We should always be on the lookout for the people who God puts in our path.
Last Saturday morning, the ladies from my church were supposed to meet at our new church building to clean our new kitchen. We are moving in a couple of weeks and we were hoping to get everything sparkling clean and organized. Our pastor’s wife was even bringing donuts and coffee.
I’ll have to admit that I was just thrilled by the old-fashioned idea of the church ladies coming together to clean a kitchen. It’s so not PC. Modern society would certainly ask why the men weren’t coming to help. To be fair, they had done their part a couple of weeks earlier, by replacing ceiling tiles.
This was now our opportunity to have some fellowship and do our part to get our new building ready. It was also reminiscent for me, of times when I went to our own tiny church, when I was a kid, with my cousin Janice to help clean up “God’s house.”
It was 8:00 AM on Saturday morning and I had survived an exhausting week; so I came into the parking lot five minutes late on two wheels. There was only one car there. I breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was running late.
The one lady who was there, was not one I knew very well. She isn’t in the choir and I hadn’t seen her at Wednesday night Bible study. I knew who she was, but little else. But, the fact is, that I rarely meet a stranger, so I got out of my car and figured I could chit-chat with her for a few minutes.
Although, she has a grown son and is a grandmother, we found so much in common right away. Our beginning conversation was about the new building and our excitement at getting inside. But, it didn’t take long to move onto deeper topics.
She had wanted to stay home and raise her child more than anything and acknowledged how blessed she was to be able to do so. I told her that I didn’t participate in as many programs at church that I would like, but that I was trying to spend every minute possible with my two teens who are still at home. She told me that she understood completely and encouraged me to enjoy this time.
We got cold after a while and got into her car. Our talk turned to our dogs and how we both felt that God had guided us to them and what blessings they are to us. We talked about organic gardening. Before I knew it, an hour had passed. I made a couple of calls and learned that the cleaning day had been cancelled and that somehow my name hadn’t been on the e-mail.
She and I laughed about it and said that we both enjoyed getting to know one another. As I climbed out of her car, I looked up and saw a hawk soaring overhead.
I smiled as I said a silent prayer of thanks for the fellowship with another Christian. The next morning, my pastor’s wife apologized for the mix up and said she felt terrible about it all. I reassured her that I had a delightful visit and made a new friend. She smiled and said that was exactly what the other lady had said.
I thought about it later that day. God is always at work in big and small ways. He puts people in our paths for so many reasons. Sometimes we can help them. Sometimes they can help us. Sometimes it’s simply to build new relationships in Christ through simple fellowship. I’m often too busy to see that.
It wasn’t the first time I’ve learned a valuable lesson in a church parking lot. When was the last time you stopped to enjoy Christian fellowship?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂