The Help

I cried all off all of my makeup.
Again.

I first read this book in the late winter of 2010.
My heart was broken with the pain of losing a friend and Kathryn Stockett gave me the gift of tears and space to cry.

18 months later I saw Aibileen and Minny again.
At Phillips place of all places.
My heart is reminded afresh of the universal threads of pain and loss woven through all of our lives. I found myself confessing sins of my own and generations past.

I'm guilty of not loving others well.
My husband.
My children.
My friends.
The lady I pass in Target with a wailing baby on one hip, a screaming toddler in the cart.

I'm guilty of judging others...of finding my identity in myself, my gifts, my talents.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father: We have sinned against you, through our own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, and in what we have left undone. For the sake of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us all our offenses;
and grant that we may serve you in newness of life, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

-an order for Compline, Book of Common Prayer