I had a dinner appointment with a friend tonight but she had to cancel as she is unwell, so I decided to cook for myself.
Tonight I had the kitchen on my floor to myself, which is reasonably unusual. I made a very simple meal of pasta with broccoli with a tomato and tuna sauce. But it was delicious!
I had just sat down to eat, with a pot of Green Tea brought all the way from Nepal by Uncle Jerry for me and with a marvelous book, ‘Searching for God Knows What,’ (by Donald Miller) when a friend came up ‘just to chat.’
Actually, it is amazing. This is a girl whom I found annoying when I first met her. Like… really. But community living is teaching me to find value in everyone, even people whom I would rather not spend enough time with to find the positive side.
She has a problem in that, she likes a guy, but it seems he doesn’t like her. She went away on a mission trip for 4 months and before she left, she gave him her email address, but he never contacted her.
I have no wise words for her.
But I do have ears to listen and a new found love towards her. I started loving her just before she left.
One of the things I like about her is that she is real. She doesn’t try to be someone else that people may like better; she is honest about her spirituality and her journey with God. She longs to be liked and loved, just like everyone else does, but she doesn’t conform to others’ behaviour to get it.
This is beautiful.
Plus she has changed. It is lovely to see her becoming more like who she really is, in God’s eyes.
So she stopped by for a bit to talk. After she left, I had just started eating again and I heard Uncle Jerry down the hall, playing ‘Amazing Grace’ on his new flute.
So I sat, thinking about this girl, and my delicious food, and listening to Uncle Jerry, and I was overwhelmed by joy and all I could say was, ‘life is beautiful.’
I’ve just finished re-reading ‘The Divine Romance’ which completely ruins me every time I read it. The incredible love that my God has for me is so… incomparable.
And I saw the depth of his love in this evening. What kind of God would create taste buds that can enjoy delicious flavours or would invent music?
God must be so very relational to say that it is not good for us to be alone and so he made friends and relationships.
I love him. There can be no other response.
