Today was one of the best days ever. Well, maybe not completely from start to finish, but I have to rank it up there with one of the best simply because of what I experienced.
To start off, it was my birthday, and I went to bed the night before determined not to let little things get me bent out of shape today. I'm glad I resolved that early, otherwise, today could have quite possibly been a very different day.
It seemed to take me forever to get things done and get out the door this afternoon, but I finally left and set off down the road to get my almost-free birthday lunch.
Everything was going to work out perfectly ...
I could go there to enjoy my lunch while working on a few things.
Then, I could head over to the farm nearby to pick up strawberries. For the first time I can remember, I would have actual fresh-picked strawberries for my birthday! Yay!
After that, I could head north to Bentonville to do some delivering for a couple hours before grabbing stuff for dinner on my way home.
Perfect plan. Except, that wasn't what happened.
I went to said café for my birthday lunch only to find out that this location was independently franchised from the other location and my reward code wasn't good there. The only reason I had chosen to go there was to use my birthday reward, so I left.
No big deal. I'll just go grab the strawberries first and then head to the other location in Bentonville since I'm headed that direction anyway. Except, the farm doesn't open for another 30 minutes. Well, this is definitely going to throw my plans off quite a bit because now, I'm going to be eating lunch later than my already late lunchtime, have less time to do work at the café, and then, be out delivering later than I'd planned.
There wasn't much of a choice really. I either had to adjust my sails and ride this wave or give up something. I didn't want to give up anything, so I went with the adjusted timeline of events.
It was in those 30 minutes of shifting around that I received a beautiful gift. It was one of the most overwhelmingly evident moments of God's love that I have ever experienced.
I usually don't like to share things like this publicly, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm supposed to share for some reason, so let me tell you about those 30 minutes.
At first, I just drove around taking the long way to get back to the farm location, even driving around a nearby neighborhood, but I still found myself with 15 minutes to kill, so I stopped in a parking lot and decided to reply to a few birthday messages. It was there that I saw a homeless woman by the side of the road with what appeared to be her entire earthly possessions all piled into a large wagon. You could tell she was trying to stay in the shade. It was a beautiful day today, but the sun was hot, so I'm guessing she was trying to stay cool.
I didn't see any evidence of a sign she might be holding requesting money or help. She was simply sitting there peacefully.
It got me thinking, "I wonder what it would be like to be homeless?" I've pondered this question before but never so deeply as today when I sat there trying to place myself in her shoes. It's hard to put words to the feelings I felt in that moment as I considered all of the experiences that might be missed by being in that situation. Suddenly, my rearranged lunch plans didn't seem like such a big deal.
As I got ready to back out of the parking space, I couldn't help but feel like I should do something more than just wish her well through prayers at a distance. As I pulled out of the parking lot, the thought came to me, "I wonder if she likes strawberries?"
For someone like me who LOVES strawberries, that's a silly question. Everyone should love strawberries, right? :-)
I decided to take my chances and when I went to pick up the 2 quarts I ordered, I bought an extra one and headed back to her. I really didn't know what to do or say, but I parked the car, grabbed the quart of strawberries and got out.
As soon as I approached her, I said, "Excuse me. Do you happen to like strawberries?"
She was weather-beaten and worn, but she looked up at me with a sweet smile of surprise and said, "I do!"
I proceeded to tell her that I had just bought some from the farm down the road and wanted to give these to her. She thanked me and we both wished each other a great day.
I almost didn't make it back to the car before my eyes welled up with tears. In that moment, I was physically overwhelmed by an immense amount of God's love all around me.
I wondered, "Is this what Heaven on earth feels like?"
I've been learning a lot lately about what that really means (heaven - the kingdom of God - on earth). I believe I just experienced it today in the grateful smile of a homeless woman on the side of the road.
"For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” - Luke 17:21b
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