The icicles hanging outside our greenhouse late at night....they show me in a visible way that I am to be "light in the darkness." This can mean many things not the least of which was told me today by my daughter, that girl that is a gift to me in such a tangible, and for real sort of way. She is a light at her workplace, a place that should be a "light" in the dark world, but more often than not is just the opposite. But I reminded her today as I listened to her stories of the people that work with her that God is using her. He is using her to be a light for Him. She told the story of a man who she was paired with on Sunday during inventory. Everyone else laughed and poked fun of her when they heard who was to be her helper that day. He is older (old enough to be her father) and he reeks of alcohol and he stinks and his clothes are tattered and rumpled. She confessed that when they laughed and made fun of him, her heart went out to him. So they worked all day on Sunday (the day they normally would have off), and she listened to his story, of drugs in the 1960's, bad choices, travel all over the world, a college education and poor choices, of being a photographer many years ago for Playboy and how he was a person with a lot of potential........and years of poor choices later, here he was working in retail, alongside, my daughter who listened. She said as the day got longer and later, he got louder and he was embarrassing and people were laughing behind their backs, but she kept listening and at the end of the day, he hugged her and thanked her for being his "partner" and she wanted to cry. I told her as I tell anyone that wants to hear...........just listen to people, they are lonely, they need comfort and community....and the way to show God's love to people is to usually "shut-up" and just listen. She wonders what she's doing there at the store, she wants to leave and quit, but I tell her (and she listens), you are doing God's work, you are a light in the dark world. (And I think to myself, if we would all just listen and look past the smell and the dirt, the world would be a lighter place.)
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I have a quote on my refrigerator that says, "To listen well, is to pray." I think this is part of the "praying without ceasing" that is commanded in the N.T. Non-judgmental listening is a great gift to others: it accepts, it cares, it comforts, it strengthens, and it heals. Erin is a powerful blessing when she listens to this man . . . and I'm going to pray for him long-distance.
This reminds me of something I read just last night from a friend of mine on facebook. Sometimes we "hear" a lot of things around us, but rarely are we really "listening". Your daughter sounds like a wonderful listener and I do believe she was used by God to minister to that man.
~~~The normally spirited and devout African American congregation gathered weekly in the red brick structure that was situated on a busy urban corner. However, on this particular Sunday, a new year was dawning and a reverent hush fell over the beautiful and ornate oak pews and the worshipers who occupied them. Not a word was spoken…Not a note was piped through the antique pump organ…Not a chorus lilted from the choir loft. Indeed, for forty-five minutes nothing but silence and anticipation hung in the air. Finally, from the back of the stately old church came a lone voice. It was followed by another from the opposite corner. Smack dab in the middle to the front row and all the points between others gave utterance to their stirring hearts. Yes, one at a time, men and women and children rose to their feet, but harmoniously and simply said, “Yes, Lord!” The pastor sat and nodded in silence as his congregants spoke those few, but profound, words. Finally, he, too, stood and lifted his eyes heavenward and declared, “You have heard our answer, Lord…What do you want to speak to us?”~~~
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