Image from Playing with Light and Shadow.
On Tuesday morning, I was setting up for the youth fellowship group at the local high school. As I was waiting for the pizza delivery, I said hello to a woman waiting in the hall next to me. I noticed her ID lanyard was for a youth services organization and asked her about her work. In a few minutes of polite hallway conversation, I felt as if I already knew her. We exchanged business cards and planned a coffee meeting a few days later.
Coffee Meeting:
I have to say that I'm still a little dumbfounded how this all came together today. We sat down for a coffee meeting thinking we were getting to know someone new, and to both our shock and joy we were sitting down to talk with someone we've know practically ALL our lives - minus the interruption of last 35 years or so.
How could it be that we've lived in the same twenty mile radius for the last 35 years and somehow missed each other? Especially since we both work in such similar fields.
Sparky is how I used to know this woman sitting across from me. Sparky was my babysitter when I was just a toddler. She lived on my rural road growing up. She watched not only me, but my older brother and sister too. I remembered her freckles, eyes and smile.
We talked about the old days and where we've been since then. She smiled when I told her my daughter's name - Heather. That was my sisters name. Sadly Heather my sister passed away at the age of fifteen. But, having Sparky tell me her memory of my sister brought her back to me today. In this shared memory, my sister was alive and well.
It's amazing when G-d gives moments of joy and connection that help to re-focus us in our purpose. Ironically, before our meeting this morning, I read this verse in my prayer book...
" Matthew 10:29-31
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
As I consider and sometimes feel lost in all the details of life, it is comforting to know that a moment like today is a wink from G-d that ALL of us matter to him and he's caring for our details of life too.
Thank you for saying hello in the high school hallway on Tuesday Lorraine - who knew what a late pizza delivery could orchestrate. Who knew?
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