A meeting had been set for ten o’clock. No texts had come since last week to confirm the time. Still she went. “LORD, please guide me if there is anyone You plan for me to meet today,” she prayed, then quietly stepped into the coffee shop. Had her appointment arrived, come and gone, or was the meeting forgotten? Coffee in hand, she sank into her favorite chair. Waiting was a good time for writing.
A young woman joined her briefly, then flitted away, commenting, “I hope your friend shows up.” With thanks and a smile, the oldish woman wrote on, the noise of the busy shop a happy soundtrack.
Later, a couple entered, placed their order, and plopped down in the comfy chairs near her. “May we join you?” they asked. “Of course. Please do,” she smiled, and somehow the random conversation began.
The elder’s spirit began to quietly vibrate. Not nervousness really, but a sense of walking into a holy space as the two strangers initiated the conversation and began opening their hearts to her. “LORD,” she silently prayed, “help me listen well. Let my words be Yours.”
She was amazed the two wanted to converse. (How cool was that!) As she listened she shared bits and pieces of her story, interspersed here and there in response to theirs. Of God’s great grace, and His many touch points in her life. The mundane-made-miraculous with God’s hand directing her steps. Hoping they, too, would want to know this Person Christ Jesus. Not some “old time historic figure,” nor some empty religious philosophy, but He Who Is Alive.
It was a beautiful experience. Strangers from another state visiting on business, wondering about where to relocate, stopping here for coffee before driving north a couple hours to a mountain town. As the chat continued, doors opened more. Beliefs and questions were shared, hurts revealed, confusions and confessions brought to light, histories given, lessons exchanged, laughter and love and connection experienced. A deeply personal, timeless interchange between two sojourners who randomly (?) met another at a coffee shop.
It was hard for the old lady to say good-bye to these new friends after this momentary touch point in time, the honest and open sharing of souls, koinonia, true fellowship. Another pair for whom the LORD sacrificed His life that they, too, might live with Him eternally.
D and R, may you personally come to know God Who Is Love. The One who makes you whole, forgives and heals, and never leaves you. I shall always remember your own Velveteen Rabbit story, of the sharing, and of the loss. In every loss, may Jesus comfort you, as He once comforted me: “I Am the One in him you loved, and I Am still here.”
Love is still here…with His arms opened wide to hold you! Thank you for sharing time with an oldish woman whose eternal spirit is “living at high noon!”* May God bless and keep you forever on your way.
~~~
LORD, thank You for the divine appointment that unfolded today. A random conversation that traversed barriers of age and worldly boundaries into the honest meeting of souls. For the joy of listening, and the joy of being heard. For blessing and receiving, of experiencing the presence of Your Holy Spirit in our conversation. For “doing church” together…reveling in the intricacies of Your incredible creation, and seeking to truly know You. Oh, LORD, how magnificent is Your Name! Please bless and keep these precious seekers on their way, and bring them home to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
1 John 4:16b NLT “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.”
Isaiah 41:10 NLT “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
2 Thessalonians 3:5 NKJV “Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.”
*Living at High Noon: Reflections on the Dramas of Mid-Life by Gordon MacDonald (1985) is a book the LORD brought into my life about twenty-five years ago. When I turned fifty, hopelessness engulfed me. I could imagine only darkness and nothing more when considering the not-so-laughable idea of being “over the hill.” The concept of living at high noon, in the full brilliance of God’s Light, still inspires me. Though the earthly body deteriorates and dies, one’s spirit reborn through Christ continues to mature, and lives eternally. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. What joy! I feel I am but a toddler on the brink of eternity…just getting started! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
Psalm 139:23-24 NLT “Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
1 John 1:5 NKJV “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
Dew Upon The Arbor 