What We Could All Use A Little More Of

Heated debates, political turmoil, another wave—It’s been a week. Heck, it’s been a year. I don’t think anyone would refute that claim. Thankfully this blog is not about any of those things. Which is how we found ourselves, two days before a presidential election, clinking glasses to Ella Fitzgerald at an intimate Jazz Age Murder Mystery in my parents’ cozy home.

So much has been up in the air these past few months. Back in February, a small group of women who support a Christian school in South Asia brainstormed beautiful, grandiose fundraiser ideas for the spring. We landed on a Murder Mystery titled Pearls and Peril, booked the venue, made our extensive guest lists, and planned our next meeting. Well, thanks to COVID, our plans, like many of yours, were thwarted. So we had to pivot. Again and again as restrictions tightened, another wave would hit, and uncertainty grew. By mid summer, my sister in law, determined to raise awareness for these precious students, came up with the idea of hosting smaller, more intimate gatherings in homes. No more than 16 guests would come together, each given a character and a role in solving a murder in a house turned speakeasy.

Last weekend came our turn to host with our life group. So we filled the house with black and gold and pearls and fringe. We set out sparkling cider for the three pregnant mamas, made spaghetti and meatballs in martini glasses, bruschetta, and caprese skewers and fumbled our way through an evening where politics and the economy wasn’t the topic for two hours. For one night, we were able to get lost in our characters and share our heart for this little school where we believed God was doing big things.

It wasn’t perfect or world-changing by any standard, but there was laughter and jokes and it felt so good to detach from the current state of our nation long enough to see that there is an entire world beyond our own that we know so little about. And we could eat cheesecake and play outrageous games, and still be a part of loving the world around us.

There’s a time and a place for debates and passion-filled speeches. But more often than we realize, sometimes what the world needs most is a reason to come together and laugh for a worthy cause. We are imperfect humans desperately trying to find our way through the mess of things, but Saturday evening felt right in so many ways. And that’s what I’m hoping for more of in the coming months—more fellowship, more joy, more love. Heaven knows we could use all of those things.

xo,
Alyssa

PS—if you’d like to learn more about Redeemer Christian Foundation or how to host your own Murder Mystery fundraiser, click here.