Writers look for connections. Our antenna are always up, twisting this way and that, waiting to receive a message we believe is being transmitted. Hoping to decode it. I was driving my son to preschool today when I noticed the same woman I’ve observed for the last several years who happens to be stepping down from a city bus and walking briskly down Meeting street at the exact same time we drive across the intersection each weekday morning.
Her face is weathered. She has a scar across the right side of her jaw. She has a limp. She is petite. She has her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and wears the same thing most everyday: baggy jeans rolled up above her ankles, tennis shoes, a white shirt, a bag with a uniform peaking out.
She appears to be on her way to work. Maybe she cleans one of the hotels nearby or works in a restaurant kitchen slicing lemons and baguettes. Her well worn face, her set jaw, her wobbly gait, they all seem to say: hard life. But they say something beyond that as well as her pony tail sways from side to side with each stride. They say: but, I’m still here, and I’m still going. And in that moment, when the hope pierces through the bleakness, I thank God and I say a prayer for this woman to keep going. To experience the Living God. To feel the light on her face as this new day begins.
It seems as though life is a puzzle and God is giving us pieces everyday. Enough clues to catch a glimpse of the whole. Listen and look, and I’ll show you, he seems to whisper. This is not random. We are on our way somewhere. There is a purpose to it all and you will find it if you look hard enough.
I love today’s question: What forms connections in your community? It comes from Rachel Hauck’s ingenious new novel, THE WEDDING DRESS, where four women are linked over nearly a century by one memorable gown. It’s a story that will blow your mind in the best kind of way and best of all, warm your heart. It’s a story that will make you ponder the connections that can be found if you take the time to seek them.
In my own life, these three verbs seem to sum up the connections I’ve formed with friends and family through the years: playing, praying, eating.
Playinginvolves doing something fun and adventurous together. In this neck of the woods it can mean fishing, shrimping, sailing, boating, swimming, riding the waves, castle building and playing hopscotch on the beach. It also means socializing. Enjoying weddings, parties, church events and other celebrations.
Prayinginvolves faith in action in an intimate way. Getting to know one another. Lifting one another’s hopes and heart wounds up for the Lord to heal. Something changes when you pray for someone. Your love grows. A deeper bond forms. And you begin to find yourself caring about the other person in that agape way that can only come from God.
Eatingis where it all comes together. Where playing and praying are combined with that thing that sustains and nourishes us in the physical realm: food. God made us to break bread together. The Eucharist back in the first days of the early church was basically a covered dish supper. Eating and drinking in His love. Filling ourselves up with the bounty of His creation. Realizing, each time, how both solemn and beautiful a meal is. One thing has to die for another to keep living. And something supernatural happens when we take part in feasting together. The physical and the spiritual meet and kiss. Sacrificial love is realized. Intimacy is found. Bonds are formed. (Look at how many times Jesus is either going to or coming from a meal in the Gospel of Luke!)
I’m grateful for the time we have here to play, pray and eat together. May we savor it to the fullest.And may we continue on with great expectations for the ultimate feast to come. Knowing this is just a foretaste!
For more info. on Beth Webb Hart’s novels click here
Writers look for connections. Our antenna are always up, twisting this way and that, waiting to receive a message we believe is being transmitted. Hoping to decode it. 
