So I just got back from a wonderful dinner with my neighbor Marian (I spelled it wrong last time) and her friend Virginia (who Marian calls Ginny). I really should call them Mrs., but that didn't even occur to me until afterwards. I didn't really think about it because they introduced themselves by their first names, but they are my great grandmother's age, so I should have a little respect.
Anyways, so to fill in the gap from last time. I totally thought her birthday was last week, but it was today. I found this out because I left her a card last week for her birthday with my number on it offering to take her to dinner or anywhere else she wanted to go to and she called me back and let me know that her birthday was June 4th (today) and that she didn't want to go anywhere, rather she wanted to fix dinner for her friend Virginia and I.
Umm, I was too ecstatic. I was like yes, sounds amazing, I'm excited (except I didn't go that overboard because I didn't want to scare her). So for the past week, I have been so hype. I have been counting down the days. 87th birthday!! Let's party like it's 1949! (Btw she would have been 23 then, right around my age). Anyways, so she said that she wanted to prepare supper (I love that she called it that) and that she wanted to try out a new recipe for slow cooked beef if I didn't mind (ummm, do I mind? This is starting to sound like it's my birthday!)
Long story short, I go over today at 6 and have dinner with them and they've both been widows for many many years, both have lost children and have very few loved ones and it is just really eye opening for me, at 21, to talk to ladies who are four times my age and hear about life through their lenses. They were talking about being flexible to change and talking about husband-wife dynamics and how they've changed over time. Talking about farming and hunting and fishing and more and I was just eating it up.
We had mashed potatoes, beef, rolls, broccoli salad (which I've never had), radishes, pickles, olives, and gravy, delicious delicious gravy (and I'm not a gravy person). I haven't had a mom-cooked meal like that in a little while, and I definitely haven't had beef in a long time. Ya girl was all the way blessed. Thank you Lord Jesus 🙂
Like a typical mom, she wanted to keep feeding me, so I had a little vanilla ice cream as well to make sure my stomach was sealed for the night. It was such a wonderful time that broke up my possibly stressful night and I thought about what Jesus says about loving the least of these. And I was thinking about it and Jesus doesn't rank us, so He was speaking in our terms, to us who rank and categorize. The widows, the poor, the homeless, the lowly, the forgotten. Blessed are they and we should be grateful that they are among us because they have so much to offer and I need to learn to humble myself day by day to see them as Christ sees them–as beloved.
Yes, I will travel around the world to 11 countries in 11 months and share meals like this one with many strangers who will later become friends. Some will be mangled, some will be battered, and many will be broken, but there is the beauty of humanity that shines through no matter what because we were made in God's image and we all deserve to be loved. But before and after the World Race, I hope to be a person marked by love for those around me whether or not I'm on a super cool missions trip. I want to love people authentically and intentionally. I want to celebrate birthdays with widows and hang out with the homeless. I want to be Jesus to the "least of these." I want to live a life of service.
