It was 2015, and my husband and I were supposed to be
flying home New Year’s Eve day. But our morning started with a 4 am text
message from the airline telling us that our flights had been cancelled due to
fog. At 6 we sprung into action, rescheduling, rerouting, and doing everything
in our power to still make it to the party with our sweet community of friends
by midnight. Despite our best efforts, we rang in the New Year cold and
hungry on the floor of the Los Angeles airport.
I have a special affinity for New Years Eve. There’s something beautifully hopeful about a night where we all think that things could be different, that people could change, where we admit that our lives are always in the process of being redeemed. But I also really love late night hours. There is a holiness that comes with being awake when the whole world seems asleep, peaceful, and still. And so I found myself sitting on the floor, at 3:30 in the morning, in the LAX airport, with my beautiful husband snoring away beside me. I was reading my Bible and thinking about the coming year, and what I would do different, and how I had come up spiritually short in the previous year, and this year I’d be more righteous, more spiritual, more in love with God- when a older woman came by sweeping.
I have a special affinity for New Years Eve. There’s something beautifully hopeful about a night where we all think that things could be different, that people could change, where we admit that our lives are always in the process of being redeemed. But I also really love late night hours. There is a holiness that comes with being awake when the whole world seems asleep, peaceful, and still. And so I found myself sitting on the floor, at 3:30 in the morning, in the LAX airport, with my beautiful husband snoring away beside me. I was reading my Bible and thinking about the coming year, and what I would do different, and how I had come up spiritually short in the previous year, and this year I’d be more righteous, more spiritual, more in love with God- when a older woman came by sweeping.
She called over to me, softly, “Hey honey, what are you
doing?”
I quickly whispered back, “Oh, nothing, just thinking about the universe.”
With out missing a beat, she responded, “The universe is thinking about you too.”
I quickly whispered back, “Oh, nothing, just thinking about the universe.”
With out missing a beat, she responded, “The universe is thinking about you too.”
Then she tossed a bag of trail mix to me and went back
to cleaning. It was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. Not an
in-depth conversation about souls, obligations, guilt, heaven, hell, worship or
prayer. Just a quick reassurance, possibly even an accidental one, that the God
I think about and long for, thinks about and longs for me too, that we are not
alone in this world.
She probably didn’t give much thought to her comment, or the small gift of snacks on a long night, and there’s no way she knew how much it meant to me, but I treasured that odd conversation. Every time I think of that night, I try to remember to be kind to strangers and present in every moment. We never know when the small acts or quick conversations we have, will be Holy Spirit inspired or will matter most. We never know when we will be called to be messengers of God, so we must always be ready to respond generously to the world as we meet it.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” - Hebrews 13:2
She probably didn’t give much thought to her comment, or the small gift of snacks on a long night, and there’s no way she knew how much it meant to me, but I treasured that odd conversation. Every time I think of that night, I try to remember to be kind to strangers and present in every moment. We never know when the small acts or quick conversations we have, will be Holy Spirit inspired or will matter most. We never know when we will be called to be messengers of God, so we must always be ready to respond generously to the world as we meet it.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” - Hebrews 13:2
