My hands were smelly and sore from the countless cloves of garlic I had just finished peeling in the kitchen...
Instead of doing what I had hoped and planned on - serving and talking with the homeless at their tables - I was "stuck" in the kitchen with stinky garlic. All the way to the mission that evening, I had rehearsed in my mind the Spanish phrases I had memorized. I could hardly wait to use them on the Hispanics there. To my dismay, that wasn't going to happen that night. Boxes of garlic cloves were set in front of us. All of them needed peeling.
After 40 minutes or so of peeling the garlic, there were still several men and women finishing up the remains of their meal when I left the kitchen. I quickly walked around the dining hall, looking for dirty trays to clear, and found two men in the corner of the room finishing their last bites of food. As I cleared their trays, one man introduced himself to me as James. I expected our conversation to end there, but he smiled as he said with tenderness, “I can just see in your eyes that you’re blessed, young lady. Are you blessed?” I was still frustrated from the seemingly wasted time in the kitchen and the missed opportunity to speak in Spanish with someone, but I still answered "yes" to his question. Moments ago, I hadn't felt blessed. So why did I answer this way?
While I’ve always been thankful for God’s gifts in my life, James’ comment caused me to reflect on just how much the Lord has blessed me, even if it included giving up my desires to serve Him by peeling garlic. I realized I am blessed to be the one serving at the mission, and not being served. Ultimately, I am honored to be able to serve at all! I may not always get my first choice of ministry or job that God calls me to, but still He blesses me. I easily get blinded by my disappointments and complain, but imagine what James' days are like and how much more reason he has to complain than I do. This man's point of view helped focus my perspective on what being blessed truly means.
"I can just see in your eyes that you're blessed, young lady. Are you blessed?"
1 messages:
Hey, this is a fellow Jonah girl....I just wanted to make a quick comment. With my own experience with homeless people, I am constantly amazed at how often they can see things about me that I can't. There have been so many occaisions that one word, phrase, or question caused me to ponder something all over again, or sometimes for the first time. Yes, I am blessed...and it took a homeless person to make me realize it...
Post a Comment