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After assisting in meal preparation, the men and women outside waiting were invited in. I was assigned to assist in keeping the line in order and moving. I positioned myself near the door, and I began speaking to those incoming and giving directions.
My parents had raised me to express courtesy with "thank you" and "please," and such dignified social gestures. As I spoke directions, I said, "Thank you" as the line moved as directed. Also, in giving directions, I used "please." I thought nothing of it, speaking such civility was second-nature to me.
In a few moments, a middle-aged man stepped up close to me, and he leaned over to speak softly, privately. He expressed gratitude that I had spoken so kindly to him. He said, "No one has ever spoken that way to me before." I could see in his eyes his gratitude, and that such kindness had humbled him. We would say in the culture I was born, "It touched his heart." You could say my kindness surprised him, and I was surprised by his kindness, too.
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This encounter came to mind, when I was writing the presentation from yesterday, We gifts & We graces are: the specialness we are. And, that day, I was not seeing that homeless man as merely homeless, I was not meeting him essentially as a clergyperson and he a stranger, or my being special in contrast to him, or better than him. I knew him, though I knew nothing personal about him, but that he showed up as homeless for food and drink. I knew him as I knew myself, a being who feels blessed when receiving the kindness of others. We have opportunities to be a means of surprising others with kindness, and we will, when we live in communion with Grace. I appeared that day to serve food and drink, but served so much more, and in that so much more, I, too, was served the same so much more.
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