ‘s in there.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>There are times I’ve left it overnight and\u00a0<\/span>woke up with melted ice cream sandwiches on my counter.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Who knew mom would pack<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>ice cream sandwiches in her bag?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>It’s not like I asked for them. B<\/span>ut I am thankful.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>I understand she loves me, and my family and that’s why she bags us.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One day while visiting my mom she caught me as I was leaving her house.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>“Pam, I have something for you.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>I knew it was a bag and don’t you know my mom came out of the kitchen with this crumbled up brown paper bag.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>This particular bag looked like it had been through the mill.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>It had wrinkles down both sides and was frayed at the top and ripped at the beginning of a crease where it had been folded for a very long time.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Okay, okay,” I said, taking the bag and kissing her on the cheek.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>I didn’t even wonder what was in it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>It sat in my kitchen overnight and eventually the next day I thought to empty it.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Inside with the usually bag items, half of a frozen pork roast, a coffee scooper and a small box and an envelope.\u00a0The note read, “I made my original old worn out wedding ring into earrings for you.”<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>And inside the box were two diamond earrings.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I was taken back that something so beautiful and thoughtful could be hiding in a package so damaged.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>I thought of my mom and how she slid it in there without mentioning it.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Why in the world would she put two beautiful diamond earrings in a food stained bag next to half a frozen pork roast?<\/span>\u00a0It reminded me of what Paul says to the church in Corinth.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>He tells them that we carry God’s message of love in clay jars, imperfect and easily broken.<\/span>\u00a0Imperfect vessels that are just sturdy enough to carry that message.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/div>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
If you have a story you’d like to share in this space, send it to flirtingwithfaith@gmail.com.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came across this great story by Pam Heatley,\u00a0Director of Ministry at\u00a0Vision Community Church\u00a0and blogger at Steel-Spined Soul. It made me think of my mother who, before she passed away a little over a year ago, was always one to hand me a bag of goodies (and sometimes not so goodies) on the way out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-growth"],"yoast_head":"\nGod is Like My Mom, The Bag Lady: A Story by Pam Heatley - Flirting with Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2009\/08\/god-is-like-my-mom-the-bag-lady-a-story-by-pam-heatley.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God is Like My Mom, The Bag Lady: A Story by Pam Heatley - Flirting with Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I came across this great story by Pam Heatley,\u00a0Director of Ministry at\u00a0Vision Community Church\u00a0and blogger at Steel-Spined Soul. 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