Today, mom and Arianna and I went shopping at the local thrift stores to find me a new dresser. Mom said she is sick of seeing me store my clothes on bookshelves, and the dresser would be for my birthday.
We didn’t find anything at the first shop in the way of furniture, but did score some other bargains. At the second store, Arianna found more books to read and as I was browsing the shoes, a man asked me if I could help him figure out how this mop worked. At first, we thought the two mop heads at the bottom were supposed to separate, but upon closer examination, we realized that they didn’t. I picked up the mop and demonstrated how I thought it should be used.
Well, that began a very long and interesting conversation about thrift stores, collecting antiques, how he was a roofer and injured his back, how I homeschooled my daughter and my husband worked at Strong, and his girlfriend had surgery for cancer and was doing well, and how he bought a home right before his injury and was having trouble with the payments.
Then he asked me if I was homeschooling because of a religious persuasion. I said I was a Quaker but it wasn’t typical that all Quakers homeschooled. He was intrigued and asked if they were like the Amish and I told him no. He asked if there was a priest and I said no. He said, who delivered the sermon and I said we all take responsibility for sharing messages from the Spirit/God when we feel led to do so with the whole group. He asked me where the meetinghouse was and what time worship was and if it would be okay for him to come and watch and see how it happens without someone confronting him about what he believed. I said of course he would be welcome.
At that point he introduced himself to me and I to him. There were several times in the conversation where I felt like, “Why am I standing here talking to this guy? I’ve got things to do, places to go, dressers to buy!” And then I stopped and remembered what Spirit had challenged me to do — to take time to be present with people, to open myself to others without fear, and to be a good listener. I relaxed and started to enjoy the conversation. And the funny thing is, once Tommy and I started talking, I actually got some great information on some used furniture stores I didn’t know about. After we left the second store, I went to one of the stores that he recommended and lo and behold, I found dozens of dressers and one I even liked!
A few weeks ago, I never would have spent so much time talking to a stranger. I would have felt extremely uncomfortable, cut the conversation short and left as quickly as possible. But since this latest mandate from Spirit, I am trying to change my stripes. The results, as usual, are finding joy and serendipity in the most unexpected places.
Spirit works in strange and wonderful ways.
