Monday, January 17, 2011

Kindness of Strangers....or Entertaining Angels?

" ..for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."
Hebrews 13:2

I have been blessed in the past two weeks by the kindness and gentle loving I have received from my friends and church family. But I have also been blessed by the kindness of strangers....
  • The friendly, smiling woman sitting next to me on the airplane who, after asking why I was traveling to Dallas became silent...yet quietly handed me a tissue as she saw my tears.
  • The cheerful, chatty car rental agent...always trying to get his customers to purchase upgrades. He was a really good salesman. However, when he discovered why we were there, gave me a free upgrade to a luxury car.
  • The sweet nurse at Momma's bedside, Randel...she was so gentle with her and patient with our questions. She and I spent about an hour talking together about Momma's condition, her final destination and Randel reminded me that He was with her even then, as we spoke.
  • The precious 85 year old woman who owned the florist shop where we purchased the flowers for the funeral services. Her kindness, compassion and even her feisty-ness (which so reminded us of Aunt Jo) made difficult decisions much easier to make. She told my brother-in-law that for $2000 he could have the flowers and the whole shop! That's exactly something my aunt would say....she made us all smile when it was difficult to do so.
  • The amazing doctors who treated Momma with gentleness and respect. They had told us that she was not aware of anything going on around her, yet as they removed the tubes and other devices, they called her by name and spoke gently to her...treating her with respect and dignity.
  • The funeral director, Jeremy, who went above and beyond what anyone expected him to do, or his "job" required him to do...staying up all night to get everything prepared for the services.
  • The ever so kind security guards at DFW who quietly and patiently told me to breathe as I completely broke down in the airport heading home. I'm not sure grief counseling is in their job descriptions!
  • Even the young man sitting next to me on the airplane from DFW to Seattle....drunk as a skunk, as my aunt would say...lending me his phone after mine had died to call my husband and tell him we were in Spokane instead of Seattle. 
(My 4 hour flight turned into 12 hours as we flew into a snowstorm that had just hit Seattle. As they plowed the runway, we circled.....and circled.....and circled....and circled.....until we had to go to Spokane to get more gas to circle....and circle...In Spokane we had to wait to fuel up because of the other planes that had been circling and run out of fuel. Then the snow storm hit Spokane and we had to de-ice before we could fly out again.)

This world is full of broken and hurting people...and we, as believers in Christ, have been called to share with them the Good News of Jesus Christ. But sometimes, when we ourselves are broken and hurting...God sends strangers to us to assist and encourage and bring comfort in our time of need.

So, whether it was the kindness of strangers, or entertaining angels unaware, my hope is that somehow...in all of this, they saw Jesus in me.....


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lena,
Your gratitude to those that you really saw and appreciated reminded me how to live in Christ. This world can seem so upside down and backwards from the gospel, but then comes the voice of wisdom...the voice of Lena, reminding me there is light here and now. I know your life's tapestry has changed and the strong fibers of your mother are now spiritual only. I am sorry.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your heart. You touch people you don't even know.