Honestly the speaker is quite a mystery to me. We arrive and she's there dressed in a dark green habit. In my ignorance I wonder why green and not black...later she tells us the habit colors have meaning and green is the color of hope.
She shares her life's journey from enlisting in the armed forces, to nursing...from being a wife to motherhood...from high powered career to living within a habit. She tells of how God opened doors and weaved a way for her to begin a religious community when it seemed impossible.
I lean over to my friend as we enjoy lunch and ask..."what are those beads hanging down from her belt?" They explain that it is a rosary and she must have heard because she turns to tell the story about where it was made. She carefully lays it on the table...places the crucifix in my hand and begins to point to certain beads and their meaning. She speaks words I don't get, a language I haven't studied and so I ask her to explain and I nod because now I get it...and I am not Catholic I say so she will understand my ignorance. She smiles, opens her other hand fingers pointing down and hands me a rosary of my own. "Would you like one?" she asks. Tears burn and I whisper yes...because really I have always wanted one.
God works that way...giving us the unexpected gifts. Ones never requested on our Christmas list. Fleeting thoughts that flash for a moment, maybe even forgotten, ones we don't ask for because it just doesn't make sense...but He doesn't forget. God, he is always on time, and so the gift comes when you least expect it.
25...a morning phone call from a friend
26...snacks at staff meeting.
