Photo by Vinoth Chandar

By Tina Teng-Henson

This year, we chose to stay and risk going deeper instead of leaving to start over from scratch.

This spring, I returned to church ministry instead of scrapping it all for an easier job.

These days… I live each one, present to its fullness. I know it might have been otherwise.

My eyes have been retrained to see all the simply, very good. They skim the surface of things, passing over peccadillos. Forgiveness, and resurrection, are the pattern of this universe.

Have I seen much magnificence as of late?

I find myself grateful for my little life. The boundary lines have fallen, fell, were put, will stay in pleasant places.

I strive less, surrender more.

I turn from naysayers, don’t permit the contentious air time, speak more carefully…

Words, so powerful.

I only let the Good Ones linger now.

I hug my kids constantly. I listen to my oldest, draw and color beside her, apologize when I’m wrong. I delight in her almond eyes. I eat the crescent rolls that are my son’s eyes. I cradle my third child with my whole heart and marvel at the gift of her existence.

My husband, I treasure. I would not be without him. His strength wraps us all up in laughter and kindness. His homecoming is my favorite hour.

I hope for more, but in a yielded, quiet way. I know no one has any control over anything, actually. I do believe though. I do trust. I do pray.

But even that has moved beyond words. I lift up my heart, feebly at times. I am a faint offering, barely presentable.

But I trust my God. He knows. He sees. It is, I am, all his. And that is more than enough.

Tina Teng-Henson and her family live in Santa Clara, California. She is presently serving as an interim co-pastor at Orchard Valley Christian Church (orchardvalley.org). She enjoys volleyball, independent film, and being in nature.