BELONGING IS A GREAT
PLACE TO LIVE
Lisa Hamilton
I like many southerners, am Baptist born and bred.
I unlike many chose to stay where I was planted.
I am from a faith of stories; stories written, stories told and my own continuing story.
I am thankful for a large family of birth and an even larger family of faith.
I was given roots, nourished and fed by both these families.
I, in great fortune, was given a legacy of love and belonging, not of guilt and separation.
I, as humans are inclined, at times thought I knew better and tried to fix what was not broken.
I, with grace, was still offered love and belonging.
I, after half a century, still belong, where I first found God.
I found and find God in relationship; both with God and through God’s face in the world around me and the churches I have called home.
I find God in myself, in others and in the world today in and through Broadway Baptist Church.
I chose and choose Broadway because I belong.
I am on my best days, close to the center of belonging and on other days so distant, yet still belong.
I show up at home, at work and play even on days I want to stay away.
I show up because it is my life and the place I belong.
I find faith and church much the same as the rest of life.
I show up some days as a spoiled child stomping in; only to be reminded that I belong.
I still find God in relationship and through God’s presence in my relationship to others.
I feel distant at times from my faith, yet I keep returning because I am forever tied to that love and belonging.
I am drawn to and drawn out by relationship and belonging to something larger than myself.
I am forever embraced by a love which never lets go and is always present.
I believe belonging is a great place to live.