A collection of short stories about people we meet along the path of life and how they impacted us in tiny or vast ways.
Community On An Airplane
I was in the airport bathroom, washing my hands when I noticed a women walk around the corner. I noticed her because she had on cute, pineapple compression socks, was wearing a pineapple shirt and a holding an Aloha bag. I thought to myself, “I wonder if I would be bold enough to wear pineapple compression socks?”. They looked cute on her, but this is what I think. (It’s funny how we often think others are judging us whey they look our way, but it’s not always the case.)
Fast forward to being on the airplane, a Boeing 747-400, which holds nearly 400 passengers. I’m sitting in an aisle seat, someone already in the window seat. I’m patiently waiting to see who our middle seat mate will be. Of all the people to sit down next to me was the woman in the pineapple compression socks. “Small world,” I thought. But the Lord was about to let me know how much smaller it is than I actually realized.
The plane takes off for our 9 hour, red-eye flight. We are in the air for a short while, and I decided this was the perfect time to start the book I had just picked up that morning for book club (The Last Thing He Told Me). As I pull it out, the middle-seat woman asks me if I’ve started it. I let her know I had not, and I honestly had zero idea what it was even about; I had just grabbed it for book club a few hours ago. We talk about the book for a couple minutes and our conversation flows from there.
It turned out, her and I live within half a mile of each other.
Think about that. The woman who ended up sitting next to me on this massive airplane, with hundreds of seats to choose from, happens to be my neighbor!
In addition to living close to each other, her son is also involved in the youth group my husband volunteers for. She was Leo’s substitute teacher a few weeks ago, and she will be my Gabriel’s sub later this year. We also connected on her part time job, and mine, realizing we could actually join forces and do a little more for our community. It was a beautiful conversation and I’m ever so grateful she decided to ask me one simple question that led to a much great connection.
I just can’t look at situations like this and not think that God ordained that meeting for whatever reason He needed or wanted too. That He isn’t the one who led us both to choose those seats, chat for hours and exchange phone numbers. That God isn’t the one who is fostering a bigger community in my life, one person at a time.
The Lady who Walks with God
Back when I was homeschooling the boys, I would always ensure they had morning outside time (for their sanity and mine). It was a great way to start our day and ensure that we were enjoying the benefits of homeschooling by beginning the day with fresh air and sunshine. On some occasions, we would go on bike rides along the path in our neighborhood. This path flows along the coast of the harbor, leading to an endpoint with trees, open grassy areas and a large wall ledge that overlooks a gathering spot for fish, crabs and small octopuses.
One morning, we weren’t off to a great start with moods and energy towards schoolwork so I decided to take the boys on a bike ride along this path. We needed to hit the restart button on our schoolwork and our attitudes towards one another.
Upon parking our bikes and observing the fish and crabs, a lady walked over and asked us if we had seen the octopus that always floats around this area. I let her know we had seen it in the past and and she told me she sees it every day.
“Every day?”, I asked?
“Every day.”, she says, “On my morning walk with God.”
I can’t help but be silent and take in what she just said. Such a simple act each day and, yet, so important.
I proceed to ask her about her morning walks and she explains to me that it’s very important for her to start each day with a long walk. She doesn’t talk on the phone. She doesn’t wear headphones. She just walks with God.
She also reminded me what incredible boys I have and how the time I have with them is so important. She happened to be a retired teacher and tutored now because she loves children and teaching so much.
I know the Lord crossed our paths because I needed to be reminded that time with Him is important above all else in order to best serve my children. I see her walking from time to time and I often think of her, remembering that the healthiest, wisest, most profound thing we can ever do for ourselves is to quietly walk with the Lord every day.
Worshiping While Working Out
Recently, I went on a trip to Rosemary Beach, Florida for a long weekend. I stayed in a beautiful condo with my extended-family, enjoyed deep, faith-filled conversations, and connected with everyone on a deeper level, the way we are all inteded too.
Luckily, the condo we stayed at had a small fitness center. I say luckily, not because I’m obsessed with working out, but because the gym is my happy place and my favorite way to start my day. Plus, I feel so much better while traveling when I continue to workout.
Every morning, I would be the only one in the fitness center. I took my headphones, but by day 2 I just blasted my up-beat worship music on my phone so I wouldn’t have to wear headphones.
Fast-forward to day 4, a Sunday. I’m on the last 15 minutes of my workout, blaring the song “You’ve Already Won“, and in walks a couple. I’m in the middle of set, so I let them know I’ll turn off the music in a moment. They both let me know it was no big deal and I could leave it playing. A couple seconds later, I hear the woman singing along.
I was astounded! Not many people start singing along to music a stranger is listening to, worship music at that. But she did and my heart glowed.
Turns out, it was her birthday and we worshiped together for a couple songs that Sunday morning while working out.
We don’t always have to have long-winded, profound conversations in order to see where God is leading us. We just need to recognize when we are meeting our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and how they are having an impact on our lives (tiny or hugely).
This is where He leads us.
