On a recent trip (which, oddly enough, I haven't commented on here), I read an article about a young woman who made a new year's resolution to start noticing people around her. I found this article intriguing because it is easy to go through life consumed by yourself and your own problems. As a mother, I find this to be magnified somewhat for several reasons:
First, I am a stay at home mom. This may not be obvious to everyone, because a lot of stay at home moms today are really movers and shakers, but in my particular life juncture, this is a virtual impossibility. I can barely take my 3 kids out in public alone, lest one or all of them have a total breakdown. In fact, at the mall several weeks ago, Lucy literally broke down and laid on the ground outside of Barnes & Noble for five minutes while I waited for her to ready herself for the next step...walking outside to the car. Yes, I just waited. I calmly watched her, because I realize that these tantrums are pretty much inevitable and I also have suffered the consequences of trying to pull a "limp" tantrum kid with one arm out the door. (It's called Nursemaid's Elbow, and you have to go to the ER for it.) This is unrelated and unimportant at the current moment, though. What I mean to say is that in this occupation, it's easy to isolate yourself because taking your kids out in public requires an almost insurmountable amount of patience and energy.
Secondly, you've got people. Little people (per a posting earlier this year) give me reason to be selfish and self-absorbed. It's not good, it's not right...but somehow, it seems more justifiable to be wrapped up in your own life when it's not just YOUR problems, it's the problems of a family.
Anyway, back to the center of the story...
I believe the girl I read about had it figured out. Life is not meant to be self-consuming...it is meant to be self-giving. We are supposed to see the uniqueness God put in other people. Here are a few I have met just this week:
1.) Subway Sandiwich Guy: SSG was a man I met at our local Caribou Coffee this week when I stopped in to research interim housing for my family on the wifi network. SSG was standing in line, waiting for iced coffee next to me, when I noticed he had a footlong subway sandwich sitting on his table...at 9:30 in the morning. "Is that your sandwich?" I asked. He nodded. "It looks pretty good," I continued. "Actually, looking at that sandiwich at 9:30 AM kind of makes me want to go to Subway."
The man turned to me and smiled. "Well, when you've been up since 5 AM like me, it's already lunchtime." I chuckled. We went onto to talk about how the older you get, the earlier you wake up. You go to bed earlier, too, apparently. I told him this was cause for concern, in my case, because John and I already go to bed around 9 PM at age 27.
2.) Really Good Haircut Girl: RGHC is a young woman who cuts my hair at my salon. She's really good, hence the name. I actually am bothered by the fact that she's good, because I prefer not to be loyal to hairstylists as they make their way up the cost brackets. Why set yourself up for a $60 haircut in the future??
Anyway, RGHC was a delight today. She is boisterous and candid and beautiful in her manner of conduct. She is a bit impulsive, always searching for the next great leap in her life. I learned all this just by meeting her over 2 haircuts. She's quite remarkable, really. Today we had a great discussion about what complementary qualities are necessary in a long-term mate.
Who are you going to meet today that could bring joy into your life? What joy can you bring into a stranger's life? At Faith Formation this week, I challenged my students to think about how smiling and saying hi to a fellow student can make that person have a better day. I challenge you, too. God put strangers around us for a reason. Perhaps, instead of calling them "strangers," we should view them as opportunities.
I'm hoping to make my stranger opportunities a regular feature of this blog. People can bring beautiful things into our lives.
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