As I was packing lunches on Saturday to hand out to folks, it brought back memories of sitting in the cafeteria of my school watching my friends and classmates pull out their lunches from brown paper bags, eating in a room with others, talking and laughing, in between classes. I was hoping that the people we hand lunches to felt that same feeling – a feeling of love and warmth on a cold day. A feeling of love and warmth while they are trying to figure out where they are going to lay their heads that night. A feeling of love and warmth to help bring a little peace and joy to a mind filled with frustrations, disappointments and worries. If for just one second, someone pulls out the ingredients in the bag and has that feeling of love and warmth for what’s inside – that one second is like a seed planted within their heart that they are cared for, they are loved, they are appreciated and they matter.
We were able to witness the outcome of such seconds shortly after handing out the bags! I have been dealing with pain in my foot and have had to wear a boot to walk comfortably. Folks were very happy to receive the bags and it was awesome watching their faces light up as they started unpacking all that was inside. After handing out the last two bags, one of the gentlemen we handed a bag to, came up to us and asked if he could pray for my foot. As he put his arms around Gene and I, he motioned for others to come over and pray as well. Three others came over, put their bags back in the box we stored them in and he prayed, not only for my foot, but for everyone who was at the bus stop and for the direction everyone would be heading shortly. Gene followed with a prayer and as we began to breakup and go about our day, another one of the men who was there ended us in prayer. As we began to walk back to our cars, we saw the smiles on their faces, some thanked us and I could hear others comment on how good the Turkey sandwich tasted and that they received their favorite bag of chips!
It felt as if the business and heaviness of the world stood still for 15 minutes and we were all unified together as one – for one brief moment. I look forward to all the other wonderful moments such as this one, that we experience each Saturday!