By GLENN DROMGOOLE

In her later years, my friend Betty Moor was so hard of hearing that she couldn’t hear thunder. But every Sunday and Wednesday you could find her at church.

Someone asked her, “Betty, if you can’t hear the sermon and you can’t hear the music, why do you keep coming every week?”

Betty’s eyes twinkled and she smiled.

“Well, I want everyone to know whose side I’m on.”

Sometimes it takes a lot of effort just to show up, to be there week after week, to smile, to be supportive, whether at church or at community events or family gatherings.

But, think of this, if no one made the effort to show up, there wouldn’t be church, there wouldn’t be concerts, there wouldn’t be family get-togethers. Or at least they wouldn’t be the same.

That was certainly brought home during the Covid pandemic, when so many events had to be cancelled because we couldn’t show up. We Zoomed instead, and while that was better than nothing, it wasn’t quite the same thing as being there. 

It was reassuring when we could show up again. It reminded us that we do have that power – the power to make our presence felt. 

The multitude of saints who have gone on before us surely include those super faithful, like Betty Moor, who found a way, week after week, to show up, to be there, to smile and say, “I want everyone to know whose side I’m on.”

This piece is taken from Glenn Dromgoole’s new book, Just Happy to Be Here: Words to , Enlighten, Entertain.